City veteran Michael Spencer invests millions into a biometric fintech startup June 29, 2018 Founder of NEX Group and serial entrepreneur Michael Spencer has led a $16.5m series B fundraising round into a biometric fintech startup called Veridium. A leader in user authentication through biometric technology like fingerprint and face scanning, Veridium's round was accompanied by additional investment from Citrix Systems and financial services investor Michael Powell. "In today’s [...]
Trading places: Monzo co-founder takes a back seat to make way for a new CTO as international expansion plans get put on the backburner June 28, 2018 Monzo co-founder and soon-to-be former chief technology officer Jonas Huckestein is making way for a new kid on the block, as business printing house Moo’s CTO Meri Williams joins the team. Speaking to Morning Wire ahead of the announcement, Williams explained that while there’s nothing at Monzo she wants to change or do differently, she’s [...]
Funny thing about those inflation fears June 27, 2018 | City Talk Inflation! A topic that is commonly on everyone’s mind. In February 2018, pundits shrieked rising wages meant that the world economy was overheating. Rising interest rates to come! Analysts blamed price fears for stocks’ decline. Yet one month later, when new data showed no inflation spike, no one cared. Weird! But typical of corrections. Volatility [...]
City Moves for 26 June 2018 – who’s switching jobs at Shop Direct, Eversheds Sutherland and Blippar? June 26, 2018 Today's City Moves cover retail, legal eagles and tech. Take a look at these movers and shakers: Shop Direct Shop Direct, the UK’s second largest pureplay digital retailer, has appointed Emma Alexander as fashion director, heading up its branded and own brand clothing and footwear offerings. She will report to group product director and executive [...]
Is the high street really doomed? June 26, 2018 | City Talk UK high street retailers have endured a torrid time over the last few years. A slew of store closures, job losses and administrations don’t make for pretty headlines, and illustrate just how difficult it is for those looking to invest in the retail sector. Discount retailer Poundworld followed electronics firm Maplin and toy retailer Toys [...]
Company directors could face fines or jail time for flouting pension rules June 26, 2018 Unscrupulous directors who play fast and loose with their company pension scheme could face time in prison and unlimited fines under new measures tabled by the government today. A consultation was launched today by minister for pensions and financial inclusion guy Opperman which will impose harsher penalties for directors who deliberately or recklessly put funds [...]
New crypto platform with ex London Stock Exchange strategy chief on board aims for institutional investors June 26, 2018 A new trading platform for cryptocurrencies targeted at institutional investors will launch today in London with a former top executive at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on its board. Archax will aim to operate “in a regulated manner” – in an as yet unregulated space – in a bid to attract big investors who have [...]
Transferwise announces partnership with UK challenger bank Monzo on international money transfer June 25, 2018 Challenger bank Monzo has announced a partnership with fintech unicorn Transferwise on international payments. It marks the second big tie-up for Transferwise in recent weeks, after confirming it was working with France's second largest bank BPCE Groupe. Today, the companies said the partnership will mean Monzo customers can make international payments after the challenger bank [...]
Will active management fight back? June 25, 2018 | City Talk In contrast to ‘passive’ fund or trackers, which aim to replicate the performance of an index, ‘active’ funds employ fund managers to try and select the best performing investments. There are pros and cons for both methods. Passives are cheaper, sometimes substantially so, but they also won’t outperform the index they are following. Meanwhile, finding [...]
Wine over matter: TV wine expert Amelia Singer on working with Jamie Oliver and binge-drinking Brits June 25, 2018 “I wasn’t going to start with this statement, but hey why not – I’m all about cross-dressing when it comes to wine,” says Amelia Singer, with a glint in her eye. What she means is that wine is best served with life’s other great enhancers – like art, music, and food. That might sound obvious [...]
