50p rate taxpayers should utilise their fleeting allowance March 21, 2012 BUDGETS are rarely driven by economic sense. More often than not politics triumphs over clarity. And the coalition, like all previous governments, tried to manage expectations – threatening in the lead up to yesterday to tinker with the rules on additional rate taxpayers’ relief on pensions, only to leave the rules unchanged. As such, no [...]
London will be hit hardest by levy increase March 21, 2012 IN YESTERDAY’S budget, chancellor George Osborne increased the stamp duty land tax rate to 7 per cent for residential properties over £2m as well as introducing a stamp duty land tax of 15 per cent for residential properties worth more than £2m purchased by companies and other entities. As Paul Emery, PwC tax director, points [...]
Compliance isn’t the easy path to fortune March 21, 2012 A RECENT Thomson Reuters survey of 500 compliance officers at financial services firms emphasised two things about the extraordinary growth in the importance of the profession in today’s job market. Firstly, it showed how lucrative compliance roles have become – 70 per cent expected the cost of senior compliance staff to be higher in 2012. [...]
MBA alumni networks can boost your career March 21, 2012 FOLLOWING a Masters of Business degree (MBA), graduates might be forgiven for forgetting their school and forging headlong into the workplace. The promises made for MBA study are career progression and increased earnings and students will want to take their new skills directly into a job and see rapid return from their significant financial investment. [...]
London is at the global heart of MBA learning March 21, 2012 QS TOP MBA TODAY, many consider London to be the European home of the MBA. But it was only in 1965 that London Business School first offered the degree in the city. Now the location of such well-regarded business schools as Imperial College, Cass Business School and London Business School, London can also boast good [...]
FTSE SUFFERS BIGGEST FALL IN TWO WEEKS March 20, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index suffered its sharpest fall in two weeks yesterday, as concerns over materials demand in top consumer China hit commodities-linked sectors, marring a rally that had been part-driven by hopes for improving global growth. The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed down 69.7 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 5,891.41, having rallied more [...]
CHINA SENDS WALL ST DOWN March 20, 2012 A warning about China’s growth sparked selling in energy and industrial shares yesterday, but the broad market’s losses were contained, a sign of resilience for US stocks. The S&P energy index fell 1.4 per cent and ranked as the worst performer among the S&P 500 sectors. Global mining giant BHP Billiton said it saw signs [...]
Predicting post-budget direction for sterling March 20, 2012 IG MARKETS CHRIS BEAUCHAMP Given that the Chancellor has engaged in the now obligatory routine of leaking almost the entire Budget ahead of the actual speech, there seems little chance of much excitement for sterling. A slight increase in UK growth forecasts from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility will be welcome news, but Osborne remains [...]
AUSSIE DOLLAR CAUGHT IN A TUG-OF-WAR March 20, 2012 FINANCIAL FEATURES WRITER GIVEN its usual position as a proxy for risk and its draw as a high-yielding currency in a sea of near-zero yields, the Aussie dollar ought to be surging against its pairs. A tug-of-war is ongoing between carry trade demand for yield and European economic weakness on the one side and a [...]