News

Antonio Horta-Osario The UK Treasury has sold another tranche of shares in taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group, which it bailout at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

Edinburgh-based global asset manager, Standard Life Investments, has awarded its prestigious Annual Finance Working Paper Prize to an academic paper which investigates corporate lobbying. The winning paper, “The corporate value of (corrupt) lobbying”, by Dr Alexander Borisov, Assistant Professor

Mid-tier Scottish accountancy firm French Duncan has signed up to a corporate partnership agreement with National Theatre of Scotland that will see it sponsor an upcoming performance of The Driver’s Seat at The Lyceum in Edinburgh next month.

Hugh Boyle Hugh Boyle has been appointed as head of hospitality and tourism at Johnston Carmichael.

Katherine Garret-Cox Katherine Garrett-Cox, the chief executive of Dundee-based investment firm Alliance Trust, has been announced as the winner of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2015.

Alison Fyfe Edinburgh-based real estate finance group Urbicus has appointed a former senior Royal Bank of Scotland director to help drive forward the expansion of its lending arm Castle Capital.

Edinburgh-based crowdfunding software provider ShareIn is to transition from equity crowdfunding platform to a provider of services on the back of a new $1 million (£646,000) investment. According to a company report, ShareIn has chosen a “radical change in strategy” by moving from a transactio

Lynn Healy Wealth manager Bellpenny has bought Caledonia Edinburgh in one of two acquisition deals completed this week.

Britain’s biggest bank, HSBC, has announced plans to pump more money into Scotland’s small and medium-sized enterprise sector. The lender said that it is increasing the size of its loan fund for SMEs from £300m to £400m this year.

John Scott Scottish Mortgage, the £3.3 billion flagship fund run by Edinburgh-based investment house Baillie Gifford is proposing to dip into its reserves to pay this year’s final dividend of 1.55p per share.

A financial worker at one of Scotland’s top legal firms has been jailed for 21 months after embezzling almost £180,000. Teresa Kidd, 44, a purchase ledger clerk at Maclay Murray and Spens LLP (MMS) took thousands from her employers between October 2006 and November 2011.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp New CBI Scotland director Hugh Aitken’s calls for austerity to be a priority for the new SNP MPs have been criticised by Business for Scotland.

Martin Gill The new government has inherited a confident business community but underlying fragility is a cause for concern, according to the latest Business Trends Report by accountants and business advisers BDO in Scotland.

Alastair Christmas New research carried out by Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank suggests that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland are underestimating their true worth by not taking into account the value of assets such as trademarks, patents and intellectual property.

Edinburgh-based challenger bank Virgin Money has reported a 34 per cent jump in lending in the first quarter of the year as it continued to increase its share of the mortgage market. The lender’s latest data for the first three months of the year showed that the group captured an estimated 3.6 per