Financial news

• Shrinking tax base suggests personal allowance is generous enough

  01-06-2017 21:03
  
  With the lowest-paid exempt from income tax and the higher-paid able to dodge it, those on PAYE are a sitting targetAt first glance, the latest income tax figures from HMRC make encouraging reading for anyone who believes in equality.Since 2013/14, around 300,000 people on low incomes no longer pay the 20p basic rate of tax, mostly thanks to the annual increases in the threshold at which people start paying income tax implemented by the previous government and the coalition before it. Continue r
  
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• M&S offers cash grants to community businesses in ethical relaunch

  01-06-2017 20:32
  
  Chief executive Steve Rowe wants supermarket chain to play leading role in social change with support for charitiesMarks & Spencer has pledged to raise £25m for mental health, heart and cancer charities, and halve food waste across its operations by 2025, as it steps up its ethical commitments under its new chief executive, Steve Rowe.Rowe, who took charge of M&S just over a year ago, said the fashion, food and homewares retailer was also “determined to play a leading role&rd
  
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• Construction firm Mears bans workers from having beards

  01-06-2017 19:47
  
  Workers must be clean shaven to wear dust masks effectively, firm tells staffThe construction firm Mears has banned its workers from having beards, citing health and safety grounds.Staff were told of the decision at a “tool box talk” in Tower Hamlets, east London, that beards were now banned so that workers could “wear appropriate dust masks effectively”.Continue reading...
  
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• Super-rich evade on average nearly third of their due tax

  01-06-2017 19:20
  
  Chance of assets being hidden rises very sharply with wealth, finds economists’ study based on Panama Papers dataThe richest 0.01% of households, involving those with more than £31m assets, evade paying 30% of their taxes on average, according to an academic study of tax evasion based on data revealed in the Panama Papers and the leaks concerning the HSBC Swiss private bank. Economists, who matched people named in the leaks with public wealth records, found that “the probabilit
  
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• Willie Walsh praises British Airways bosses after IT meltdown

  01-06-2017 18:25
  
  BA parent company IAG’s chief executive says bosses did ‘everything possible’ following the computer crash that left 75,000 passengers stranded Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways parent company IAG, has praised BA bosses for “doing everything possible” after the IT meltdown that left 75,000 passengers stranded over the bank holiday weekend.Walsh’s comments came as British Airways’ board is reportedly demanding an external inquiry into t
  
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• Revealed: chocolate and drinks shrink since Brexit vote with no price drop

  01-06-2017 17:48
  
  Minutes from meeting of port officials show UK shoppers are getting less value for money due to exporters’ concerns over sterlingExporters to the UK have been shrinking the size of products such as chocolate bars and fruit juices since the Brexit vote but not reducing the prices they charge British consumers in the shops, the government has been privately warned by European port officials.Minutes of a meeting between the Department for Transport and ports on either side of the Channel reve
  
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• Sandbanks is priciest seaside town in UK, plus the worst mobile providers

  01-06-2017 15:44
  
  Also, the £120m pensions scam involving self-storage facilities, and find out if you can take on the plastic challenge.Sign up to receive Money Talks each weekHello and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed. Continue reading...
  
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• India's slowing growth blamed on 'big mistake' of demonetisation

  01-06-2017 15:31
  
  Prime minister Narendra Modi’s policy of stopping issue of higher value banknotes has weakened economy, say expertsIndia has posted its slowest growth rate in two years, ceding its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy to China, with economists blaming the downturn partly on last year’s shock decision to recall the country’s two highest-value bank notes. Related: India withdraws 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in effort to fight corruptionContinue reading...
  
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• Reborn British Steel gives shares to workers after return to profit

  01-06-2017 14:30
  
  Scunthorpe steelworks bought from Tata for £1 made profits of £47m on back of supplying projects such as Crossrail and Anfield stadiumThousands of steelworkers have been granted a 5% stake in British Steel after the Scunthorpe steelworks, one of only two left in Britain, returned to profit.British Steel was re-formed last June when investment firm Greybull bought Tata Steel’s long products business, which is primarily the Scunthorpe steelworks, for £1 and renamed it. The
  
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• Chateau Brexit? Average price of bottle of wine reaches record high

  01-06-2017 12:15
  
  Drinks industry says 75cl bottle now costs £5.56 with champagne heading £1 higher courtesy of extra duty and rising import cost following Brexit voteWine lovers are suffering a Brexit-related hangover as the price of the average bottle has soared since the referendum to hit an all-time high of £5.56. Prices have risen more in the first three months of the year than in the past two years, according to the drinks industry, which is warning of more increases ahead. Continue readin
  
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• Google submits plans for 'landscraper' London headquarters

  01-06-2017 11:15
  
  Construction on building that is longer than the Shard is tall set to begin in King’s Cross in 2018Google has officially submitted plans for its new 92,000-square metre “landscraper” London headquarters, with the intention of beginning construction on the building in 2018.Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studios, the team behind TfL’s New Bus for London and the 2012 Olympic Cauldron, the building will stand 11 storeys tall and stretch parallel to the platfo
  
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• Chief Brexiteer joins UK investment bank - Financial News (subscription)

  01-06-2017 09:44
  
  Chief Brexiteer joins UK investment bank
  Financial News (subscription)
  The head of Vote Leave, the official campaign for Brexit in last year's referendum, has joined stockbroker Shore Capital as a senior political adviser in its capital markets business. The hire comes as City firms and their clients prepare for the UK's ...en meer »
  
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• Chief Brexiteer joins UK investment bank - Financial News - Financial News (subscription)

  01-06-2017 09:44
  
  Chief Brexiteer joins UK investment bank - Financial News
  Financial News (subscription)
  Former head of Vote Leave will help clients of Shore Capital Markets to understand the implications of the UK's departure from the EU.en meer »
  
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• UK house prices fall for third month in a row for first time since financial crisis

  01-06-2017 09:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Nationwide says average cost of home fell 0.2% last month with price growth slowing further in 2017 as inflation squeezes household incomeHouse prices in Britain have fallen for the third month in a row, for the first time since the height of the financial crisis in 2009.The fall further dragged down the annual growth rate in May, to 2.1%, the lowest in nearly four years, providing further evidence that the housing market is losing steam, according to Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building
  
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• Tory plans mean no one will be left to build homes | Michael Thirkettle

  01-06-2017 08:17
  
  Theresa May’s migration target will intensify the UK constructions skills crisis and scupper her plans for affordable homesTheresa May’s plans to help local authorities and housing associations build thousands of new council homes – including offering councils more money if they can demonstrate need, allowing them to borrow more to build homes and changing prohibitive rules that mean councils must purchase land at market value – could, on the face of it, be seen as a posi
  
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• Pay-as-you-drive startup threatens car insurance dinosaurs

  01-06-2017 08:00
  
  Founder Freddy Macnamara launched his disruptive model in 2015 after spending two years convincing underwriters and investors to take a chance Freddy Macnamara came up with the idea for Cuvva in 2013 while in a bar, chatting about lending his car to a friend. “It was ridiculous that you couldn’t borrow a car for an hour, because of the difficulty of getting short-term cover,” he says. “I could order an Uber or a Deliveroo to my house, but I couldn’t buy insurance fo
  
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• Labour promises to save average rail commuter £200 on season ticket

  01-06-2017 08:00
  
  Jeremy Corbyn says party could deliver promise by forcing rail companies to cap fares at lower gauge of inflation than currently usedLabour has pledged to save the average rail commuter more than £200 a year by forcing companies to limit fare increases on season tickets.The party said a Labour government would restrict the amount train operators could raise ticket prices by linking any change in fares to a lower measure of inflation than the one currently used. Continue reading...
  
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• Is a 10% deposit enough to get a mortgage on a new-build house?

  01-06-2017 08:00
  
  We’ve been advised to look into the help-to-buy scheme to boost our deposit but we’re not sure if that’s our best option
  Q My partner and I have put our names down for a new-build property in north-west England, with the completion date in November or December. We expect to get a valuation of the property in July, which should be about £152,000 for a small two-bedroom house.By the time we are due to apply for a mortgage we reckon we would have saved enough to put down a c
  
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• 'I’m irritated you even asked': What's the worst customer service you've had?

  01-06-2017 08:00
  
  One reader’s polite inquiry to replace plug plants was met with outrage by the nursery. Send us your nominations for rude customer care
  I would like to nominate online plant retailer Scentedgeraniums.co.uk for an award for rudest customer service. I sent what I thought was a friendly email about an order I had received, only to receive a tirade of abuse in return.Continue reading...
  
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• ESMA Sets High Bar For UK Financial Firms Moving To EU27 - Law360 (subscription)

  01-06-2017 02:55
  
  ESMA Sets High Bar For UK Financial Firms Moving To EU27
  Law360 (subscription)
  Law360, London (May 31, 2017, 11:48 AM BST) -- U.K. financial firms cannot count on automatic recognition of existing regulatory authoritizations for operations transferred to countries remaining in the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc, the ...
  
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• Letting agents found charging tenants more than £800 in fees

  01-06-2017 01:01
  
  Despite likely fees ban, agents seek £404 on average from new tenants and £117 for tenancy renewals, finds Generation RentThe typical two-adult household is being hit by letting fees of up to £813 when taking on a home to rent, according to a new report by the campaign group Generation Rent.The report has been published a day before the close of a consultation on government proposals to ban letting fees for tenants.Continue reading...
  
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• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) asks some of the UK's biggest asset ... - City A.M.

  01-06-2017 00:01
  
  City A.M.
  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) asks some of the UK's biggest asset ...
  City A.M.
  I'm City A.M.'s economics reporter writing about the trends that shape markets i [..] Show more. The Metropolitan Police And The Royal Marines Conduct Security Training On The River Thames. Some of London's biggest managers were asked for Brexit plans ...en meer »
  
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