How Brits are bringing home £1.3bn of bacon and stashing it in piggy banks, glass jars and “on the side” April 29, 2016 Brits are stashing more than £1bn in piggy banks, glass jars and "on the side", according to a new study. Virgin Money research suggests millions of UK adults currently use piggy banks. “On the side” stashes were the most preferred, with 16 per cent of those surveyed using this storage facility. Glass jars (12 per cent), [...]
How the UK led private equity buy-and-build activity to four-year high in 2015 April 28, 2016 European buy-and-build activity, where private equity firms acquire a company and merge it with a counterpart before selling the group on, reached its highest level since 2011 last year, according to a new report. Silverfleet Capital’s annual European Buy and Build Monitor tracks this add-on activity across the world. Over the course of the year, it tracked [...]
Finance directors living in fear of pension schemes, particularly following BHS collapse April 28, 2016 Tata Steel and BHS are not the only companies with problematic pensions, as research out today has found that many finance directors have concerns about their own firm's retirement vehicles. The study by Hymans Robertson discovered that one in seven finance directors believe their company's defined benefit (DB) pension is a major risk, while the Pensions Policy [...]
To the happy couple, on your expensive special day: a £5,897 loan April 28, 2016 Even those who don't usually cry at weddings will admit that the £151m worth of wedding loan applications received by one company between 2013 and 2015 is eye-watering. Freedom Finance also revealed today that it had received £8.6m in loan applications from happy couples looking to raise some extra cash for their special day in January and [...]
The death of Aim: Can equity crowdfunding eclipse the LSE’s junior market? April 28, 2016 The alternative finance market enjoyed near triple-digit growth last year, with the value of its loans, investments and donations hitting £3.2bn. Within this, the main sub-sectors of peer-to-peer lending and equity crowdfunding significantly increased awareness of the concept of lending directly to individuals – excluding those entities like the banks which have for too long dominated markets [...]
How alternative finance is making supply chain finance sexy – a Q&A with C2FO’s Colin Sharp April 28, 2016 The world of alternative finance is increasingly varied. There are property equity crowdfunding platforms, remittance firms with Wikipedia payment models. Specialist lending products are growing in popularity and some firms are looking at blockchain technology. Platform C2FO is focused on helping to bring liquidity to business supply chains. It gives companies visibility of their entire [...]
The increasing number of self-employed people is causing a real headache for pensions April 28, 2016 The recent trend towards self-employment could potentially create problems for pensions, a report out today warns. According to the research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), self-employment is now at its highest level for 40 years but less than a third (31 per cent) of those who are self-employed are saving into a private pension. Meanwhile, 15 [...]
Baroness Altmann tells MPs that UK pension system not as unfair as critics say April 27, 2016 The pensions minister has today told MPs that the UK's pensions system is not as unfair to younger generation as some critics have said it is. Speaking in front of the Work and Pensions Committee today, Baroness Ros Altmann cast doubt on the idea that today's retirees are living a life of luxury to the detriment [...]
Crowdfunding website offers new ways to invest in UK property development April 27, 2016 A new crowdfunding platform is offering investors the chance to buy a stake in potential housing development sites. Intro Crowd, launched today, offers the opportunity for investors to buy shares in companies owning the land plots for as little as £1,500. Gregory Baker, Intro Crowd’s chief executive, said: “The government has pledged to build one [...]
US Presidential Election 2016: Clinton vs Trump – whose economic policy is better for markets? April 27, 2016 It is a momentous time in terms of geopolitics. A plethora of major events with potentially significant investment consequences will take place this year. They range from the Brexit hurricane in the UK, to tectonic shifts in the oil economy abroad. Even ostensibly local conflagrations, such as political deadlock in Brazil, may impact wider markets. But [...]
