Financial news

• Growth with a grain of salt: it's the same old story as households miss out | Greg Jericho

  06-06-2018 22:58 via theguardian.com
  Australia’s economy grew faster in the March quarter than it has since 2011. That’s something to get excited by – or is it?Australia’s economy grew faster in the first three months of this year than it has for over six years – but with growth mainly driven by mining exports and public spending on health and the NDIS, households have largely missed out on the benefits as spending continues to be weak and real incomes continue to fall.First, the good news. In the Marc
  
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• TSB apologises (a lot) but its real problem is about competence | Nils Pratley

  06-06-2018 21:06 via theguardian.com
  Paul Pester might also have made his job easier with some generosity in his compensationTSB admits 1,300 customers lost money from accounts
  Paul Pester, chief executive of TSB, apologised unreservedly, then profusely, then deeply, which showed he’d learned something from his first appearance in the front of the Treasury select committee a month ago. Back then, his priority seemed to be to play down the scale of the IT shambles and boast about how the “underlying engine” was doi
  
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• Poundworld faces administration as it struggles to find buyer

  06-06-2018 20:39 via theguardian.com
  More than 5,000 jobs at risk as private equity owner said to be declining to further fund chainPoundworld is facing the threat of administration as the group’s private equity owner struggles to secure a rescue buyer before the company’s next rent payment. More than 5,000 jobs may be at risk.Sources said that TPG Capital, Poundworld’s owner, did not intend to put more money into the group, which has 355 stores. No serious buyers had come forward by the deadline of Monday this we
  
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• TSB admits 1,300 customers lost money from accounts

  06-06-2018 20:09 via theguardian.com
  MPs talk of ‘Truly Shambolic Bank’ as chief says 400-500 customers are quitting daily since botched IT switchTSB has admitted that 1,300 customers had money stolen from their accounts – in some cases their life savings – by fraudsters exploiting the bank’s recent IT meltdown. Related: Timeline of trouble: how the TSB IT meltdown unfoldedContinue reading...
  
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• Ihop becomes Ihob in desperate blea for attention

  06-06-2018 20:06 via theguardian.com
  The International House of Pancakes is flipping its name in what appears to be a shameless, albeit effective publicity stuntWell, we’re talking about them, so it worked.On Monday, in what would appear to be a desperate plea for attention, the International House of Pancakes announced that it is changing its name from Ihop to Ihob. The internet, predictably, flipped. Continue reading...
  
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• TSB says 1,300 people lost money through fraud since IT meltdown - as it happened

  06-06-2018 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Paul Pester, the CEO of TSB, is being hauled back to parliament to answer questions about its botched IT migrationLatest: FCA says TSB has experienced over 10,000 fraud incidentsSummary: Why is TSB facing MPs today?TSB CEO Paul Pester to testify his afternoon
  FCA has launched investigation into IT meltdown
  MPs ‘deeply concerned’ about TSB’s communications6.45pm BST TSB bosses faced another bruising session in front of the Treasury select committee as they were quizzed about the
  
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• Morris cars are lefty, not Brexity icons | Brief letters

  06-06-2018 19:25 via theguardian.com
  Iconic cars | Decline of wildlife | Roma culture | Cross v crucifixA shame the Morris Traveller is depicted as a backward-looking little Englander icon (Cartoon, 5 June). Could we enjoy a more positive image recalling its development during the war years as a modest people’s car, with socialist values attached? The Minor enjoyed popularity as district nurse, police and disabled transport before being co-opted by the green left cohort in later years. Yours, a remain-voting, liberal-left, fo
  
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• Amazon committed to post-Brexit Britain and plans 2,500 new jobs

  06-06-2018 18:20 via theguardian.com
  UK is important as consumer market and talent source, says UK and Ireland chiefAmazon is to create more than 2,500 jobs in the UK this year, including 650 head office roles, as the online retailer says it remains committed to expanding in Brexit Britain.The company is looking for speech science and machine learning experts to help it develop its smart speakers and Alexa personal assistantContinue reading...
  
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• Persimmon pay panel chief unable to tell MPs firm's average pay

  06-06-2018 17:31 via theguardian.com
  Executive pay at Persimmon is a tale of corporate greed funded by the tax payer, says Rachel ReevesPersimmon’s executive pay row was reignited on Wednesday after the head of the housebuilder’s remuneration committee said she did not know how much the average worker was paid by the firm.MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee were stunned by the admission from Marion Sears, who was giving evidence after Persimmon angered shareholders earlier in the year by
  
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• UK financial regulator refuses to budge on EU solvency rules - Financial Times

  06-06-2018 16:57
  UK financial regulator refuses to budge on EU solvency rules
  Financial Times
  The UK's financial regulator has dealt a blow to life insurers by refusing to change a much-hated part of the EU's Solvency II capital rules, citing uncertainty over Brexit. In a letter to MPs, Sam Woods, chief executive of the Prudential Regulation ...en meer »
  
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• EU to impose tariffs on US imports from July

  06-06-2018 16:24 via theguardian.com
  Motorbikes, jeans and bourbon to be hit in response to US duties on steel and aluminiumThe EU will impose tariffs on US imports ranging from Harley-Davidson motorbikes to jeans from next month in retaliation over Donald Trump’s decision to put duties on European aluminium and steel.Despite the apparent reluctance of the UK’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, to publicly back the EU’s proposed “tit for tat” measures, the European commission said it had the ful
  
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• The best thing Germany could do for Europe is quit the single currency – but it won’t | Larry Elliott

  06-06-2018 16:12 via theguardian.com
  EU leaders are saddled with a mechanism that doesn’t work. There are ways to fix that, but not the willEven when it was clearly in decline, the Soviet Union commanded loyal devotion. Its admirers could never quite grasp that the nation instrumental in winning the second world war had a broken economy.The same cognitive dissonance applies to the European Union today. There is the EU as it exists in the minds of its most avid supporters: fast-growing, a defender of progressive values, fighti
  
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• Dangerous fake electric goods sold on Amazon and eBay, research says

  06-06-2018 16:12
  One in three UK consumers have mistakenly purchased a counterfeit electrical item online, according to new findings Popular e-commerce sites such as Amazon, eBay and Fruugo are being misused by third party sellers to exploit online UK shoppers and expose them to thousands of fake and potentially dangerous electrical goods, an investigation has claimed today. The charity Electrical Safety First (ESF) found that one in three UK consumers – about 18 million people – has mistakenly purch
  
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• Qatar Airways CEO apologises for suggesting a woman could not do his job

  06-06-2018 14:05 via theguardian.com
  Akbar Al Baker offers ‘heartfelt apologies’ after saying firm has to be led by a manThe boss of Qatar Airways, who sits on the board of Heathrow, has offered his “heartfelt apologies” for his suggestion that a woman would not be able to do his job, which inflamed a row over sexism in the aviation industry.Referring to his role as chief executive of the Gulf carrier, Akbar Al Baker stunned a press conference on Tuesday by saying: “Of course, it has to be led by a man
  
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• EU lawmaker rules out 'mutual recognition' for UK financial firms - Reuters

  06-06-2018 12:44
  Reuters
  EU lawmaker rules out 'mutual recognition' for UK financial firms
  Reuters
  LONDON (Reuters) - The City of London financial district's preferred option for future trading relations with the European Union after Brexit won't work, a senior EU lawmaker said on Wednesday. European Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Huebner ...
  EU lawmaker rules out "mutual recognition" for UK financial firmsNasdaqalle 5 nieuwsartikelen »
  
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• Northern rail workers to strike over plans to abolish train guards

  06-06-2018 12:04
  RMT union members to stage three walkouts in June amid ongoing chaos caused by timetable changeWorkers employed by crisis-stricken Northern rail are to stage three strikes later this month as their union capitalises on recent travel chaos to fight plans to abolish train guards.All Northern conductors, conductor instructors and train driver members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have been instructed to strike for 24 hours on Tuesday 19 June, Thursday 21 June a
  
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• Timeline of trouble: how the TSB IT meltdown unfolded

  06-06-2018 11:11 via theguardian.com
  Why the chief executive, Paul Pester, faces a second round of questions from MPsPaul Pester, the under-pressure boss of TSB, will face a second round of questions on Wednesday from MPs on the Treasury committee over the bank’s botched IT upgrade that left up to 1.9 million customers locked out of their accounts. More than six weeks on from the systems meltdown, here is a timeline of how events unfolded. Continue reading...
  
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• Kill the tech bro, save the world: how CEOs became Hollywood's new supervillains

  06-06-2018 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Upgrade, a new thriller set in a Tesla-like dystopia, is the latest big-budget film to replace the stereotypical evil Russian with the evil Silicon Valley nerdHollywood has a history of drawing on collective fears. The dawn of the atomic age saw a boom in world-ending disasters, James Bond battled Russians all throughout the cold war, and the post-9/11 era saw a grimly predictable rise in Arab and Muslim bad guys. And so it follows, that in the past few years – as the likes of Mark Zuckerb
  
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• British Airways knew we had severe nut allergies but still served cashews

  06-06-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Despite being informed that it could have been fatal, airline’s response has been laxMy daughter and I have severe nut allergies and have both been hospitalised after touching a work surface where nuts had been present. When my family flew with British Airways recently, I told the airline when booking and at each stage of the journey. Despite this, it served some of my family cashews on both the outward and return flights.The nuts were listed on the in-house allergen sheet outbound but not
  
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• TSB chief receives stinging rebuke from City watchdog

  06-06-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Bank failed to be ‘open and transparent’ over IT meltdown affecting 1.9m customers, says FCAThe City regulator has launched a stinging attack on the chief executive of TSB over the bank’s failure to be open and transparent with customers when an IT upgrade went badly wrong, locking as many as 1.9 million customers out of their accounts.The Financial Conduct Authority accused Paul Pester of “portraying an optimistic view” of services after the botched operation in Ap
  
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• The town that refused to let austerity kill its buses | Aditya Chakrabortty

  06-06-2018 07:00
  The devastation of bus services is a silent legacy of recent Tory governments. But in Witney – David Cameron’s back yard – a not-for-profit service run by locals is providing a lifelineSit on the 210 for just a few minutes and strangers start to tell you things. They tell you crap jokes. They tell you how they were once ace footballers. About their heart problems. If you’re busy, they fill each other in on their just-completed trips to the GP or Aldi. And they’ll ta
  
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• MPs urge home secretary to review 'right to rent' policy

  06-06-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Cross-party group says there has been no assessment of impact of immigration schemeA cross-party group of MPs has written to the home secretary urging a review of a controversial immigration policy forcing landlords to check whether tenants are legally allowed to rent, saying there has been no proper assessment of its impact.The group, comprising MPs from Labour, the Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens, told Sajid Javid that the “right to rent” scheme, part of the wider hostile
  
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• Rivals square up in Sky bidding war

  06-06-2018 06:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  A BIDDING war is a step closer after the Government said Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox could buy satellite broadcaster Sky provided it hives off its news channel.
  
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• Ask the experts before signing up as an executor

  06-06-2018 06:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  Being asked to be the executor of a friend or family member’s estate is an honour but also a major responsibility, as you could face a charge for hundreds of thousands of pounds if you make a mistake.
  
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• Shocking truth about online electrical wares

  06-06-2018 05:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  BE SWITCHED on when you are shopping for electrical items online or you could be in for a nasty shock. Sellers are exploiting reputable platforms such as Amazon and eBay to sell substandard or counterfeit electrical goods.
  
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• Record numbers save in pensions ‘revolution’

  06-06-2018 04:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  A PENSIONS revolution is underway in Britain as a record number of workers save for their old age, official figures show today. As much as £90.3billion was saved last year by 84 per cent of employees in workplace pension schemes, the Department for Work and Pensions said.
  
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