Search: financial focus

Nationwide Building Society has reported that its annual profits have slumped by almost a fifth after taking a £227 million hit on its technology assets and ramping up spending on IT. The UK's largest mutual reported a 19 per cent drop in underlying pre-tax profits to £788 million f

FinTech startup Wagestream, which lets employees access their wages early, has closed a £15 million series A funding round, co-led by venture capital investors Balderton Capital and Northzone. In addition, the venture snagged a credit facility of up to £25 from Shawbrook Bank.

Nearly two million UK adults have barely half an hour of free time a day, because of the dual challenges of caring for younger and older relatives.

Fintech disruptor Soar says it is aiming to change the face of ethical banking following the award of a £450,000 Research and Development (R&D) grant from Scottish Enterprise. The Glasgow-based company is developing a cloud-based and fully-integrated banking platform for credit unions

The Scottish Investment Trust, also known simply as The Scottish, has announced the launch of a new online learning hub designed to reach out to a wider audience. The launch of the learning hub has been marked with a three-part series of videos, "Money... what's it all about?", presented by Young Mo

The proposed Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) should not try to compete with the private sector on salaries, but instead attract talent by being "mission-orientated", a leading economist has said. Professor Mariana Mazzucato of University College London, an economic advisor to the Scottish G

Edinburgh-based venture capital firm Par Equity has led investments totalling £3.2 million in two Northern Ireland software companies, Plotbox and Datactics. The technology firms are the latest to benefit from investment led by Par Equity, which has invested more than £118 million in ove

Glasgow-based investment house Maven Capital Partners has led an investment, alongside existing shareholders Par Equity and the Scottish Investment Bank, in Edinburgh-based Symphonic Software Limited, the identity and access management firm. The funding will be used to further scale the busines

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which is opposing a major shake-up of the operations of the so-called ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms, has been the recipient of more than £50 million in fines levied on those firms as a result of their botched audit

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined KPMG £5m and "severely reprimanded" the firm and its audit partner Andrew Walker, following their admission of misconduct in relation to the audit of The Co-operative Bank in 2009. The FRC said KPMG's bad auditing came in the

Royal Bank of Scotland is to launch a new initiative supporting female entrepreneurs across Scotland.

UK adults would invest an average of £693 more a year – or £35 billion in total – into stocks and shares ISAs and investment funds if there was more clarity around the products, new research has revealed.

Chartered accountants and business advisors Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB) has announced that revenue from its Houston-based clients accounted for 15 percent of its total revenue of £23.8 million ($31 million) for the year to 31 March 2019. The firm’s specialist teams provide gl

The Scottish retail sector had its highest ever quarter for insolvencies in the first three months of 2019, according to new analysis of the sector by accountants and business advisers French Duncan. In Q1 28 retailers were made insolvent which is already over 40 per cent of the entire figure for 20

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group came under pressure yesterday after it revealed charges and Brexit held back growth in first-quarter bottom-line profits. Bank of Scotland’s owner reported flat statutory pre-tax profits at £1.6bn as it revealed a further £100 million charge for payme