China is relaxing foreign ownership caps, and London must grasp the opportunity June 18, 2018 I write today’s article in a tall building overlooking the so-called “Paris of the East”, better known as the city of Shanghai. From here, you can see the old and new – the remnants of Shanghai’s old financial centre along the Bund, and the mind-boggling array of skyscrapers which have flown up on the other [...]
World Cup 2018 dark horses: Can a surprise package still upset the favourites in data-rich modern football? June 13, 2018 Attempting to identify a potential dark horse to win the World Cup is an increasingly difficult undertaking. Pre-tournament hype and the bookmakers’ odds have the likely winners as Brazil, Germany, Spain and France, who are belonging to a league of their own above the rest. After them, in the traditional dark horse category of sides [...]
A sovereign wealth fund could diffuse the UK’s debt timebomb June 13, 2018 There’s a hint of sunshine peeping out from behind the grey clouds of austerity. After eight long years of belt-tightening, we’re living within our means at last. Our taxes cover our day-to-day spending on things like health, education, policing and defence, so we’re only having to borrow to invest in long-term infrastructure like roads and [...]
Lloyd’s of London is launching a global insurtech sandbox in the name of reinvention June 12, 2018 For the first time in its 330 year history, insurance behemoth Lloyd's of London is launching a global innovation sandbox to find tech talent that can develop new solutions as it attempts to digitise. Nicknamed Lloyd's Lab, the new initiative will see corporate innovation specialist L Marks go on the hunt for entrepreneurs, early and [...]
Allez le Bleus! Lloyd’s of London tips France for world cup glory June 12, 2018 Insurance market Lloyd’s of London has predicted that France will win this year’s world cup, based on the insurable value of its team. The research by Lloyd’s and the Centre for Economics and Business Research shows the insurable value of the French team is £1.4bn, with England second on £1.17bn and Brazil third on £1.1bn. [...]
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) drops Scottish Widows from life insurance investigation and won’t be taking enforcement action June 12, 2018 The Financial Conduct Authority said this morning it has opted not to take any enforcement action against Scottish Widows as part of the watchdog’s investigation into the life insurance sector. In March 2016, the FCA announced investigations into six businesses to assess the fair treatment of long-standing customers and gauge just what customers were told [...]
Mind Gym flexes muscles with £140m London listing June 10, 2018 Training firm Mind Gym is planning to flex its market muscles through a £140m listing on London Stock Exchange arm AIM. The company, which is owned by Octavius Black, an Eton peer of former Prime Minister David Cameron, has brought in Liberum Capital to handle the listing. City A.M understands that an announcement on the [...]
Time to clamp down on bogus self-employment if we are to prevent the looming pension crisis June 7, 2018 On the face of it, identifying self-employment should be fairly straight forward. In fact, the definition is the name. Do you work for yourself? If the answer is yes, then you are self-employed. But what appears as simple question has led to reams of paper and discussions. We are now reaching an inflection point and [...]
Delivery Hero and Blue Apron investor Target Global launches $100m tech fund to find the next Uber June 6, 2018 German venture capital fund Target Global has launched a $100m (£74.7m) tech fund with a focus on innovation in mobility and transportation. With investments to be spread across startups in Europe and Israel, the fund is set to run indefinitely and can deploy up to $300m in capital, satisfying investor need for long-term interest in [...]
Improvement in domestic sales boosts London business confidence June 6, 2018 Confidence among London’s business has jumped in the second quarter of the year thanks to rising sales at home and abroad, according to a new survey to be published today. A business confidence index tracked by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) bounced back into positive territory, to a reading of 3.4, well above the [...]