Financial news

• £250m spent but no starter homes yet built under flagship fund

  02-05-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Labour accuses government of betraying young people amid affordability crisisThe government has spent £250m to boost starter home construction without a single property being built so far, it has emerged.Dominic Raab, the housing minister, made the admission in response to a question from John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, who described the situation as “a betrayal of young Brits looking for help to buy a first home”. Continue reading...
  
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• Cambridge Analytica closing after Facebook data harvesting scandal

  02-05-2018 21:21 via theguardian.com
  Political consultancy, under fire over use of millions of Facebook users’ data, has begun insolvency proceedingsCambridge Analytica, the data firm at the centre of this year’s Facebook privacy row, is closing and starting insolvency proceedings.The company has been plagued by scandal since the Observer reported that the personal data of about 50 million Americans and at least a million Britons had been harvested from Facebook and improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. Continue r
  
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• TSB's Paul Pester hits series of wrong notes in front of MPs | Nils Pratley

  02-05-2018 20:52 via theguardian.com
  Bank’s chief executive failed on three fronts at Treasury select committee hearing after IT chaosPaul Pester, the chief executive of TSB, had three main tasks to perform at the Treasury select committee hearing on Wednesday. First, apologise with maximum contrition for the IT shambles and the hassle caused to customers. Second, declare that he definitely won’t be getting any form of bonus this year. Third, say when the problem will be fixed. He failed on all three fronts.The formal a
  
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• Mike Ashley reignites row over Sports Direct's working practices

  02-05-2018 20:26 via theguardian.com
  Founder files complaint over union gift against Shirebrook inquiry leader Iain Wright Mike Ashley, the billionaire founder of Sports Direct, has resurrected the controversy over working conditions at his company’s Shirebrook warehouse by filing a complaint against the former MP who led the parliamentary inquiry into the retailer.
  The company has complained to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards about the conduct of Iain Wright, the former Labour MP for Hartlepool, who chaired the
  
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• TSB chief Paul Pester to forfeit £2m bonus in wake of IT meltdown

  02-05-2018 19:43 via theguardian.com
  Bank bosses tell MPs they do not know how many of 1.9m online customers were affectedThe chief executive of TSB will forfeit a £2m bonus payment in the light of an IT failure that left thousands of customers locked out of their accounts, as MPs accused the bank boss of being “extraordinarily complacent”.During a bruising evidence session before the Treasury select committee, TSB chief executive Paul Pester and the bank’s chairman, Richard Meddings, said they had received
  
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• 'NOT REALISTIC' Trump sends top team to AVERT looming US trade war with China

  02-05-2018 18:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  DONALD Trump has sent his top adviser's to avert a looming trade war with China with analysts warning the best the United States can hope for is a "short-term bargain".
  
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• House of Fraser to close stores as part of restructuring deal

  02-05-2018 18:58 via theguardian.com
  Hundreds of jobs a risk after Chinese firm C.banner agrees to buy 51% stake in retailerHouse of Fraser is to close stores, potentially putting hundreds of jobs at risk, in a restructuring deal that will give control of the retail chain to the Chinese owner of Hamleys.C.banner is buying a 51% stake in the parent group of the ailing department store group. The buyout will involve the acquisition of shares from Nanjing Cenbest, part of China’s Sanpower conglomerate, which will retain a minori
  
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• Black men arrested in Starbucks settle for $1 each and $200,000 program for young people

  02-05-2018 18:54 via theguardian.com
  Furore followed arrests of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson for sitting in a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anythingTwo black men arrested for sitting at a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything settled with the city Wednesday for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. Related: Starbucks needs more than racial bias training after men's arrest, experts sayContinue reading...
  
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• MPs slam TSB boss's complacency over IT fiasco - as it happened

  02-05-2018 18:46 via theguardian.com
  TSB chief executive Paul Pester criticised by Treasury committee over the collapse of its banking servicesTSB chief Pester to forfeit £2m bonusPester accused of ‘staggering’ attitude to IT fiascoTSB cannot say when crisis will be overTSB has had 40,000 complaints
  Session highlights start here 5.32pm BST Any ambitious junior bank executives out there should watch that hearing again closely, as an example of how not to handle a select committee.In happier times, Paul Pester would
  
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• EDF plan for tallest UK onshore wind turbines prompts outcry

  02-05-2018 17:32 via theguardian.com
  Isle of Lewis residents protest against windfarm plan to raise turbine height to 200 metresThe first government-backed effort to revive onshore windfarms after ministers scrapped public subsidies for the technology has run into opposition in the western isles of Scotland.EDF Energy has said its plans for two major windfarms on the Isle of Lewis may need to reach heights normally the preserve of turbines at sea, prompting an outcry from residents.Continue reading...
  
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• Elderly couple face losing home as interest-only loan crisis bites

  02-05-2018 16:10 via theguardian.com
  Santander refuses to extend mortgage term because Len and Val Fitzgerald are in their late 70sAn MP has claimed Santander is prepared to throw a couple in their late 70s out into the street because it has refused to extend their interest-only mortgage due to their age.Len and Val Fitzgerald, who live in Eastbourne, East Sussex, are at risk of losing their home after the Spanish-owned bank launched repossession proceedings against them, though Santander said it had now agreed to a six-month breat
  
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• Customs row punctures 'have-cake-and-eat-it' Brexit fantasy

  02-05-2018 15:37 via theguardian.com
  Focus on customs has cast doubt on PM’s compromise approach to EU exitAmid fierce cabinet squabbling over the minutiae of customs policy, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture: a battle to decide what kind of country the UK will be after Brexit.On the face of it, Wednesday’s Brexit sub-committee meeting provided little in the way of enlightenment. Downing Street once again deferred a decision over which of two customs proposals the UK will take into the next phase of negotiatio
  
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• Bookmaker blames bad weather and Arsenal for poor returns

  02-05-2018 11:23 via theguardian.com
  Paddy Power Betfair says cancelled race meetings and string of Arsenal defeats put punters off bettingPaddy Power Betfair has blamed factors including a record number of weather-related horse racing cancellations and Arsenal’s poor away form in the Premier League for a dip in first quarter sales.Horse racing fans were left with little to bet on after the heavy snowfall dumped by the “beast from the east” led to the cancellation of about 400 meetings in the UK and Ireland betwee
  
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• B&Q’s ‘support’ is good for one thing … buck-passing

  02-05-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Two years after it installed a new bathroom, it refuses to accept liability for water damageWe had an £8,000 bathroom installed by B&Q two years ago. In August 2017, a B&Q plumber replaced the shower splash boards because water had penetrated behind them. Eight weeks later, we noticed water across the kitchen ceiling. An emergency plumber from Anglian Water discovered water pouring behind the splash boards. He isolated the shower and stated the problem was due to poor installa
  
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• Calls for complete overhaul of 'unfit' inheritance tax system

  02-05-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Resolution Foundation proposes ‘lifetime receipts tax’ that would allow an untaxed lump sumInheritance tax should be scrapped, and replaced with a fairer system that would be harder to dodge, thinktank the Resolution Foundation has said.In its latest report into how to tackle unfairness between the generations, the thinktank, chaired by former Conservative minister David Willetts, says inheritance tax is by far the most unpopular tax. Continue reading...
  
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