Brexit To Save CIty £12 Billion A Year In Slashig EU Red Tape

By ECM Plus Staff

Britain’s financial services sector will gain an extra £12 billion a year in revenues as a result of the nation taking back control of regulation when it leaves the EU, according to a new report.

Research confirms that Facebook, Twitter and Google are spying on users

big brother (Photo credit: Vince_Lamb)

Social networks: can robots violate user privacy?

ECM Plus +++ Recent news in the international media has revealed numerous Internet privacy concerns that definitely deserve attention and further investigation, which is why Geneva-based High-Tech Bridge  decided to conduct a simple technical experiment to verify how the 50 largest social networks, web services and free emails systems respect – or indeed abuse – the privacy of their users.

According to High-Tech Bridge, the experiment and its results can be reproduced by anyone, as we tried to be as neutral and objective as possible.

Chaos abounds as BYOD costs prompt confusion

Cost confusion and chaos in BYOD (Photo: s_falkow)

Fiercely divided opinion on BYOD despite ‘hype’

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ A new survey has revealed that fears are rising around the hidden costs of BYOD deployment – as well as ‘class divides’ and evidence that company managers are using BYOD to ‘pacify’  staff.

Moreover, some IT managers are even asking ‘is it worth surrendering control just to raise staff morale?’

Opinion is still divided when it comes to implementing ‘Bring Your Own Device’ strategies within businesses, with many at the top suggesting that such deployments create more problems than they solve.

Big Corporates Choking SMEs With Late Payment – Survey

On hold after dealing with automated system (Photo credit: Pahz)

Late payments debt high enough to put UK SMEs out of business

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ As the number of British small and medium-sized businesses facing late payments reaches more than a million – with a total aggregated outstanding debt of almost £36.4 billion, many SMEs are in danger of going under.

That’s the startling finding according to new research undertaken for payment specialists BACS.

According to the shocking findings, nationally, the average amount owed to one of Britain’s SMEs is £36,000 – yet 35 percent of SMEs reported that late payment debts of up to just £20,000 would be enough to put them out of business, in a survey by BACS Payment Schemes, the company the runs the Direct Debit system.

Euro crisis to last a decade – Farage

Nigel Farage with Members of the University of York Freedom Association Society (Photo credit: The Freedom Association)

Currency crisis to bring ‘creeping European dictatorship’

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Businesses trying to plan investment for the future and commerce with increasing mountains of bureaucratic ‘jobsworth’ red tape, compliance, regulations and directives from across the sea had a wake up call this week.

Responding to the ‘State of the Union’ speech by Eurocrat Manuel Barroso, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said Barroso had “totally underestimated the complete fanaticism, Mr Barroso of you, your college of commissioners and the European central bank.”

Businesses boot out banks as ‘trust’ collapses

(Photo credit: Truthout.org)

Survey finds SMEs divorcing bank managers

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Bank managers are being ditched and divorced, as accountants, lawyers and finance directors become the most trusted financial advisers, according to new research into small to medium-sized enterprises.

The new research of 1,000 British small to medium-sized companies by Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance looked at SMEs attitudes and how they really felt about who they trust to keep their business on track.

Business crowdfunding to boost economy

Sheffield to play host to crowdfunding event. Photo: Paolo Margari

British business owners become their own financiers, set to make banksters obsolete 

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ So fed up are British business owners with the bankster establishment, their disinterest in lending or supporting the economy that a group of British entrepreneurs, dissatisfied with ‘business-as-usual’, have come together to ‘tear up the rulebook’  and ‘cutting out the middle-men’.

British businesses hurt by poor Internet coverage – survey

Jeremy Hunt preached the ministerial code (Photo credit: Gwydion M. Williams)

Government policy under fire as new survey reveals Internet strategy should focus on coverage not speed

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ A new report of 1,500 British small businesses reveals that 57 percent stated that the ‘poor quality of their internet access’ is now adversely affecting their ability to do business.

According to the findings, by Freelancer.co.uk, small businesses in Britain are now at odds with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who reiterated in a speech at the Google Campus building that broadband speed is more important than coverage.

Smart grids at risk from cyber security in intelligent buildings

Intelligent building system – diagram.

Cyber attacks render smart grids intrinsically unsafe

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Building owners and designers, and particularly members of the building services industry, are racing to implement intelligent buildings and smart grids, aaccording to new research from a London academic institution.

British exports to ROW exceed EU

Trade exports to ROW now exceeds EU. Photo: Kaveri & Sameer

Trade figures find exports to ROW nations exceed European Union member states for the first time in 40 years as Europe ‘turns inward’.

By Alison Little

BRITAIN sent a defiant message to Europe yesterday after it emerged our trade is booming with the rest of the world.

Walmart in the doghouse again as CSR slouches

Every little helps

130,000 call out retail behemoth Walmart’s supplier for ‘forced labor’ and ‘brutal conditions’

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVWos-FBLjQ

ECM Plus +++ In yet another corporate social responsibility PR blunder, a worker’s campaign on change.org is calls on retail giant Walmart to cancel a contract with a seafood supplier accusing the retail corporate of ‘forced labor’. 

Assets finding safe haven in Britain – report

Safe as houses: assets bolt for Blighty's bricks

Economic jitters weigh heavy as property market indicators flatter to deceive

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The latest ‘Property Snapshot’ by real estate analysts Colliers International reveals that the lack of robust property fundamentals continues to be more than offset by international economic and political fear.

According to Colliers, safe haven investment is now flowing into British property, in what it calls ‘a defining market feature.’

Key new findings for the economy, Colliers said that despite a positive Q3 of 2011 GDP outturn, uncertainty and concerns about Britain’s economic prospects, what it calls the ‘Eurozone fallout’ and financial issues continue to restrain capital investment and consumer spending substantially.

People power now funding new businesses

Bank liquidity drought and risk aversion sees Peoplefund.it ‘crowd’ financing taking up the slack, from Frome to Fontainbleu and beyond

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ A new venture in South West England is blazing a trail in post-meltdown financing for new, small businesses.

The Bicycle Academy, tipped to be fastest “crowd-funded” enterprise in UK is a Frome-based enterprise which builds bicycles to send to people in Africa, and is ready for business thanks to a revolutionary new website backed by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Glaring gaps as social injustices widen across nations – study

Justice For All

Wide gaps in social justice, comparison finds Britain only in the middle rankings

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Great Britain still has some catching up to do in terms of social justice, according to new research just published by the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

According to the study, among a total of 31 OECD nations, Britain occupies 15th place, in the middle of the ranking.

Charges for state inspections will hit small firms hardest

Concerns over 'revenue generating' inspections. Image: Eleventh Earl of Mar

Proposals for ‘elf’n’safety’ jobsworths to charge for inspections

ECM Plus +++ Draconian new state proposals to charge small enterprises for ‘material’ faults found during inspections by the Health and Safety Executive could damage relationships and may be seen as a way to ‘raise revenue’ rather than improving compliance, says the Federation of Small Businesses in response to a consultation which closed Friday.

In a classic case of ‘mission creep’, the HSE quango is proposing to ‘extend’ its current systems of ‘cost recovery’ to include a ‘fee’ for ‘intervention’ where an inspector will charge for the inspection and any subsequent actions when a ‘material’ fault has been found.

Government’s carbon tax con bashing business in Oz

Carbon con chaos hurting Oz. Image: laRuth

Australia’s draconian carbon tax is another scurrilous cost burden on a struggling industry

ECM Plus +++ Speaking at the Australian Tourism Directions Conference in Canberra, David Scowsill, President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recognised Australia’s commitment to the promotion of travel and tourism, but attacked the carbon tax announced by the Australian socialist government yesterday.

Australia is now the seventh largest travel and tourism economy in the world and it is set to maintain this position over the next 10 years. International arrivals are continuing to grow and spending by international visitors in Australia has grown by around a third since 2005.

Banks failing to meet SME needs – report

Banks failing businesses - report

Banks around world failing to meet government commitments – VRL Financial News

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ In a new damning report ‘The Best Practices In SME Banking’ released today, top financial and professional services information provider VRL has found that despite demands over commitment by banks to lend more to small-to-medium sized enterprises, in real terms, lending is in fact ‘growing at a snails’ pace’ the report states.

‘Collaborate’ event to showcase business risk and info protection

Event to showcase issues in business risk and information protecction

Former intelligence officer to discuss additional means to protect sensitive corporate data against risk

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ John A. Nolan, III, a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer, author and expert in the field of business intelligence, will be the keynote speaker at document and workflow specialist Cabinet NG’s annual ‘Collaborate’ conference taking place from October 13-14 at The Westin in Huntsville, Alabama.

While Cabinet NG’s software offer storage, protection and compliance, much else is ‘obtainable’ from the people in and around an organisation that could put its sensitive information at risk, the company said, including proprietary information and intellectual property.

Governance overhaul proposals as FRC moots corporate reform

Reality check for corporatism. Image – Niklas Barsk

Audit committee overhaul and specificity dominate reform plans

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The Financial Reporting Council has just launched a brace of new documents, enttled ‘Boards and Risk – A Summary of Discussions with Companies, Investors and Advisers’, and, ‘Boards and Risk – A Summary of Discussions with Companies, Investors and Advisers’ discussing effective corporate stewardship, a move to address more corporate transparency.

Flaws identified in AES encryption

AES: Drowning or waving?

Researchers identify first flaws in the Advanced Encryption Standard

BY ECM PLUS STAFF

ECM Plus +++ Researchers have found a weakness in the AES algorithm.

According to cryptanalysts, they managed to come up with a clever new attack that can recover the secret key four times easier than anticipated by experts. The attack is a result of a long-term cryptanalysis project carried out by Andrey Bogdanov (K.U.Leuven, visiting Microsoft Research at the time of obtaining the results), Dmitry Khovratovich (Microsoft Research), and Christian Rechberger (ENS Paris, visiting Microsoft Research).

Building and contents protected by insurance after riots

Insurers: claim period to be extended

Association of British Insurers provide guidance on legal position of riot compensation

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ According to the Association on British Insurers, on current estimates insured losses and damage suffered by individuals and British businesses are likely to be well over £100 million.

British businesses being battered by bureaucracy – report

CEBR research findings reveal red tape mountain. Image: Akademikerne

Rising business costs crippling British enterprise

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Small British firms are trapped in a vice of rising business costs, squeezing margins, choking growth and threatening their survival, according to a new study by Make It Cheaper and the Centre for Economic and Business Research.

According to the research, overheads have risen by almost a quarter over the past five years, and more than half (55 percent) of small business owners now warn that their company will simply not survive much longer if costs continue to rise at current rates.

WEEKEND PLUS: Scapegoating scheme not helping – ICM

Francis Maude

ICM says Maude’ ‘name and shame’ plans ‘unworkable’

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Government plans to ‘name and shame’ late payers is impractical, unworkable and yet another missed opportunity, according to the Institute of Credit Management.

ICM said that such a ruse appeared to be to ‘chase a headline’ rather than address the fundamental issue that should be focused around up-skilling businesses and giving them the tools to better understand the value and importance of best credit management practice, it said in a statement.

Food content awarded ‘Non-GMO Verified’ badge of honour

As nature intended: compliance to food content standards

Appearing on-pack in August for all Silk soymilk, ‘Pure Coconut’ and ‘Pure Almond’ brands

Plant-based beverage brand Silk has confirmed that all of its products in the beverage portfolio of the company have now been verified by the Non-GMO Project, the association of manufacturers, retailers, distributors, farmers, seed companies and consumers.

According to the company, Silk’s portfolio includes Silk Soymilk, Silk Pure Coconut® and Silk Pure Almond. All Silk soymilk, coconutmilk and almondmilk products were enrolled in The Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program in 2010.

German telco taken to task by workers

Telekom trangresses corporate guidelines as unions escalates to OECD

Global union alliance files OECD complaint against Deutsche Telekom for union-busting

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ A complaint filed with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) describes how German telco behemoth Deutsche Telekom has engaged in anti-union activity in the United States of America and in Montenegro that violates OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

According to the complainant, filed by the German union ver.di, US union the Communications Workers of America and global union federation UNI Global Union, details the union-busting activity in the United States, where the management of wholly-owned subsidiary T-Mobile USA “has engaged in a pattern of conduct designed to undermine and frustrate employees’ efforts to choose union representation freely and to deny employees their rights to collective bargaining.”