Financial news

• TSB crisis: IT meltdown enters third week 'but progress being made'

  06-05-2018 18:43 via theguardian.com
  Customers continue to report problems with TSB admitting it is unable to put a date on final fixThe TSB IT meltdown has entered its third week, with the beleaguered bank saying “progress is being made” amid fears that a full service may not return for months.
  The bank continues to be deluged by customers reporting long call-waiting times, frustration at delays in dealing with stolen cards, and money transfers failing to go through. Continue reading...
  
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• Rotten results: Sainsbury's drops project to halve food waste

  06-05-2018 17:08 via theguardian.com
  Residents in Derbyshire pilot town cut waste by only 9% despite free gadgets and toolsSainsbury’s has abandoned a £10m project to halve food waste in a designated town across Britain after a year-long trial produced miserable results.The supermarket group gave families in one town, Swadlincote in south Derbyshire, free gadgets to cut food waste – such as devices to measure the correct amount of spaghetti to cook, “smart” fridges to control content and temperatures m
  
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• Sainsbury's-Asda merger could lead to 'monopoly' towns in UK

  06-05-2018 15:31 via theguardian.com
  MPs call on regulator to protect communities in Torquay, Brighton, Paignton, Lancaster and KirkcaldyTorquay, Paignton, Lancaster, Brighton and Kirkcaldy could become Sainsbury’s “monopoly” towns if its planned merger with Asda goes ahead, prompting MPs to demand action to protect local communities.The proposed merger of the two supermarket chains will leave little or no major supermarket competition in the towns, opening the possibility of a local monopoly and a headache for co
  
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• John Lewis denies Waitrose takeover approach by Amazon

  06-05-2018 15:28 via theguardian.com
  JLP chair rejects reports about internet firm’s attempt to initiate formal talksJohn Lewis Partnership (JLP) has rejected reports that it was approached by Amazon last year to take over the Waitrose supermarket chain. According to a Sunday Times report, a senior executive from Amazon pushed for a formal meeting, but was blocked by JLP’s board. Continue reading...
  
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• UK interest rates to rise this week? A cut would be better advised | Larry Elliott

  06-05-2018 13:02 via theguardian.com
  Weak data has surprised the Bank of England. Not the first time it’s misread the economyThe City has had the date ringed in the diary for months. On Thursday the Bank of England is supposed to raise interest rates, taking them above 0.5% for the first time in almost a decade.It’s not going to happen. A deluge of weak data over the past month has surprised the Bank. It has badly misread the economy, and not for the first time. Continue reading...
  
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• Will UK interest rates now stay low for a very long time?

  06-05-2018 10:58 via theguardian.com
  Each time the Bank of England appears to succumb to a burst of hopefulness, officials seize on some reason not to raise rates above 0.5%Bank of England governor Mark Carney has already faced accusations of behaving like the Grand old Duke of York and he will probably do so again should Britain’s central bank opt to keep interest rates on hold.Since he joined the Bank in 2013, he has marched borrowers and savers up the hill with heavy hints about the imminent prospect of a rate rise, only t
  
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• Why did my Thames Water bill drain my bank account?

  06-05-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The meter they installed was charging us for the equivalent of seven householdsIn May last year I asked Thames Water to fit a water meter at our property, which should have saved us money with lower bills. But when our first metered bill arrived, it was for £200 rather than the £25 we had previously paid each month. I spoke to Thames, which said it would investigate.Continue reading...
  
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• Hard Brexit will create more social anger than staying put | William Keegan

  06-05-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Those who say questioning the referendum would cause disruption should consider the chaos caused to everyday life by a cliff-edge departureFive of the managers of the top six teams in the Premier League as I write are continental Europeans. I don’t know about the managers of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United or Arsenal, but Jürgen Klopp, hero of Liverpool, has said loud and clear that he cannot understand why this country should be heading for the Brexit cliff.For the terrib
  
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• Bookies are struggling – but they’ve got a dead cert coming up, honest

  06-05-2018 07:59 via theguardian.com
  The likes of Paddy Power have reported modest results, but all eyes are now turning expectantly to the US and ‘liberalisation’In the moaning and whingeing stakes, bookmakers are the thoroughbreds. The government expects us to pay too much tax! Horseracing is always asking for too much money! Sporting results have gone against us!These are familiar refrains that usually provoke cheers rather sympathy. So, last week, one of the trade tried a new one: revenues had slipped, Paddy Power B
  
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• As the interest-only mortgage crisis hits, here’s how you can avoid the heartache

  06-05-2018 01:02 via theguardian.com
  With many thousands of people in the same boat, we run the rule over their best optionsLen and Val Fitzgerald won’t be the last people to find themselves staring down the possibility of losing their home. The couple, from Eastbourne in East Sussex, found themselves in the spotlight last week in a case which highlights the crisis involving Britain’s interest-only mortgages after it emerged Santander had launched repossession proceedings against them, even though they never missed a mo
  
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