The law on workplace pensions has changed – now, every eligible employee must be automatically enrolled in their workplace pension scheme. The deadline for completion of this is nearing; so how does it work, and what does your business need to do to comply? How does auto enrolment affect UK businesses? Auto enrolment has given all UK businesses new financial and regulatory responsibilities. All businesses have to create a workplace pension scheme for their employees – if they don’t, then they may face penalties from The Pensions Regulator. Once the employer has created a workplace pension scheme, then they should then communicate the existence of the pension scheme to employees. Employers should also communicate to the employees if they are going to be enrolled, why they are being enrolled, and that they can also opt out the workplace pension scheme if they wish. Once you have completed auto enrolment, you must also submit The Declaration Of Compliance to The Pensions Regulator. More information on your auto enrolment responsibilities as an employer can be found here. For the employees who join your pension scheme, you need to contribute to their pension scheme every time they contribute to their pension scheme. The amount you need to contribute can be found here. When does it need to be done by? Each company will have a staging date whereby all auto enrolment duties must be completed. To find out when your staging date is, follow the link here. How can Smart Pension help? Smart Pension is an auto enrolment scheme founded by experienced finance & technology professionals, and has been designed specifically to support UK businesses faced with the challenges of auto enrolment. Their have expertise in both investment management and technology; their regulated investment professionals have managed billions of pounds, and their tech team has helped grow some of the world’s biggest online companies. They provide auto enrolment services for UK businesses of all sizes and are free for employers, and great value for employees. For more information and to sign up, click here now.  

05/01/2015

2015 was a slow year for tech IPOs, with many choosing to stick with private investment instead of testing the waters on the market. But with several large tech companies rumoured to be looking to float, what’s the forecast for 2016? Throughout 2015, the outcomes were mixed for those that did take the plunge; companies such as GoDaddy (up 64 percent from its initial price) and Fitbit (up 48 percent) were the real stars of the season, but others such as Etsy (down 47 percent) and Party City (down 25 percent) made the overall outcome disappointing – which will not have gone unnoticed by those tech companies considering flotation. Private funding appears to be the word du jour for the big names in tech – Pinterest, for example, have said in a regulatory filing that it has raised an additional $367 million of private funding, bringing the total amount of financing since its 2009 launch to $764 million and the company’s valuation up to around $11 billion. Most unicorn start-ups seem to be thinking along the same lines; why IPO and risk failure when there is plenty of private capital to survive on for the time being? However, there are rumours abound that several large companies are looking to enter the stock market in 2016, including Dropbox and Spotify. Possible IPOs for 2016 Snapchat

The smartphone app allowing users to send photos and videos to contacts which then disappear after a given number of seconds has recently reached the big time, boasting 100 million monthly users. Snapchat has so far undergone eight rounds of equity funding, for a total investment of $1.2 billion. Facebook and Alphabet have made offers above $3 billion for the company, both of which were turned down by Snapchat. However, there are recent indications that the company is looking to IPO, including hiring Imran Khan, the Credit Suisse banker who led Alibaba’s record-breaking IPO earlier in 2014, as Chief Strategy Officer. Snapchat have also launched paid-for content, including ‘filters’, starting from 79 pence. Uber

The controversial taxi app, which has recently been banned in several countries on both safety concerns and claims that they were undercutting traditional cab drivers, is well on its way to becoming the most valuable venture-backed start-up in history; it’s most recent valuation was $50 billion. Bookings grew from $687.8 million in 2013 to $2.91 billion in 2014, and are expected to reach $26.12 billion by the end of this year. It certainly looks to be a lucrative business, and industry experts are expected the company to go public at some point in 2016. Airbnb

Airbnb, the online holiday apartment rental platform, is a start-up that has gone from strength to strength since its birth, now displaying over 1.5 million listings in 34,000 cities in 190 countries. Its latest round of funding raised $1.5 billion and valued the company at $25.5 billion. Rumours of Airbnb’s IPO have been circulating since early 2014, but the company has since undergone a significant rebranding – prompting further speculation that it is finally getting ready to float. Its impressive financials and strong user base would make this company one of the hottest IPOs of 2016.

Miranda Wadham on 04/01/2016

2015 was undoubtedly a turbulent year for the world’s second largest economy; and with trading on the Chinese markets halted this morning after dropping over 7 percent, 2016 has set off to a worrying start. But what lies in store for this year? Slowing growth Whilst there is debate on just how slow growth will go, most analysts are in agreement that the Chinese economy will continue to struggle. For the last five years, the government has tried to grow the economy at 7 to 8%, but the most recent statistics suggest growth has slowed to below that by the end of 2015. Looking forward, predictions sit at a growth rate of around 5 – 6 percent; UBS analysts are the most optimistic at 6.2 percent, with Citi Research slashing growth estimates to just above 5 percent. However, even these figures remain well above the global growth rate, which The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has recently cut from 3.6% to 3.3%. Further rate cuts The Chinese stock market crisis in July caused repeated interest rate cuts in 2015, the most recent in October down to 4.35 percent. According to Barclays Research, this trend is set to continue; analysts are predicting two more 25 basis points benchmark rate cuts in the first half of 2016. Further depreciation of the yuan 2015 became the year that the IMF officially agreed to include the Chinese currency in the benchmark SDR basket. Whilst devaluation of the yuan may still be necessary in 2016 to confront any further economic setbacks, Francis Cheung, head of China/Hong Kong Strategy for Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA, told the LA Times that a large devaluation is unlikely: “it will be a big setback for their plan. The incentive is to keep the renminbi relatively stable.” Impact of China’s One Belt One Road policy Chinese premier Xi Jinping announced the “One Belt, One Road” development strategy in 2015, designed to increase China’s economic activity and promote the country’s relationship with all countries between itself and Europe. The impressive strategy, which aims to involve 65 countries, has lined up three major institutions to 2016 to help fund it – the Silk Road Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank – and is planned for full operation later this year. The key to the plan is investment in road and rail infrastructure across what once was the ‘Silk Road’ through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and aims to increase the flow of trade and exports. Should China pull off this plan in 2016, trading relationships with other countries will dramatically improve, hopefully boosting the unstable Chinese economy. 2016 outlook It is clear that, whilst the outlook for 2016 is relatively uncertain, growth will remain slow and the market unstable. Xi Jinping’s economic policies designed to deal will turbulent markets will continue to come into play, alongside the One Belt One Road policy being launched in 2016. Daffyd Davies, partner at Charles Hanover Investments, says: “Whilst China’s drive to shift from an export led economy to a more domestic demand-based economy continues to push forward, we see this path being no straight line. The current outlook indicates the continuation of highly volatile markets into 2016; in particular emerging markets that are heavily reliant on China whilst being hit by the strong dollar could see significant economic hurdles in the coming months.”

Miranda Wadham on 04/01/2016