The UK Economy

Security provider faces total losses of over £88m following compensation deal. The London 2012 security contractor, G4S, has announced that it is reached a deal with Olympic organisers Locog after it failed to supply enough guards to fulfil its contract. G4S will now face £70m worth of losses, £20m more than had been expected. Commenting […]

Bank axes 3,700 following the announcement of fall in pre-tax profits. UK banking giant Barclays has announced it is axing 3,700 jobs following the announcement its pre-tax profits fell to £246m in 2012. The job losses were announced as part of a strategic review published the bank, which had achieved pre-tax profits of £5.9bn in […]

January’s consumer inflation rate remains stable. The UK’s Consumer price inflation, CPI, remained unchanged at 2.7% in January 2013. The fourth month in a row that the inflation rate remained stable, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that January saw alcohol and tobacco costs rising but were mitigated by falling clothing and footwear […]

The British economy is off to a “shaky start” in 2013 as businesses around the country became even more pessimistic of the plight of the economy in the next six months, according to a survey conducted by accountancy firm BDO. In a report published earlier today, BDO Optimistic Index continued to fall and reached a […]

Sterling rises as Mark Carney answers questions to UK Parliament. Incoming Bank of England Governor Mark Carney says “flexible inflation targeting” has “proven itself to be the most effective monetary policy”. Answering questions from the UK’s Parliamentary Treasury Select committee Mr Carney said “In my view, flexible inflation targeting, as practiced in both Canada and […]

CEO Ian Gorham explained that investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown has benefited, at least in part, from the dubious schemes of the London banks.  He boldly said that the company’s six month results “demonstrate that a reputable company can, even in this climate, add genuine benefit to the UK economy and public, whilst paying its taxes […]

Option to issue RBS sharesto UK citizens remains “open”. Vince Cable, the UK’s Business Secretary, has argued that government-held Royal Bank of Scotland shares could be divided amongst UK citizens. Speaking in an interview with the BBC Dr Cable said whilst there was “no immediate prospect” of the troubled bank returning to the private sector […]

Centrica has pulled out of plans to build the first in a new wave of UK nuclear power plants. The UK government’s energy plans have been put into doubt following a decision by energy giant Centrica to pull out of plans to build the first in a new wave of nuclear power plants. Arguing that […]

A week before it releases its full year results for 2012, Barclays plc (LSE:BARC) announced it has set aside an additional £1 billion to cover for the bank’s redress over mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) and interest rate hedging products sold to small and medium-size enterprises, UK’s second largest bank said on Tuesday. The bank, […]

Chancellor George Osborne introduced his Banking Reform Bill to Parliament today, but not before giving the public a good look at it in a speech this morning at JP Morgan in Bournemouth. In this writers opinion, the changes put forth can come none too soon.  We often refer to the 2007 banking crisis. It’s been […]