New Year’s Resolutions for the world’s biggest economies January 5, 2016 Here we are – the start of a New Year and 365 fresh new pages to write. These are exciting times for most of us, but I bet in the first few days of 2016 there are already those suffering from pangs of guilt. Yes I’m talking about those New Year’s resolutions: binary promises which [...]
CES 2016: General Motors is investing $500m in Uber rival Lyft and is making driverless car plans January 4, 2016 The US carmaker General Motors has revealed it is investing $500m (£339m) in Lyft, a cab-hailing app which rivals Uber, with plans to work on the development of driverless cars together. That investment also comes with a seat on the board. “We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous. With GM and Lyft working [...]
UK pensions: Defined benefit pension schemes deficit edging downwards in private sector companies January 4, 2016 UK private companies have marginally narrowed the deficit they are running on their defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. Figures from JLT Employee Benefits show that, at 31 December 2015, funding for DB pensions in all UK private sector pension schemes stood at a £228bn deficit. By comparison, at 31 December 2014, the deficit was £248bn. [...]
2015 in review: The best crowdfunded projects, gadgets, investments and companies of the year include beer, burritos, gifs and Greece December 31, 2015 2015 was the year that crowdfunding really took off. Whether it was serious equity funding for a slice of the business or a kickstarter for the latest gadget giving people a reward in return, there were plenty of options. Here, we’ve rounded up some of our favourites this year, including beer, burritos, gifs and more. 1. The [...]
Funding Circle’s lending has just surpassed £1bn December 29, 2015 UK fintech unicorn Funding Circle has surpassed the milestone of lending £1bn to thousands of small businesses across the UK. The peer-to-peer lender, now the third biggest in the UK for small business loans, racked up £500m in loans this year, bringing the total lent since it started in 2010 to more than £1bn. More than 40,000 investors [...]
Need funding? Alternative finance providers more than twice as likely as banks to approve small businesses loans December 27, 2015 Small businesses are more than twice as likely to get their loans approved through alternative finance than traditional banks, a fresh report has found. Over four in five, 82 per cent, of small businesses that went to alt fi providers got their funding approved, according to research from finance supermarket Funding Options. Banks, meanwhile, only [...]
Pension tax relief changes are forcing employers to rethinking how they reward their higher earners December 23, 2015 A third of companies have gone back to the drawing table over how they reward their higher earners, as new restrictions slash the amount people can put into a pension pot tax free. Research released today by professional services firm PwC found that changes to the annual allowance for higher earners, which are due to come [...]
On demand beauty service Milk Beauty raises more than £225,000 on Seedrs crowdfund December 22, 2015 Hackney-based Milk Beauty, the start-up which comes to your home or office to provide beauty treatments on demand, has raised £225,983 in the first 10 days of its crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Milk has reached 75 per cent of its investment target of £300,000, for which it is offering an 18.76 per cent stake in [...]
The great liquidity squeeze: How to get SMEs to market December 17, 2015 Asset Match’s Stuart Lucas explains why investors must put pressure on firms when it comes to exit plans. Investors in private businesses – whether they are angels, high net worth individuals, institutions or even sophisticated retail investors – are always, ultimately, looking towards the potential payout that an exit (traditionally an IPO or trade [...]
UK Pensions: ICAEW warns that the secondary annuity market could leave pensioners worse off December 16, 2015 The government's newly-unveiled secondary annuity market may only benefit a handful of people and could leave many pensioners worse off, an industry body for accountants has warned today. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) also cautioned that the plans, which were announced by the Treasury yesterday, were likely to be expensive to implement. John [...]