For the first time the prospect of Great Britain leaving the European Union is on the table. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum after the next election. A bit of the old ‘in-out’ The promised referendum will only have one question – should Britain be in the EU or not? There is no [...]

In some more bad news for the banking industry on the Emerald Isle, Ulster Bank have announced they are to close around 20 (correction - the number is now 22) branches/sub-offices island wide.   As the 3rd largest bank in Ireland, Ulster Bank currently operate 146 branches south of the border and 90 in Northern [...]

Recent reports from the Guardian state that house prices in the UK remained at the same level throughout 2016. It is also predicted that there won’t be much change in 2024. One change however, is that home buyers should find it much easier to be approved for a mortgage this year, as many banks reportedly [...]

Now in its 19th year, the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards has become one of the most highly anticipated events in Ireland’s business calendar. Earlier this month, the bank started taking entries for the 2016 awards. The awards recognise the business successes of companies from all over Ireland irrespective of their offering, size or sector. [...]

The issue of regions looking for independence from their current nation states is in the news at the moment. From certain US states to Scotland and Catalonia the case is being made that they would be better to go it alone, but just how would this work out in practice, and how likely is it [...]

In more gloomy news for high street retailers it’s been revealed that more than one in ten town centre shops are lying empty. The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which has been gathering data on empty shops in town centres since July 2015, announced that the latest vacancy rate of 11.3% was the highest they’ve seen. [...]

  There’s a new team in Chinese government, but will they be able to solve some of the endemic problems that have been plaguing China’s rise to the economic top? Xi Jinping was announced as the new Communist party secretary on the 15th of this month, and it looks like he already has some fairly radical ideas [...]

  While we have been lambasting the City and the astronomical bonuses paid to executives, the one good thing is at least they’re spending it – in Scotland. Over the last year many deer stalking estates have seen a 20% rise in business, with two thirds of that business coming from outside Scotland. This year [...]

  Many people procrastinate about saving for their retirement, but as of 1st October 2016, when the government’s new auto-enrolment pension scheme got underway, we’re now obliged to at least consider the prospect. Starting with the UK’s biggest firms (120,000 or more employees), the reforms will gradually be extended to all workplaces over the next [...]

Recently hyped as an ‘alternative investment’ wine based financial products have grown in popularity. Now, however, the Financial Services Authority have decided to intervene. The problem that the FSA has with many wine investments is that they fall into the category of what have been dubbed “Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes”, UCIS for short. Investments of [...]