Financial news

• Pound boosted by Barnier's Brexit hint - business live

  30-08-2018 15:11 via theguardian.com
  Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator for Europe, said the bloc is prepared to offer the UK a unique deal, helping the pound against the dollar and the euroFrance’s Macron ‘to push for a Brexit deal’Pressure on Canada and US as NAFTA deadline loomsWonga stops taking new loan applicationsOpinion: I won’t cheer if Wonga fails. I was grateful it was there for meQ&A: What would Wonga’s collapse mean for customers?SSE and Npower merger gets provision
  
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• Arla Foods to pay its 2018 profit to Europe's drought-hit farmers

  30-08-2018 13:41 via theguardian.com
  Dairy co-operative takes ‘extraordinary measures’ in wake of summer heatwaveThe dairy company Arla Foods is planning to pay its entire 2018 profit to farmers who are struggling financially due to the drought that has affected Europe over the summer.The firm – a co-operative owned by more than 11,200 farmers in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – said it expected the windfall to be worth up to £278m. Continue reading...
  
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• UK consumer loans in July dip to slowest growth in three years

  30-08-2018 13:26 via theguardian.com
  Bank of England says in 2017 households spent on average £900 more than their incomeThe boom in consumer borrowing across Britain has eased to the slowest growth rate in nearly three years, according to official figures.The Bank of England said unsecured consumer credit grew by 8.5% in July, down from 8.8% a month earlier. Although still more than double the rate of annual pay increases, the figures are likely to point towards a slowdown for the British economy. Continue reading...
  
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• Pound LIVE: Sterling set to rise for DAYS after Brexit breakthrough

  30-08-2018 12:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound has soared against the euro and US dollar after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier surprised the markets by suggested a Brexit deal was likely.
  
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• 'Profiteering' Viagogo called to face MPs after earlier refusal

  30-08-2018 12:15 via theguardian.com
  Controversial ticketing firm expected to send deputy to speak for publicity shy founderThe controversial ticket resale website Viagogo has been called to appear before a parliamentary inquiry, a year after it outraged MPs by refusing to turn up to a previous evidence session.The secondary ticketing site, already the subject of multiple investigations for alleged transgressions including breaches of consumer law, is expected to send an executive to a hearing on 5 September. Continue reading...
  
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• Pound v euro: GBP/EUR exchange rate near one-week high as EU warms to Brexit talks

  30-08-2018 12:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  The pound has held close to opening levels against the euro today, but remains near a one-week high in the GBP/EUR exchange rate at a level of €1.112. Sterling’s appreciation has come after signs that the EU is willing to cooperate with the UK in Brexit talks.
  
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• Npower-SSE merger wins go-ahead from competition watchdog

  30-08-2018 11:07 via theguardian.com
  Big six shrinks to big five as CMA clears way for major shakeup of energy sectorThe competition watchdog has provisionally given the green light to the merger of npower and the retail arm of SSE, removing the final hurdle to the biggest shakeup of the energy sector in years.An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority found that the two firms did not compete closely for customers on default tariffs which most people are on. Few people switched between the pair, it added. Continue re
  
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• Wonga: payday lender stops offering new loans

  30-08-2018 10:34 via theguardian.com
  Firm held emergency talks with FCA over impact of collapse on existing customersWonga has stopped taking new loan applications as the struggling payday lender teeters on the brink of collapse.The news comes days after it emerged that the company had lined up Grant Thornton to act as administrator in case the lender’s board decides it cannot be rescued. Continue reading...
  
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• Was the financial crisis wasted? | Howard Davies

  30-08-2018 10:27 via theguardian.com
  While regulation has been strengthened since the crisis, its implementation remains patchyAs the 10th anniversary of the start of the global financial crisis approaches, a wave of retrospective reviews is bearing down on us. Many of them will try to answer the big question: has the financial system been fundamentally reformed, so that we can be confident of preventing a repeat of the dismal and destructive events of 2008-09, or has the crisis been allowed to go to waste?There will be no consensu
  
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• How can I break free from Virgin over lost UKTV?

  30-08-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  It removed channels from its service – but it said ‘no’ when I asked to downgrade my packageWhen Virgin Media removed the UKTV channels from its service last month I bought a new TV in order to watch them on Freeview and tried to downgrade my Virgin package. Virgin won’t let me do so unless I sign up to a new 12-month contract? That doesn’t seem right. KL, London Continue reading...
  
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• Demonetisation drive that cost India 1.5m jobs fails to uncover 'black money'

  30-08-2018 07:25 via theguardian.com
  Costly banknote recall did not flush out untaxed wealth, as PM Narendra Modi had promisedMore than 99% of the currency that India declared void in a surprise announcement in 2016 was returned to the country’s banks in subsequent weeks, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report.The figures suggest prime minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation policy, which likely wiped at least 1% from the country’s GDP and cost at least 1.5m jobs, failed to wipe significant hordes of un
  
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• Think Uber drivers have it bad? Take a look at au pairs | Rosie Cox

  30-08-2018 07:00
  Low pay and lack of rights for these workers amounts to exploitation. The government should interveneWelcome to the most unregulated labour market in Britain. Since 2008, au pairs have been specifically excluded from the legal definition of “worker” or “employee”: they have no right to the national minimum wage, they are not covered by health and safety regulations, there are no limits on their working hours and they have no legal right to holidays or any time off. In the
  
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• Ten years after the financial crash, the timid left should be full of regrets | Larry Elliott

  30-08-2018 06:59 via theguardian.com
  Capitalism’s near-death experience with the banking crisis was a golden opportunity for progressives. But they blew itPlacards are being prepared. Photo-opportunities are being organised. A list of demands is being drawn up by a coalition of pressure groups, unions and NGOs. Yes, preparations are well under way for protests to mark next month’s 10th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers – the pivotal moment in the global financial crisis.Make no mistake, the
  
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• Water companies criticised as amount lost from leaks rises for second year

  30-08-2018 01:01
  Firms must lead by example if they want customers to conserve supplies, says consumer councilWater firms have been criticised by the industry watchdog after it found the amount of water lost to leakages had increased for the second consecutive year.Nine of the private companies that supply water in England and Wales failed to meet their targets on cutting leakage in the year to April, according to the report by the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater). It found that leakages increased by 1.5% in
  
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• Dyson to expand Wiltshire facility to boost electric-car tests

  30-08-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Tech company invests £200m in Hullavington site to double vehicle-testing capacitySir James Dyson, the billionaire inventor and Brexit backer, has unveiled expansion plans to accommodate more than 2,000 workers at his Wiltshire research facility, more than doubling capacity for electric-vehicle testing.Coming despite severe warnings over lost jobs and investment from no-deal Brexit, his technology company is spending about £200m to expand the testing facility on a former second world
  
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