Financial news

• London loses EU agencies to Paris and Amsterdam in Brexit relocation

  20-11-2017 20:51 via theguardian.com
  Paris takes European Banking Authority and European Medicines Agency goes to Amsterdam as EU’s chief negotiator mocks Theresa May’s ‘Brexit means Brexit’ stanceLondon is losing the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority to Paris, in one of the first concrete signs of Brexit as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.The two cities won the agencies after tie breaks that saw the winner selected by drawing lots from a large goldfish-sty
  
  Read more

• Markets edgy as German president demands responsibility after coalition talks collapse – as it happened

  20-11-2017 20:35 via theguardian.com
  All the day’s economic and financial news, as investors digest Angela Merkel’s failure to reach a deal with Germany’s Free Democrats.Latest: Steinmeier says all parties have duty to break deadlockEuro fell then recovered amid political uncertaintyCould FDP support minority administration?Introduction: Jamaica? No, the FDP walked out
  Coalition talks floundered over climate change and migrationExperts: Merkel damaged by coalition breakdown7.35pm GMTA late PS.... Could Germany be
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on Black Friday: a triumph of imagination | Editorial

  20-11-2017 20:18
  Recreational shopping is not about collecting objects so much as experiencesOn Thursday, nothing out of the ordinary will happen in Britain. Millions of people will get up and go to work as normal; families will remain widely dispersed; shops will be open as usual; and at the end of the day the nation will gather for its traditional meals of takeaway and microwaved convenience foods eaten in front of a screen. In the US, by contrast, it will be the feast of Thanksgiving, when the whole country s
  
  Read more

• Brexit fears have triggered pay restraint, Bank of England official suggests

  20-11-2017 19:34 via theguardian.com
  Dave Ramsden says one of the reasons for his vote against raising interest rates was that workers were showing pay restraint Britain’s unusually weak pay growth could be caused by workers reining in their demands due to Brexit uncertainty, a senior Bank of England official has said.In his first speech since joining the Bank from the Treasury, Dave Ramsden said the impact of the EU referendum on inflation had persuaded him to vote against an increase in interest rates earlier this month. Co
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Bristol's housing crisis: 'The idea you would own a home is ridiculous'

  20-11-2017 19:28 via theguardian.com
  Soaring property prices, rising rents, austerity and an influx of London émigrés are putting the squeeze on young people Bristol’s economy has flourished in recent years, fuelled in part by its proximity to the capital’s booming economy and overheating housing market. The west of England, and the city of Brunel and Banksy, is an increasingly expensive place to live with the highest private sector rental costs outside London, according to the Resolution Foundation thinkt
  
  Read more

• Has British Gas conjured up a magic solution to energy bills? | Nils Pratley

  20-11-2017 17:53 via theguardian.com
  Talk of an energy price cap has spurred the big six into action, but Centrica’s ban on pricey tariffs looks cosmeticIt’s amazing what can happen when the government threatens to impose a price cap on energy bills. Suddenly the big six suppliers, who have spent the three decades since privatisation wedded to their poor-value standard variable tariffs, or SVTs, become a whirr of activity. Centrica, parent of British Gas, is the third to declare it will abolish SVTs.Iain Conn, the Centr
  
  Read more

• Eurotunnel renamed Getlink in preparation for post-Brexit era

  20-11-2017 17:40 via theguardian.com
  Company says rebrand to ‘very Anglo-Saxon’ name is needed because it owns businesses beyond the Channel TunnelEurotunnel is preparing for the post-Brexit era with a corporate rebrand, with the company being renamed Getlink.The French company, which operates the Channel Tunnel, has chosen the admirably Anglo-Saxon name to “mark the group’s passage into an exciting new era for mobility infrastructures”. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Uber plans to buy 24,000 autonomous Volvo SUVs in self-driving push

  20-11-2017 16:54 via theguardian.com
  ‘It only becomes a commercial business when you can remove the vehicle operator from the equation,’ says ride-hailing firm battling Lyft and WaymoUber is planning to buy up to 24,000 self-driving cars from Volvo, the company has announced, moving from its current model of ride-sharing using freelance drivers to owning a fleet of autonomous cars.Following the three-year self-driving partnership with Volvo, the non-binding framework could give Uber a boost in its ambitions to perfect
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• One in seven councillors in English rental hotspots are landlords

  20-11-2017 16:38 via theguardian.com
  Findings raise questions over whether dual role makes councils less inclined to regulate standards in private rental sectorHundreds of local councillors in England’s rental hotspots are landlords or own second properties, including more than a third of members in some town halls, analysis for the Guardian has revealed.More than 300 councillors in the 40 boroughs with the largest proportion of private homes for rent own multiple properties. One in seven elected representatives in the areas
  
  Read more

• Black Friday 2017: where to find the best UK deals

  20-11-2017 13:15 via theguardian.com
  Preparation is key to getting the best Black Friday deals, so try this handy guide to what’s on offer in the UKShoppers are expected to spend at least £10bn over the five working days next week as the UK continues its affair with Black Friday, the US-inspired discount day.Most of the action takes place online in this country, with shoppers choosing to bargain hunt from under the duvet using their phone or laptop rather than queueing up outside stores in the early hours. Continue read
  
  Read more

• British Gas owner scraps controversial standard variable tariff

  20-11-2017 12:45 via theguardian.com
  Centrica becomes third of big six suppliers to end SVT for new customers, with rivals expected to follow suit British Gas owner Centrica is to scrap its widely criticised standard variable tariff (SVT) for new customers from April, and other energy companies are expected to follow suit.
  The company is the third of the big six suppliers to announce the end of its SVT following announcements from E.on and Scottish Power.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Should the proceeds of a property sale be used to pay for care home care?

  20-11-2017 12:30 via theguardian.com
  My parents-in-law might move nearer us, but one of them requires nursing home care and we don’t know the rules around paying for itQ My parents-in-law live in a town about 50 minutes away from my husband and I. My father-in-law requires nursing care in a home, and as they have assets in excess of the £23,500 limit they will have to pay for his nursing home care.I thought one way around the distance we would have to travel regularly to support them both, would be to have him admitted
  
  Read more

• Black Friday deals not always as good as they look, Which? reveals

  20-11-2017 09:42 via theguardian.com
  Consumer group says 60% of deals either cost the same price or are cheaper either before or after the US-inspired discount day• Black Friday 2017: where to get the best UK deals Many items discounted over the Black Friday weekend can be bought for the same price or even cheaper at other times of the year, an investigation by consumer group Which? has found.With shoppers expected to spend at least £10bn this week, a Which? survey of deals on offer for last year’s Black Friday fou
  
  Read more

• Soas is bottom of the class when it came to my £340 refund

  20-11-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  I booked a suitable course at the School of Oriental and African Studies but it was cancelled at the last minuteAfter attending an open day in mid-September I signed up for a 10-week Chinese evening class at the Soas University of London. It was the end of the day and the staff expected me to sign up and make a payment there and then of £340. I was offered the most appropriate class, but was worried that the time and day could be problematic. However, under pressure and worried I might mis
  
  Read more

• UK shoppers expected to cut back this Christmas

  20-11-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  First dip in consumer spending for five years predicted by research for Visa but online sales are forecast to increaseBritish shoppers could spend less on Christmas for the first time since 2012, as a fall in real wages and continuing economic uncertainty put a brake on celebrations.
  A slump in spending on Christmas getaways, as well as cutbacks on clothing and household goods, are expected to result in a 0.1% dip in UK spending during the key shopping period of November and December, according
  
  Read more

• How much …? The rise of dynamic and personalised pricing

  20-11-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Cheaper croissants in the morning is one thing; being charged according to your credit rating is another. As Black Friday approaches, should we trust the prices of online stores – and even bricks-and-mortar retailers?You wait 24 hours to book that flight, only to find it’s gone up by £100. You wait until Black Friday to buy that leather jacket and, sure enough, it’s been marked down. Today’s consumers are getting comfortable with the idea that prices online can fluc
  
  Read more

• German coalition talks collapse after deadlock on migration and energy

  20-11-2017 03:18 via theguardian.com
  Chancellor Angela Merkel left facing prospect of forming minority government – or fresh elections – after FDP quits negotiationsExploratory talks to form Germany’s next coalition government collapsed shortly before midnight on Sunday when the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) walked out of marathon negotiations.
  “The four discussion partners have no common vision for modernisation of the country or common basis of trust,” the FDP leader, Christian Lindner, an
  
  Read more

• Insurers fear tax rise in 'raid on the responsible'

  20-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Association of British Insurers says chancellor should resist further increases to insurance premium tax, which has doubled since 2015 The government is being urged to avoid “penalising” families and businesses with another hike in the tax on insurance policies, amid speculation that Philip Hammond may be planning a fresh increase in Wednesday’s budget.Insurance premium tax (IPT), which is added to more than 50m general insurance policies each year, including those for cars, ho
  
  Read more

• Change law to protect gig economy workers, MPs' report urges

  20-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Influential select committees call on government to close loopholes that let ‘irresponsible firms underpay workers’The government is under pressure to change the law to tackle bogus self-employment and protect workers in the gig economy after a report published on Monday by two influential parliamentary committees.The work and pensions select committee and the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee have prepared draft legislation intended to close the loopholes tha
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!