G4S to pay government £109m over tagging contracts March 12, 2014 G4S has agreed to reimburse the government £109m plus value-added tax for overcharging on the company's contract to electronically tag prisoners, according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The figure is significantly higher in cash terms than the £24m that G4S offered in November. The MoJ said it would consider asking for larger amount if [...]
It’s not practical for an independent Scotland to keep the pound, says George Soros March 12, 2014 Billionaire George Soros has said this morning that it wouldn’t be “practical” for an independent Scotland to keep sterling, but that a separate currency is “potentially dangerous”. Speaking to ITV's Richard Edgar, Soros said Scotland should seek membership with the European Central Bank – i.e. join the euro – because sticking with the Bank of [...]
Bank of England appoints Lord Grabiner QC to lead forex probe March 12, 2014 The UK's central bank has appointed Lord Grabiner QC, the man who oversaw News Corp's internal hacking investigation, to lead an investigation into "conduct issues in the foreign exchange market." Grabiner is a commercial lawyer, with over 40 years of experience working on commercial litigation cases in London. The investigation, which is supported by Travers [...]
Pictures: Snoop’s in the Dogg House March 12, 2014 Uber trendy travel startup Airbnb, which lets holidayers book stays at regular people’s homes, has roped rapster-extraordinaire Snoop Dogg in to help with its pop-up event at SXSW festival in Austin, Texas this year. The rapper, who briefly re-styled as Snoop Lion before seemingly going Dogg again, has designed a pop-up house which reflects [...]
BoAML director to join FCA as investment boss March 12, 2014 Another high-profile hire for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The regulator’s announced this morning that it’s appointed Julia Hoggett as head of investment banking in its supervision division. Hoggett, who’ll start in early May, joins the regulator from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she’s currently a managing director responsible for a variety of debt [...]
Poorest areas in England hit hardest by tobacco taxes March 12, 2014 There continues to be a strong link between smoking rates and economic deprivation, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Smoking rates are disproportionately concentrated in areas of high deprivation, while more affluent areas tend to have lower smoking rates. The ONS grouped areas of England into five categories (quintiles), with quintile one representing [...]
Minimum wage to rise to £6.50 March 12, 2014 The minimum wage will be going up to £6.50, business secretary Vince Cable’s confirmed. It's currently £6.31 for those 21 and over. The 19p hike will come into effect from October, and marks the beginning of a series of real-term increases, designed to “restore and then surpass” the wage’s pre-crisis value. At three per cent, [...]
Philip Clarke: Retail’s got an image problem but Tesco will win March 12, 2014 Tesco boss Philip Clarke has been talking this morning at Retail Week Live about retail’s "image problem". The chief executive of the UK’s largest supermarket said it has to accept that bigger is no longer seen as better by the customer, and that means it has to embrace change, dealing with pain in the short [...]
Innovia Security bags Bank of England contract to make material for new polymer notes March 12, 2014 The Bank of England (BoE) has announced this morning that it’s agreed a contract with Innovia Security to supply the polymer material to make its new (polymer) bank notes. The plastic for the £5 and £10 notes will be made in Wigton, Cumbria, with Innovia creating a plant specially. It’ll be operational from 2016, with [...]
Here’s what the Bank of England has to say on Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ripple March 12, 2014 In a new primer on the nature of money, the UK's central bank has waded into the world of sterling-alternatives. Seeing "a wave of innovation" in the recent past, the Bank says in "Money in the modern economy" that alternative currencies are not widely accepted as a medium of exchange. Or at least, not as [...]