Financial news

• Ben Jennings on rail season-ticket price hikes – cartoon

  02-01-2018 22:23 via theguardian.com
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• UK Growth to Sink Further - Financial Tribune

  02-01-2018 21:30
  Financial Tribune
  UK Growth to Sink Further
  Financial Tribune
  T he UK was one of the fastest growing advanced economies in 2016 but dropped below all other Group of Seven economies in 2017. The UK economy is expected to remain at the back of the pack this year, with Japan and Italy. Just over half of the 111 ...
  
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• Chris Grayling's soft-shoe shuffle reveals rotten state of UK rail system | Nils Pratley

  02-01-2018 20:48 via theguardian.com
  Transport secretary should be required to set out the hit to public purse from his ministerial manoeuvre on East Coast lineJanuary’s howl of outrage over train fares carries extra force this year because it comes after a ministerial manoeuvre that illustrates the rotten state of the rail franchising system.That manoeuvre, of course, was Chris Grayling’s soft-shoe shuffle last November that will see Stagecoach and Virgin relieved of the East Coast franchise in 2020 on terms that look
  
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• The middle class who got rich on Peps and Isas | Letters

  02-01-2018 19:36 via theguardian.com
  Anyone who has taken up the Pep and then the Isa every year from 1988 will have accumulated a completely tax-free investment portfolio of £508,000, writes Tom BrownYour year-end editorial exploring the iniquities of a society increasingly characterised by a growing new class of rentiers is timely (Redistribute the gains now hoarded by owners of capital, 30 December) but fails to name a single concrete measure that will effectively halt and reverse the trend. In this you are far from alone,
  
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• Ryanair applies for UK licence as airline braces for hard Brexit

  02-01-2018 19:31 via theguardian.com
  Irish carrier seeks permit to ensure it will be able to continue operating domestic UK flights after March 2019Ryanair has applied for a British air operating licence to ensure its domestic UK routes can keep flying after Brexit.The Irish airline has repeatedly warned that flights could be grounded after March 2019 unless a new framework for aviation is agreed between Britain and the EU. Continue reading...
  
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• London house prices: south and west see some of biggest drops

  02-01-2018 18:38 via theguardian.com
  Values in prime central London stabilise, while south and west areas such as Fulham bear brunt of buyers’ Brexit nervesHouse prices in “prime” central London appear to be stabilising, while areas in the south and west of the capital such as Wandsworth and Richmond are now under increasing pressure, according to estate agent Savills.The company is predicting that average property values in central London’s top-end enclaves such as Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Holland Park wi
  
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• Bankers work around the clock to iron out EU finance reforms

  02-01-2018 18:36 via theguardian.com
  New MiFID II rules seek to apply lessons from financial crisis and aim to force banks to report details of trillions of euros in transactionsBankers will work through the night to iron out last-minute hitches before Wednesday’s launch of a major change to European Union financial markets that aims to apply lessons from the financial crisis nearly a decade ago.The new rules are already a year late due to their complexity, with regulators having to issue 11th-hour guidance to banks and finan
  
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• Transport secretary ‘running scared’ as he flies out of UK on day of rail fare hike

  02-01-2018 17:33 via theguardian.com
  Labour and Lib Dems criticise Chris Grayling for attending meetings in Qatar amid biggest annual fare rise for five yearsThe transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has been accused of dodging his responsibilities after he left the UK for Qatar on the day much-criticised rail fare increases came into force.A Downing Street spokesman said Grayling, who has been tipped to lose his post in a possible new year reshuffle, was in Qatar to meet various ministers and business leaders for two days and would
  
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• Good for factories, bad for shoppers: a Brexit pattern is emerging

  02-01-2018 17:31 via theguardian.com
  The latest UK figures suggest a modest rebalancing of the economy of the kind long wished for by policymakersThe UK economy has settled down into a post EU-referendum pattern. Consumer spending is being constrained by the fall in the value of the pound, which has pushed up inflation by making imports dearer. But manufacturing has started to do better, in part because the weakness of sterling has made exports cheaper.For many years, policymakers have longed wistfully for a rebalancing of the econ
  
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• Financial resolutions proven popular - moneyfacts.co.uk

  02-01-2018 16:20
  Financial resolutions proven popular
  moneyfacts.co.uk
  A recent survey has revealed that of the 68% of UK adults planning to make a new year's resolution, 40% will be focusing on adopting better financial habits. The main reason for this, Sottish Friendly has found, is the ongoing economic uncertainty as ...
  
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• Trump tax cut to dent BP profits by $1.5bn, company warns

  02-01-2018 15:17 via theguardian.com
  Oil firm joins Goldman Sachs and Shell in declaring big hit in 2017 but admits controversial corporate tax cut will boost future earningsBP has said Donald Trump’s sweeping changes to US taxes will knock about $1.5bn (£1.1bn) off its profits for the end of 2017. The British oil company becomes the latest global firm to report a hit to its earnings from the US corporate tax rate cut, which came into effect at the start of the year after being signed into law in December. Barclays, She
  
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• Do globalisation and world trade fuel inequality?

  02-01-2018 14:45 via theguardian.com
  Rising inequality since the 1980s is clearly a serious problem that merits political attention. But focusing solely on trade is not the way to resolve itInequality has become a major political preoccupation in the advanced economies – and for good reason. In the US, according to the recently released World Inequality Report 2018, the share of national income claimed by the top 1% of the population rose from 11% in 1980 to 20% in 2014, compared to just 13% for the entire bottom half of the
  
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• 'You know the cost will only increase': Guardian readers on train fare rises

  02-01-2018 14:21 via theguardian.com
  Rail fare bosses claim increases will help improve services. We hear from people affected by the price increasesRail bosses defend rises amid protests
  Commuters are protesting at about 40 train stations as season tickets for many passengers go up by more than £100, with campaigners warning that many people are being “priced off” UK railways.Commuter routes with £100-plus increases include Liverpool to Manchester (up £108 to £3,152), Maidenhead to London (up &p
  
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• Virgin Trains apologises for sexist response to passenger's complaint

  02-01-2018 14:16 via theguardian.com
  Company tweets asking woman if she would prefer to be called pet or love when she said manager had called her ‘honey’Virgin Trains has apologised after its official Twitter account compounded a customer’s complaint about sexist language by asking whether she would prefer to be called “pet” or “love”.On a day when rail passengers around the country expressed dismay after the biggest rise in fares since 2013, its social media staff inflamed more anger afte
  
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• Moneywise reveals top 2018 financial resolutions for UK adults - London School of Business and Finance (blog)

  02-01-2018 12:14
  London School of Business and Finance (blog)
  Moneywise reveals top 2018 financial resolutions for UK adults
  London School of Business and Finance (blog)
  Research from financial advice website Moneywise has revealed the top financial goals of its users for 2018. The website provided its users with 13 financial goals to find out which ones they would be making a priority in the New Year. Priority ...
  
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• Rail bosses defend UK train fare rises amid protests at stations

  02-01-2018 11:46 via theguardian.com
  Rail Delivery Group chief claims increases will help improve services as commuter groups hold demos at busiest stationsRail bosses have defended the biggest annual increase in train fares in five years in the face of dozens of demonstrations against the rise by commuter groups and unions at the UK’s busiest stations.Senior Labour politicians joined protests over average fare increases of 3.4% and season ticket increases of 3.6%. The rises, the biggest since 2013, are more than the consumer
  
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• Britain wants financial services included in EU trade deal - Davis - RTE.ie

  02-01-2018 09:00
  RTE.ie
  Britain wants financial services included in EU trade deal - Davis
  RTE.ie
  Britain wants to include financial services in a trade deal with the European Union that covers a full sweep of economic areas, the UK's Brexit minister David Davis has said. Mr Davis said any deal that left finance out would be "cherry picking", after ...
  David Davis says financial services must be included in EU trade dealCity A.M.
  UK Insists Brexit Trade Deal Includes Financial ServicesLaw360alle 134 nieuwsartik
  
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• Rail fares: unions and Labour condemn 'staggering' increase

  02-01-2018 08:03 via theguardian.com
  Prices will rise by 3.4% on average, sparking protests at dozens of train stations as ‘passengers pay more for less’Labour and trade unions have condemned “staggering” annual increases to rail fares, which come into force on Tuesday, triggering protests at dozens of stations in England.Fares will increase by 3.4% on average, with season tickets up by 3.6%, more than the consumer price index inflation rate and well above average increases in annual earnings. Continue readi
  
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• Cheltenham house prices rise while Perth sees biggest fall as market slows

  02-01-2018 08:01 via theguardian.com
  Latest house prices from Halifax show massive slowdown compared with last year, as many blame uncertainty over BrexitHouse prices in the Gloucestershire town of Cheltenham rose more rapidly than in any other part of the UK in 2017, while Perth in Scotland saw the steepest fall, according to data from mortgage lender Halifax.Homes in Cheltenham, a former spa town on the edge of the Cotswolds, jumped by 13% during the year, up £36,033 to £313,150, nearly five times the average UK incre
  
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• The deposit for our new home is stuck in solicitor’s HSBC account

  02-01-2018 07:59 via theguardian.com
  Five months after the sale of a property, we still cannot access the cash for our new purchaseMy family sold a property and the £223,000 sale price, which we were going to use as a deposit on a new house, was paid into our solicitor’s HSBC bank account. Soon afterwards, HSBC decided to close her accounts, and sent her one cheque combining the funds from all three. A solicitor is not allowed to mix client and business funds and she therefore returned the cheque and requested that the
  
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• Co-op launches £160m expansion plan for 2018

  02-01-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Group to open 100 new food stores, create 1,600 jobs and overhaul existing outlets to counter competition from budget grocers The Co-op is intensifying its battle to win more shoppers with a £160m investment on 100 new food stores during 2018, creating 1,600 jobs.The business, which is owned by its members, will also give major makeovers to a further 150 outlets in a bid to counter fierce competition from the budget grocers. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian's share tips for 2018

  02-01-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Global stock markets hitting record high bodes well for investors as we present our top picks for the year – and hits and misses from 2017Bitcoin was the name on investors’ lips by the end of 2017, the cryptocurrency soaring 14-fold in 12 months of volatile trading.But it was also a good year for traditional investments, with US and European markets hitting new highs. Further signs of improvement in the global economy proved a positive factor, while Wall Street was boosted by Donald
  
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• Members’ club backed by Lord Ashcroft seeks to cut staff's basic pay

  02-01-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Devonshire Club promises to offset drop with share of service charge, in move that could reduce company’s tax billStaff at an exclusive private members’ club co-owned by the Tory donor Lord Ashcroft have been asked to take a cut in their basic pay in return for a share of the service charge, in a move that could leave low-paid workers vulnerable while reducing the company’s tax payments.Workers at the Devonshire Club in London, where members pay £2,400 a year for access t
  
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• Financial services among worst for UK gender pay gap - Financial Times

  02-01-2018 05:01
  Financial Times
  Financial services among worst for UK gender pay gap
  Financial Times
  Financial services companies and the construction sector have reported the largest difference between what they pay their male and female staff, according to the latest data published on the UK government's gender pay gap website. The company with the ...
  
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