City AM

City A.M.'s Life & Style Editor Steve Dinneen says he won’t be queuing for Oasis tickets on Saturday. Read his piece here 👇 https://lnkd.in/ev7gdgjj We want to know what our readers think!

City figures have sounded the alarm over the Prime Minister’s warning of a “painful” Budget this autumn, urging him not to “punish risk takers” and warning against “taxing wealth creators”. Sir Keir Starmer delivered his first major address from the No10 Rose Garden on Tuesday as he cautioned that the state of the public finances is “worse than we ever imagined”, ahead of what he claimed would be a “short-term pain for long-term good” fiscal statement in late October. Square Mile voices have stressed that if the Prime Minister and Chancellor increase taxes on wealth or capital gains they risk discouraging entrepreneurs and limiting “wealth creation” – something Starmer maintains is his government’s “number one priority”. ✍️ Jessica Frank-Keyes Continue reading 👇 https://lnkd.in/ewJquv_u

The UK could be missing out on billions in tax revenue from crypto investors, which is currently going unreported. As Norwegian tax returns are public, recent research from Norway was able to find that 88 per cent of all Norwegian crypto investors fail to declare their holdings. While each investor owed on average between $200 and $1,087, with six per cent of Norway’s population holding crypto, this adds up to a staggering amount: Between £38m and £200m. “In other words, while a large number of crypto investors fail to declare their cryptos, each owes a modest amount of taxes,” said the researchers. ✍️ Elliot Gulliver-Needham Read the full story here 👇 https://lnkd.in/e66S5T3z

Totally Wicked was established with a simple goal: to convert as many smokers as possible into vapers in order to 'improve their health'. This mission has led the Lancashire-headquartered company to become one of the largest names in the industry and a major employer across the country. In this episode of Boardroom Uncovered, City A.M.'s UK editor Jon Robinson sits with the group's boss Marcus Saxton to find out if Totally Wicked can really stick to its claim to be a healthier alternative given the negative headlines that vaping has generated over recent years. Watch the full interview here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eVMK8wfV

Interest rates are coming down – but how low will they go? There will be multiple debates over the next few months about how fast and how far interest rates should be cut, but lurking behind many of these debates will be the blurry concept of R*, or the neutral rate of interest. R* is the interest rate at which an economy operates at full capacity with a steady rate of inflation. It is the Goldilocks interest rate. Since the pandemic, however, most estimates suggest that R* has increased. At first glance, this seems a little odd. After all, why would the pandemic have sent these long-term trends into reverse? Populations are still ageing and productivity growth is still slow. ✍️ Christopher Dorrell Continue reading 👇 https://lnkd.in/edUaDVXH

A major pension scheme adviser has calculated that listed firms with defined benefit pension funds could miss out on £125bn by making increasingly popular buy-out or buy-in deals with insurers. Barnett Waddingham said employers should consider running on these traditional schemes rather than handing them over to insurers, given that funding levels have improved so much. It calculated £125bn in lost value based on the scenario that insurers took on all schemes currently sponsored by FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 firms at prevailing market prices for pension risk transfer deals. ✍️ Lars Mucklejohn Continue reading 👇 https://lnkd.in/etZXwMNY

Shop prices fell into deflation for the first time in nearly three years, new figures show, as rate-setters grow increasingly confident that the risks of persistent inflation are fading. Prices in the retail sector fell 0.3 per cent in the 12 months to August, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen IQ, down from an increase of 0.2 per cent last month. The overall index was pulled down by non-food prices, which fell further into deflation in August. ✍️ Christopher Dorrell Continue reading👇 https://lnkd.in/eraX28FB

Recruitment for London finance jobs is expected to stage a “slight recovery” under the new Labour government, according to new research, following a slump in June ahead of the general election. There were 6,093 published vacancies across London’s financial sector from April to June, down 4.9 per cent from the same period in 2023, according to a report by recruiter Morgan McKinley and data firm Vacancysoft. Still, the figures showed July was a record month for job postings after the general election. The report said the instalment of the new Labour government could help “translate into the sector starting to pick up once more”. ✍️ Lars Mucklejohn Continue reading 👇 https://lnkd.in/e_5-vTnu

The UK government has awarded KPMG a contract worth up to £223m to train civil servants despite promising to slash the amount the state spends on external consultants. The 14-month deal with the Cabinet Office, which is understood to be the second-largest public sector contract ever won by KPMG, will see the firm manage learning and development services across the civil service. This includes overseeing courses on policymaking, communications and career development, as well as training for assessed or accredited qualifications delivered by universities, business schools and specialist providers. A government spokesperson said the KPMG contract was agreed before the general election in July. ✍️ Lars Mucklejohn Read the full story 👇 https://lnkd.in/e-MHRVh5

OPINION || SME house builders need to attract young talent more than ever, but the inflexible Apprenticeship Levy is standing in the way, says Rowland Thomas. The new Labour Government’s pro-development approach and commitment to getting Britain back building has been largely welcomed by the housebuilding industry. However, even if the Government delivers on its promise to reform our deeply flawed planning system, there remains the pressing question of who is going to build the 1.5m homes that have been promised? The housebuilding sector has been hit with widespread skills shortages, with the Construction Industry Training Board estimating a shortfall of 152,000 workers if Labour’s housing proposals are to be met. Continue reading 👇 https://lnkd.in/eghScB22