Financial news

• US sues Visa for monopoly on debit-card use affecting ‘price of nearly everything’

  24-09-2024 22:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Government claims firm stifles competition by threatening merchants with high fees and pays off potential rivalsThe US Department of Justice has sued Visa, accusing one of the world’s largest payment networks of antitrust violations that affect “the price of nearly everything”.The financial giant has suppressed competition by threatening merchants with high fees and paying off potential rivals, according to the complaint, filed in US district court for the southern district of
  
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• Winter fuel: thousands more could lose benefit if it becomes means tested, data suggests

  24-09-2024 20:12 via theguardian.com
  
  A further 175,000 pensioners are likely to stop receiving allowance under such plans, official figures showUK politics live – latest updatesA further 175,000 pensioners could lose the winter fuel allowance if the benefit becomes means tested, data suggests.About 11.6 million people in the UK received the benefit last winter, an increase of 214,000 on the previous year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The overwhelming majority are to h
  
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• CrowdStrike apologizes for global IT outage in congressional testimony

  24-09-2024 19:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Faulty update from cybersecurity company grounded hospitals, airports and payment systems in JulyA CrowdStrike senior executive apologized for causing a global software outage that ground the operations of hospitals, airports, payment systems and personal computers around the world to a halt in July.Adam Meyers, senior vice-president for counter-adversary operations at CrowdStrike, testified before Congress on Tuesday. Meyers will speak to the House homeland security cybersecurity and infrastruc
  
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• Labour’s benefit fraud crackdown would allow officials to access bank accounts

  24-09-2024 19:49
  
  Proposals will require financial institutions to share data that may help identify scammersLabour has promised to crack down on benefit fraud by reintroducing “snooper’s charter” proposals mooted under the last government that would allow welfare officials to request information from claimants’ bank accounts.A fraud, error and debt bill will require banks and other financial institutions to share data that may help identify benefit fraud as part of a package of measures d
  
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• The Guardian view on Keir Starmer’s speech: serving working people, but what about others? | Editorial

  24-09-2024 19:48 via theguardian.com
  
  A crackdown on welfare and pensioner benefits signals that Labour will prioritise the interests of those in work over other sections of societyThere was something striking about Sir Keir Starmer’s defiance of conventional wisdom. There he was addressing his party’s annual conference – the first Labour prime minister to do so in 15 years – facing growing public unease over gifts from rich donors, internal disquiet over welfare cuts, and warnings from pollsters that his cha
  
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• Business leaders raise concerns over flagship Labour investment summit

  24-09-2024 19:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Scheduling of event two weeks before budget in late October criticised at party conference as ‘wrong way round’Business leaders have warned that the government’s plans for a major global investment summit are in danger of falling flat, amid growing frustrations over high costs of involvement and its timing two weeks before the budget.As a central plank in Labour’s proposals to drive up investment in Britain, the party pledged in the general election campaign to host the s
  
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• Dulux owner AkzoNobel to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide

  24-09-2024 17:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Dutch group has not said how many of its 3,500 employees in the UK and Ireland will be affectedThe paint manufacturer behind Dulux is to cut about 2,000 jobs worldwide in a bid to slash costs.AkzoNobel said that it planned to complete a programme of redundancies by the end of 2025 to make its operations more efficient. Continue reading...
  
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• Post Office asked to use Horizon IT data to support criminal case this year, inquiry hears

  24-09-2024 15:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Inquiry reveals angry email from Fujitsu boss after team requested IT firm for help in case against sub-post office ownerThe Post Office attempted to use Horizon IT data to support a criminal case against a post office owner earlier this year, despite hundreds of post office operators being wrongfully prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting because of bugs in the system.A chain of email correspondence between the Post Office and the Horizon developer, Fujitsu, relating to a police inves
  
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• Royal Academy of Engineering president Jim McDonald: this is how we power a greener future

  24-09-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Far from hanging up his tools, the Scottish engineer is determined to go on promoting the role his profession can play in designing a carbon-free economyHe may hold the most prestigious role in UK engineering, but Sir Jim McDonald’s earliest foray into the sector was disastrous. As a 15-year-old in the 1970s, he was in a rock band and bought himself a secondhand amplifier. In an attempt to get more power out of the device, he took a screwdriver to it.“It was like that scene from Back
  
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• UK first-time buyers: would you borrow up to six times your earnings for a mortgage?

  24-09-2024 12:50 via theguardian.com
  
  We would like to hear what you think of Nationwide’s offer to first-time buyers taking out a home loanIn what is a first for a major high street lender, Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, is allowing first-time buyers to borrow up to six times their income.From Tuesday, it would give new buyers the option of borrowing up to six times their income when taking out a five- or 10-year fixed rate for up to 95% of the property’s value. Continue reading...
  
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• Tui expects leap in profits as winter break bookings rise

  24-09-2024 12:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Travel group says the Canaries, Egypt, Cape Verde, Thailand and Mexico are popular this seasonBusiness live – latest updatesEurope’s largest travel company expects its annual profits to rise by at least a quarter, helped by people spending more on winter breaks to sunny destinations such as Egypt, Cape Verde, Thailand and Mexico.Tui also said summer sales rose by 6%, helped by late bookings, for which Spain, Greece and Turkey were the most sought-after destinations. Tui has taken a f
  
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• Moira Stuart says bank cashier saved her from scam

  24-09-2024 11:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Broadcaster recounts that she was ‘embarrassed and angry with myself’, having thought she was very aware of ripoffsThe veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart has revealed that she nearly fell victim to a sophisticated bank scam.Stuart, 75, who spent 34 years with the BBC on TV and radio, told the Times newspaper she was saved from losing thousands of pounds by a vigilant bank cashier. Continue reading...
  
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• Bank of England’s Bailey says he expects interest rates to fall ‘gradually’

  24-09-2024 11:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Central bank’s governor warns consumers not to expect a return to near-zero ratesBusiness live – latest updatesThe governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said he expects interest rates to fall gradually but warned consumers not to expect a return to near-zero levels.Bailey said he was “very encouraged” by the downwards path of inflation and “therefore I do think the path for interest rates will be downwards, gradually”. Last week, the Bank kept bo
  
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• The speech Keir Starmer should give: our economic model is broken – and I’ll pay for my own Arsenal tickets | Owen Jones

  24-09-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The PM will today deliver his leader’s speech to Labour conference. This is what he should say insteadConference, I stand here ready to bury Britain’s age of decline and usher in the age of ambition. For years, politicians have offered this nation a daily diet of pessimism, demanding ever greater sacrifice from those with nothing left to give. And they have delivered on that pessimism – from stagnant growth to falling wages, from crumbling infrastructure to disintegrating publi
  
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• Transport for London fined me … after it declined my payment

  24-09-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I tried to pay the congestion charge twice but it didn’t collect the pending paymentsI tried to pay a congestion charge to Transport for London (TfL), but payment was declined twice. My bank, Nationwide, told me TfL had not collected the funds but refused to confirm this in writing. I sent screenshots of the pending transactions to TfL, which refused to accept them, and said I must pay the fine when it arrives.
  RB, Bournemouth, DorsetThis is a dispiritingly familiar story. I’ve lost
  
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• China unleashes boldest stimulus in years to boost ailing economy

  24-09-2024 07:37 via theguardian.com
  
  People’s Bank of China announces support measures including a cut in interest rates but some experts fear they may not be enoughChina’s central bank has cut interest rates in an attempt to revive flagging economic growth and prevent scores of debt-laden property owners from going bust in its boldest intervention to boost the economy since the pandemic.Adopting a suite of measures to reduce borrowing costs, the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates on existing mortgages by 0
  
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