Financial news

• Consumer advocates call for crackdown on irresponsible payday lending

  26-03-2017 21:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Choice and other consumer advocates want stronger counselling services, no-interest loan schemes and better regulationConsumer advocates have urged the government to stamp out irresponsible payday lending by strengthening financial counselling services, funding no-interest loan schemes and urgently acting on a promise to better regulate the sector.
  An alliance of consumer advocates – including Choice, the Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Legal Centre and Financial Counselling A
  
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• UK energy firms including big six miss smart meter deadline

  26-03-2017 19:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Ofgem considering further steps to protect billpayers as a result of suppliers’ failure to cut back-bills’ limit from 12 to six monthsBritain’s leading energy providers are under fire again after missing a deadline to help households with smart meters avoid being hit with unexpected bills.Electricity and gas suppliers, including the big six and smaller providers, had pledged that by the end of 2016 they would cut back on sending backdated or catchup bills to customers whose sma
  
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• Brewdog accused of hypocrisy after forcing pub to change name

  26-03-2017 18:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Family-run pub in Birmingham claims it picked the name Lone Wolf before craft beer company launched vodka brandBrewdog, the craft beer company that prides itself on a “punk” ethos, has been accused of acting like “just another multinational corporate machine” after forcing a family-run pub to change its name or face legal action. Related: The aggressive, outrageous, infuriating (and ingenious) rise of BrewDog | Jon HenleyContinue reading...
  
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• Snapchat 'will be bigger than Twitter, Yahoo and AOL with advertisers'

  26-03-2017 18:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Messaging app forecast to attract revenues of $3bn a year by 2019 by attracting hard-to-reach youth marketSnapchat could become more popular with advertisers than Twitter, Yahoo and AOL within three years, with the messaging app company forecast to bring in revenues of more than $3bn (£2.4bn) a year before the end of 2019.That bullish forecast is based on advertisers targeting the youth audience that the disappearing photo app has seemingly cornered. More than half (51%) of video users on
  
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• Populism is the result of global economic failure

  26-03-2017 17:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Political revolts are inevitable in a world where employees are wage slaves and bosses super rich The rise of populism has rattled the global political establishment. Brexit came as a shock, as did the victory of Donald Trump. Much head-scratching has resulted as leaders seek to work out why large chunks of their electorates are so cross. Related: What the 21st century can learn from the 1929 crash | Larry ElliottContinue reading...
  
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• Uber suspends fleet of self-driving cars following Arizona crash

  26-03-2017 13:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Company removes all self-driving cars from road in three states pending further investigation into Volvo SUV collisionUber has suspended its fleet of self-driving cars while it investigates a crash in Arizona involving one of its vehicles.
  Photographs posted online show the car lying on its side next to another badly damaged vehicle. There were no serious injuries as a result of the incident.Continue reading...
  
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• 'People aren't spending': stores close doors in 'oversaturated' US retail market

  26-03-2017 13:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Boarded-up shops are a common sight in cities across the country as Macy’s, Sears and JCPenney struggle and Credit Suisse downgrades the retail sectorCanal Street was never a high-end retail experience. But, like many streets in New York City and in cities across the US, it is becoming increasingly desolate.
  Boarded-up stores line the thoroughfare that bisects much of lower Manhattan. Many stores that are still open for business also display signs that read “for lease” or &ldqu
  
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• Africans are rising – we are going to build a different kind of future | Kumi Naidoo

  26-03-2017 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Fed up with ineffective leaders who aren’t dealing with the crises on the continent, people are coming together to launch a pan-African solidarity movementThe expression “Africa rising” was popularised by the Economist and focuses on GDP growth. The growing middle class and major increases in foreign direct investment all pointed to Africa being a prime investment destination and the promised return-on-investment levels that City bankers could only dream of since the collapse o
  
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• 118 directory enquiry numbers now cost more than a premium rate

  26-03-2017 09:59
  
  Since deregulation it’s become very pricey to use 118 connection services, as a reader’s aunt found out. But Ofcom is reluctant to actHilary Wagstaff’s 90-year-old aunt needed to finalise her bill from her water company after moving to a retirement community. When she tried to call Southern Water, a recorded message informed her that the number she had dialled was no longer in use and she should call a directory enquiries number, 118 004, to be connected. After several attempts
  
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• We’re in a fine mess if George Osborne is our last hope of halting Brexit

  26-03-2017 09:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Amid warnings of the dire economic impact of leaving the EU, we are reduced to hoping the Evening Standard’s new editor can counter the Brexit nonsenseTo adapt Dr Samuel Johnson’s famous saying: attacking the BBC for alleged bias is a last refuge of the scoundrel. In this case, the scoundrel is one Julian Knight MP, who last week assembled some 70 fellow Brexiters to attack the BBC for allegedly being biased in favour of the Remain camp.Yes, we Remainers still exist and, according to
  
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• Wall Street’s love affair with Trump cools as healthcare bill sows welcome doubts

  26-03-2017 09:02 via theguardian.com
  
  US president’s failure to win backing for his repeal of Obamacare has delivered a dose of reality to the marketsWall Street’s uncritical love affair with Donald Trump is over. For five months, traders have swallowed whole the idea that the president would swiftly get a package of tax cuts through a Republican-dominated Congress, giving a boost to growth and corporate profits in the process.Yet the first real test of Trump’s ability to get lawmakers to do his bidding – the
  
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• Thought Mike Ashley was hard to work for? Meet Jennifer Hardy

  26-03-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The woman from the agency at the centre of the Sports Direct scandal is up before the select committee this weekWhile Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley was undoubtedly the stand-out performer at June’s business, innovation and skills select committee hearing into the retailer’s treatment of staff, the show put on by Transline’s Jennifer Hardy is often overlooked.She is the finance chief of the temporary employment agency whose performance prompted committee chairman Iain Wright
  
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• It feels as if I’ve been hung out to dry by John Lewis over discounted machine

  26-03-2017 09:00
  
  We bought a Siemens tumble dryer at a greatly reduced cost but when it failed to work there was less protectionIn January I bought an ex-display Siemens Avantgarde tumble dryer from John Lewis in Cheadle at a greatly reduced price – £499 compared with an RRP of £1,249 – but with the John Lewis two-year guarantee (written on the receipt) along with a five-year manufacturer’s warranty. When I plugged it in, none of the programmes would start. An engineer found that th
  
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• UK parliament attacker acted alone: Scotland Yard - Financial Express

  26-03-2017 03:57
  
  Financial Express
  UK parliament attacker acted alone: Scotland Yard
  Financial Express
  The brazen terror attack on British parliament which killed four people ended within 82 seconds and was carried out by Khalid Masood who acted alone, Scotland Yard confirmed today, conceding they may "never understand" the 52-year-old attacker's motive.en meer »
  
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• Austerity bites? Less chocolate for your money as packets shrink

  26-03-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Mars reduces pack sizes of Maltesers and other top brands for second time in 12 monthsConfectionery firm Mars is shrinking the pack size of favourite sweets including Maltesers, M&M’s and Minstrels by up to 15% in the latest example of an industry trend that is shortchanging shoppers.It is the second time within a year that Mars has reduced the number of Maltesers in its sharing bags, which now weigh in at just 93g. Last autumn packs of Maltesers, billed as the lighter way to enjoy cho
  
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• Please bring back my old British Airways | Victoria Coren Mitchell

  26-03-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Far from chasing the budget market, the airline should be restoring its reputation for qualityIt must be a busy time in the PR department at British Airways. Stories have been flowing through the press about that airline almost daily, waxing and waning in appeal like a good news/bad news joke.Last week, the information that “BA is launching £86 transatlantic flights” actually appeared in a national paper’s headline; it must have been champagnes aclink in the department th
  
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