Financial news

• Britain's third-richest man faces fresh New Forest planning battle

  22-07-2019 20:04 via theguardian.com
  Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to transform derelict ‘tin cottage’ into three-bedroom home Britain’s third-richest man is fighting a fresh planning battle for permission to transform a derelict “tin cottage” into a three-bedroom home for a “permanent guardian” to protect and maintain his £6m dream beach house on the Solent coast in the New Forest national park.Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who made his £18bn fortune from the petrochemicals and fracking company
  
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• British Airways pilots back August strike

  22-07-2019 18:21
  Airline tries to obtain injunction to prevent strike backed by 93% of pilots The travel plans of hundreds of thousands of British Airways passengers face the threat of disruption next month after pilots at the airline voted to go on strike over pay.In the ballot, 93% of BA’s 4,000 pilots voted in favour of taking industrial action after rejecting a three-year pay deal. Strike dates have yet to be announced by the pilots’ union Balpa, which must give two weeks’ notice of any act
  
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• Treasury urged to expand credit unions to help vulnerable consumers

  22-07-2019 17:30
  Financial Conduct Authority calls for a viable alternative to payday lendersThe financial regulator is calling for a government review of credit union rules to give vulnerable consumers a viable alternative to payday lenders.The Financial Conduct Authority said looser laws would allow credit unions to offer a wider range of products and services to customers. It said the move could help higher risk customers who often turn to expensive payday loans to make ends meet. Continue reading...
  
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• Ted Baker’s former boss Ray Kelvin said to be considering buyout

  22-07-2019 16:57
  Fashion chain’s founder quit in March after allegations of inappropriate behaviour Shares in Ted Baker have jumped after reports that the fashion retailer’s founder, Ray Kelvin, was considering teaming up with investors to buy the company.Kelvin quit as chief executive in March in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards staff, including forced hugs. Continue reading...
  
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• Pub closure rate halves as communities fight back

  22-07-2019 16:17
  Data suggests government action on business rates and development may be workingThe rate at which pubs are disappearing in England and Wales has halved, prompting claims that government measures designed to arrest the decline may be stemming the tide of closures.About 13,000 closed between 2001 and 2018, which the industry has blamed on factors including high business rates, cheap supermarket alcohol, the rising minimum wage, the smoking ban and changing social habits. Continue reading...
  
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• Huawei helped North Korea build wireless network – US reports

  22-07-2019 16:16
  Chinese firm was blacklisted by Donald Trump over national security concernsHuawei Technologies, the Chinese company put on a US blacklist because of national security concerns, secretly helped North Korea build and maintain its commercial wireless network, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing sources and internal documents.The Chinese telecommunications company partnered with a state-owned Chinese firm, Panda International Information Technology, on a number of projects in North Korea
  
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• Volvo recalls more than 500,000 cars worldwide over fire risk

  22-07-2019 16:05
  Almost 70,000 vehicles in the UK are affected by problem with plastic part in engineMore than 500,000 Volvo cars are being recalled worldwide, including 70,000 in the UK, because of a fire risk in the engine.The manufacturer said a plastic part in the engine has, in rare cases, been liable to melt and deform, resulting in a possible engine fire. The affected models have four-cylinder diesel engines and are 2014-2019 versions of the following cars: S80, S60, V70, XC70, S60 Cross Country, V60, XC6
  
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• Trump calls for US interest rate cut; fears of UK Brexit recession – business live

  22-07-2019 15:52
  Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as the National Institute of Economic and Social Research warns the UK faces a murky futureLatest: Trump says Fed should lower borrowing costsNIESR warns of no-deal Brexit dangersEconomy may already be in recessionNIESR: no-deal would fling cement into economic wheels 2.52pm BST Heads-up: The South China Morning Post is reporting that US officials will return to Beijing for fresh talks on a trade deal.They say an American delegation led
  
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• No-deal Brexit risk may have already pushed UK into recession, says NIESR

  22-07-2019 15:44
  Leaving without deal will ‘throw concrete’ in wheels of British-EU trade, says economistThe mounting risk of no-deal Brexit may have pushed the UK economy into a recession already, one of the country’s foremost economic forecasters has warned.Sounding the alarm ahead of the expected elevation of Boris Johnson to Downing Street this week, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said there was a one in four chance the country is in a recession currently. Co
  
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• Equifax to pay $700m over breach that exposed data of 150m people

  22-07-2019 14:19
  Credit agency exposed social security numbers and other dataSettlement to provide up to $425m in relief to consumersEquifax will pay up to $700m to settle with the US and states over a 2017 data breach that exposed social security numbers and other private information of nearly 150m people. Related: Equifax hack: credit monitoring company criticized for poor responseContinue reading...
  
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• 'It's a crisis': Facebook kitchen staff work multiple jobs to get by

  22-07-2019 13:30
  Workers have spent months negotiating with the food services contractor employed by Facebook over wages and hoursNate Percastre makes $23 an hour working as a line cook at the cafeteria of Facebook’s San Francisco office, a job he loves and looks forward to every day.Almost anywhere else in the country, his wage would have been enough to support his housing, his food, his healthcare and all the other basic costs of living. But in San Francisco, where the median rent for a one-bedroom apart
  
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• Neil Woodford's listed fund invests £10m in Atom Bank

  22-07-2019 12:37
  First major deal since shuttering of Equity Income Fund fails to excite investorsNeil Woodford’s stock-market-listed fund has announced its first major investment since the shuttering of its flagship sister vehicle last month.Woodford Patient Capital Trust confirmed on Monday that it was pumping £10m into Atom Bank, keeping its stake at 18%. It is part of a wider £50m fundraising by Atom Bank that also drew investment from the Spanish banking group BBVA and investment funds Per
  
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• Live Nation admits to placing Metallica tickets on resale sites

  22-07-2019 12:35
  Admission confirms rumours that labels and artists sell live music tickets to secondary marketLive Nation, the world’s largest live music firm, has admitted placing tickets for Metallica directly on to resale websites, despite having claimed that it is against ticket touting.In a secret recording of a telephone call between an associate of Metallica, a Live Nation business partner and a senior Live Nation executive, the executive outlined a plan to bypass the regular avenues by which fans
  
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• Chinese tech shares leap up to 500% as Nasdaq-style market launches

  22-07-2019 09:54
  Star listing of domestic tech firms is seen as an attempt to bypass US markets in trade warChina’s tech scene was handed a fresh vote of confidence as investors piled into Shanghai’s new Nasdaq-style stock exchange and sent shares skyrocketing up to 500%.The launch of the Star listing of domestic tech firms is seen as China’s answer to the US’s Nasdaq, and an attempt to sidestep American markets in its long-running trade war with Washington. Continue reading...
  
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• No prize for guessing this text message is a con

  22-07-2019 08:00
  It’s strictly a no win if you fall for one of these two ‘Tesco’ scamsI recently received a text from what appeared to be Tesco. It was giving “applause” to three named shoppers, including their postcodes, and of course one was me. I am an occasional Tesco shopper and have its Clubcard. It sounded as if I had won a prize. When I accessed the link on my phone, it directed me to a dodgy-looking survey branded with Tesco’s logo, offering the chance to “buy&r
  
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• How can we reduce inheritance tax on my mother's property?

  22-07-2019 08:00
  My sister and I would like to be joint owners of my mother’s house to reduce liability on her estateQ Would I, together with my sister, be able to become a joint owner of my mother’s property so that the house wouldn’t be counted as part of her estate for inheritance tax purposes? Is this possible and if so what is the best way to go about this?
  MNA Yes it’s perfectly possible for you and your sister to become joint owners of your mother’s house (assuming that&rsquo
  
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• Have central bank gambles paid off? | Mohamed El-Erian

  22-07-2019 08:00
  Unconventional policies may have staved off short-term economic collapse but they may not foster long-term growthIn recent years, central banks have made a large policy wager. They bet that the protracted use of unconventional and experimental measures would provide an effective bridge to more comprehensive measures that would generate high inclusive growth and minimise the risk of financial instability. But central banks have repeatedly had to double down, in the process becoming increasingly a
  
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• Whirlpool recalls half a million tumble dryers from UK homes

  22-07-2019 01:01
  Appliance manufacturer makes official move four years after fire-risk fault discoveredThe appliance manufacturer Whirlpool will on Monday announce a recall of an estimated 500,000 tumble dryers at risk of bursting into flames – four years after safety concerns in the UK first emerged.The move, which the government ordered in June, marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running controversy over the dryers and the company’s handling of an issue that has left hundreds of thousands of pot
  
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• UK rail passengers lost out on £100m compensation last year

  22-07-2019 01:01
  Travellers told to claim for all delays after only 35% of those eligible made claims in 2017-18Rail passengers have been urged to claim compensation for every delay they suffer after missing out on an estimated £100m in payouts last year.Transport Focus, the UK industry watchdog, said passengers should send a message to train operators that reliability must keep improving by claiming their full entitlement. Continue reading...
  
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• Internet advertising to grow at slowest rate since 2001 dotcom bust

  22-07-2019 01:01
  Sector to be outpaced next year by cinema ads as big companies raise fears over digital scandalsThe internet is about to lose its mantle as the fastest-growing sector of the global advertising market for the first time in two decades, as brands seeking risk-free space to spend their ad budgets turn to traditional media such as cinema, billboards and poster sites.Next year the global internet advertising market, which is dominated by Google and Facebook, will surrender its position as the fastest
  
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• Energy regulator is out of touch over climate crisis, say businesses

  22-07-2019 01:01
  CBI fears Ofgem has outdated policy mandate to police the industry and set price controlsThe UK energy regulator is under fire for failing to prioritise the climate emergency as it draws up plans for Britain’s energy system. Britain’s biggest business group, the CBI, is concerned that Ofgem is relying on an outdated policy mandate to regulate the industry and set price controls. It insists that the regulator’s statutory responsibilities must have climate action at its core or r
  
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• Banks accused of abandoning England's poorest communities

  22-07-2019 01:01
  Research shows rate of branch closures is four times faster than in wealthy areasBanks are closing branches in deprived communities in England four times faster than in wealthy areas.High street banks have collectively closed 990 branches in the most deprived areas of the country since 2010, compared with 230 in the richest local authorities. Continue reading...
  
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