South Tyneside financial services firm Fairstone Group is toasting double-digit growth following a year in which it made 18 acquisitions. Consolidated accounts for the Boldon company, which now employs more than 1,000 people across 40 bases, show a 22% increase in revenue in 2021, up to £84.8m, as well as a 21% increase in funds under management to £13bn. It also reported a 19% increase in...
The South West exported nearly £5bn of financial and professional services to Europe and the wider world in 2020 – up by a quarter over the last decade – a new report has revealed. The study from TheCityUK said the region accounted for 3.8% of the UK’s total financial services exports. The most financial services exports were from the Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath-Bristol...
A Hull company which helps businesses reduce their energy bills has secured significant backing to help it scale up to meet escalating demand. Spiralling costs have seen River Business Services Group called upon at an unprecedented rate, with the 10-strong team set to grow to 16 to handle the increasing trade. Launched five years ago by brothers Ashley and Guy Hunter, it provides gas and...
UK borrowers can expect to face higher interest rates as a result of the Truss government’s tax and spending decisions during its six weeks in power, the governor of the Bank of England has warned. Despite the U-turn on corporation tax on Friday that saw the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor, Andrew Bailey said the extra stimulus provided in last month’s mini-budget would add to inflation...
Covid-zero policies and the housing market crisis have put China’s economic growth behind the rest of the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in more than 30 years, according to World Bank forecasts. In a biannual report released on Tuesday, the US-based institution said the annual growth outlook for East Asia and the Pacific region had been downgraded from 5% to 3.2%. However much of that...
The compensation banks and other financial institutions will pay as a result of their wrongdoing towards customers will reach $7.2bn, the corporate regulator says. The deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Karen Chester, said the regulator wanted to stop its hands-on involvement in remediation schemes – a program that’s been under way since the mid-2010s, when...
A senior Bank of England official has warned “significant” increases in interest rates will have to be imposed by the central bank in response to tax cuts put forward by Kwasi Kwarteng in his mini-budget. The Bank’s chief economist, Huw Pill, said the chancellor’s planned tax cuts would act as a stimulus and increase inflationary pressures, with the result that interest rates would need to go...
The first signs of friction between Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng over how to deal with the big fall in the pound have emerged, after the pair met in No 10 to thrash out how to respond on Monday. Downing Street rebuffed talk of a split between No 10 and No 11 over how to deal with the market reaction to the mini-budget, and denied that there was a row. However, Whitehall sources said there was...
Kwasi Kwarteng has insisted in a meeting with Britain’s top City bosses on Tuesday that the government’s economic strategy “will work”, despite a market meltdown that sent sterling to record lows a day earlier. The chancellor issued the assurances during a planned meeting with asset managers, pension funds and insurers from big firms, including Aviva, Legal and General, Royal London, BlackRock...
Britain’s cost of borrowing on international money markets has jumped above the rates paid by Greece and Italy as traders priced in a higher risk of default on UK government debt. After frantic selling since Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last Friday, the five-year UK government bonds suffered a dramatic fall in value, which had the effect of doubling the interest rate on the debt since August. The...