Financial news

• The Thomas Cook chairman needs to answer some questions

  24-09-2019 20:39 via theguardian.com
  The entire board failed and Frank Meysman served eight years as its chairmanLet’s not overlook the other big figure in Thomas Cook’s boardroom. The three underwhelming chief executives of the past decade deserve their bashing, but chairman Frank Meysman had been in post for eight years when the ship sank on Monday. He was appointed to restore order after Thomas Cook’s narrow escape from its last financial crisis in 2011, so one could say he led the company from near-calamity to
  
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• Metro Bank shares plunge after investors snub £200m bond sale

  24-09-2019 19:48 via theguardian.com
  Bank forced to cancel sale despite offering a high 7.5% rate of interestMetro Bank shares plunged more than 35% to a record low on Tuesday after wary investors refused to purchase its bonds, in another blow to the bank since it revealed an accounting error in January.The bond sale was launched on Monday morning but the bank announced after markets closed that it had cancelled the sale by the afternoon after failing to drum up enough interest to reach its £200m-£250m sales target. Tha
  
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• Family’s relief after challenging shock water charges hike 

  24-09-2019 19:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  A family landed with a shock hike in their water charges struggled to get answers as to the cause when they challenged their supplier Thames Water. The bill that account holder pensioner Roy Baldwin and his son Nick had received had jumped from £228 to £312 in a year and came just as Nick had just lost his job.
  
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• Auction house to offer half a million pounds of a criminal’s crypto seized by police

  24-09-2019 17:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  A UK auction house will be putting half a million pounds of cryptocurrency seized by police under the hammer tomorrow. The proceeds of a crypto criminal – a huge haul of bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets – will be auctioned off on behalf of the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit .
  
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• Pound US Dollar exchange rate rises as Bercow calls for parliament to return

  24-09-2019 17:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  This afternoon, the pound edge up against the US dollar and the pairing is currently trading around $1.247. On Tuesday morning, the UK Supreme Court ruled Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament was unlawful.
  
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• Pound euro exchange rate rises after UK Supreme Court rules Parliament suspension unlawful

  24-09-2019 16:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  The pound euro exchange rate rose by 0.3 percent today, with the pairing trading around €1.1355 after the UK Supreme Court ruled Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament unlawful.
  
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• What is Child Benefit tax charge? How to work out if you’re affected by the charge

  24-09-2019 16:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  CHILD BENEFIT payments may be subject to a tax charge in certain situations. How does one work out if the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge needs to be paid?
  
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• How many Premium Bonds can you have? What’s the likelihood of winning and maximum amount?

  24-09-2019 16:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  PREMIUM BONDS are a savings product which a person may opt for, if they’re not looking for guaranteed returns on their investment. How many Premium Bonds can a person have, and what’s the likelihood of winning?
  
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• Universal Credit claimants could boost savings by tax-free £1,200 - who is eligible?

  24-09-2019 16:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  UNIVERSAL CREDIT claimants may be able to save in a government-backed scheme, which could see them get bonus money of up to £1,200 over four years.
  
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• Mortgage: Housebuyers issued warning as study shows rise in mortgage fraud

  24-09-2019 16:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  MORTGAGE fraud has seen a five per cent increase in the first fix months of 2019, compared to the final six months of 2018, according to research from fraud prevention service Cifas.
  
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• Pound to euro: Sterling jumps after Supreme Court ruling as markets await Boris’ next move

  24-09-2019 14:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE POUND surged against the dollar and euro as traders digested the Supreme Court’s ruling, which found Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament was “unlawful”.
  
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• What are ISA rates? How tax-free interest is applied to your savings

  24-09-2019 12:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  ISA stands for Individual Savings Account, and interest earned on these savings are tax-free. What are ISA rates, and when is interest paid on an ISA?
  
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• The future of the global economy hinges on four games of chicken | Nouriel Roubini

  24-09-2019 12:48 via theguardian.com
  Trump’s rows with China and Iran, Brexit and Argentina’s populism put the world on a knife edgeIn the classic game of chicken, two drivers race directly toward each other, and the first to swerve is the loser. If neither swerves, both will probably die. In the past, such scenarios have been studied to assess the risks posed by great-power rivalries. In the case of the Cuban missile crisis, for example, Soviet and American leaders were confronted with the choice of losing face or risk
  
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• Yes, businesses fail. But Thomas Cook’s bosses ignored the brutal facts | Stefan Stern

  24-09-2019 11:25 via theguardian.com
  Instead of confronting reality and managing decline, the travel company’s leaders just went on taking bonuses
  “How did you go bankrupt?”“Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” Continue reading...
  
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• Airlines accused of ramping up prices after Thomas Cook collapse

  24-09-2019 10:15 via theguardian.com
  Holidaymakers say Jet2 has doubled or trebled cost of some flights in wake of rival’s demise•Live coverage: ‘fat cat’ pay row as repatriation continuesHolidaymakers have been hit with immediate price rises as Thomas Cook’s collapse prompted tour operators and airlines to push through big fare hikes.Travellers scrambling to rebook holidays claimed that some airlines had trebled prices in the space of 24 hours. Flight websites predicted that prices, especially out of M
  
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• Lastminute.com wouldn't accept my gift card for a holiday

  24-09-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The website said ‘no’ even though the voucher clearly said ‘yes’ it was validIn December 2017 I cashed in some bitcoin and bought a £380 voucher for lastminute.com from Giftoff.com, which accepts digital currency payments. I was sent an electronic gift card, which clearly stated the expiry date as 1 January 2020. But when I tried to use it to buy a holiday this year, lastminute.com would not accept it.After much to-ing and fro-ing I was eventually told the voucher h
  
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• More than a third of UK bank branches have closed since 2015

  24-09-2019 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Report reveals 3,303 have shut down and hundreds of others have reduced opening times More than a third of the UK’s bank branches have shut for good in less than five years, while hundreds of those that remain have reduced their opening hours, according to a report.The consumer group Which? found there were 3,303 closures to the bank branch network between January 2015 and last month, as banks continued to shut branches at an “alarming rate”. Continue reading...
  
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