Experts react to dropping of Osborne’s flagship secondary annuity market October 19, 2016 Yesterday's announcement to scrap George Osborne's plans to create a secondary annuity market was unsurprising to many. According to some experts the writing was on the wall as soon as the process was delayed until April 2017. Nevertheless, there was a lot of noise from analysts and experts. Read more: Government bins plans for secondary [...]
Lineker-backed insurer scores £1m in funding October 18, 2016 Internet of Things insurer Neos has hit the back of the net with £1m in initial seed funding, valuing the business at £8.4m. The company – a so-called insurtech startup – counts Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker among its backers and the latest funding round adds insurtech fund Eos Venture Partners. Neos is [...]
Economic minister Simon Kirby bins plans for secondary annuity market: Is this a sign that more pension reforms are on the horizon? October 18, 2016 One of George Osborne's cornerstone policies on increasing pension freedoms has been dropped by the government, the economic secretary announced today. In March 2015, the government announced plans to set up a secondary market in order to give pensioners greater access to cashing in annuities. Read more: Over-55s need to go on this kind of shopping spree more [...]
The UK’s biggest banks are bracing themselves for another £2bn on their PPI bill October 18, 2016 Britain's largest banks are set to add billions to their collective bill for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling in the next two weeks. According to Sky News, executives at Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays are in the process of finalising top-up provisions, amounting to around £2bn in total – due to be [...]
Five ways government can cut the soaring cost of car insurance for honest drivers October 18, 2016 The rising cost of insurance understandably concerns many motorists. The average comprehensive motor insurance premium has risen by 10 per cent over the last year. Today we lift the lid on what is driving up the costs of motor insurance, and what is needed to give hard-pressed honest motorists a break. Lifting the Bonnet on [...]
Got £40m? You could buy Liverpool’s iconic Liver Building October 17, 2016 Liverpool's Royal Liver Building is up for sale and is expected to attract buyers offering more than £40m for the landmark and its Liver Birds. The Grade I listed property is being sold by Royal London Mutual Insurance Society. It is the first time it has been on the market since it was first opened in [...]
City Moves for 17 October 2016 | Who’s switching jobs October 17, 2016 Yorkshire Building Society Yorkshire Building Society has appointed Mike Regnier as chief executive. Mike, who joined the Society in 2014, is currently chief customer officer and executive director. Mike, who has 20 years’ corporate experience in consulting and retail financial services, was formerly products and marketing director at Lloyds Banking Group, where he was responsible for the [...]
Opinion: If we want to solve the housing crisis, we need to find smarter ways of building October 14, 2016 T he fact remains that London doesn’t have enough homes. The city is growing by about 100,000 people annually, but only 25,000 homes were built in the same period last year. As well as finding the land to build these homes, we also need to find ways to build them quickly on a large scale. [...]
City Moves for 13 October 2016 | Who’s switching jobs October 13, 2016 GLAS GLAS, the leading independent provider of finance administration services, has appointed Joe Knight to spearhead the expansion of the firm’s direct lending platform. Joe will have responsibility for business development and developing strategic relationships with GLAS’ existing direct lending client base. The move comes as funds increasingly replace banks in the lower to middle [...]
Theresa May’s statism is the wrong way to build a more prosperous post-Brexit Britain October 12, 2016 Labour has lurched to the hard left and Ukip does not currently seem equipped to capture the significant number of voters on lower incomes who are worried about immigration and the impact of globalisation. So it is understandable that the Prime Minister is seeking to seize the coveted centre ground. For that purpose, Mrs May’s [...]