£1,500 grant to be given to those affected by flooding, says Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon January 9, 2016 Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has announced that every household, business and charity in Scotland directly affected by flooding will receive a grant of £1,500. During a visit to Inverurie in Aberdeenshire the first minister said £12m would be made available to help areas hit by flooding after rivers Dee, Don and Ythan burst their [...]
Watchstone, formerly known as Quindell, sells property business for £1 January 8, 2016 Watchstone Group, the company formerly known as Quindell, has sold its property and maintenance companies for just £1 as it seeks to draw a line under the insurance outsourcer's controversial past. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange today, it said property insulation business, BE Insulated, and property maintenance service provider, Carbon Reduction Company, had been sold to the [...]
Homeward bound HSBC, City Hall race and oil glut make a busy 2016 January 7, 2016 Forecasting events in the City is frequently a fool’s errand but one thing’s clear from the first week of 2016: it is going to be a tough year for much of corporate Britain. Here’s where I think most of the action will be. 1. Among the first big decisions of the year will be delivered when [...]
More to capitalism than good economic growth January 7, 2016 What are the hallmarks of capitalism? Typically you might think of cities, skyscrapers, banks, insurers, people in sharp suits, and so on. These are some symptoms of a market-orientated economy, for sure, but they do not tell the whole picture. There are two factors that accurately signal the degree to which a society is free [...]
Fintech 2016: Bitcoin rises again and compliance gets sexy January 7, 2016 It was another big year for fintech in Europe in 2015. The frenzy of activity in London has continued. There’s been an overload of conferences and events, an occasional dose of premature back-slapping, but most importantly some great companies have raised serious investment. The rest of Europe, Germany in particular, has leapt forward too – [...]
Prime Minister’s Questions: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pushes David Cameron on cancellation of flood protection schemes January 6, 2016 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pushed Prime Minister David Cameron on the cancellation, delay and cuts to a number of flood defences that left communities devastated over Christmas when storms hit. Corbyn said a £190m flood defence scheme was cancelled in 2011 in Leeds, a city that was subsequently flooded, and that spending on flood defences in Cumbria was also [...]
Driverless car bump in the road? Our three biggest fears about autonomous vehicles, revealed January 6, 2016 It's the year of the driverless car, as everyone from big tech companies to traditional car brands, ambitious startups to academics, make inroads in the burgeoning technology which could soon change the way we travel. There may be one bump in the road to mass adoption, however, and that's consumers. Half of us would refuse to [...]
City Moves for 6 January 2016 | Who’s switching jobs January 6, 2016 Victoria Michael Scott been appointed group finance director of Aim 50-listed floorcovering designers and manufacturers Victoria. Michael joins after eight years at Rothschild, where, as part of its global financial advisory business, he worked across a wide range of public and private company transactions, mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity-related fundraisings. He qualified as [...]
AA drives into connected car tech with joint venture Intelematics Europe January 5, 2016 The AA has sealed a joint venture to develop connected car services which could improve roadside assistance services and even lower motorists' car insurance. The London-listed company today announced the launch of Intelematics Europe, a joint venture co-owned by the AA, two other European roadside assistant clubs and Intelematics. The move marks another step into the [...]
New Year’s Resolutions for the world’s biggest economies January 5, 2016 Here we are – the start of a New Year and 365 fresh new pages to write. These are exciting times for most of us, but I bet in the first few days of 2016 there are already those suffering from pangs of guilt. Yes I’m talking about those New Year’s resolutions: binary promises which [...]