Financial news

• Mini workers face two weeks of unpaid leave in event of no-deal Brexit

  10-09-2019 23:03 via theguardian.com
  4,500 workers at Oxford plant would go unpaid as their holiday allowance was used in previous shutdownBMW will make workers at its Mini plant in Oxford take unpaid leave for two weeks or more if a no-deal Brexit causes major disruption to its business.The German carmaker is ready to close the Cowley factory for at least a fortnight from the 31 October Brexit deadline if BMW has problems importing components for vehicles, its chief financial officer Nicolas Peter said. The shutdown could stretch
  
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• WeWork looks like a bubble waiting to burst

  10-09-2019 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Wall Street isn’t playing ball with the shared workspace landlord’s inflated valueOne way not to recognise a potentially heavy investment loss is to close your eyes, ignore the evidence and pretend nothing has happened. This seems to be Masayoshi Son’s approach at WeWork.The SoftBank tech investor wants WeWork to abandon its flotation, reports the FT (£), for reasons that are not hard to guess. A listing in New York would expose the horrible truth about the allegedly hip
  
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• BA pilots are better off than cabin crew | Letters

  10-09-2019 18:54 via theguardian.com
  In response to this week’s strike action, Allan McRobert argues that pilots get many benefits in addition to salary, while Tony Dobbins says workers’ rights should be taught in schoolsIt’s a pity the anonymous pilot (I don’t want to strike, but BA has left me with no choice, 10 September) wasn’t given the space to list some of the eye-watering benefits he receives. The pay system he mentions is tax-efficient, meaning that the pilots pay themselves minimum wage and t
  
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• Grand Designs presenter faces crisis over bond investment

  10-09-2019 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Bondholders left carrying losses after attempts to restructure Kevin McCloud investmentA fresh crisis looms for the Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud after attempts to restructure property bond investments in his housing empire failed.Hundreds of investors – who were told last month they could face losing up to 97% of their money – were in effect warned that if they did not back the restructuring, one of the firms in McCloud’s empire was at risk of being wound up or falling
  
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• Exhausted bitcoin is showing signs of weakness

  10-09-2019 18:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN is looking perilously close to undoing all the work its supporters have achieved throughout 2019. Months and months of pushing hard to drag the ten-year-old digital asset up from the slump around $6,000 at the start of the year had been paying off handsomely, with BTC almost reaching double its value of 2018.
  
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• Do we need LGBTQ banks?

  10-09-2019 17:31
  The first credit union specifically tailored to LGBTQ customers has opened in the US. Would more of them help end financial discrimination?It’s the bank that came out: the state of Michigan has just approved a new credit union specifically tailored to LGBTQ customers. It’s the sort of proposal that raises the hackles of the “they’ve got more rights than us” brigade. But consider this: US research this year found same-sex couples were 73% more likely than heterosexua
  
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• Pound US dollar exchange rate: GBP/USD steady, UK average earnings hit 11-year high

  10-09-2019 17:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  The pound US dollar exchange rate steadied at around $1.236 today after July’s UK average earnings hit an 11-year high, rising from 3.8 percent to 4 percent. Today also saw July’s UK ILO unemployment rate ease from 3.9 percent to 3.8 percent – its lowest in 45 years.
  
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• Pound Euro exchange rate: GBP/EUR rises as UK workers receive largest pay rise in 11 years

  10-09-2019 17:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  This afternoon, the pound edged up against the euro and is currently trading at around €1.120. The UK unemployment rate dipped back to 3.8 percent, employment increased to 32.78 and British workers received their largest pay rise in more than 11 years – figures described as a UK “jobs miracle”
  
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• Margrethe Vestager gets second term in EU competition job

  10-09-2019 16:15 via theguardian.com
  Dane has won renown for taking on tech firms, upsetting Donald Trump in the processMargrethe Vestager, the high-flying Danish politician who has taken on Apple, Amazon and Google, will stay in charge of Europe’s competition rules and take charge of EU digital policy.Appointed to an unprecedented second term as the EU’s competition commissioner, Vestager will also oversee EU digital policy and will have the job title of “executive vice-president, Europe fit for the digital age&r
  
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• Argentina's economic crisis is the result of avoidable mistakes

  10-09-2019 16:04 via theguardian.com
  The IMF and others must play a part in preventing another debt defaultInvestors and economic observers have begun to ask the same question that I posed in an article published 18 years ago: “Who lost Argentina?” In late 2001, the country was in the grips of an intensifying blame game, and would soon default on its debt obligations, fall into a deep recession, and suffer a lasting blow to its international credibility. This time around, many of the same contenders for the roles of vic
  
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• National Grid to bring forward plans for new blackout safeguards

  10-09-2019 15:51 via theguardian.com
  Operator says energy system should be more resilient after UK’s biggest outage in a decadeNational Grid will accelerate plans for new blackout safeguards to avoid another energy system shock after more than a million homes were left without electricity last month.The grid operator admitted after Britain’s biggest blackout in a decade that the energy system’s standards should be more resilient against the risk of unexpected power plant outages. Continue reading...
  
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• Bovis makes £1.1bn bid for Galliford Try's housebuilding arm

  10-09-2019 09:55 via theguardian.com
  Company improves offer to rival after its first approach was rejected in MayBovis Homes has revived talks to buy Galliford Try’s housing businesses after improving its potential bid to almost £1.1bn and adding cash to the proposed deal.The companies have agreed basic terms of a transaction that would more than double Bovis’s housebuilding and enlarge its affordable homes operation. Bovis, the smallest of Britain’s major housebuilders, would be building 10,000 homes a year
  
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• Chain Reaction’s customer service is in the frame

  10-09-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  My £3,000 mountain bike frame cracked but I can’t get anything done under the warrantyBack in May last year I bought a £3,000 specialist mountain bike from the “worlds biggest online bike store”, Chain Reaction Cycles – part of cycling retailer, Wiggle.Less than a year later – in March this year – the frame developed a crack and I submitted a warranty claim. The problem is, the company just won’t deal with it. Continue reading...
  
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• Duty-free purchases of cigarettes and alcohol to return under no-deal Brexit

  10-09-2019 01:01
  Sajid Javid’s decision means travellers to and from the EU would see prices tumbleThe government will reintroduce duty-free purchases of cigarettes and alcohol with immediate effect if Britain leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October, the chancellor, Sajid Javid, has announced.In the latest attempt to win public support for Boris Johnson’s Brexit stance, the Treasury said travellers to and from the EU would see prices tumble as excise duties were removed. Continue reading...
  
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