News & Views

Investors expect Brexit to reduce valuations of UK tech businesses in the coming 12 months, but expect many more deals to be made as the sector consolidates.

Shipping confidence has been increasing steadily over the past 15 months, and industry players are more confident of making a major investment over the coming year than they have been at any time in the past three years.

Last year, the PRA issued a ‘Dear CEO letter’ setting out its intention to review the accuracy of COREP returns. Now, the Regulator has started to press ahead with their review, and has issued a wave of S166 reviews to investigate individual business’ COREP processes and procedures. We now believe that the next step will be for the FCA to take the same approach for those firms that fall under its regulation.

On 19 September, the FCA published Policy Statement 17/19 ahead of the implementation of the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) through the new Payment Services Regulation (PSR 2017) and revised Electronic Money Regulations (EMR).

HMRC received £1.3billion in disputed tax upfront from taxpayers using its controversial ‘accelerated payment’ powers last year – a 21% increase on the previous year when it received £1.07billion*.

When setting up your tech start-up business it is vital that there is a clear direction for the business and a strategy for how you plan to achieve your business objectives.
 

The convergence of technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data and data analytics has played a significant role in the adoption and evolution of several fintech applications. However, with the adoption of new technology comes the risk of those applications becoming a primary source of weakness and point of entry for cyber-attacks.
 

New research assessing the current and future state of the martech industry, has found that the UK and US martech market is growing exponentially as demand for new tools continues to rise.

A new survey by The Shipping Professional Network in London (SPNL) has found  that London must adapt to a fast-changing environment and improve its competitive edge in order to remain a relevant global maritime centre. Respondents to the survey also identified access to the single market and freedom of movement as key negotiating issues for shipping in the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Research and development (R&D) tax credit claims by small business have hit a record high of over £1.3 billion in the past year according to latest statistics published by the UK government.