News

AJ Bell Investcentre has launched a new offshore bond in partnership with Standard Life to broaden its suite of tax planning solutions for clients and advisers. Advisers can now offer clients the new Standard Life International Bond through AJ Bell's platform, giving clients a flexible investment st

Chancellor John Healey has promised to restore hope to the UK through "fiscal discipline," supporting "good work" and "strong industries," in a major speech ahead of the Budget. Mr Healey used his speech at the Labour Party Conference to focus on fiscal policy, stating that it was "not progressive"

Columbia Threadneedle Investments has appointed Gianluca Di Mascio as portfolio manager and Karan Bhanot as associate portfolio manager. The duo will work within the firms research enhanced strategies team, based in London reporting to Christopher Lo, who is based in Boston, the firm's head of resea

Commercial finance broker Bryant & Bell has appointed former Lloyds Banking Group director, George Grierson to its team, as it marks £10m milestone in its first year. The Edinburgh headquartered firm was launched by Cameron Bryant and Jack Bell last year following more than a decade o

FirstGroup has announced the completion of its £90m group section pension liabilities buy-in.  The Aberdeen-headquartered company said around £22m of its group section escrow had been utilised to complete the transaction. The group said that £17.5m had been returned to the gro

AMS Accountants Group has revealed plans to create around 25 jobs in Aberdeen as it builds towards a £5m audit business in the city within the next three years. The move is part of a wider ambition to turn over more than £20m and have around 200 staff within the next five years. The firm

Aegon Asset Management has expanded into European collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) through the launch of three new funds. The funds will invest across the full credit spectrum from AAA to sub-investment grade. The new Aegon High Grade CLO, European CLO and European CLO Opportunities Funds prov

Takeover talks for Monzo have heated up as private equity group Advent International held separate talks about buying a minority stake, alongside other buyout firms, in the challenger fintech, it has been reported. It comes after reports that the board of the bank was in early-stage talks over a sal

Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) is set to host Scotland's first-ever Global Investment Scale-Up Summit, in a bid to drive focus and investment in domestic scale-up companies. The business-led summit will take place in January 2027, building on last year's flagship global investment summit hosted

Baillie Gifford's Schiehallion Fund saw its shares move from a small premium to a steep discount to net asset value (NAV) in the six months to July 2026. Shares at the investment trust, which backs later-stage private growth companies, traded at a discount of 14.4% at the period end, reversing a 0.4

Lloyds Banking Group has completed its £1.75bn share buyback programme, purchasing 1,712,662,647 ordinary shares ahead of the year-end 2026 deadline originally set out when the programme was announced. The buyback was managed by Goldman Sachs International between 30 January 2026 and 24 Septem

LendInvest has completed a £265m securitisation backed by 1,240 UK prime buy-to-let mortgages, its eighth transaction under the Mortimer programme and a further source of funding for future lending. The Mortimer 2026-1 transaction, which includes £35m of pre-funding, attracted strong dem

Professional services and accounting firm Wbg has appointed 14 trainees. The trainees comprise 11 graduate trainees, two school leaver/graduate apprentices, and one internship – across its external audit, internal audit, business advisory and marketing teams.

Thomson Cooper has promoted Chris Steedman to audit director and opened a third office. Mr Steedman was recently award Responsible Individual (RI) status by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). He joined Thomson Cooper as a Senior Audit Manager in 2025 following a senior manage

Tax increases, inflationary pressures and the threat of a cyber attack are key concerns facing Scotland’s family, privately owned and owner-managed businesses, according to new research from Armstrong Watson. The accountancy and business advisory firm found in its latest survey that Scottish b