Financial news

• Challenger banks discover they won't get far on their own | Nils Pratley

  08-05-2018 19:37 via theguardian.com
  Virgin Money’s deal with CYBG makes commercial logic but it won’t reshape the banking sector So much for the post-crisis idea that the UK’s big four banks would be knocked off their comfortable perches by a combination of new technology and “challenger” banks. A decade on, it’s hard to detect a meaningful shift in market shares. Lloyds Banking Group, the undisputed leader in the UK, isn’t noticeably weaker for being shorn of TSB and last year got bigger
  
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• Italians to wake up and smell Starbucks coffee in Milan

  08-05-2018 19:16 via theguardian.com
  Chain will launch its first Italian branch in September in former post office on Piazza CordusioA historic building on one of Milan’s grandiose squares has been chosen by Starbucks for its first foray into the home of the espresso.The US coffee chain’s entry into the Italian market, where coffee is deeply ingrained in the national culture, has endured setbacks and delays since it was first suggested more than two years ago. However, Starbucks’ executive chairman, Howard Schultz
  
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• UK house prices fall; Takeover drama at Shire and Virgin Money - as it happened

  08-05-2018 18:54 via theguardian.com
  All the day’s economic and financial news, including the latest on two takeover dealsHalifax: UK house prices down 3.1% (!) in AprilJapan’s Takeda has agreed to buy FTSE-100 listed ShireShire shares rise, but doubts linger
  Virgin Money has received a takeover offer5.54pm BST And finally..... our Money editor Patrick Collinson explains how Sir Richard Branson could make a large profit, if CYBG succeed in taking over Virgin Money:Virgin Money traces its origins back to the 1995 launch
  
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• Phones 4u founder John Caudwell ordered to pay £500,000 damages

  08-05-2018 17:36 via theguardian.com
  Billionaire’s ex-financial adviser Nathalie Dauriac wins case involving constructive dismissal A former financial adviser to the billionaire Phones 4u founder, John Caudwell, has been awarded nearly £500,000 in damages after a court found she was wrongly dismissed despite fiddling her expenses. But Caudwell claimed justice had been done, since the payment was significantly less than the £20m Nathalie Dauriac was seeking.In the conclusion of a high-profile case, Justice Marcus S
  
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• Richard Branson set for large profit if CYBG and Virgin Money merge

  08-05-2018 17:04 via theguardian.com
  CYBG has offered £1.6bn, seven years after Branson’s £747m buy-out of Northern RockRichard Branson could bag a large profit on the sale of Virgin Money after receiving a £1.6bn bid for the bank seven years after he led a controversial £747m buyout of Northern Rock – later rebranded Virgin – following its taxpayer rescue. Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group (CYBG), which has proposed the deal,said it would create “a genuine alternative to the large
  
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• Bitcoin price LIVE: BTC falls to $9k - Warren Buffett, Bill Gates SLAM crypto 'rat poison'

  08-05-2018 16:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN recovered for its bank holiday lull last night to post a high of $9,442. However, billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates decided the time was right for another offensive against crypto, with the Berkshire Hathaway CEO calling it "rat poison squared."
  
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• Bitcoin to SOAR: NYSE swaps 'revelation' points to cryptocurrency boost

  08-05-2018 16:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN is set to land its biggest boost yet after it was leaked the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange is allegedly working on an online trading platform that would allow large investors to buy and hold Bitcoin.
  
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• DPD raises pay and scraps fines after driver's death

  08-05-2018 16:40 via theguardian.com
  Delivery firm to pay at least £8.75 an hour and drop £150 charge for missing work following Don Lane’s deathSelf-employed couriers working for the gig-economy delivery firm DPD will receive a guaranteed minimum wage of £8.75 an hour, as part of reforms following the death of a self-employed driver who missed hospital appointments because of the need to keep working or be charged.The proposal is thought to be the first of its kind by a major firm using self-employed gig wo
  
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• How basement-loving billionaires are undermining the housing market | Anna Minton

  08-05-2018 16:21 via theguardian.com
  The vast foreign wealth in London doesn’t trickle down, it displaces. Opulent basements contrast with the glorified cellars in which many people live“I don’t want to expel any oligarchs. Their cranes are sprouting across the city, and it’s marvellous,” Boris Johnson said when he was mayor of London. The cranes were not just building the ubiquitous luxury apartment towers defining the city; they were also digging down, tunnelling underneath the most expensive streets
  
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• How basement-loving billionaires are forcing everyone else out | Anna Minton

  08-05-2018 16:21 via theguardian.com
  The vast foreign wealth in London doesn’t trickle down, it displaces. Opulent basements contrast with the glorified cellars in which many people live“I don’t want to expel any oligarchs. Their cranes are sprouting across the city, and it’s marvellous,” Boris Johnson said when he was mayor of London. The cranes were not just building the ubiquitous luxury apartment towers defining the city; they were also digging down, tunnelling underneath the most expensive streets
  
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• Bitcoin is like 'trading freshly harvested baby brains' says investor Charlie Munger

  08-05-2018 14:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN’S return to the symbolic $10,000 mark was interrupted this weekend by sharp criticism from some of the world’s most famous investors. Charlie Munger, the billionaire business partner of superstar investor Warren Buffett likened the morality of trading bitcoin to “trading freshly harvested baby brains”.
  
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• Goldman Sachs to offer bitcoin trading: Expert warns of new 'wild west' for global finance

  08-05-2018 13:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN received a big boost late last week after Goldman Sachs shocked the finance world and announced that it will soon offer cryptocurrency trading. However, with the 2009 Financial Crisis still fresh, expert opinion remains divided over this unlikely “marriage”.
  
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• SSE-npower merger faces full investigation amid price concerns

  08-05-2018 12:59 via theguardian.com
  Competition watchdog the CMA has warned tie-up could lead to higher energy billsThe UK’s competition watchdog has opened a full-scale investigation into the proposed merger of “big six” energy firms npower and SSE.The announcement by the Competition and Markets Authority comes after it warned last month that the merger could lead to higher energy bills for households. Continue reading...
  
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• Pound V euro: GBP comes under pressure as UK house prices FALL

  08-05-2018 12:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound stumbled into this week, falling against the euro as markets responded to a surprising fall in UK house prices and a marked rise in German manufacturing production activity. UK house price growth continued to cool according to the latest Halifax house price survey.
  
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• UK house prices fall at fastest rate in nearly eight years

  08-05-2018 11:25 via theguardian.com
  Prices tumbled by 3.1% in April to an average of £220,962, says HalifaxUK house prices posted their largest monthly drop in almost eight years in April in the latest sign the housing market is weakening, according to the country’s biggest mortgage lender.The 3.1% drop, the biggest since September 2010, knocked £7,140 off the average price of a home to £220,962 last month, said Halifax, which is part of Lloyds Banking Group. Continue reading...
  
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• Halifax dismisses fears of housing market crash despite fall in prices

  08-05-2018 11:25 via theguardian.com
  Mortgage lender says it still expects annual price inflation of up to 3% despite biggest monthly drop since 2010Britain’s biggest mortgage lender has dismissed fears that the UK housing market is heading for a crash despite posting news of the biggest monthly drop in prices since shortly after David Cameron became prime minister.Reporting on a month that traditionally marks the start of the spring house-buying season, Halifax said prices were down 3.1%, the steepest fall since September 20
  
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• Pound v US dollar: GBP exchange rate drops on Brexit customs union clash

  08-05-2018 11:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound has fallen against the US dollar today, making a pound worth around $1.353. This deterioration leaves the pound near last week’s low of $1.349.
  
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• Adderall maker Shire agrees £46bn takeover by Takeda

  08-05-2018 10:11 via theguardian.com
  Japanese drugmaker increases offer to secure biggest deal since 2000 in pharmaceutical sectorShire, the London-listed maker of treatments for ADHD and rare diseases, has finally agreed to a takeover by the Japanese firm Takeda after it raised its offer to £46bn, making it the biggest deal in the pharmaceutical sector since 2000.After being rebuffed four times, Takeda secured a recommendation from the Shire board by raising the amount of cash in its offer to $30.33 (£22.43) a share. S
  
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• Boris Johnson attacks Theresa May's 'crazy' customs plan

  08-05-2018 09:09 via theguardian.com
  Criticism of PM’s proposal for post-Brexit EU partnership brings cabinet rift into openBoris Johnson has launched an unprecedented attack on the prime minister’s preferred option for a post-Brexit EU customs partnership, calling the proposed system crazy and saying it would not give Britain control of trade policy.On a visit to Washington, the foreign secretary said a customs partnership, one of two options considered by the cabinet’s Brexit subcommittee, would be unacceptable.
  
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• Founder of Worms maker Team17 in line for £50m windfall

  08-05-2018 08:29 via theguardian.com
  Debbie Bestwick will sell up to half her shares when Yorkshire-based video games firm floatsThe founder of the Yorkshire-based video games company behind hits such as Worms is set for a £50m windfall from a stockmarket listing valuing the business at up to £230m. Debbie Bestwick, 48, founded Team17 in 1990 and her stake will be worth approximately £100m when the company floats on Aim this month. Bestwick, who received an MBE in 2016 for services to the video games industry, int
  
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• ‘ADT charged me £2,000 to replace nine batteries’

  08-05-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Why did the security firm issue such an alarming bill for a simple 33-minute job?You recently ran a story about a couple who were charged £513 by the alarm company ADT for an engineer’s visit that lasted just nine minutes. We think we can beat that, as our small company has been sent a £2,085 bill by ADT for a 33-minute job.Continue reading...
  
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• How the chicken nugget became the true symbol of our era

  08-05-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  This is what happens when you turn the natural world into a profit-making machine. By Raj Patel and Jason W MooreThe most telling symbol of the modern era isn’t the automobile or the smartphone. It’s the chicken nugget. Chicken is already the most popular meat in the US, and is projected to be the planet’s favourite flesh by 2020. Future civilisations will find traces of humankind’s 50 billion bird-a-year habit in the fossil record, a marker for what we now call the Anthr
  
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• Rail industry prepares for season ticket cull in fares shake-up

  08-05-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  UK-wide consultation to study outdated ticketing rules that have ballooned in complexity The rail industry is preparing for a cull in the number of fares and season tickets offered to commuters as it launches an appeal for root-and-branch reform of the “outdated” regulations underpinning the £9.7bn-a-year fares system. Continue reading...
  
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• Give millennials £10,000 each to tackle generation gap, says thinktank

  08-05-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Resolution Foundation proposes ‘citizen’s inheritance’ to help redistribute wealth to young Every person in Britain should receive £10,000 when they turn 25 to help fix the “broken” intergenerational contract between millennials and baby boomers, an influential thinktank has proposed following a two-year study.
  The payment, described as a “citizen’s inheritance”, is intended to redistribute wealth at a time when young people need it most to f
  
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• EU financial crisis: German budget could 'BREAK APART' Eurozone

  08-05-2018 01:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Eurozone could be torn apart after Germany's finance minister sent a clear message to fellow chiefs that the EU’s economic powerhouse remains committed to a blueprint of austerity.
  
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