The government’s recent decision to begin increasing the living wage is both a challenge and an opportunity for SMEs. Raising the living wage will mean SMEs have more costs, which may stunt company growth while the economy re-stabilises. However, hope is at hand - having more money in the pockets of consumers means increased spending to pay off personal debts. This can be hard to commit to though, as wages have declined relative to past years. Modifying the living wage could be a chance for the Bank of England to realign the economic landscape.

Dow Jones has announced the launch of a revamped news app on Symphony, the secure collaboration and workflow platform, which gives Symphony users access to premium news and analysis from across the Dow Jones global network.

Corporate bond markets are a significant part of the global capital markets and a critical source of financing for economic growth. 

LCH Limited, a leading global clearing house, announced today that it has introduced a new type of client account within its SwapClear service. 

INDATA, a leading industry provider of software, technology and services for buy-side firms, today announced that Cape Ann Asset Management has implemented INDATA’s iPM software suite on a front-to-back office basis.

International law firm Simmons & Simmons will be a legal partner to FinTech Hive at Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFC), the first-of-its-kind accelerator in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.

Liquid Voice, one of the UK’s leading providers of interaction recording, quality management and analytics, has announced the appointment of Mark Biggin as Project Manager.  In this role, he will be managing the project office which is responsible for installations on behalf of the company’s reseller partners situated throughout the UK and Ireland. In addition, Mark will be involved in resource planning, owning more complex projects, developing the partner accreditation program and improving enterprise-wide business processes.  

Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, today announced the latest innovation within the Liquidnet Virtual High Touch™ offering: the launch of Targeted Invitations for Algos in Europe.

Targeted Invitations allows buy-side traders to seek out additional block liquidity by sending actionable invitations within the Liquidnet community, while still keeping both sides of the trade anonymous. The multi-asset class technology was first launched for equities in 2015 and then expanded into fixed income in 2016.

When the risk of getting your insurance marketing wrong could cost you more than just conversions, it's easy to ignore digital, social and marketing potential and rely on outdated legacy systems that hold you back. So how are other insurance companies improving their marketing and digital results by monetising social media, making the most of customer data and utilising technological advances within the changing compliance landscape? It’s a battle for insurance marketers to become agile, stay up-to-date and cater to changing customer expectations!

Bahrain-based Bank ABC, MENA’s leading international banking group, has recently joined blockchain-inspired consortium headed by R3, a financial innovation firm, headquartered in New York City.