Financial news

• Nearly 170,000 UK shop workers lost their jobs in 2024

  29-12-2024 16:24 via theguardian.com
  Collapse of chains such as Homebase and Body Shop contributed to big rise, and another tough year is on the cardsAlmost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs during another challenging year for the UK high street, data suggests.The collapse of big chains such as Homebase and The Body Shop put thousands of jobs at risk and contributed to 169,395 retail jobs disappearing during 2024 – a 42% rise on 2023 levels. Continue reading...
  
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• Working from roam: more people logging on from UK airports and railway stations

  29-12-2024 16:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Birmingham airport and Liverpool Street station are among hubs where visits are up, says office providerAfter working from home, now comes working on the go. The post-pandemic surge in hybrid working has prompted increasing numbers of professionals to carry out some work while on the move, logging in from airports and railway stations across the UK, according to research.Footfall at transport hub-based workspaces has soared by 31% on average since 2022, according to figures from International Wo
  
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• Disparities in EV charging provision risk drop-off in UK transition, study warns

  29-12-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Report finds poorer areas particularly affected by varying availability and cost of charging electric carsThe UK is at risk of a drastic slowdown in its transition to electric cars because of big disparities in the availability and cost of charging points, especially in poorer areas, a report says.The study, by the consultancy Stonehaven, argues that given rapid advances in batteries and car range, persuading more people to move to electric vehicles is now less an issue of technology
  
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• Americans struggling with student debt expect ‘much worse’ under Trump

  29-12-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Biden’s loan forgiveness efforts have faced major resistance, but people are bracing for worse under president-electJoe Biden has pushed during his presidency to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans. Now Donald Trump, who has branded such efforts “vile”, is preparing to succeed him – leaving borrowers at risk of losing relief they received, or had been waiting for.Mary Ann Rockwell, 72, is a librarian in upstate New York. She has grappled with her student
  
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• ‘Shockingly lax’: how soaring British bank Starling had its wings clipped

  29-12-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Launched as a challenger to traditional lenders, it profited from offeringstate-backed loans during Covid. But then the regulator came callingIn June, Raman Bhatia walked into the fifth-floor office at Starling Bank’s headquarters in east London with a clean slate. It was set to be an antidote to a turbulent two years steering his former employer, Ovo, through an energy crisis and fines for overcharging customers.At the digital-only challenger bank, where he was taking over from the founde
  
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• Market for TV streaming advertising to pass £1bn

  29-12-2024 13:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Two years after Netflix introduced ads, streaming advertising is 30% of the size of traditional TV ad marketA little more than two years after Netflix moved to further disrupt the TV industry by introducing commercials, galvanising already fierce competition to grab budgets targeted at traditional TV, the market for streaming advertising in the UK will pass the £1bn milestone.For the first decade of the streaming revolution the received wisdom, most fervently espoused by Netflix, was that
  
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• DWP state pension underpayments update - full list as many owed up to £12,000

  29-12-2024 13:24 via express.co.uk
  
  The DWP has been working to correct historic underpayments over the past three years and is on track to have resolved the issue by the end of the year
  
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• Lloyds Bank warning for Apple and Netflix customers over 'unrecognised' extra charges

  29-12-2024 12:48 via express.co.uk
  
  Two customers reported getting the unexpected charges on their accounts.
  
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• People have been saving more, thanks to pay growth and cooling inflation, but they will need to feel the benefits | Richard Partington

  29-12-2024 12:45 via theguardian.com
  
  While Labour’s critics are circling, pay growth is resilient and inflation is coolingNot everything has gone smoothly for Keir Starmer. At the end of Labour’s first calendar year in power since Gordon Brown was in Downing Street a decade and a half ago, the prime minister is on the back foot after a run of disappointing economic updates.With a backlash over several unpopular tax and spending decisions, and as pressure mounts for a change in course early in the new year, the new gover
  
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• Parents warned as looming deadline could see them losing £2,000

  29-12-2024 12:11 via express.co.uk
  
  Eligible parents need to act fast to claim 15 hours of free childcare for 2025
  
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• City regulators to start oversight of tech firms that provide ‘critical’ services to UK

  29-12-2024 12:07 via theguardian.com
  
  New powers come amid concerns that cyber-attacks and outages could put the country’s financial stability at riskCity regulators will begin cracking down in the new year on tech firms providing “critical” services to UK banks amid concerns that cyber-attacks and outages at companies such as Google or Amazon could put the country’s financial stability at risk.From 1 January, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority will be handed powers to regulate companies
  
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• Four household bills increasing in 2025 - including one from January 1

  29-12-2024 11:45 via express.co.uk
  
  Research suggests rising bills is the top money concern for people in 2025.
  
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• New Foreign Office alert - avoid all but essential travel to this country

  29-12-2024 09:18 via express.co.uk
  
  Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel to this country.
  
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• Wealthy parents’ greatest asset is the assets they will pass on | Torsten Bell

  29-12-2024 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  As a Danish study shows, parental income determines our life chances – but in what way differs according to how rich they areParents shape our lives. There’s the love or its absence – and the genetics. On the financial side, academics focus on intergenerational income persistence (how much parental income determines our own) and its inverse (social mobility).This varies between countries. Economist Miles Corak has shown that higher inequality nations tend to be less socially mo
  
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• Murdoch, Musk, water firms … Here are the ‘winners’ in another torrid year for business

  29-12-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As 2025 dawns, we look back at the star players over the last 12 months of economic drama, mishap and scandalThe end of the year is a time for pausing, reflection and exhaustion. But before throwing ourselves into 2025, it’s worth sifting through the remnants of 2024 to see who in the business world has done something worth remembering.So, once more with gusto, the Observer Agenda page brings you its awards for the brightest – or perhaps most glaring – lights in the business wo
  
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• Britain will never be great again until we stop flogging our top companies to the US | Will Hutton

  29-12-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Tech selloffs not only cost tax revenue and jobs, but are turning the UK into a vassal stateThere is much to admire about the US. The great French social observer Alexis de Tocqueville, nearly 200 years ago, lauded its commitment to civic virtue, individual self-improvement and hard work – legacies of its puritan founders.Those traits are still evident today, but alongside them a darker one has emerged. The US, the hegemon of the 20th century still committed to democracy, has changed. It h
  
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• Many happy returns: sustainable startups are turning a profit from your unwanted clothes

  29-12-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Now that half of our clothing purchases are sent back, reverse logistics – or the returns industry – has become big business, with companies finding ways to reduce wasteFor many, the Boxing Day sales are a festive tradition, but last week major retailers from Next to John Lewis announced that their stores would stay closed as they expected customers to do their bargain hunting online.For those who regret their internet purchases – or those who unwrapped yet another hideous Chri
  
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• Banking tool will help you save hundreds of pounds by the end of 2025

  29-12-2024 04:02 via express.co.uk
  
  The '1p savings challenge' is one of the simplest ways to save money, as it involves putting away a few pennies each day
  
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• Monzo to help customers save £667.95 in 2025 with launch of new savings tool

  29-12-2024 03:00 via express.co.uk
  
  The challenge is a "great entry point" for those looking to start their saving journey in the new year, Monzo has said.
  
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