Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria and Lithuania budget plans criticised as Eurogroup stresses flexibility in the wake of the migrant crisis November 23, 2015 Eurozone finance ministers piled pressure on their counterparts in Austria, Lithuania, Italy, Spain and Portugal last night as they were criticised for their spending plans. At a meeting in Brussels the 19-strong Eurogroup backed the European Commissions recent analysis of these countries hitting their budget targets. “For these countries more work needs to be done,” [...]
Black Friday 2015 shoppers beware: Cybercrime and online fraud cost the UK over £16m last Christmas – and Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the worst days of all November 23, 2015 Christmas spirit? Forget it: When it comes to cybercrime, online fraudsters are the biggest Grinches of all. Online shopping fraud over the holiday season soared by 42 per cent last year, with £16.4m lost to cyber criminals according to statistics from Canada police compiled by non-profit organisations Get Safe Online and Action [...]
Three-quarters of top judges are privately educated, compared to seven per cent of the population overall, raising concerns over diversity and social mobility in the legal sector November 23, 2015 Three-quarters (74 per cent) of top judges, defined as those who sit on the High Court and the Court of Appeal, received a private education, compared to just seven per cent of the UK population overall. A report by the Sutton Trust and PRIME – an alliance of more than 80 UK law firms and [...]
European Stability Mechanism approves €2bn Greek bailout slice November 23, 2015 The European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Eurozone-run agency that manages the Eurozone's bailouts, has put the final touches on the deal that will grant €2bn (£1.4bn) to Greece. The €2bn is the second slice of an initial €16bn portion of Greece's bailout approved in August 2015 after months of brutal negotiations between the country and [...]
Markit PMI: US manufacturing is growing at its slowest pace for two years November 23, 2015 US manufacturers had a tough November, according to new survey figures. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index for the manufacturing sector dropped to a score of 52.6 from October’s 54.1. While the score is still above the 50 “no change” mark, it marks the slowest growth in US manufacturing for two years. Factories reported slower rates of [...]
Compliance salaries set to rocket in 2016, as misconduct fallout takes the spotlight November 23, 2015 Junior compliance associates could be raking it in next year, with salaries expected to rise 6.8 per cent in 2016, well above the average three per cent salary rise forecast across all professions. According to figures released today by Robert Half, junior compliance associates can expect the third biggest salary percentage increase of all the [...]
The Eurozone is growing at its fastest rate for four-and-a-half-years – Markit’s purchasing managers’ index November 23, 2015 The Eurozone economy is growing at its fastest rate for four-and-a-half-years, but is unlikely to be growing fast enough to deter policy makers from expanding the currency-bloc’s €1.1 trillion (£770bn) asset purchase programme, economists have said. Markit’s flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – compiled from a survey of businesses and released this morning – climbed [...]
How innovation can return UK manufacturing compete with China and return to the global stage November 23, 2015 Britain's manufacturing industry is suffering its worst decline in years, nevertheless this trend is far from terminal. There are many innovations being thought up in Britain that could help boost its performance internationally. Specifically, by encouraging collaboration amongst inventors and manufacturers in the UK, innovations can be developed on home soil, which would bring crucial [...]
UK house prices have reached an all-time high – but price growth is slowing in London November 23, 2015 UK house prices surged last month, taking the average cost of a home to an all-time high – but London is falling behind. The country's average rose by 1.9 per cent in October, taking the annual growth to 10.5 per cent. That means the national average cost of a house now stands at £224,242, according [...]
Switerland’s Alternative Bank Schweiz world’s first bank to apply negative interest rates to savers and charge them for deposits November 23, 2015 A small Swiss bank has caused a stir, after becoming the world's first financial institution to apply negative interest rates to individual clients. While a number central banks around the world have taken benchmark interest rates below the zero mark, individual savers had been shielded from this, meaning they weren't charged to keep cash in [...]
