Financial news

• Treasury plan may allow RBS to avoid selling 300 branches

  17-02-2017 22:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Proposals to meet state aid demands would cost bank £750m if approved by EU but resolve longstanding dilemmaRoyal Bank of Scotland could be released from a demand imposed by Brussels to sell off 300 branches as a result of proposals made by the Treasury. The new plan to meet state aid requirements will cost RBS £750m but remove a significant hurdle facing the bailed-out bank if it wins support in the EU. Continue reading...
  
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• World’s first transgender doll to be unveiled at New York toy fair

  17-02-2017 19:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Limited edition doll, which is modelled on teenage transgender activist Jazz Jennings, will retail at about £72The world’s first transgender doll is being unveiled at the New York toy fair this weekend, modelled on the US teenager and LGBTQ campaigner Jazz Jennings.Sixteen-year-old Jennings was propelled to fame as one of the youngest people ever officially documented as transgender. She has signalled her personal approval of the doll, which she thinks sends out a positive message ab
  
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• Lloyd's alcohol ban challenges City of London's drinking culture

  17-02-2017 19:14 via theguardian.com
  
  While in bars in the City many are complaining about the ban, others say lunchtime drinking is already a thing of the pastIt’s an unseasonably warm February Friday in the City of London, and as the clock ticks towards lunchtime, the pubs and restaurants around Leadenhall Market steadily fill up with bankers, brokers, traders and lawyers.By one o’clock, the terraces outside are thronged with workers, mostly male, many in black wool coats, almost all with a pint of lager in their right
  
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• UK enjoys record tourism as fall in pound boosts visitor numbers

  17-02-2017 18:58 via theguardian.com
  
  ONS says weaker sterling since Brexit vote led to 37.3m visits to UK in 2016, with big rise in North American touristsSterling’s slide since the EU referendum has lured bargain-hunting tourists to the UK, with overseas visitors hitting a record high last year.Official figures showed there were 37.3m visits to the UK in 2016, up 3% on the previous year and the highest since records began in 1961.Continue reading...
  
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• Uber exploiting loophole to 'spread tentacles' across UK, union says

  17-02-2017 18:55 via theguardian.com
  
  GMB says changes to law have ‘opened up a hornet’s nest’, allowing Uber drivers to work outside areas where they are licensedUber has been accused of exploiting a legal loophole that allows its drivers to operate in UK towns and cities where they don’t have a licence, leaving local authorities powerless to regulate them.Mick Rix, the GMB union’s national officer for the hackney and private-hire taxi trade, said the company behind the cab-hailing app was “actin
  
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• Viagogo condemned over Ed Sheeran cancer benefit concert tickets

  17-02-2017 18:37
  
  Website accused of ‘moral repugnance’ for advertising massively marked-up seats for gig in aid of Teenage Cancer TrustA secondary ticketing website has been accused of “moral repugnance” for seeking to profit from an Ed Sheeran concert that is in aid of teenage cancer patients by reselling tickets for thousands of pounds.Viagogo is advertising stalls seats at next month’s the Royal Albert Hall gig for Teenage Cancer Trust for up to £1,750, rising to £2,3
  
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• Merseyrail and Northern strike ballots open amid Southern deal collapse

  17-02-2017 17:59 via theguardian.com
  
  RMT says it is balloting guards on trains serving Liverpool and north of England as Southern standoff over staffing continuesThe RMT has opened ballots for strike action at Merseyrail as the continuing battle over how trains are staffed and operated threatens to spread beyond Southern.The announcement on Friday came after the union confirmed that it was balloting guards on Northern rail and Southern drivers voted to reject a deal agreed by their union, Aslef, with Southern’s parent company
  
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• Let’s move to Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire: ‘This pretty town bursts with enthusiasm’

  17-02-2017 17:30
  
  It hums with independent shops, pubs, restaurants, museums, microbreweries, an eco-suburb and even a walking festivalWhat’s going for it? As the isolated and only children know too well, when you have nobody else to talk to, you must make your own entertainment. Bishop’s Castle, all alone out near the Welsh border, has had centuries to perfect the art of entertaining yourself. This pretty town bursts with enthusiasm. There may be barely 2,000 souls here, but goodness they’re in
  
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• Brexit vote begins to bite as rising food and fuel bills hit retail sales

  17-02-2017 13:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Figures put UK growth forecast in doubt, with rising inflation squeezing household spendingBritish shoppers reined in their spending last month as a surge in fuel prices and higher food bills ate into household finances in a further sign the pound’s sharp devaluation is starting to bite.Official figures showed sales volumes fell 0.3% in January, confounding economists’ expectations of a rise. Adding to evidence of ailing consumer sentiment, December’s weak performance was revis
  
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• Samsung head arrested over South Korean Choi-gate corruption scandal

  17-02-2017 13:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Lee Jae-yong, also known as Jay Y Lee, alleged to have paid £30m in bribes to presidential crony Choi Soon-silThe acting head of Samsung, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, has been arrested in connection with the corruption and influence-peddling scandal that threatens to topple the country’s impeached president, Park Geun-hye.
  Special prosecutors investigating a scandal that has rocked South Korea’s political and business worlds accuse Lee Jae-yong of bribing a close f
  
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• Unilever to mount fierce defence against Kraft Heinz after rejecting £115bn offer

  17-02-2017 13:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Kraft vows to keep up its pursuit despite Anglo-Dutch firm insisting there is ‘no merit, strategic or financial’ to a dealHousehold goods and food group Unilever is preparing to mount a fierce defence against a takeover bid by Kraft Heinz after rebuffing the US company’s initial £115bn offer, one of the largest in corporate history. Kraft Heinz, whose brands include Philadelphia and WeightWatchers, vowed to keep up its pursuit despite Unilever insisting that there was &ld
  
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• Vauxhall's workforce highly valued, minister told by potential French buyer

  17-02-2017 13:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Greg Clark tries to allay fears about UK jobs after talks with PSA Group, which is looking to buy GM’s European businessVauxhall’s brand and “committed workforce” are highly valued, the business secretary has been told during talks in Paris over the future of thousands of jobs in the UK car industry.Greg Clark travelled to Paris late on Thursday to meet his French counterpart, Christophe Sirugue, and board members of PSA Groupe, which is in talks to acquire General Motors
  
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• UK business rates battle hots up as firms challenge government

  17-02-2017 12:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Rate rises opposed by 17 groups in a letter over clause that could block appeals from small companies The government has mounted a staunch defence of the shakeup in business rates, after Britain’s biggest business groups strongly condemned the changes.Thirteen major business groups, including the CBI, British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), have joined four professional groups to sign a letter sent by a law firm to the government opposing the changes.
  
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• Tony Blair compares Brexit to a bad home swap – video

  17-02-2017 12:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair says the will of the people is not immutable when it comes to the Brexit vote. Speaking at an Open Britain event at Bloomberg in London on Friday, Blair says the people voted without knowledge of what the alternative was, using the analogy of a bad house swap. Photograph: Reuters/Toby MelvilleTony Blair: debilitated Labour is facilitating a disastrous Brexit
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• Pimlico Plumbers founder on Brexit and the future of business

  17-02-2017 08:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Outspoken tradesman Charlie Mullins has never shied from battle. He explains why he funded Gina Miller’s high court case I come from Camden Town, north London, from a working-class family. I used to bunk off school and help a local plumber. He was the only person in the area that had a motorbike and a car, nice clothes, loads of money and a nice home. He said to me: “If you do an apprenticeship in plumbing, you’ll earn loads of money and never be out of work.” They’
  
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• Morrisons to 'hedge bets' and recruit more UK-based suppliers

  17-02-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Report commissioned by supermarket outlines risks of climatic and political change to food supply from outside UKMorrisons is aiming to recruit 200 more British suppliers after a report commissioned by the supermarket found that only just over half the food eaten in the UK comes from local sources.The report, by Professor Tim Benton of the University of Leeds, highlights the growing risks associated with a global food supply chain. Benton warns that increased frequency in severe weather events c
  
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• I'm looking for a marketing job but my heart's not in it

  17-02-2017 08:00
  
  How do I pitch myself to potential employers when it’s clear from my CV that my real passion is writing and not the role I’m applying for?Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights.I graduated with a first in English when the recession was at its worst. Consequently, I was
  
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• A castle on the river Wye – in pictures

  17-02-2017 08:00
  
  With two of three towers already restored, this Herefordshire pile even comes with the chance to buy the title of lordContinue reading...
  
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• One in four UK retirees burdened by unpaid mortgage or other debts

  17-02-2017 07:49
  
  Numbers retiring in debt in 2017 is highest for seven years with nearly 40% still owing payments for debts such as interest-only mortgagesOne in four people planning to retire this year will still have a mortgage or other debts to pay off and will typically owe about £24,000, according to an insurer’s report.The Prudential insurance company found the proportion of people who expected to retire in debt this year to be at its highest level for seven years, and that the level had risen
  
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• Automated holidays: how AI is affecting the travel industry

  17-02-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Travel companies are investing in artificial intelligence, but that doesn’t mean fewer jobs for humansFirst you could book a flight online. Then came online travel agents. And now you might check in for your hotel via mobile, a computer could set the price, while a chatbot answers your queries.Some travel experts expect the first autonomous cargo flights to start within several years, while big data analysis is on the rise at internet-based firms like Expedia, Lastminute.com and Skyscanner
  
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• Two-car families pay £40 extra per month as fuel prices soar, says AA

  17-02-2017 01:01
  
  Crude oil’s 20% price leap and sterling’s slide against dollar have made cost of petrol and diesel rocket at pumpsRocketing UK fuel prices mean that two-car families are now spending almost £40 a month more on petrol than a year ago.
  Crude oil prices have risen 20% since the Saudi-led Opec cartel agreed its first production cut in eight years at the end of November, from $46.50 (£37) a barrel to about $56 now. This has pushed petrol prices in the UK higher, exacerbated by
  
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