The Big Bang 30 years on: How Canada has changed since 1986 October 26, 2016 Nothing stands still in the City. The world's financial services powerhouse has seen it all, from boom and bust to bouncebacks and Brexit. Its skyline has changed almost beyond recognition over the last three decades, as have the markets it serves. As we mark the 30th anniversary of the so-called Big Bang, we cannot help [...]
Travel money exchange disruptor WeSwap launches crowdfunding campaign October 26, 2016 P2P travel money exchange disruptor WeSwap today launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. WeSwap has reported growth of 204 per cent in the last year, welcoming more than 200,000 users. It has a fundraising target of £1m to accelerate development on the platform and expand into new markets. Read more: Who's responsible for greater transparency in equity [...]
New Aim floater Van Elle holds Elite status for London Stock Exchange Group October 26, 2016 The London Stock Exchange no doubt treasures all of its newly floating companies. But the successful listing of Van Elle on the junior market today held particular significance. The Nottingham-based geotechnical, piling and foundation company is the first UK member of the London Stock Exchange Group’s international business support programme, Elite, to have gone public. Read [...]
Brexit will be fast and smooth says WTO boss Roberto Azevedo October 26, 2016 UK's transition out of the European Union will be fast and smooth and there will be no disruption to trade, the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said today. Roberto Azevedo vowed that the UK would not face a vacuum or a disruption when it leaves the bloc and it would continue to be [...]
Living wage boost secures inflation-busting pay rises October 26, 2016 Pay packets grew for only the second time since the financial crisis last year, as low-paid workers earned a bumper pay boost as a result of the new national living wage (NLW). Across the UK, pay rose by 2.2 per cent in the year to April 2016, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this [...]
Get your dollars for next summer now: Sterling could fall further if hard Brexit continues October 26, 2016 The pound may have already fallen to a 31-year low against the dollar but there is a risk it could continue to drop if concerns over the government's plans for Brexit carry on. New analysis from UBS suggested that if the economy begins to recover from the shock of Brexit, sterling could improve against the [...]
Convaterrifying: £4.4bn-valued medical products firm expected to float on Halloween October 26, 2016 Medical products firm Convatec has today priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 225p per share and expects to float on Halloween. The deal, which will see 33.8 per cent of the company’s shares list on the London Stock Exchange, raising £1.5bn, values the company at £4.4bn. Conditional dealings in the shares commenced today at [...]
Labour’s City man gets real over green belt October 26, 2016 Building in Britain is not always easy, as the debacle over airport expansion shows. The government satisfied business groups yesterday by revealing its intention to allow a third runway at Heathrow – but even though Theresa May has acted reasonably quickly, the verdict follows years of dawdling, and arrives nearly half a century after Harold Wilson [...]
Why everyone called Brexit wrong: Analysts have become too close to the elites they’re meant to analyse October 26, 2016 I have long held heretical views about political risk analysis, which cluster around what I call the “plumber’s test”. However bejeweled or slick at marketing a political risk firm may be, what matters in the end is that they are analytically correct. Just as I don’t invite back my local plumber if he fails to [...]
Thirty years since Big Bang: The deregulation of the London Stock Exchange democratised investing October 26, 2016 Thirty years have passed since Canada was radically recast by a package of Thatcherite reforms, known as Big Bang. These saw the privatisation of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), allowed outside companies – not just individuals – to become members, and ushered in the automatic quotation of share prices. The product of [...]
