News

The impact of the liquidation of Carillion could cause a potential domino effect on Scottish businesses resulting in further insolvencies in the months to come, according to accountants and business advisers French Duncan.

RBS will move the majority of its London staff to 250 Bishopsgate Royal Bank Scotland is to leave its main base within the City of London by the end of next year, in the latest instalment of its relentless cost-cutting strategy.

Jamie Hepburn The number of people in employment in increased by 7,000 between September and November 2, with 2,662,000 people in employment in Scotland.

Tim Cooper The number of personal insolvencies (bankruptcies and protected trust deeds) in Scotland rose by 9 per cent in between October and December compared to the previous quarter, and by 2 per cent year-on-year, according to latest Accountant in Bankruptcy figures.

Keith Brown Scotland’s international exports (excluding oil and gas) increased by £460 million to £29.8 billion in 2016, with the 1.6 per cent rise driven by financial and insurance services, according to latest official figures.

Betsy Williamson The drive for greater cost control across financial and professional services in Scotland this year will have a bigger impact on recruitment activity than Brexit, according to analysis published today by specialist recruitment company Core-Asset Consulting.

HM Revenue and Customs has today announced that just over three million customers are yet to complete their 2016 to 2017 returns with only one week to go before the 31 January deadline.

Gerry Mallon Edinburgh-based Tesco Bank has announced the appointment of Ulster Bank boss Gerry Mallon as its new chief executive.

Andrew Bailey In response to high-profile scandals involving major financial firms such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and the Clydesdale Bank, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on plans to give more small businesses access to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) has announced the opening of entries for its Top 100 Young CAs competition and is encouraging CAs to nominate peers under the age of 35 who excel and innovate in their field.

A long-running call by the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group (SEC Group) for the use of project bank accounts is now being backed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Jamie Watt Jamie Watt, Partner and IP&T specialist at Scottish law firm Harper Macleod, looks at the business risks associated with cryptocurrency projects, and the potential for it to be a gamechanger

Computer scientists at the University of Edinburgh have identified security weak spots in gadgets that manage personal accounts crypocurrency Bitcoin and have called for improvement to provide better protection against hackers.

Billy Macleod Allied Irish Bank is launching £2 billion of lending funds for medium to large sized businesses across the UK seeking finance for growth.

John Hewitt Peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital has announced the promotion of John Hewitt to head of its operations in Scotland, North East of England, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man.