Financial news

• Sam Bankman-Fried charged with using stolen funds for political donations

  14-08-2023 22:36
  
  New indictment charges former billionaire with seven counts of conspiracy and fraudSam Bankman-Fried used stolen customer funds to make more than $100m in campaign contributions ahead of the 2022 US midterm elections, federal prosecutors said on Monday in a new indictment filed against the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.The new indictment charges the 31-year-old former billionaire with seven counts of conspiracy and fraud over the collapse of the exchange. He has previously pleaded n
  
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• Threads app usage plummets despite initial promise as refuge from Twitter

  14-08-2023 21:31
  
  Social media app, launched in the wake of Twitter chaos, recorded 576,000 active users in August, down 79% from 2.3 million in JulyThe daily usage of Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, continues to slump after a strong start in its first weeks of existence.Engagement with the social media app is down 79% from a high of 2.3 million active users in early July to 576,000 as of 7 August, according to Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform. Continue reading...
  
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• UBS to pay $1.43bn in penalties over mortgage fraud prior to 2008 crisis

  14-08-2023 20:57
  
  Banking group settles US government lawsuit alleging fraud related to residential mortgage-backed securities in 2006 and 2007Banking group UBS has agreed to pay $1.43bn in penalties to settle a civil action alleging fraud in the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities ahead of the 2008-09 financial crisis, the company and the US justice department said on Monday.The civil action was filed in November 2018 alleging misconduct related to UBS’s underwriting and issuance of residential
  
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• Transition from ‘dirty’ to green US jobs rises, leaving older workers behind

  14-08-2023 19:31
  
  Workers in their 40s, 50s and 60s and those without college degrees appear least likely to move into green jobs, research findsThe rate of transition from “dirty” to green jobs is rapidly rising but older and blue collar workers are being left behind, new research has found.Overall the transition rate from dirty to clean industries increased tenfold between 2005 and 2021 with a significant uptick in EV-related roles – even before the $369bn Inflation Reduction Act boost for ren
  
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• City watchdog to contact MPs and other PEPs to ask if they have been debanked

  14-08-2023 18:49
  
  Inquiry aims to find out extent of denial of banking services to politically exposed persons such as politicians and army leadersThe City watchdog is to write to politicians and civil servants asking whether they have been denied banking or other financial services, following the scandal that erupted after Nigel Farage’s accounts were threatened with closure.The Financial Conduct Authority plans to send letters on Tuesday to politically exposed persons (PEPs) – who include MPs, peers
  
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• Frustration and failure as HS2 threatens to derail | Letters

  14-08-2023 18:05
  
  Alex Ramage, John Dunn and Mark Sullivan respond to Larry Elliott’s call toscrap the high-speed rail projectI was depressed to read Larry Elliott’s article (HS2 is the white elephant in the room. If the Tories won’t scrap it, Labour must, 10 August). I have worked on HS2 contracts for the last five years, and it’s crucial that common misconceptions in the piece do not go unchallenged.What the story lacks is its central political context. The scope of HS2 and its procureme
  
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• Yes, rebuild the Crooked House brick by brick – and buttress local planning, too | Simon Jenkins

  14-08-2023 18:02
  
  Communities need more power to protect assets such as historic pubs: the centralised system too often favours developersWhose fault is the demise of the Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire, now a pile of bricks? The nation is up in arms. MPs, peers, mayors, editors, villagers and about 18,000 people on a Facebook group are all gnashing their teeth. Even the demolition contractor, whose digger was actually booked before the pub caught fire, is embarrassed. Many of these worthies may not have k
  
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• Number of landlords selling up in UK grows as mortgage rates surge

  14-08-2023 17:31
  
  Those who sold buy-to-let this year made £10,500 less than those who did so in 2022, separate data showsA growing number of landlords have sold up as rates on mortgages surge, according to data that showed tenants facing sharply rising rents amid a squeezed housing market.Estimates by the estate agent Savills showed that 25,000 homes in UK were sold by landlords between April and May, compared with 22,000 in the previous two months. Continue reading...
  
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• Mortgage expert shares tips to secure ‘cheapest deals’ as lenders slash rates

  14-08-2023 15:51 via express.co.uk
  
  Mortgage rates have been fluctuating in recent weeks following the Bank of England's 14th Base Rate increase.
  
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• Rural areas being hit hardest at pumps as fuel prices rise again, says AA

  14-08-2023 15:49
  
  Motoring body highlights significant differences in prices of supermarket petrol around BritainSupermarkets have been accused of overcharging customers in rural areas for fuel, as petrol prices on forecourts in the UK hit their highest level for six months.The cost of petrol reached 149.13p a litre on Sunday, the dearest since early February, while diesel broke 150p a litre for the first time since May, at 150.61p, as increases in oil prices caused by global production cuts fed through to pricin
  
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• BBC sells Maida Vale studios to partnership including Hans Zimmer

  14-08-2023 15:13
  
  New owners vow to continue music legacy of London venue where pop and rock royalty have performed The BBC has sold its historic Maida Vale studios to a partnership that includes the Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer and the film producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.The venue in north-west London has hosted thousands of performances from generations of pop and rock royalty including the Beatles, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Dusty Springfield, Beyoncé and Adele. Continue reading...
  
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• Should we sell inherited house and staircase our shared-ownership flat to 100%?

  14-08-2023 11:00
  
  Half the profit in former family home, now rented out, would raise enough to buy our home outright but not leave much of a nest eggQ My mother recently died, leaving my sister and me 50% shares in the former family home. The house is currently privately let and we each get 50% of the rent each month. My sister and I get on well. I am recently retired and have paid off my shared-ownership mortgage, and if the family house were sold, half the profit would raise enough capital for my husband and me
  
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• Fears UK’s cashless society will leave more than just the vulnerable behind

  14-08-2023 10:00
  
  There have long been concerns that older people will suffer as we ditch coins and notes, but other groups, such as tourists, may also be affectedArmando Bordalo e Sá planned ahead before coming to London for a five-day trip this summer, exchanging euros for sterling at a good rate to pay for meals, tickets to events and other expenses.But by the end of his short trip, much of it went unused, because so many places no longer accept cash, and he had racked up a series of unwanted charges fr
  
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• Fake or not fake? Booking.com’s hotel or apartment was ‘a private house’

  14-08-2023 08:00
  
  On arrival in Paris guests had to find alternative accommodation but a refund has been refusedI work for a community trust in east London and we have been trying to help a disabled woman who had a terrible experience after using Booking.com to book a hotel stay in Paris.When she arrived at the property along with her sister-in-law in April, the door was answered by a woman who explained that the address was her own house – not a hotel or apartment. Continue reading...
  
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• UK homes install ‘record number’ of solar panels and heat pumps

  14-08-2023 07:00
  
  Head of industry standards body says more people are turning to renewable technology as energy costs growBritish households are making more green energy upgrades than ever before after installing a record number of solar panels and heat pumps in the first half of the year, according to the industry’s official standards body.The industry figures show there were more green energy installations in June than in previous years. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Change is needed’: Ofgem chief calls on ministers to rethink energy price caps

  14-08-2023 07:00
  
  Jonathan Brearley says a more rigorous framework is needed to support householdsIn less than a fortnight, Ofgem’s chief executive will set the price that 29m households will pay for their gas and electricity this winter – but Jonathan Brearley appears unconvinced that the energy price cap is the best way to help hard-pressed bill payers.In what could herald a shake-up of Britain’s energy market, Brearley is calling on ministers to rethink whether the “very broad and crude
  
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• Sharp rise in cost of food basics forces UK families ‘to make desperate choices’

  14-08-2023 01:01
  
  Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardestThe cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two year
  
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