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Debbie Mayor, director at accountants and business advisers Grant Thornton, reveals why businesses must adopt a similar approach to that taken by Holyrood policymakers in easing lockdown restrictions. Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown businesses of all sizes have demonstrated remarkable agility and r

Scottish Widows has invested £2 billion in a new fund from Black Rock which is expected to support the transition to a new low carbon economy. The pensions provider has allocated £2bn of its pension portfolios in the newly launched Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS) Climate Transit

The UK economic decline caused by the coronavirus pandemic will be less severe than first anticipated, however, recovery will also take longer, according to the latest data from the Bank of England (BoE). The bank currently expects the UK's economy to shrink by 9.5% this year. While this contraction

Metro Bank has posted a pre-tax loss of £240.6 million in the first six months of this year. The loss is a dramatic drop from the bank’s £3.4m profit reported for the same period last year.

Alex Metcalfe, head of public sector policy in the professional insights team at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has taken on a wide-ranging role at the global professional accountancy body, becoming its global head of public sector. The new role involves leading on ACCA&rs

The closure of courts due to the coronavirus lockdown led to a complete halt in the prosecution of high-value fraud cases in Scotland during the first half of 2020, according to data from KPMG. The firm’s bi-annual Fraud Barometer measures fraud cases with losses of £100,000 or more reac

Lochalsh & Skye Housing Association has received a loan of £4 million through a charitable bond arranged by Allia C&C.

Scotland’s universities support over 72,900 jobs and add £4.6 billion to the Scottish economy, according to new analysis from Hatch Regeneris for the University and College Union (UCU). The analysis found that between them, Scotland’s universities directly employ 36,850 p

Lloyds Banking Group, the owner of Bank of Scotland, has posted a £602 million pre-tax loss for the first half of this year, as the bank set aside £2.4 billion for bad loans. António Horta-Osório, chief executive of Lloyds, said that the coronavirus pandemic had a "profound

The coronavirus pandemic means government spending has increased immensely, with the IMF calculating it to be a staggering $9 trillion. For ACCA, the World Bank and IFAC, the concern is that public sector fiscal commitment and interventions are not being captured accurately by governments

Rackit, a North Ayrshire-based storage and handling solutions business, has secured a £1 million funding package from Royal Bank of Scotland to help support the business during the coronavirus pandemic. The CBILS loan will assist with cash flow which has been severely impacted by supply chain

Scott James & Associates, an appointed representative of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, based in Aberdeen’s west end, as appointed Ross McDonald as adviser and Ceri Greer as administrator. In addition, Callum Robertson has been promoted to the role of practice manager as a &ldq

Pensioners have resisted the temptation to access their pension pots during lockdown, according to new data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

A new £4 million funding stream for the independent museums sector to help bolster resilience following the coronavirus pandemic has been announced by culture secretary Fiona Hyslop. The Museums Resilience and Recovery Fund will provide support for Scotland’s museums and galleries and wi

Businesses across almost all sectors in Scotland are experiencing further distress despite the support schemes implemented by the government to help combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to insolvency firm Begbies Traynor.  The country’s beleaguered hotels, bars a