City A.M. joins the Lord Mayor and finance bosses at Mansion House to plan City Giving Day 2016 March 10, 2016 Leaders from over 60 City businesses joined the Lord Mayor for breakfast at Mansion House to hear why, when and how they should take part in City Giving Day 2016 this September. Lord Mayor Jeffery Evans sat down with senior execs from bank Credit Agricole and City A.M.'s resident grandee Lawson Muncaster in a bid to [...]
UK house prices: Service charges for new-build properties are double those of older homes March 10, 2016 Service charges on new-build properties have been dubbed a "hidden cost" that have reached an average of £2,777, according to a new survey by the insurer Direct Line for Business. This cost is 96 per cent higher on new-build properties than the average annual property service charge in Britain, which is £1,863. The survey also shows some 33 [...]
FTSE 100 has a muted start as investors await European Central Bank big reveal March 10, 2016 The FTSE 100 made a muted start to trading today, as investors nervously awaited a big reveal from the European Central Bank's Mario Draghi, who is expected to take rates further into negative territory later today. The FTSE 100 edged down 0.1 per cent in early trading, as economists expected Draghi to cut the central bank's deposit rate [...]
Italian insurer Generali set to name new chief executive this week March 9, 2016 Italian insurer Generali is set to name its new chief executive on Friday. The new appointment will replace Mario Greco, who is moving to take over as chief executive of Zurich Insurance. Two sources close to the matter told Reuters Philippe Donnet, the current head of Generali Italia, is the frontrunner for the role. Read more: Generali boss Mario [...]
Bankers’ bonuses: Supreme Court sides with HMRC in appeal against UBS and Deutsche Bank, ruling out scheme designed to avoid income tax March 9, 2016 Bankers may see their bonuses sliced into, as the Supreme Court today sided with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), agreeing that taxes could not be avoided when using a special scheme to award employees in shares. UBS and Deutsche Bank set up schemes to pay their bankers discretionary bonuses in redeemable shares in offshore companies. The [...]
Global fintech investment in 2015 hit $13.8bn as end of year slowdown fails to derail best year yet March 9, 2016 A slowdown at the end of 2015 failed to derail a bumper year for fintech as investors ploughed $13.8bn into startups in the sector across the globe – more than double the amount of the previous year. Investors made greater bets on disruptive technology in the finance sector than ever before, committing more money to each deal. The number of mega-deals – those worth [...]
Underwriters should sleep with one eye open; one in ten Brits have admitted to stealing an umbrella, and Square Mile insurers have the best brollies March 9, 2016 If you’re planning to shelter under a brolly with rain forecasted this week, there's every chance it will be stolen, as over one in ten people admit to pinching umbrellas. Of those that have stolen an umbrella, almost a quarter (23 per cent) took it from a work colleague, while 18 per cent have stolen [...]
The Lord Mayor may be a shipping grandee, but his name doesn’t ring a bell at the Old Bailey March 8, 2016 Poor Lord Mountevans. Jeffrey Evans may be a household name to the City's ship brokers and insurers, but but apparently not at the Old Bailey. According to Court News UK, which diligently records day-to-day proceedings at the courthouse, tour guides have difficulty explaining to visitors what a lord mayor does, and who he is. As any [...]
UK pensions: Has chancellor George Osborne missed an opportunity by saying he won’t reform the pensions system at the Budget on 16 March and what might he do instead? March 8, 2016 It is with relief that we welcome the chancellor’s turnaround, in choosing not to radically change the basis of pension taxation in the Budget on 16 March and in particular not to introduce pensions Isas. However, there are other rabbits that he could pull out from his hat. At current levels of auto-enrolment contributions (2 per cent of earnings rising [...]
Gocompare owner esure Group share price down as insurance company reveals profits in underlying business dipped for year ended December 2015 as it pays out £4m for claims caused by December storms March 8, 2016 Share price in esure Group fell today as the insurance company revealed a drop in its profits from its underlying business in its year ended December 2015 results, after shelling out for claims from the December storms. Underlying profit before tax fell to £82.9m, down 22.7 per cent from £107.2m the year before, although its profit before [...]