These are the FinTech startups being backed by Citi May 29, 2015 Four FinTech startups have won $100,000 (£65,400) backing from Citi after a search for new technology and innovation to transform banking and business. London-based Swave, an app that encourages users to monitor spending and make saving easier, trading platform Trade It, a supply chain solution created by Umati Capital and textbook subscription app Kytabu were [...]
Banking brain drain: Why finance risks losing its best talent to the FinTech sector May 27, 2015 Britain's FinTech sector is a particularly bright spot in the UK’s recovering economy. Investment in London FinTech grew by 136 per cent last year, with the capital receiving 42 per cent of all European FinTech investment in 2014. But one less-discussed aspect of this is the potential impact on talent within the wider financial services [...]
Cabbies protest at TfL and Uber May 26, 2015 VICTORIA was brought to a standstill as London’s black cab drivers staged a protest yesterday afternoon. The group that organised it was the breakaway United Cabbies Group. At the protest, its chairman Len Martin insisted that the demonstration was aimed at Transport for London (TfL), for what the group consider the body’s failure to ignore [...]
Black cab protest: Police close Victoria Street, Buckingham Gate as United Cabbies Group rails against TfL’s lack of support May 26, 2015 Central London roads were gridlocked this afternoon as the black cab protest caused chaos around Parliament Square, Whitehall, Embankment and Lambeth Palace Road. Campaigners are directing the protest, scheduled to take place between 2pm and 4pm today, against Transport for London, which they claim are not doing enough to keep on top of regulation [...]
London’s cabbies are taking on Uber, and TfL in high stakes fight for capital’s streets May 25, 2015 Transport for London’s (TfL) headquarters will be the scene of a protest by black cab drivers today. The action is a demonstration of the simmering tensions between traditional cabbies and modern firms like Uber, which show no sign of dying down. Black cab drivers are represented by the London Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), Unite [...]
After banning Uber in Guangzhou, the Chinese government is starting its own online taxi service in the city May 25, 2015 The Chinese city of Guangzhou may have banned Uber, but that hasn’t stopped its municipal government setting up its own, strikingly similar, online taxi company. The new company will be named Ruyue, which means “by appointment”. Uber was shut down in the city a matter of weeks ago, after authorities raided its offices, murmuring about [...]
From Thomas Cook to the Prosecco shortage: Here’s what got us talking this week May 22, 2015 There was a bomb. There was an earthquake. And there was, very nearly, a nation-wide rail strike. Here's what got us talking this week. 1. Panic stations over Prosecco and…er… eggs We don't know which is worse. Well of course we do. Still a global egg shortage is pretty alarming. But cards on the table, [...]
Airbnb is about to muscle in on the professional property management business May 19, 2015 Flat rental site Airbnb may have built its reputation on the sharing economy – but with a valuation of about $20bn, it was only a matter of time before it got into the professional property management business. Read more: Escape it all – the 21 most deliciously remote Airbnb rentals Now, it's been reported the [...]
Financial challengers Zopa and Metro Bank join forces to bring peer-to-peer lending and high street banking together May 19, 2015 Peer-to-peer lender Zopa has teamed up with challenger bank Metro Bank to lend funds through the latter's marketplace. The deal marks the first of its kind in the UK as Metro Bank, already lending funds to Zopa's consumer borrowers, recognises peer-to-peer (P2P) lending as a new asset class. Zopa's chief executive Giles Andrews described it [...]
Carl Icahn’s letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook: Apple should be worth $1.5 trillion May 18, 2015 Another day, another missive from Carl Icahn. The activist investor has written an open letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook saying shares in the Silicon Valley giant are massively undervalued, and that they should be worth $240 each – a figure which would value the company at a cool $1.5 trillion (£957bn). Read more: [...]