City A.M. Unregulated: The City’s most secretive sector – the business of kidnap protection August 31, 2016 Governments might insist they don't negotiate with terrorists – but when you're doing business in the world's most dangerous territories, you'll want one of the City's most tight-lipped sectors on your side. This week we talk to two specialists in kidnap insurance: Mark Harris, director of crisis response at Olive Group, and Jon Gregory, global [...]
Pension or property: Which is the better option for your retirement? August 31, 2016 The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane drew ire from the pensions industry for the second time this year, when he claimed that property was a better investment option for retirement than a pension in an interview with The Sunday Times this weekend. “It ought to be pensions but it’s almost certainly property,” Haldane said. [...]
Home insurance premiums remain stable despite flood fears and tax increases August 30, 2016 Insurance premiums have not spiked as was feared following the flooding that blighted parts of Britain earlier this year. The latest research shows that annual premiums have increased just 1.6 per cent for the year to July. Furthermore, these price changes include the increase in insurance premium tax in November 2015 from six to 9.5 per cent. In addition there [...]
Slater and Gordon swings to a AU$1bn loss August 30, 2016 Shares in Slater and Gordon (S&G) fell 15 per cent on the ASX 200 after the Australian law firm posted a chunky net loss today. The figures The group, which is based in Sydney, announced a net loss of AU$1.02bn (£590m) in the 12 months to June – down from a profit of AU$62.4m last year. The results – which S&G's managing director Andrew Grech [...]
Want to cut the wait time when you call the tax man? These are the best times to call August 30, 2016 A new study of call waiting times at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has revealed the best times to call the tax man if you want to get through quickly. A July parliamentary report revealed that the average call waiting time in October was close to 35 minutes, as the deadline for paper submissions of [...]
Brexit negotiation “pettiness” would push UK and Europe into recession, says Mohamed El-Erian August 30, 2016 The UK and Europe will fall into recession and become less significant globally if Brexit negotiations become the victim of "pettiness", according to Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz's chief economic adviser who chairs President Obama's Global Development Council. El-Erian said that in a "rational world, the UK would end up with a free trade arrangement with the [...]
An art rather than a science: one way to value the assets, four ways to value the liabilities August 29, 2016 Many of us like big numbers. But when it comes to pensions deficits, big numbers are not a good thing. Britain’s pension deficit values vary from day-to-day and from calculation to calculation. The numbers cited range from hundreds of billions to trillions of pounds. The reason they differ is because there numerous ways of calculating [...]
Mylan is going to start selling a cheaper, generic Epipen amid pricing backlash August 29, 2016 US pharma firm Mylan is planning to make a cheaper, generic version of its allergy treatment Epipen available after a firestorm erupted over recent price hikes. Mylan's share price has fallen by around 10 per cent since US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and a senator whose daughter uses the product piled pressure on the company. Mylan has now said its US subsidiary will put [...]
The UK has turned its back on the EU – we must not do the same to China August 29, 2016 It has been a little over two months since the EU referendum and data from the UK economy has continued to leave both sides of the Brexit debate wanting. Commentators were overly negative in July and now seem to be swinging excessively positive but the reality is we simply haven’t had enough data to work [...]
The boardroom and the slave: These are the actions firms need to take August 26, 2016 This autumn, executive boards should expect to see slavery and trafficking as compulsory board agenda items, with the introduction of Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act. The statement Large UK companies are required to publish an annual statement, signed by a director, detailing actions taken to eradicate modern slavery within its organisation and its [...]