Financial news

• Noel Edmonds increases compensation claim for HBOS fraud to £300m

  25-07-2017 20:56 via theguardian.com
  Former Deal Or No Deal host boosts claim from tens of millions to three times the total Lloyds has set aside for the caseNoel Edmonds has increased his compensation claim against Lloyds Banking Group to £300m after he fell victim to fraud at the hands of former HBOS Reading staff.
  The former Deal Or No Deal host had originally been seeking in the region of £50m to £70m, but a new statement issued by Edmonds confirms the claim has been ramped up substantially. Continue reading..
  
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• The Guardian view on happiness: spending money to save time | Editorial

  25-07-2017 20:36 via theguardian.com
  Research suggests that buying convenience or paying others to do tasks you dislike can boost satisfaction with lifeYou really can buy happiness, it turns out; but even when we can afford it, most of us don’t. A study suggests that those who outsource dreary chores or pay for convenience report greater life satisfaction, regardless of factors such as income or the number of children in the household. When researchers from the same team gave subjects $40 to spend on a material product, and t
  
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• 'You feel ripped off': homeowners' frustration over ground rent trap

  25-07-2017 20:04 via theguardian.com
  People on Bolton estate say they were not told ground rent would double every 10 years, and they cannot sell their homesTaking the weight off her feet for the first time in hours, Clair Scott falls back into a neighbour’s sofa and lets out a deep sigh. “It’s by far the worst year of my life, by a country mile,” she says. And her problems may not be over yet.Ten months ago she discovered that the mid-terrace home in Bolton she had bought six years previously was now virtua
  
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• Victims of ground rent scandal demand action on existing abuses

  25-07-2017 19:13 via theguardian.com
  As government plans to ban leaseholds on new-build houses, there are claims up to 100,000 people own ‘unsellable’ propertiesVictims of the ground rents scandal are demanding ministers go further in tackling unfair abuses of the leasehold system, amid claims that as many as 100,000 existing homeowners remain trapped in properties that are “unsellable”.The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, on Tuesday outlined plans to ban developers from selling new-build houses in Englan
  
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• The return of office music: is it better than silence – or much, much worse?

  25-07-2017 18:33 via theguardian.com
  Almost 30,000 licences to play songs in the workplace were granted last year – up 8% on 2015. Are we set for a new era of employee productivity?Why not read this while listening to the soundtrack to which it was written? There is a weird video on YouTube called Stimulus Progression. What sounds like a technique developed by Alfred Kinsey is in fact 90 minutes of “music at work”, released in the 1970s by Muzak, the background-music merchants. I have put it on at full blast, alth
  
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• Is Provident Financial plc the best FTSE 100 dividend stock? - AOL UK

  25-07-2017 18:31
  AOL UK
  Is Provident Financial plc the best FTSE 100 dividend stock?
  AOL UK
  Provident Financial (LSE: PFG) held its interim dividend steady at 43.2p per share as adjusted pre-tax profits plummeted 22.6% to £115.3m in the six months to 30 June. The sub-prime lender, which delivered a shock profit warning in June, said the slump ...
  UK subprime lender Provident Financial profit tumblesReuters UK
  Provident Financial (LON:PFG) New Price TargetsUK Market Newsalle 93 nieuwsartikelen »
  
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• Leasehold houses and the ground rent scandal: all you need to know

  25-07-2017 17:05 via theguardian.com
  Campaigners say 100,000 homebuyers in England are trapped in developer contracts with spiralling costs – how did this happen?Britain has had leasehold homes for hundreds of years, but only in the past few months has the ground rent scandal exploded. Now the government is proposing a complete ban on new houses sold as leasehold, and reducing ground rents to zero. Continue reading...
  
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• Quarter of personal loan applicants 'seeking half their annual salary'

  25-07-2017 16:38 via theguardian.com
  Analysis of inquiries to MoneySuperMarket found that 10% of applicants wanted to borrow more than their annual incomeHouseholds in the UK are increasingly relying on borrowed money with one in four people seeking a loan applying for at least half of their annual income, according to new figures that will add to worries about Britain’s mounting personal debt burden.The latest evidence of a rise in borrowing to fund new car purchases, holidays and to help clear older debts follows a stark wa
  
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• Good for the rich, bad for the poor: Trump’s healthcare plan is a lot like his tax plan

  25-07-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Republicans believe a health savings account will benefit many Americans. But what applies to big-screen TVs doesn’t apply to cardiac surgeryAmid all the yelling and screaming over the future of US healthcare, it’s not surprising that the points on which Trump, his party and even some Democrats agree on have gone largely unnoticed. And yet chief among them is a product that is likely to feature in any future legislation proposing a replacement insurance system, or that could well end
  
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• UK stocks rise as Jimmy Choo rallies - Financial News (subscription)

  25-07-2017 10:50
  UK stocks rise as Jimmy Choo rallies
  Financial News (subscription)
  UK blue-chip stocks advanced Tuesday, with well-received corporate updates and gains for oil producers helping the market's benchmark chip away at a sharp loss logged in the previous session, MarketWatch reports. The FTSE 100 index popped up 0.5% to ...en meer »
  
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• Swiftcover too slow to pay me back excess after crash

  25-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  It arranged for repairs to my car after I paid £250 and now refuses to reimburse me. The other driver is insured by Axa, which owns SwiftcoverI was involved in a car accident in August 2016 – a van hit me from behind as I waited at a roundabout. I collected the contact details of the van driver and contacted my insurance company, Swiftcover. It arranged for the repairs to my car to be carried out, which were to my satisfaction. But to do this I had to pay the excess on my policy of &
  
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• 'Now's time for change in venture capital': meet the unicorn hunters

  25-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Top investors give their views on sexism in their sector, the worst pitches they’ve had and why startups should avoid claiming to be the Uber of their industry Every day some of the smartest brains in finance busy themselves chasing down a unicorn in the making. Not the mythical horned horse of fairy tales but rather the term given to next company to go from startup to a billion dollar valuation in just a few years.
  Venture capitalists (VCs) are part investor, part futurologist. They will
  
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• Fast food England: how many takeaways are near you?

  25-07-2017 07:50 via theguardian.com
  There are now 56,638 fast food shops in England, occupying more than a quarter of all food outlets. Use our interactive map to get the full picture for your area.Rise in takeaway shops highlights dominance of fast food in deprived areas‘Chips and a burger for a quid’ – welcome to the takeaway capital of EnglandThe total number of takeaway food shops in England has risen by 4,000 since 2014, an increase of 8% to 56,638 outlets, according to Cambridge University’s Centre fo
  
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• TNT parcels 'backed up to ceiling' in wake of massive cyberattack

  25-07-2017 07:34 via theguardian.com
  Customers voice frustration as FedEx-owned courier admits it is struggling to deal with impact of NotPetya attackParcels are backing up at TNT depots in their thousands after the company admitted it is still struggling to deal with the aftermath of June’s cyber-attack that crippled IT systems around the world.Frustrated customers trying to get news of their undelivered parcels have been told by TNT’s UK staff that consignments at its East Midlands hub are “going up to the ceili
  
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• Leaseholds on new-build houses in England to be banned

  25-07-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Ground rents on flats could also be cut to zero under proposals to be outlined by communities secretary Sajid JavidBuilders are to be banned by the government from selling houses as leasehold in England and ground rents on flats could be cut to zero following widespread outrage over exploitative contracts.In a blow for major housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, communities secretary Sajid Javid will on Tuesday set out plans to “ban new-build houses being sold as leasehold as
  
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• EasyJet to hire more than 1,000 cabin crew staff

  25-07-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Budget airline announces largest cabin crew intake in its 21-year history, taking total to 8,100EasyJet has announced the largest cabin crew intake in its 21-year history, with plans to hire more than 1,000 staff. More than 1,200 men and women will be given permanent and fixed-term positions at the budget airline. This will increase its total number of cabin crew to 8,100.Earlier this year, the Luton-based carrier revealed that it was recruiting more than 450 pilots and providing opportunities f
  
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• SFO says it is investigating Rio Tinto over Guinea operations

  25-07-2017 00:30 via theguardian.com
  Mining group says it will ‘fully cooperate’ with authorities investigating suspected corruptionThe Serious Fraud Office has opened an investigation into how the mining company Rio Tinto conducted business in the Republic of Guinea. “The Serious Fraud Office has opened an investigation into suspected corruption in the conduct of business in the Republic of Guinea by the Rio Tinto group, its employees and others associated with it,” the SFO said in a statement on Monday. Co
  
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