Euribor rigging trial: £1m bail requested for Christian Bittar as six of 11 ex-traders accused appear in court January 11, 2016 Former Deutsche Bank employee Christian Bittar, who appeared in court today over accusations regarding the manipulation of the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), has been ordered to pay bail security of £1m. Bittar, who was represented by David Cameron's brother Alexander Cameron QC and will turn 44 years old tomorrow, was one of the six ex-traders who attended Westminster Magistrates’ [...]
How you can live in a £3m London mansion for free: SpareRoom founder Rupert Hunt’s lucky flatmates will pay only what they can afford for rent January 11, 2016 One property entrepreneur is giving someone the opportunity to live in a £3m mansion in the heart of the city – for free. Rupert Hunt, the founder of letting website SpareRoom, is looking for a new flatmate for his swanky pad in Spitalfields which boasts six bedrooms over five floors and grade two listed status, but is making it [...]
London house prices: Rethinking high rise estate regeneration could create 360,000 more new homes January 11, 2016 We may have been doing regeneration wrong this whole time. There's a much better way to redevelop London's high rise housing estates that would increase the number of homes in the capital by several hundred thousand, a new report has found – all but solving the housing crisis. More than a quarter of a million extra homes [...]
Lin Homer steps down as HMRC chief executive and the search for her successor is underway January 11, 2016 Lin Homer has announced today that she will be stepping down as chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in April, after joining just over four years ago. Homer said: "After ten years as a chief executive and permanent secretary in the Civil Service, the start of the next Spending Review period seemed to be [...]
Brent and US crude: Oil prices fall amid anxiety over China’s economic slowdown January 11, 2016 Oil prices careered lower today, as anxiety over the pace of China's economic slowdown dented the outlook for demand. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 2.7 per cent to $32.63 per barrel today, while West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, slumped 2.1 per cent at $32.47. It comes after oil prices shed around 10 per cent [...]
Another bloodbath on Chinese markets as shares finish lower after weak inflation data January 11, 2016 Shares on Chinese markets fell again today, with the Shanghai Composite falling 5.33 per cent, while the Shenzhen Composite finished 6.6 per cent lower, after weak inflation data from over the weekend. That pushed Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 2.47 per cent, closing at 19,949 points – the first time it has fallen below 20,000 since 2013. [...]
UK Weather: Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank have already cost insurers £24m, with the total bill looking like it could be £1.3bn January 11, 2016 Insurers have already forked out nearly £24m in emergency payments to deal with the aftermath of storms Desmond, Eva and Frank. Statistics released today by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which is a trade association for insurers and represents over 250 companies, revealed that these emergency payments comprised of £9m to domestic customers and £15m [...]
Smaller businesses are less optimistic on growth January 11, 2016 Confidence among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has dropped, according to new survey figures published this morning. Of over 1000 SMEs surveyed by Bibby Financial Services (BFS), 36 per cent said they expected to grow in the first three months of 2016. It compares with 46.4 per cent who expected growth in the last release [...]
London house prices: First-time buyers pay £91,000 deposit as fewer get on the property ladder in 2015, according to Halifax January 11, 2016 First-time home buyers needed an average deposit of £91,409 to buy a house in the capital last year, according to figures from a major British lender. The figures, published this morning by Halifax, showed London deposits were nearly three times the national average at £32,927. The deposits paid by first-time buyers nationally rose 13 per [...]
London leads the UK’s economic expansion January 11, 2016 London's economic growth is outpacing the rest of the UK, according to new survey figures published this morning. Lloyds Bank’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – compiled from a survey of businesses – scored 56.9 for the capital. Scores above 50 signal growth. The second and third fastest growing regions were the East and South East while the [...]