EU Business News May 2017

EU BUSINESS NEWS / May 2017 5 NEWS , The move is part of the conclusions reached by the com- pany-wide Strategic Review of its global business operation that began in March. It is expected to be finalised within a week. The company will, once completed, provide a full and comprehensive breakdown of its findings. deVere Group founder and Chief Executive, Nigel Green, com- ments: “One of the decisions we have made, based on the Stra- tegic Review of our corporate structure and operating units is to extensively expand and develop our already solid position across Western Europe. “This expansion and develop- ment of the region is now a major priority for the organisation for the rest of 2017 and beyond. We’re set to shake-up the Western Eu- rope market place. Of that, I am confident. “Underscoring our commitment to this move, we’re committing ex- tra investment and resources to Western Europe. This will include expanding our existing bases in Spain, France, Germany, Switzer- land and Italy and opening at least two more offices in the region. “Of course, this will create a raft of new and extremely rewarding career opportunities for talented advisers to work within a growing, responsible organisation.” He continues: “To head up this ex- citing new era in the region is my son, James, who has successful- ly led teams of senior wealth ad- visers in some of our most com- petitive areas across the Middle East and India in recent years. He is also a highly skilled wealth and investment manager in his own right who has deVere’s ‘client-first’ culture in his DNA. FSB is warning small businesses in the UK to take urgent steps to protect themselves from a cyber ransomware attack this week, following specific con- cerns it has received from the National Cyber Security Centre. As well as following its cyber pro- tection advice, FSB says smaller businesses should put in place specific cyber protection insur- ance. Dave Stallon, commercial direc- tor at FSB, said: “We are raising the alarm with the UK’s 5.5 mil- lion-strong small business com- munity. It is vital that small busi- nesses and the self-employed prioritise this, and that they do it today. These businesses have limited resources, time and ex- pertise to deal with the current and growing cyber-crime threat but there is specific assistance available. They should follow our guidance, and do it right now.” Mike Cherry, FSB National Chair- man, said: “The National Cyber Security Centre has warned us that a new working week may bring more cyber ransomware outbreaks. We are urging all small businesses to take steps to reduce the risk of an attack. Busi- nesses should immediately check for updates to their operating systems and anti-malware soft- ware and download them where needed. “We advise small firms to make sure their data is backed up – if the worst happens, data cannot then be held to ransom. Small firms should also keep an eye on the NCSC website and Twitter feed to stay up to date with the latest advice. FSB members have access to specific cyber advice and insurance protection as part of their membership.” Small businesses and the self-employed are urged to make use of the expert cyber advice line offered to FSB members along with cyber protection insurance. FSB figures, 2016, show that on average, a cybercrime incident costs a small business victim nearly £3,000, and takes 2.2 days to recover from. FSB figures show that a staggering seven million cy- ber-crimes are committed against smaller businesses in the UK every year. That’s 19,000 every day. The risk of cybercrime attack is rising. Attackers are becoming more effective, whilst victims are becoming less able to discov- er attacks. Cybercrime is one of the fastest growing risks to small businesses, and one of the fast- est growing areas of crime glob- ally. www.fsb.org.uk James Green will begin his new role as Head of Western Europe on 5th June and will report direct- ly to the CEO. Nigel Green goes on to say: “The decision is partly fuelled by three key factors: First, the increasingly buoyant economy in Western Eu- rope; second, the increasing de- mand from the growing number of expats and international investors who are relocating there and who need specialist cross-border fi- nancial advice; and third to help close the ‘advice black hole’ that exists due to many advisers exit- ing the market due to high operat- ing costs and to them routinely re- jecting clients who aren’t deemed ‘high-net-worth enough’.” The deVere CEO concludes: “In short, Western Europe repre- sents an enormous opportunity for growth for the company and we intend to explore this to the maximum.” When the Strategic Review was launched in March, Nigel Green, said: “As we move into our fif- teenth year, and still dominating the international advisory sector, we have recently embarked on a strategic review of not only our corporate structures but also our operating units. “The process which we’ve now begun will allow us to take a bird’s eye view perspective of where we need to go as a business in order to maintain and expand on our market-leading position. It will enable us as a business to see in which areas and markets we need to reduce our presence, where we should invest and de- velop more quickly and in more depth, and with which products and services. The Strategic Re- view will, no doubt, result in a comprehensive period of restruc- turing FSB Raises the Alarm with the UK’s 5.5 Million Small Businesses One of the world’s largest independent financial services organisations is to “extensively expand and develop” its operations acrossWestern Europe with a new regional boss, as revealed on 25thMay.