The Big Short interview with director Adam McKay: “Outrage with banks comes naturally… they’re street hustlers” January 22, 2016 The Oscar-nominated director of financial film The Big Short, Adam McKay, wasn't afraid of throwing the cat among the pigeons when I caught up with him yesterday. On the eve of his latest film's release he launched a stinging attack on Wall Street, branding bankers “street hustlers” and labelling the SEC’s response to the crisis “disgusting”. [...]
The terminal flaw at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s low oil strategy January 18, 2016 “If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work.” – Alan Rickman Like everyone I know with a soul, I find myself in genuine mourning for the great British actor Alan Rickman, who died last week. It is impossible for me to think of anyone who brought me as much [...]
The highest flyer: Harriet Green talks Everest, flying cars and building a hi-tech business aged 18 with Gilo Cardozo January 11, 2016 To tell the truth, drones don’t really interest me at all – I like manned aircraft,” says Gilo Cardozo, founder of aviation firm Gilo Industries. He’s not being flippant – he’s got an army of specialist engineers working on engines for unmanned aircraft – but someone so passionate about his work can afford to be slightly [...]
2015 was a record year for new car registrations – but VW has lost January 7, 2016 Everyone's a petrolhead now. The year 2015 was a record year for new car registrations, new figures have shown, with 2.63m new vehicles registered during the year – up 6.3 per cent from last year. That was boosted by December – the biggest on record – during which 180,077 new cars were registered, up 8.4 per [...]
City Moves for 7 January 2016 | Who’s switching jobs January 7, 2016 Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has announced that John Goldfinch, a London-based member of the firm’s alternative investments practice group, has been elected to the firm’s partnership effective 1 January. John has a broad structured finance, securitisation and transactional derivatives practice covering the full spectrum of products. He joined Milbank [...]
City Moves for 18 December 2015 | Who’s switching jobs December 17, 2015 TOGETHER Andrew Murdoch has joined specialist lender Together as group valuations manager, after 12 years with Eddisons. A Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors-registered valuer and registered receiver, he has extensive experience in valuation, asset management and value enhancement. At Eddisons, he spent eight years specialising in corporate recovery, insolvency and LPA receiverships, including two year-long [...]
No. 5: Ford Foundation December 17, 2015 UNITED STATES – £314m Motor pioneer Henry Ford and his son Edsel established the Ford Foundation in the US in 1936 to advance human welfare. The organisation started with a gift of $25,000 (£16,000) and now holds an £8bn endowment, having approved over £330m in grants in 2014. Following a two year period of transition, [...]
Fintech 100: UK dominates KPMG’s global list of top fintech firms of 2015 with Transferwise, Funding Circle and Atom Bank December 14, 2015 As if you needed more proof that the UK fintech scene is booming… The UK is dominating a list of top fintech firms, with more emerging firms than any other country in the world, according to KPMG’s “Fintech 100”. The list of the leading fintech firms of 2015 is made up of 50 established firms [...]
Volkswagen UK market share plummets after emissions scandal as new UK car registrations rise December 4, 2015 Volkswagen sales in the UK fell 20 per cent in November, compared with last year, figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have shown – while the number of new cars sold in the UK rose. The embattled carmaker, which has been hit after it emerged software installed in some of its diesel engines allowed [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s speech transcript in full including stamp duty, business rates and corporation tax announcements November 25, 2015 Mr Speaker, this Spending Review delivers on the commitment we made to the British people that we would put security first. To protect our economic security, by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. To protect our national security, by defending our country’s interests abroad and keeping our [...]