Alibaba buys WorldFirst for £546m

Alibaba unit Ant Financial snaps up British Payments group WorldFirst in a £546m ($700m) deal. Ant Financial said the deal will enable the group to reach more customers “especially in the fast-growing area of cross-border ecommerce”. Last year Ant Financial’s thwarted attempt to takeover MoneyGram International, a US based cross-border payments group, that Washington blocked…

Pound and Shares nosedives

The Pound and shares in housebuilders and banks took a nosedive after Cabinet ministers  Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, followed by Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara, Brexit minister Suella Braverman and Parliamentary private secretaries Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ranil Jayawardena quit over Prime Minister Theresa May’s draft Brexit deal. On…

China’s dream to reconcile market economy

  George Magnus and economist questions whether China can continue to keep all its balls in the air as it tries to reconcile the needs of a market economy with the criticisms of a one-party state. His book Red Flag looks at the four traps that the party is trying to avoid –currency ( renminbi),…

How to navigate a debt crisis

The founder of the world’s largest Hedge fund Bridgewater Associates which is a global macro investment firm and Hedge fund guru Ray Dalio, simplifies the big debt meltdowns by analysing the issue into cause and effect.  Dealing with Debt Crises is about spreading out the pain, and spread out the cost of the debt widely…

Argo to do LSE’s frist cryptocurrency listing

Agro, the Canadian firm, won approval to go public from the UK Listing Authority two weeks ago, wants to “ democratise” the crypto-mining process by which new virtual coins are created by renting out its specialist computing capacity for a monthly fee.  The listing could be controversial as crypto-currencies have been linked to organised crime…

Pound Sterling all-time high since Brexit vote

The Pound Sterling has climbed to its highest level since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in June 2016. Sterling also has been boosted by expectations that the Bank of England will raise the interest rates, in the wake of Dollar weakness after uncertainty about US trade policy. The Pound, which sank to $1.2068…

Sterling hits the highest level since Brexit

Sterling has leaped to its highest level in past 19 months against the US dollar since the Brexit vote, to $1.37  highest level since 254 June 2016. Before the result of the referendum, the Pound had been trading at $1.50. Sterling is benefiting from the dollar weakness and the growing euro strength rather any pound…

Scott: Forex trader faces extradition

Stuart Scott (45), HSBC’s former top currency trader can be extradited to face fraud charges in New York, a UK court has ruled only days after his ex-colleague was convicted on forex-ridding charges in the US. The Westminster magistrates court did not deliberate on whether Mr. Stuart of Radlett in Hertfordshire, is guilty or not…

Super-rich clients of Bermuda-based offshore companies hacked.

  The leak exposes some of the Britain’s wealthiest people, who are instructing lawyers and public relation companies in an effort to safeguard their reputations. The disclosure threatens to call into question the status of several British Overseas Territories which offer tax benefits to the wealthy elite. If this alleged illicit activities or conduct are…