Budget 2016 predictions: What to watch out for in chancellor George Osborne’s red box today March 16, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne will unveil his spending plans in the annual Budget to Parliament in the House of Commons at 12.30pm today. What we already know… A fresh round of government spending cuts Osborne warned over the weekend that a slowdown in global growth would lead to further fiscal tightening, saying he would use the Budget to slash 50p [...]
Budget 2016: Chancellor George Osborne says all schools will need to convert to academies and pledges extra funding for longer school hours March 16, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne will wade into the education debate today, using the Budget to push for longer school days, giving schools across England the chance to bid for new funding to provide at least five extra hours per week of lessons or other activities. In a controversial move that has already been criticised by the [...]
Barclays gives top bosses, including new chief executive Jes Staley, £8.7m in shares March 15, 2016 Barclays revealed today that it slashed the value of shares awarded to its top bosses this year following a drop-off in share price, handing new chief executive Jes Staley and others stock worth £8.7m – nearly half of the £16.4m announced in March of last year. Barclays said the total number of shares awarded to directors and senior executives today was [...]
London airport expansion: Heathrow Airport appoints four contractors for third runway despite no green light from government March 15, 2016 Heathrow Airport has hired four contractors to work on plans to build a third runway at the west London airport, despite a lack of approval from the government. Heathrow said today that Arup, CH2M, MACE and Turner & Townsend had been chosen to work on the expansion project. "I'm delighted that our client partners are now [...]
Berenberg warns investors should be underweight Britain’s big banks, including Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) March 15, 2016 Analysts at Berenberg have said investors should be wary of Britain’s big banks, amid expectations that mortgage profitability will fall below 10 per cent. “We think interest rates will remain at low levels and, as a result, expect mortgage margins to fall by six basis points per year,” Berenberg’s banks team said in a note [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is cutting nearly 500 jobs in its investment banking business March 15, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland is getting rid of nearly 450 jobs in its investment banking business as part of a radical restructuring plan intended to cut costs and streamline the state-backed bank. RBS informed staff today that it is slashing 448 office and middle-office positions from its corporate and institutional bank in an effort to shrink [...]
Societe Generale confirms it is buying Kleinwort Benson in an effort to boost UK private banking business March 15, 2016 Societe Generale has announced that it is buying the British and Channel Islands wealth management businesses of Kleinwort Benson. SocGen, one of France's biggest banks, revealed this morning that it had signed a share purchase agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Kleinwort Benson from the Oddo Group, another French financial services company. The acquisition is still [...]
EU referendum: New poll shows more people likely to vote Leave as Andy Burnham says he would bet on Brexit March 15, 2016 A new poll out today has given a boost to Brexit campaigners, finding that people are more likely to vote for Britain to leave the European Union than remain. Forty-nine per cent of people polled by ORB for the Telegraph said they would vote for the UK to leave the EU, compared to 47 per cent who [...]
EU referendum: Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says 80 per cent of members want UK to remain in EU March 15, 2016 Four in five Confederation of British Industry (CBI) members say remaining in the European Union is in the best interests of their businesses, according to new figures out today. The CBI, which has been criticised by eurosceptic groups for its previous pro-EU comments, polled more than 700 small, medium and large firms across the UK, [...]
Budget 2016: Chancellor George Osborne throws weight behind Crossrail 2 and HS3 with more than £300m in transport spending March 15, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne will throw his weight behind Crossrail 2 and the HS3 rail project between Leeds and Manchester when he delivers the 2016 Budget tomorrow. Osborne will use the Budget to commit to more than £300m in new infrastructure spending, including £80m to fund the development of plans for Crossrail 2 and £60m to [...]
