Jun 01
The Bank of England has published the list of businesses which have received a taxpayer-funded bailout under the UK Government’s Coronavirus Corporate Finance Facility (CCFF).I’m not being judgemental. The scale of the economic impact of COVID19 is devastating.
May 30
Metro Bank, one of the UK challenger banks, has just announced a deal to lend customer deposits through Zopa, one of the UK’s biggest peer-to-peer platforms. This is a significant in a number of reasonss. It is both the first British bank to lend through a peer-to-peer platform, and a major collaboration of challenger bank with …
May 21
As five of the world’s largest banks pay fines totalling $5.7bn (£3.6bn) for manipulating the foreign exchange market it seems a good point to look at some underlying problems in the financial markets. Firstly let’s be clear: I am not looking to exonerate the Banks involved. They have been deservedly punished for their crimes. And …
Mar 14
2014 started with some good news for the British Car Industry and for Vehicle Finance. The latest figures announced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that car production rose 3.1% in 2013, surpassing 1.5 million units. This is the highest volume since 2007, and is a positive sign that the UK economy …
Feb 14
“If you want a friend on Wall Street, get a dog,” quipped Gordon Gekko, the cold-hearted protagonist of the film “Wall Street”. Now it seems that if you want a bank on the High street, then get a dog. Metro Bank “understand how important man’s best friend is to our dog-loving customers so we actively …
Jun 01
The Back Office can party as well as any Sales Team. But at a gathering at the end of last year of Leasing Operations and Accounting folk, the festive spirit concealed dark problems and challenges to be faced in 2013. I carried out a straw poll and somewhere between a third and a half of …
May 20
Update May 2013: Since the publication of this article in December 2010, there have been significant delays to the re-drafting of the Lease Accounting Standards ED1. The Re-Exposure Draft was finally published in May 2013 and, as expected, that it still contains significant changes for both Lessees and Lessors, including many of the issues discussed in this article. Will IT …
May 11
For Vehicle Finance, 2013 started quickly with the news on 2nd January that ZipCar, the world’s largest car-sharing network, had been acquired by Avis Budget Group for nearly $500m. At first this would not seem to be of that much immediate impact to funders, but it is a significant step for the whole car industry, …
Mar 08
After peer to peer lending this Economist leader points out the next big thing could be sharing. You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast, owning a timeshare or participating in a car pool. But technology has reduced transaction costs, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever—and therefore possible on a …
Feb 18
Amira was not well served by banks. In fact she lives thirty miles from the nearest bank. She didn’t have any money either, since her husband died five years ago. A man came to Amira’s village from an agency offering micro loans to help people buy chickens or anything that would provide villagers with alternative …