Archives

April 15, 2024 @ 2:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey, compiled by S&P Global, continued to signal falling levels of recruitment activity in March. Amid reports of hiring freezes and cost cutting at clients, recruitment consultants signaled another marked “decline in permanent placements as well… Read More

April 12, 2024 @ 8:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Half of consumers say they have cut non-essential spend in the first quarter of the year and consumers are four times more likely to save than spend, according to new research from KPMG UK. KPMG UK’s Consumer Pulse survey tracks the quarterly confidence and spending… Read More

April 9, 2024 @ 10:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Chinese investment in Australia fell 36 percent to AU$1.34 billion in 2023, compared to AU$2.1 billion in 2022, with healthcare overtaking mining as the key industry. It was the second lowest year in investment value “since 2006, and the joint-lowest year in number of investment… Read More

April 1, 2024 @ 10:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A report by professional services firm KPMG has revealed that 115 Scottish firms received over £359 million worth of Venture Capital (VC) investment after being identified as the most promising throughout 2023. The Venture Pulse Survey showed that there was “a marked decline in global… Read More

March 27, 2024 @ 8:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Inflation is expected to return to its 2% target in the first half of the year, which should pave the way for interest rate cuts from the summer, according to an update from KPMG UK. Interest rates are forecast to fall by 100 basis points… Read More

March 26, 2024 @ 11:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

2023 was a challenging year for the Irish FinTech market, with investments and transactions reaching $60.83 million across 11 deals; this was a significant decrease (94 percent) compared to last year, where investments and transactions totaled over $1 billion across 22 deals, according to the… Read More

March 23, 2024 @ 3:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

KPMG UK launches the fourth edition of its Financial Services Regulatory Barometer, providing a biannual measure of the regulatory pressure faced by financial services firms in the UK and EU. The latest aggregate Regulatory Impact Score “stands at 7.3 (out of 10), up from 7.2… Read More

March 18, 2024 @ 7:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Generative AI (Gen AI) became popular or more widespread with consumers in 2022, when several user-friendly text-based AI systems were released to the public, according to a recent update shared by KPMG. Yet despite its infancy, respondents to a new KPMG UK poll have “expressed… Read More

March 12, 2024 @ 8:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Recruitment activity across the UK continued to weaken midway through the opening quarter of the year, according to the latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey, compiled by S&P Global. Ongoing economic uncertainty and hesitancy “to commit to new hires amid cost pressures… Read More

February 22, 2024 @ 7:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

KPMG UK and Blue J announced that they will launch a new generative AI powered product to answer challenging tax research questions in seconds. KPMG will have exclusive access “to the tool, Ask Blue J, among the big four accountancy firms in the UK for… Read More

February 19, 2024 @ 11:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey, compiled by S&P Global, highlighted that ongoing uncertainty around the economic outlook continued to impact hiring decisions at the start of the year. Permanent placements fell at “a sharp and accelerated pace, while the downturn… Read More

February 16, 2024 @ 2:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

2023 was a challenging year for the fintech market, with total global fintech investment dropping from US$196.6 billion across 7,515 deals in 2022 to a six-year low of US$113.7 billion across 4,547 deals in 2023 according to the Pulse of Fintech H2’23—a bi-annual report published… Read More

January 29, 2024 @ 8:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mid-market private equity investment activity in the UK declined by 10% in 2023, as challenging macroeconomic conditions presented few glimmers of hope for recovery, according to KPMG UK’s Mid-Market Private Equity report. The firm’s most recent M&A study “has revealed that 675 mid-market transactions were… Read More

January 17, 2024 @ 8:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The majority of European and UK Equity Capital Markets (ECM) leaders believe that large international companies still “see London as a destination of choice when considering listing,” according to new research from KPMG UK. When asked where large international companies “would consider listing, almost all… Read More

January 12, 2024 @ 8:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Recruitment intentions remained subdued as 2023 drew to a close, according to the latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey, compiled by S&P Global. Permanent placements and temp billings “declined again in December, albeit at softer rates than in November, as employers maintained… Read More

January 9, 2024 @ 8:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Since the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition to online banking, UK individuals are visiting their local bank branches less often and less frequently. Research courtesy of KPMG indicates that 21% of UK consumers haven’t visited a bank branch in the last year, up from 14%… Read More

January 7, 2024 @ 6:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Business leaders in the financial services sector are feeling optimistic moving into 2024, according to new research from KPMG UK. The survey of senior executives working in the sector found “that 87% are ‘confident’ when it comes to overall business growth in the first quarter… Read More

December 27, 2023 @ 1:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A significant uplift in global growth is “unlikely” in 2024 with “no short-term end in sight to geopolitical uncertainty and tight monetary policies,” according to the latest KPMG Global Economic Outlook. Produced by leading economists from KPMG member firms around the world, this year’s report… Read More

December 19, 2023 @ 7:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK economy is limping along while high interest rates and policy uncertainty take their toll on global growth, according to an update from KPMG. KPMG noted that activity has outperformed expectations, but the UK economy “remains weak and vulnerable to shocks.” Here are some… Read More

December 14, 2023 @ 8:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

KPMG has recently commented on the one year anniversary of the launch of the Edinburgh Reforms Commenting on 12 months from the launch of the Edinburgh Reforms, Karim Haji, global and UK head of financial services at KPMG said: “One year on from the launch… Read More