Coronavirus: President Xi warns of ‘grave situation’ as Chinese death toll rises to 41 January 25, 2020 The number of people that have died as a result of the coronavirus has grown to 41. Chinese officials confirmed on Saturday – the day of the Lunar New Year – that there had been another 15 deaths in the Hubei province, where the outbreak began. There are now more than 1,370 confirmed cases in [...]
Audit regulator proposes challenger firms get larger share of the work January 25, 2020 The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has proposed a regime to the government that would see challenger firms outside the so-called big four auditors be given a substantial proportion of the audit work of major British companies. The accounting regulator has drawn up plans behind closed doors that would require all but the very biggest FTSE-350 [...]
World’s biggest banks pushing for £4bn post-Brexit tax cuts to boost the City January 25, 2020 Some of the biggest banks in the world are set to demand tax cuts of up to £4bn per year following Brexit, having paid the Treasury tens of billions in additional levies since the financial crisis. Banks want the government to show its support for its “Global Britain” slogan by convincing global financial giants to [...]
Go-Ahead to deploy air filtering buses across the UK January 25, 2020 Go-Ahead is set to deploy its so-called air filtering buses in six more regions around the UK this year after a successful trial in Southampton. The transport operator is accelerating its shift toward greener technology with its pollutant-tackling buses that remove dirty particles from the air. The single-decker buses are fitted with air filtering systems [...]
FCA facing calls to probe ‘concerning’ pension transfer advice January 25, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been urged to contact more than 160,000 people who cashed in their final salary pensions since 2015 and may have received bad pension transfer advice. The FCA revealed earlier this week it was worried nearly 80 per cent of firms had provided bad advice in the market, which is [...]
Happy hour: Government slashes business rates for smaller pubs January 25, 2020 Sajid Javid has announced plans to cut £1,000 in business rates for smaller pubs from April. The chancellor said as many as 18,000 pubs across the UK could benefit in new cuts aimed at supporting pubs in local communities. The tax relief comes following calls for the burden of business rates to be reduced on [...]
Boris Johnson signs Brexit deal and paves way for UK to leave the bloc next week January 25, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has officially signed the EU Withdrawal Agreement paving the way for Brexit to happen next Friday. He said it was “fantastic” and that the UK could now “move forward as one country” as he signed the deal hours after EU figures had done the same. Johnson said this marked the end [...]
Vodafone ranked ‘worst’ UK mobile and broadband provider January 24, 2020 Vodafone is the UK’s most complained about provider for broadband, landline and mobile, according to regulator Ofcom. The firm topped the broadband complaint charts for the second quarter in a row, between July and September last year. The Ofcom report said thousands of customers had complained to them regarding the supplier’s poor customer service, faulty [...]
Banks ‘use fraud warnings to avoid reimbursing victims’ January 24, 2020 Banks are not reimbursing customers who have been scammed because they have been “careless”, despite some signing a voluntary code intended to protect fraud victims, it is alleged. The voluntary industry code introduced in May 2019 was designed to help customers recover life-changing sums lost to fraudsters. However, some of Britain’s biggest banks are refusing to [...]
British Steel: Unions endorse Jingye takeover but 500 jobs could be at risk January 24, 2020 Unions have backed Chinese firm Jingye’s rescue deal to save British Steel after extensive discussions but up to 500 jobs could be cut under new ownership. The Steel Committee met with Jingye representatives to discuss their business plan and in particular their proposals relating to employment, including pay and terms and conditions. Any new owner [...]
