The product: Commercial Union's Premier Investment Bond. The deal: Invest at least pounds 2,500 in the bond and Commercial Union will "guarantee" to pay a return of 9 per cent in the first year. Investors putting in more than pounds 5,000 can also receive a small regular income from the investment, rising with age. Plus points: The return beats most investment bonds available and charges, at first glance, appear to be pared to the bone. CU has dropped the usual initial charge (bid/offer spread). A policy charge of 0.08 per cent per month looks like good value. Commercial Union has been very successful at marketing investment products such as this bond because advisers believe the company can support its products from a sound financial base. For wealthy investors putting more than pounds 50,000 into the bond, CU will actually invest more than the fund is worth, or 102 per cent of the money put up. Drawbacks and risks: The "guaranteed" return is eye-catching, even …
Personal finance
City jobs exodus to the Continent is more a ripple than a wave
MPs were warned by HSBC’s former chairman Douglas Flint in 2017 that Brexit could trigger a “Jenga tower” of job losses, referring to the game where a whole tower of wooden blocks can topple down just by pulling just one piece out. Xavier Rolet, then chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, told ministers he believed some 232,000 financial services roles were at risk. Their aim was to pressure the Government into prioritising the finance industry during negotiations with Brussels. It did not work. “We took a worst-case scenario, the most severe kind of Brexit , from the outset, which is what we have ended up with,” says an executive from a large US bank. “We didn’t want a worst case scenario but planned for it.” Now that the City’s low expectations on Brexit have been met, most bankers have given up any hope of getting full access to EU financial markets . The UK has been stripped of its passporting rights, which gave full access to EU markets, and a feeling of apathy …
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Home buyers may have to make homes greener to secure top mortgages under new government plans
HOUSE buyers may have to make their homes greener to clinch a mortgage deal under new government plans. The shake-up could mean that lenders will have to disclose how energy efficient the homes they are lending Brits money for actually are. The plan was outlined in the government's net zero strategy that was published today. The government said it was "working with mortgage lenders to support homeowners to improve the energy performance of their properties". It aims to improve the energy efficiency of homes to a rating of C - currently, only 40% of homes meet this standard today according to Hargreaves Lansdown. But it means that Brits could have to stump up the cash needed to make their home more eco-friendly in order to get a mortgage if the plans come into force. Should buyers be left unable to afford the improvements, they could fear not being able to get a good deal and buy their home. Hargreaves Lansdown personal finance analyst Sarah Coles adds that the …
British Steel pension scandal: Financial watchdog to investigate
Published 3 hours ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing The public spending watchdog will investigate the Financial Conduct Authority over the British Steel pension scandal. About 8,000 steelworkers, many from Wales, collectively transferred about £2.8bn from the firm's scheme when it was restructured in 2017. A Commons select committee said they were prey to "vulture" financial advisors in a "misselling scandal". The FCA said it was looking forward to working with the National Audit Office. The NAO will examine the FCA's plans for supporting steelworkers who may be entitled to redress, and the extent to which compensation is being delivered. British Steel Pension Scandal: Grant details to be released Steel pensions scheme victim to 'major misselling scandal' Fraud warning issued to former clients of steel pensions adviser The NAO said many …
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Weidmann exits after dogged campaign against ECB’s approach to ‘addictive’ cheap money
One of the world's most important central bankers is stepping down. Jens Weidmann announced this morning that he was resigning as president of the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, after more than a decade in the job. It is a move that could have significant implications. Since taking the role, in May 2011, Mr Weidmann has fought a dogged and, at times, lonely campaign against what he perceived to be too loose an approach to monetary policy by the European Central Bank (ECB). He once described cheap money as "addictive…like a drug". Advertisement In doing so, Mr Weidmann was undoubtedly articulating the concerns of millions of Germans, who bitterly resented the vast asset purchase scheme ("quantitative easing" in the jargon) and negative interest rates introduced by the ECB under its former President, Mario Draghi . More recently, after Mr Draghi was succeeded at the ECB by Christine Lagarde, Mr Weidmann railed against the latter's insistence on …
The Liberal Arts May Not Survive the 21st Century
F or many years, Wisconsin had one of the finest public-university systems in the country. It was built on an idea: that the university’s influence should not end at the campus’s borders, that professors—and the students they taught—should “ search for truth ” to help state legislators write laws, aid the community with technical skills, and generally improve the quality of life across the state. Many people attribute the Wisconsin Idea, as it is known, to Charles Van Hise, the president of the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1918. “I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state,” Hise said in an address in 1905. “If our beloved institution reaches this ideal it will be the first perfect state university.” His idea was written into the mission of the state’s university system, and over time that system became a model for what public higher education could be. But the backbone of the idea almost went away in …
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How to host one of the world’s largest conferences — virtually
If you were to watch each meeting held so far in APEC 2021, back-to-back, it would be like watching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy 95 times, with a cast exceeding 8300. In a small corner of Wellington, an industrious team has transformed an unsuspecting office space into a vibrant epicentre. It's where hundreds of global virtual meetings are taking place, to rechart the course of the Asia-Pacific's Covid-19 economic recovery. A row of high-definition monitors occupy one side, while chairs and desks piled with files and folders sit on the opposite side. Another area houses a control room, with a small army of support staff working behind the scenes to ensure smooth meetings — from clear audio and video to uninterrupted connections and seamless conversations. This is what it looks like to virtually host one of the world's largest conferences: the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. As host of this year's forum, New Zealand is bringing together APEC's 21 member …
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Christopher Little, literary agent who steered JK Rowling and Harry Potter to global success – obituary
Christopher Little, who has died aged 79, was the literary agent who was instrumental in turning JK Rowling from a penniless divorced mother into the world’s richest author; one of his rivals, Ed Victor , described him as “the luckiest agent ever”. In 1995, the 29-year-old Joanne Rowling – then living on benefits in a one-bedroom flat in Edinburgh with her infant daughter, Jessica – went to her local library to pick a new literary agent out of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. She had already tried one agent, who rejected her (and kept her ringbinder, which she could barely afford to replace). She settled on “Christopher Little” because, she said, it sounded like a name from a children’s book, and posted him the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. When it reached Little’s office – near-Dickensian premises in the vicinity of Victoria Station, cramped, dirty, filled with tottering piles of paper, and reached by what one associate described as “the …
Stay Close Netflix release date, cast, trailer, plot: When is it out?
The Stranger: Richard Armitage reveals his ‘biggest secret’ Sign up for FREE now for the biggest moments from morning TV SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Stay Close, one of the many popular crime books written by bestselling author Harlan Coben, is being brought to life on Netflix . After being published nine years ago, Stay Close will be the seventh of his novels to be turned into a mini-series for the streaming service. Here's everything you need to know about watching Stay Close. Related articles Jim Davidson storms out of interview as he's grilled on 'racist' clips Richard Madeley savaged over ‘condescending and sexist’ remarks When is the release date for Stay Close? Earlier this …
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White House tells Democrats corporate tax hike unlikely in current bill -source
Oct 20 (Reuters) - The White House told Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday that a proposed hike in U.S. corporate taxes is unlikely to make it into their signature social spending bill, according to a congressional source familiar with the discussions. President Joe Biden's plans to hike the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, a key campaign promise, are likely to be one of the steep concessions he makes to steer his economic revival package through Congress, the White House disclosed in the private meeting with top Democrats. The White House declined to comment. Biden, his aides and congressional leadership are racing to close a deal as soon as this week on a set of tax hikes they hope will fund more than $1.75 trillion over a decade in programs ranging from childcare to eldercare, healthcare, affordable housing and climate change mitigation. They have no margin for error because Democrats hold only narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. Republicans …
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