Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: finance

Amazon to No Longer Accept Visa Credit Cards
Science & Technology

Amazon to No Longer Accept Visa Credit Cards

Earlier this week, Amazon announced to its customers of Amazon.co.uk that it would no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK as a payment method; a change will come into effect as early as the 19th January 2022. With so many students either using Amazon for quick purchases or holding a Prime Student account, this change will be relevant to many. What’s the reason behind this decision? Amazon stated that this decision was due to the high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions. An Amazon spokesperson said the dispute has arisen due to “pretty egregious” price rises from Visa over a number of years with no additional value to its service, with the online retailer adding that costs should be going down over time due to advances in technology, “but instead th...
How an Investment Gap is Perpetuating Gender Inequality
News, Opinion

How an Investment Gap is Perpetuating Gender Inequality

When most people think of investing, they think of Leonardo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street or of pompous men in suits with briefcases; this thinking needs to change. Our society is built on what we value and how much we value it, and investment is one of the most influential ways we show our value of businesses and the way that many grow their wealth. But more men than women invest. According to HSBC only 2.4 million of their 11 million investing customers are women and just 23% of female adults in the UK hold an investment product, compared with 35% of men (Shares magazine). In a similar figure from Bph Wealth just 1 in 5 women in the UK hold an investment product compared with 1 in 3 men. Financial independence is key in gaining more freedom in the western world, something that is ofte...
Financial Privilege: Academia’s Worst Kept Secret
Opinion

Financial Privilege: Academia’s Worst Kept Secret

Academia is limited to a privileged few, and there needs to be a more significant push to create a space for those lacking such privilege. The means test is a critical part of the university admissions process but, regardless of the support systems fashioned by some institutions, many students from low-income backgrounds fall at the first financial hurdle. Universities, or more specifically the makeup of the university; its staff and students, need to acknowledge that this is a systematic failure that they are all too complicit within. Some students are unable to wage a space in the academic world as it becomes a commodity that is afforded by a few. This embrace of commodification favours those with an element of financial privilege. However, the growing marketisation of academic institut...
Nick Perryman talks careers in the financial sector, uncertainty and a post-Brexit Britain
Sports & Socs

Nick Perryman talks careers in the financial sector, uncertainty and a post-Brexit Britain

This week is Business and Finance week at Royal Holloway and on the 18th of October, Nick Perryman, Royal Holloway council member and managing director of wealth management at the global financial services firm UBS, came to talk to students regarding Brexit and careers in finance. Nick is soon to be vice chair of Royal Holloway’s council, the governing body that oversees decisions, and opened his talk with a brief history of his 20 year career in finance and banking, talking about his experience in banking despite not having a traditional economics, finance or accounting degree (he graduated in 1997 with a BSc in Psychology). Nick emphasised that both a grasp for quantitative data and a well-rounded skillset was integral to getting a foot in the door in the banking sector, quick to dism...
University grants scrapped.
News

University grants scrapped.

As of last Monday, students starting university courses in England will no longer be able to receive maintenance grants. The change, announced in 2015 by Chancellor George Osborne, condemns poorer students into a ‘lifetime of debt’, according to the NUS, with the move deemed as ‘disgraceful’. The vice-president of the NUS, Sorana Vieru, says that the move: “punishes poorer students simply for being poor, so they have to take a bigger loan than those students from privileged backgrounds. “It could put off students from underprivileged backgrounds from applying, who might not understand how the loan system works, or are very debt-averse. “We also know that mature students are way more debt-averse than younger students and BME students perceive student debt on a par with commercia...
University heads’ pay hits average of £272k, whilst student fees reach record highs
News

University heads’ pay hits average of £272k, whilst student fees reach record highs

A study by the University and College Union suggested vice-chancellors at UK universities received average salary packages of £272,000 last year, up some £12,000 from 2014. Vice-chancellors' pay has come under scrutiny in recent years, with ministers in 2014 raising concerns about the “substantial upward drift” of salaries. The UCU study based on Freedom of Information requests calculated university bosses received almost seven times more than the average wages of staff, with bosses receiving “inflation-busting” rises. Royal Holloway’s principal Paul Layzell received a 3% (£8k) pay increase in 2014, bringing his total salary up to £265k, according to Royal Holloway’s financial report. The research also suggests universities spent thousands more on hotels, flights and other expe...