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    Neil Collins

    Former financial markets commentator

    Neil Collins has been writing about business, finance and economics nearly all his working life. He was City Editor of the Daily Telegraph for 19 years.

    He wrote the On London column on Saturdays and sits on the boards of two investment trust companies.

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    • Friday, 20 September, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Time for a Pac-Man defence from London Stock Exchange

      It is hard to argue that a combined business would be better off run from Hong Kong

      A visitor takes a picture of the video game Pac-Man (1980) during an exhibition preview featuring 14 video games acquired by The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, March 1, 2013. The MoMA acquired 14 video games entering its collection as part of an ongoing research on interaction design. AFP PHOTO/EMMANUEL DUNAND (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)
    • Friday, 13 September, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      An alternative to ‘helicopter money’ is already here

      The risk to such policies is not inflation, but politics

      NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 18: Christmas shoppers pack the streets of Nottingham as many people across the UK finish work for the seasonal holiday on December 18, 2009 in Nottingham, England. The last weekend before Christmas is expected to be the busiest of the year as many high street retailers hold sales and are discounting many goods to lure customers. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
    • Friday, 6 September, 2019
      Inside LondonSovereign bonds
      Risk-free bonds threaten to be return-free, too

      Investors should target the glaring mismatch between equity and debt pricing

    • Friday, 30 August, 2019
      Inside LondonPayment protection insurance
      We’ll miss PPI refunds, a form of QE for the masses

      Total cost to UK banks has now passed £48bn, including £12.5bn spent on admin

      Undated handout file photo issued by the Financial Conduct Authority of the animatronic head of Arnold Schwarzenegger being placed in a hydraulic press during an advert to remind people how long they have left to complain about PPI. People have been warned they could miss out on PPI refunds as a flurry of last-minute claims could see phone lines overwhelmed and websites crash. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday August 29, 2019. Consumers were told ???this is big money, don???t leave it to chance??? as Thursday???s 11.59pm deadline draws nearer, with ???many billions??? of pounds remaining unclaimed. See PA story MONEY PPI. Photo credit should read: FCA/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
    • Friday, 23 August, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      ‘Greater fool’ theory drives weird world of negative yields

      Lending at a loss only makes sense if there are other buyers willing to risk bigger hits

      Jyske Bank is offering its customers 10-year euro mortgages at a rate of minus 0.5 per cent
    • Friday, 9 August, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Retail landlord Intu is overdue a reality check

      Property company’s ‘transformational’ strategy looks overly optimistic in current climate

      Shoppers leave Lakeside shopping centre, operated by Intu Properties Plc., in Thurrock, U.K., on Wednesday, July, 29, 2015. U.K. economic growth accelerated in the second quarter as business services and finance strengthened and North Sea output surged. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 19 July, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Reckitt Benckiser still has much to answer over DoJ indictment

      Company’s efforts to put prosecution behind it an example of rotten corporate practice

      Packets of Strepsils throat lozenges, manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, sit alongside other over-the-counter medications on the shelves inside Hodgson Pharmacy in Longfield, Kent, U.K., on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. Novo Nordisk A/S, the world’s biggest maker of insulin has reserved space on airplanes and is planning to boost stockpiles further to ensure diabetes patients in the U.K. don’t run out of the life-saving medicine in the event of no-deal Brexit. Photographer: Bryn Colton/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 12 July, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      CYBG’s executive pay review set to shut out ordinary investors

      Fund managers in line to be consulted benefit from big remuneration packages themselves

      David Duffy, chief executive officer of CYBG Plc, pauses during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. CYBG Plc, one of the U.K.'s so-called challenger banks, increased provisions by 350 million pounds ($474 million) in the first half for improperly selling payment protection insurance. Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 5 July, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      UK challenger banks descend from hype to reality

      Taking on the big lenders is proving much more difficult than investors assumed

      Bats sit on a company branded table tennis table at the Funding Circle Ltd. office headquarters, in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. Funding Circle originated more than 530 million pounds ($660 million) in loans during the second half of 2016, a 50 percent jump from the same period in 2015, according to AltFi Data Ltd. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 28 June, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      British stocks defy the gloomy headlines

      FTSE is only 9% short of its peak and has made a strong recovery since December’s woes

    • Friday, 21 June, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Neil Woodford saga the latest to show FCA in a poor light

      Other scandals have also demonstrated that the regulator is not up to the task

      Andrew Bailey, chief executive officer of Financial Conduct Authority, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. The Bank of England needs to do more to meet its diversity targets for senior roles, according to minutes from its February Court of Directors meeting. Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 14 June, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Woodford affair has exposed the funds liquidity illusion

      Woes compounded by difficulty of establishing value of underlying investments

    • Friday, 7 June, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      While Royal Dutch Shell gives, the UK takes away

      Zero emissions target would cost £1tn, forcing cuts in health and education spending

      A worker secures hoses as a Shell tanker truck delivers fuel to a gas station, operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc., in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Shell is scheduled to release earnings figures on July 26. Photographer: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 31 May, 2019
      Inside LondonUK companies
      Aviva’s confused plan will show that breaking up is hard to do 

      New boss signals a total strategic reversal but the insurer has deeper problems

      Aviva Hits 2008 High As Profit Beat Estimates...A pedestrian passes a sign outside the headquarters of Aviva Plc in London, U.K., on Friday, March 7, 2014. Aviva Plc rallied to its highest yesterday in more than five years after profit beat analysts' estimates and Chief Executive Officer Mark Wilson said he planned to restore bonuses at the U.K.'s second-biggest insurer by market value. Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg
    • Friday, 24 May, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Imaginative powers of remuneration consultants know no bounds

      In theory, shareholders can vote down remuneration reports. In practice, it is almost unknown

      T2W951 DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF PENSION FUND WITH ONE POUND COINS RE PENSIONS TAX HMRC ETC UK
    • Friday, 17 May, 2019
      Inside LondonHS2
      UK infrastructure needs more action and fewer promises

      We seem incapable of choosing big projects that offer value for money

      LYMM, UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 28: Stop HS2 posters mark the point where the proposed route of the new HS2 high speed rail link will pass through near to the village of Warburton on April 28, 2014 in Lymm, United Kingdom. The House of Commons will vote later today on the HS2 bill's second reading with 30 Conservative MPs threatening to vote against the Government's pro-HS2 stance. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
    • Friday, 10 May, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Metro Bank lacks market nous to challenge big lenders

      Strategy of opening branches while everyone else is closing them is not working

      FILE PHOTO: Staff serve customers at the first branch of Metro Bank in Holborn in central London July 29, 2010. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
    • Friday, 3 May, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Big financial players reap rewards of Sainsbury’s failure

      Power has shifted from the users of the capital markets to those providing the capital

      Mike Coupe, CEO of Sainsbury's, poses for a portrait at the company headquarters in London, Britain, May 1, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville
    • Friday, 26 April, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Schroders’ family ties will help it retain a long view

      Leonie Schroder is the fifth generation since the company was founded in 1804

      The logo of investment management company Schroders is seen at a branch in Zurich, Swtzerland November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
    • Saturday, 13 April, 2019
      Inside LondonInvestments
      Diversification trumps returning capital to shareholders

      Ambitious chiefs put their own interests first as Apple’s pivot into entertainment shows

      FILE PHOTO: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple (L) and Oprah Winfrey hug during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Lam -/File Photo
    • Friday, 5 April, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Babcock can still find its way out of deep water

      UK’s Ministry of Defence still engaged in its usual fantasy financing

      A handout picture obtained on February 16, 2009 from the Ministry of Defence shows British submarine HMS Vanguard sailing up the clyde for the first time. British and French nuclear submarines collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, media reports said Monday February 16, 2009. Britain's HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant were both damaged in the crash in the early hours of February 4, but there were no reports of damage to the nuclear parts, said the Daily Telegraph and The Sun newspapers. AFP PHOTO/MOD Crown Copyright/LA(P) RITCHIE HARVEY/HANDOUT RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read LA(P) RITCHIE HARVEY/AFP/Getty Images)
    • Friday, 29 March, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Amigo Loans’ sliding share price shows pitfalls of ‘guarantees’

      This week’s low of 145p reflects market’s worry of what tougher times can bring

      amigo loans
    • Friday, 22 March, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      GAM’s decline stands as a cautionary tale on liquidity

      Holdings in illiquid bonds made things even worse for the Swiss-based fund manager

      GAM asset management company's London offices in St James's is photographed on August 2, 2018.
    • Friday, 8 March, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Vodafone borrowing from Peter to pay Paul

      Mandatory convertible bond has more bells and whistles than a one-man band

      FILE PHOTO: A man casts silhouette onto an electronic screen displaying logo of Vodafone India after a news conference to announce the half year results in Mumbai, India, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File Photo
    • Saturday, 2 March, 2019
      Inside LondonUK equities
      Ill-timed gong for Metro ignores bank’s challenges

      Upstart’s capability in doubt as lender seeks to plug capital hole

      FILE PHOTO: Staff serve customers at the first branch of Metro Bank in Holborn in central London July 29, 2010. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
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