After the Nvidelity comes the Huangover. Jensen Huang joins long list who confused boardroom and bedroom
As fellow Tories say he’s finished as chancellor, should George Osborne rip up last week’s Budget and start again? March 22, 2016 Ben Southwood, head of research at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Though the country could do without yet more marquee financial policy events, economic gimmicks and ill-considered policy changes, George Osborne’s latest Budget was bad enough that he should consider ripping it up and starting again. Glossing over the practical political costs – centred [...]
Why the VIX fear index is clearly the wrong price March 22, 2016 Phew! The panic is over. Global markets are back and the flap that culminated in the second week of February is a dim and distant memory. So what have we learnt from the huge and unprecedented volatility of the first three months of 2016? I fear, not a lot. Don’t get me wrong. I have no [...]
Outcry from Unite the union as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) set to launch “shameless” raid on its staff’s defined benefit pensions March 21, 2016 Unite has today heavily criticised what it described as a "shameless" decision by banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to pass on £18m a year in costs of running its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to its employees. RBS' decision is a result of changes to the pension system, which effectively increased the rate of both [...]
Actuaries set out guidelines to protect against risks like Libor manipulation and PPI mis-selling, urging firms to focus more on the quality of their risk data March 21, 2016 The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has today published a document full of ideas of how financial services firms could better handle operational risk, lowering the likelihood of incidents such as Libor rigging and PPI mis-selling. In its paper aimed at banks, insurers and other financial services firms, the IFoA's Operational Risk Working Party examines how businesses [...]
Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide sign off amended merger agreement, with Starwood shareholders now standing to gain a better cash deal March 21, 2016 Hospitality giants Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide today revealed that they had signed off on an amendment to their merger agreement. The new deal revises the value of Starwood shares to $13.6bn (£9.5bn) in total, which is $79.53 per share or $85.36 per share after consideration from separate transaction involving Interval Leisure Group is taken into [...]
Transport for London approves new regulations to “modernise and improve the private hire industry” as it cracks down on the growth of Uber March 18, 2016 Transport for London has approved a new plan to modernise and improve London's private hire industry. It is the first significant amendment to private hire regulations since they were first introduced following the surge in the number of private hire vehicles in the capital after the meteoric rise of Uber. The private hire vehicles will [...]
Six Nations 2016: England predicted to beat France and win grand slam according to complex mathematical formula from insurance group QBE March 18, 2016 England will win the grand slam by the finest of margins on Saturday – that's according to insurance firm QBE who have devised a complex formula to predict the outcome of Six Nations matches. QBE's rugby predictor has correctly forecast 9 of 12 results so far this tournament and came within two points of the [...]
George Osborne’s tinkering has made the UK tax system more complicated than ever March 18, 2016 After eight Budgets and six Autumn Statements, we have a pretty good idea of what kind of chancellor George Osborne is. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s policy measures database, before Wednesday he had made 585 separate tax policy changes at these so-called “fiscal events”. There had been 165 income tax changes, 107 corporation [...]
St Patrick’s Day 2016: Clean, raw, organic eatery SHOT picks the wrong day for a launch party as City workers take the afternoon off for St Paddy’s Day drinking March 17, 2016 With a name that brings back memories of messy nights and student parties, City folk may feel slightly disappointed when they find out that SHOT, the latest edition to St Paul's restaurant options, has absolutely nothing to do with drinking. Touted as the latest "innovative clean eating concept" in the City, SHOT actually stands for "Simple. [...]
Budget 2016: Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) director Paul Johnson says chancellor George Osborne “really is running out wriggle room” March 17, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne will likely need to hike taxes or cut spending if he is to meet his self-imposed target of balancing the budget by the end of the decade, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. Paul Johnson, who runs the influential think tank, said today that the chancellor has [...]