Small business owners have a critical role to play in talking about mental health and helping destigmatise it in the workplace, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Recent FSB research shows that one in five (19%) of small businesses say that they have recruited an individual with a mental health condition in the…
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The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has warned that the growth of new lending to already indebted firms, through leveraged-loans, has parallels to the subprime mortgage boom which ended with the global financial crisis in 2008. Minutes from the FPC’s latest meeting also reveal warnings over the rise in loans with weaker covenants…
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South Staffs Water and Rimilia have agreed on an artificial intelligence (AI) based credit management software partnership. South Staffs Water (incorporating Cambridge Water) supplies high-quality drinking water to around 1.6 million people in its two areas of supply. South Staffs Water supplies to approximately 1.3m people over 1,500 square km in the West Midlands, South…
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William Brooks, Managing Director at Eximus Capital, has been announced at the next Vice President of ICAEW and will take office from June 2019. Brooks completed his training in 1980 with Dearden Farrow. He then joined Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co (now KPMG) in 1981 where he stayed for five years, specialising in banking and…
Read moreConsumer confidence fell by three percentage points in the third quarter of 2018, down to -7% after the previous quarter’s record level of confidence, according to the latest Deloitte Consumer Tracker. The quarterly survey of 3,105 UK consumers, which took place between 21 and 29 September, recorded its first fall in consumer confidence since Q2…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed plans to extend access to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The changes will mean that SMEs with an annual turnover below £6.5m and fewer than 50 employees, or an annual balance sheet below £5m will now be able to refer unresolved…
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Sales across UK business rose by 1.5% in the last three months, the equivalent of £99.8bn, according to the latest figures from the Creditsafe Watchdog Report. This follows two consecutive quarters in the year to date of falling sales and rising company failures. The quarterly Watchdog report, which analyses financial data across 12* UK business…
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The Government has been urged to put £2 billion back into Universal Credit (UC) to boost the living standards of almost 10 million parents and children in working families in the Budget by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). JRF says its new analysis shows almost three million children are now locked in poverty despite living in…
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The number of complaints made by non-household customers about retailers to the Water Watchdog has fallen for the first time since the market opened. New figures show the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) received 766 complaints during the first quarter of 2018/19 – a 21 per cent reduction on the 968 received during the final…
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New research from Coface shows that Argentina and Turkey, two countries already hampered by major external imbalances and their dependency on external financing, are experiencing a deepening in their currency crises. Against a backdrop of rapidly tightening credit conditions, Coface has downgraded six of Argentina’s business sectors suffering from a severe downturn in economic activity…
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A third of the 1.1 million UK SMEs with EU suppliers would be unable to operate without imports from the bloc, according to the latest SME Confidence Tracker from independent financial services provider, Bibby Financial Services (BFS). The research news comes as a potential ‘no-deal’ Brexit threatens to disrupt trade between the UK and EU, and…
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People over the age of 45 who have failed to make debt repayments are three times more likely than under 25s to have a credit card balance not settled in full every month, according to the latest Arrow Global consumer research. Delving further into the findings on those who have failed to make debt repayments,…
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More than half (53%) of the medium-sized and large businesses in the UK use a bank for international payments potentially costing them more than £426 million a year in currency costs, according to foreign-exchange and treasury management specialist Centtrip. Centtrip’s survey of 500 medium-sized and large companies has revealed that on average each spent £978,000…
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