BDO partner Gary Hanson how best to tighten up the crowdfunding sector October 14, 2015 What is it like to be in professional services and working with an incredibly fast-growth sector? In 2014, UK peer-to-peer and crowdfunding platforms made £1.74bn available to firms and individuals, with growth of 168 per cent in Britain and 144 per cent across Europe. This year, those volumes will likely have doubled. Accountancy [...]
Crowd2Fund launches Exchange, a secondary market for trading crowdfunding investments October 14, 2015 City investors are getting an exchange to trade crowdfunded investments, as a crowdfunding marketplace launches today. Crowdfunding platform Crowd2Fund is opening “The Exchange”, where investors will be able to sell off debt and equity investments and access their capital. It'll join the likes of InvestDen, which has also opened a secondary market for investments made [...]
How to make smarter crowdfunding investments? Crowdrating wants to solve that puzzle October 14, 2015 Crowdfunding is booming. But for investors, choosing where to place your money can feel like a minefield. A so-called agency is launching today, with the aim of helping investors make decisions hopes to change that, by giving all crowdfunding campaigns a rating of “gold”, “silver” or “bronze”. Crowdfunding campaigns grew by a staggering 420 per [...]
Why public sector pensions need a radical overhaul October 14, 2015 A fortnight ago, I delivered a call to arms to the Government, detailing the need for immediate action to address the parlous state of UK public pensions. The estimated total shortfall is a staggering £1.7 trillion, across funded and unfunded public sector schemes. This exceeds UK GDP. On the basis of a 2012 ONS study, [...]
Pension freedoms: Six months on, savers still held up by four-week wait to access lump sums October 13, 2015 Retirees hoping to make use of the new pensions freedoms are being held up for weeks by admin hurdles, research has found. Since April this year, anyone over the age of 55 has been able to take some – or even all – of their pension as a lump sum. The new rules wiped [...]
Blockchain platform Setl hits one billion daily transactions – 1,000 times faster than Bitcoin’s blockchain October 13, 2015 Blockchain platform Setl claims to be capable of processing one billion transactions per day – matching every electronic payment made globally. Scaling up to this extent makes blockchain an even more attractive rival to traditional financial systems, as the booming fintech sector is increasingly seen not just as a viable but a cheaper alternative. The company [...]
Jupiter Fund Management draws in new assets despite difficult market conditions October 12, 2015 Jupiter Fund Management reported that its assets under management (AUM) were up five per cent in the last nine months, despite AUM falling by over £800m during the previous quarter. The FTSE 250-listed financial services sector firm saw net inflows slow from £498m in the second quarter to £77m in the third, combining with a [...]
Lack of funding for small businesses could cost the UK up to £2.9bn October 12, 2015 The UK’s small businesses are being stymied by a lack of funding, which is holding the UK's economy back. A lack of funding from high street banks since the recession, has slowed small business growth and could have cost the UK economy as much as £2.9bn of potential turnover in the last five years from SMEs, according [...]
Nick Hewer on Uber, Jack Whitehall, true entrepreneurship and the dream of a Labour Party coup October 11, 2015 I’m very wobbly. I feel homeless – it’s a huge hole,” says Nick Hewer who, after nine years and 10 series as Alan Sugar’s right-hand man, has left The Apprentice. But the 71 year-old businessman isn’t talking about leaving the show; he’s describing what it feels like to have voted Labour since 1964 and now [...]
Don’t overlook the blossoming UK mid-market – Investec Comment October 11, 2015 Germany's Mittelstand is a point of national pride, but Britain’s mid-market companies are often unfairly overlooked. While the largest firms gain attention by virtue of their size, and smaller businesses are regularly prioritised by government, mid-sized companies – broadly, those with an annual turnover of between £10m and £200m – don’t get the attention they [...]
