Search: financial focus

Lena Wilson The last 12 months have seen Scottish Enterprise offer a total of £57.8million of Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grants for projects with planned capital expenditure of £396.7 million.

Scotland’s workforce are caught in a cruel trap of low incomes and poor working conditions, according to new evidence published today by Citizens Advice Scotland. In a report to the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism committee, CAS reveals that the numbers of employment cases seen

Edinburgh-based Lloyds Banking Group has reported a 38 per cent rise in half year pre-tax profits while at the same time setting aside a further £1.4 billion to compensate customers to whom it mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). The bank said profits for the six months to the end of June w

Bank of Scotland has provided cloud computing and internet hosting business Iomart with a £60 million funding package to serve as an acquisitions war chest. The Glasgow-based business, whose customers include online travel site Skyscanner, banking software firm Misys, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Galán Scottish Power expects to pay a £150 million carbon tax bill this year, prompting Spanish owner Iberdrola to complain about the tax's impact on fuel prices.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a massive $13 billion (£8.3bn) penalty after the US government demanded the cash to settle claims that the Edinburgh-based lender deceived purchasers of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) prior to its £45 billion taxpayer bailout. The UK taxpayer still owns 79pc

Ed Molyneux Scottish cloud accounting provider FreeAgent has launched a £1 million crowdfunding drive to accelerate its vision of "Democratising Accounting" for UK micro-businesses and freelancers.

Katherine Garret-Cox Alliance Trust chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox has claimed that her £1.3m wage is only questioned by her critics because she is a woman.

The next two years could see Britain’s biggest banks hit with up to another £19 billion of charges relating to past misconduct, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P). In a new report, the ratings agency said Britain’s banks and customer-owned lenders had incurred £48 billion in miscon

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has reported gross mortgage lending reached £16.5 billion in March - a 12 per cent decrease from the last three months of 2014, and a 3 per cent decrease on the first quarter of 2014. The figure was 21 per cent higher than February (£13.6 billion), and 7 per cent hi

Aileen Scott The UK is inhibiting its economy with a tax burden 18 per cent heavier than the global average, and should consider setting a specific target for overall tax take, according to Scottish accountancy firm Campbell Dallas.

More than £87 million was paid in tax on the largest full pension withdrawals in just six months, according to new figures.

ACCA's chief executive Helen Brand has written to the Prime Minister welcoming the government's commitment to a 10-year plan and is calling for it to include a clear, long-term vision for tax reform. Drawing on its research, the accountancy body argues that a tax system built on simplicity is essent

Wealth management experts are reporting a rise in enquiries from investors in Scotland worried about a cut in valuable tax relief typically used to plan for later life.

The UK government has, over the past year, taken a notably more deliberate approach to mobilising private capital and philanthropy for social good, writes Mark McKeown. From a Scottish perspective, however, it exposes a familiar fault line in UK policy. Devolution means that, in its current form, th