Draghi speech gets credit for bond yield dip August 5, 2014 MARIO Draghi’s famous “whatever it takes” speech and other market-soothing interventions had a major effect on the cost of servicing debt for some of the Eurozone’s struggling finance ministries, according to research released yesterday. A working paper from the European Central Bank (ECB) itself says that the announcements cut two percentage points from two-year Italian [...]
Osborne vows to make London world’s centre for finance tech August 5, 2014 Britain will offer prizes for finance technology innovators in a new bid to become the world’s leading centre for the sector, chancellor George Osborne will say today. The new drive will see UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) market the capital harder around the globe to attract more firms. And the Treasury, Bank of England and law [...]
Boris Johnson dismisses Uber as “excessively bumptious” August 5, 2014 London Mayor Boris Johnson has criticised the attitude of San-Fransico based firm Uber as "excessively bumptious." Johnson, speaking on LBC, added that he didn't like the way Uber were "moving into London and claiming they could take all this business away from black cabs." The company's rapid growth and penchant for innovation have clearly not conformed [...]
Osborne: HS3 rail link between Leeds and Manchester would make a northern powerhouse August 5, 2014 A high-speed rail connection between Leeds and Manchester would boost the northern economy, chancellor George Osborne has said. Speaking to the BBC Osborne said that a HS3 line would forge a "northern powerhouse," allowing the region to "take on the world." Such developments would come with a £7bn price tag, but the figure could fall if [...]
Francois Hollande calls on ECB to fight deflationary risk in Europe August 5, 2014 French president Francois Hollande has implored the European Central Bank (ECB) to do more to support growth and employment and combat a "real deflationary risk" in Europe. In an interview with LeMonde, Hollande argued that "weak inflation too has negative fiscal consequences on revenues as well as debt. A lot will depend on the level [...]
Juncker’s new EU financial services tsar would be disastrous for the City August 4, 2014 The prevailing winds of politics have not been kind to the City or the wider financial world of late. Politicians, often with one eye on the next election and tempted to kowtow to “banker bashing” sentiments, have paraded their credentials by legislating against the unruly financiers who “caused the financial crisis”. But if you think [...]
Meet the magical computing that puts the human into artificial intelligence August 3, 2014 Think Artificial Intelligence and the first thing that comes to mind is probably robots. Thanks to popular culture, AI is considered distinctly un-human, and can prompt people to worry about the role of technology in our daily lives and who is really in control. However, there’s a new wave of technology fighting to put the [...]
The UK should “not be frightened” of leaving the EU – Boris Johnson August 3, 2014 The UK must be prepared to leave the EU – this is the message Boris Johnson will give to David Cameron this week. The Mayor of London believes that the UK should "not be frightened" of the prospect of leaving the trading bloc and that financial conditions would be better outside the union. The Mayor [...]
Putin’s judo partner Arkady Rotenberg among Russians hit by EU sanctions July 31, 2014 Among those Russians hit by the EU's latest round of sanctions are President Vladimir Putin's judo partner Arkady Rotenberg, who is already on a US sanctions list. The European Commission has published the names of eight Russians and three companies that will have their assets frozen as a consequence of Kremlin's actions in eastern Ukraine. [...]
Boris Johnson reveals £1.3 trillion plan to fix London’s water shortages July 30, 2014 As London races towards a record population size of 8.6m people next year, topping its previous population record in 1939, it could face daily water shortages of up to 60m litres, according to the latest figures from Thames Water. By 2050, as London reaches an expected population of 11.3m people in the capital, its daily [...]