Nine years after the global economy almost imploded, bankers are finally in the dock. But we are still at great risk of a banking calamityIf you had told people in the City at the height of the financial crash in 2008 that it would take almost nine years for the first top bankers to face prosecution, few would have believed you. If you had then said that this first prosecution would relate to suspected fraud over one bank’s supposed attempt to avoid nationalisation – rather than the crash itself – the bankers involved in the crisis would have laughed in disbelief: surely, they aren’t going to let us get away with that?Related: Senior Barclays bankers charged with fraud over credit crunch fundraisingThere was too little political capital and almost no political will to break up the banks and make them simple again Continue reading...
European Central Bank’s bid for more powers represents challenge to City’s dominance of £880bn-a-day businessLondon is facing renewed pressure over its dominance of the €1tn (£880bn)-a-day euro clearing market after the European Central Bank set out proposals aimed at giving it more oversight of the lucrative business.The move by the Frankfurt-based ECB – the central bank for the 19 countries using the euro – follows a report by the European commission that called for the EU to have more powers over clearing of financial products denominated in euros after Brexit.Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial news Continue reading...
Yes, UBI could be an important part of a radical agenda. But beware: its proponents include neoliberals hostile to the very idea of the welfare stateFor some time now, the radical left has been dipping its toes in the waters of universal basic income (or unconditional basic income, depending on who you talk to). The idea is exactly as it sounds: the government would give every citizen – working or not – a fixed sum of money every week or month, with no strings attached. As time goes on, universal basic income (UBI) has gradually been transitioning from the radical left into the mainstream: it’s Green party policy, is picking up steam among SNP and Labour MPs and has been advocated by commentators including this newspaper’s very own John Harris.Supporters of the idea got a boost this week with the news that the Finnish government has piloted the idea with 2,000 of its citizens with very positive results. Under the scheme, the first of its kind in Europe, participants receive €560 (£473) every month for two years without any requirements to fill in forms or actively seek work. If anyone who receives the payment finds work, their UBI continues. Many participants have reported “decreased stress, greater incentives to find work and more time to pursue business ideas.†In March, Ontario in Canada started trialling a similar scheme.Related: The Greens endorse a universal basic income. Others need to follow | Jonathan BartleyWhat’s needed is not the arbitrary adoption of UBI, but a conversation about what a welfare state is for Continue reading...
Order books at highest level for 29 years as CBI warns government to put ‘economy first’ in Brexit talksBritain’s manufacturers are enjoying the strongest demand for their products in almost 30 years as a recovering global economy and a weaker pound boost order books.The monthly snapshot from the CBI found that export and total order books were both at their highest for decades – providing some hope that a stronger manufacturing sector would cushion the effect of higher inflation on consumer spending.Related: Brexit economy: UK faces slowdown amid living standards squeeze Continue reading...
The era of the dinosaur vanity project is over – money is desperately needed to redress the effects of austerity. Tough decisions are neededThey haven’t gone away. The great spending dinosaurs of the political dark ages, back before June 2017, are still roaming the jungle. Theresa May’s first decision as prime minister, to approve the £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear power station, is still crashing about Whitehall. Now the national audit office (NAO) has added its voice to those calling it a really bad deal. The project now has no independent supporters.Hinkley was a hangover from when Whitehall’s energy department took leave of its senses and approved anything that looked remotely “greenâ€. It just passed the bill to the Treasury. The Treasury then passed the risk to Chinese investors and French contractors. The risk proved so great that these backers swiftly passed it back to the Treasury and future British taxpayers and energy users, in loan guarantees and sky-high prices. Continue reading...
It’s been a poor year for the pound, savers and UK-focused retailers but firms with sizeable foreign earnings have prosperedBritain’s consumers and UK-focused firms are among the biggest losers one year on from the shock Brexit vote that drove the value of the pound to its lowest level in more than 30 years.On the first anniversary of the EU referendum, financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown said clear winners and losers have emerged, with the pound taking the biggest hit on the markets. Blue chip companies with a large proportion of foreign earnings are among the biggest winners.Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial newsRelated: UK households cut back as Brexit effect on pound hits living costs Continue reading...
Outgoing external rate-setter says Bank of England policymakers are wrong in assessment of economic conditionsA Bank of England policymaker has heaped further pressure on Mark Carney, the governor, with a warning that the central bank’s policymakers have failed to spot an inflationary spiral that needs to be choked off with an immediate increase in interest rates.In the same week that Andy Haldane, the chief economist, said he was considering voting for an increase in rates before the end of the year, Kristin Forbes, an outgoing member of the monetary policy committee, used her valedictory speech to say the governor and a majority of the other MPC rate-setters were wrong to believe inflation would peak soon and then retreat, allowing rates to stay low. Continue reading...
The Bank of England’s chief economist is right to say a casualised, de-unionised and atomised labour market has weakened workers’ ability to bid up wages. He’s wrong to say it may be time to raise interest ratesLife is getting interesting at the Bank of England. Next month will mark the 10th anniversary of the last time the technocrats of Threadneedle Street raised the official cost of borrowing, but the chances of an interest rate rise are higher than they have been for some while. Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, thinks the time is not yet ripe for a tightening of policy. He used his delayed Mansion House speech in the City of London this week to voice concerns about the negative impact of higher inflation on consumer spending and the uncertain effects of Brexit negotiations on the economy. But three of the eight members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee took a different view, and they were almost joined by a fourth, the Old Lady’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, who said the time was fast approaching when he would vote for an increase. Mr Haldane’s intervention was significant, not just because he has hitherto been seen as one of the MPC’s most prominent “dovesâ€, nor because his intervention came little more than 24 hours after that of his boss. Rather, it was because the bombshell was dropped at the end of a speech that seemed to argue the opposite.For years, the Bank of England has been trying to find the answer to a puzzle: why is wage growth so weak even though unemployment keeps coming down? Britain currently has its lowest jobless rate since the mid-1970s, but there has been no sign of an acceleration in earnings growth. Quite the contrary, in fact. At least part of the answer, according to Haldane’s analysis, stems from structural changes in the labour market: a decline in union membership; more self-employment; more zero-hours contracts and more part-time and temporary work. The clock has been turned back not one century but three, so that the world of work in 2017 bears more than a passing resemblance to Britain as it was before the Industrial Revolution. There were no trade unions. Most people were self-employed or worked in a small business. The Uber drivers of that era were the agricultural workers hired only when there were cows to be milked or crops to be harvested. In those pre-industrial days, the relationship between wages and unemployment was strikingly similar to the one seen since the recession of 2008. Continue reading...
Protest, for better employment rights, is latest in series that has hindered rubbish collection in major cities in GreeceGreece has been hit by fresh strike action as thousands of public sector workers marched through Athens in protest against the debt-ridden country’s austerity programme.Related: Creditors agree terms to disburse Greece's €8.5bn bailout funds Continue reading...
Last week’s bailout is only a short-term compromise – the two creditors must work together on a proper solutionThe International Monetary Fund has resurrected an old technique – commonly used in the 1980s during the Latin American debt crisis – that would allow Greece to avoid a payment default next month on debt owed to European creditors. The reprieve also gives the IMF and its European partners time to sort out their technical differences on the struggling country’s growth and budget outlook. But the fund’s elegant compromise still leaves Greece under the shadow of an enormous debt overhang; reducing it requires that Europe find a way to set aside national politics and act on the basis of economic logic and necessity.Europe and the IMF have been unable to reconcile two views of Greece’s debt sustainability, with the two sides’ differences spilling over into the public domain. Guided mainly by a cash-flow analysis, European authorities argue that low interest rates and long maturities have made the nation’s debt sustainable. But the fund notes that, at almost 200% of GDP, Greece’s stock of debt deters investment and capital inflows. For the IMF, meaningful debt reduction is critical for generating the confidence and credibility needed to break Greece out of a prolonged period of impoverishment.Related: Creditors agree terms to disburse Greece's €8.5bn bailout fundsRelated: The eurozone must reform or die | Kenneth Rogoff Continue reading...
Two former members of Bank of England’s interest rate-setting committee discuss the outlook after the general electionProfessor of economics at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee from June 2006 to May 2009Related: Brexit economy: UK faces slowdown amid living standards squeeze Continue reading...
The latest monthly Guardian analysis finds households experiencing rising costs and firms concerned over political uncertaintyBritain’s vote to leave the EU has squeezed living standards, hit consumer spending and dampened the country’s growth prospects, a Guardian analysis of economic news over the year since the referendum shows.One year since voters narrowly opted for Brexit, the Guardian’s monthly tracker of economic news paints a gloomy picture, with households facing rising costs and firms fretting over falling demand and political uncertainty.Related: 'Markets don’t like chaos' - experts debate Brexit Watch dataRelated: How has the Brexit vote affected the UK economy? June verdict Continue reading...
How has the economy reacted to the vote to leave the EU on 23 June 2016? Each month we look at key indicators to see what effect the Brexit process has on growth, prosperity and trade in the UK Continue reading...
The US president says he does not want poor people managing the economy. Trump told a rally of his supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday, he feels a ‘very rich person’, such as former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, was better qualified to be in charge of commerce
Andy Haldane says rise in self-employment and drop in union membership mirrors weak workforces of pre-1750 eraThe lack of wage growth in Britain’s economy is the result of turning the clock back to the days before the Industrial Revolution when there were no trade unions and self-employment was rife, the chief economist of the Bank of England has suggested.Andy Haldane said the current relationship between pay and employment had more in common with the period between 1500 and 1750 than in the subsequent period, because in the post-1750 era, collective bargaining and the expansion of full-time paid employment meant workers were able to secure generous pay awards when labour was scarce.Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial news Continue reading...
I recently decided to abandon the rules that govern nature for the rules that govern people and markets: economics. Why would I do such a thing?I love physics. Brick by brick, you can build new theories from established ones and know that they will apply not just on Earth but throughout the entire universe. The upsides are incredible: I worked on the theory and simulation of plasmas (the stuff stars are made of) for nuclear fusion. If nuclear fusion succeeds in its objectives, it could mean the end of our reliance on fossil fuels, the end of climate change, and energy security for at least millions of years. The experiments in fusion push the limits of nature. Every time Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Ignition Facility in California fires its fusion laser, the world’s most energetic, material is heated from 18 degrees above absolute zero to hotter than the centre of the sun in just a few nano-seconds. The work was as exciting and intellectually rewarding as you might expect.As quantum mechanics brought down classical mechanics, the financial crisis has led to a reappraisal of macroeconomicsRelated: A new CERN experiment targets even higher energies (eventually) Continue reading...
Figures show slowdown starting to hit public finances, but public borrowing fell in May in boost for Philip HammondThe government’s spending deficit is on course to worsen this year as official figures show the economic slowdown is beginning to take a toll on the UK’s public finances.As ministers struggle with demands for higher spending on health, police and social care, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public borrowing was narrowly lower in May than the same month last year. Public sector net borrowing excluding the nationalised banks was £6.7bn, down from £7.1bn a year earlier and slightly below the consensus expectation of £6.8bn.Related: UK deficit falls in boost for Philip Hammond - business live Continue reading...
Andy Haldane reveals he seriously considered opposing governor Mark Carney in MPC vote earlier this monthSigns of a deepening rift on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee have emerged after Threadneedle Street’s chief economist revealed he seriously considered opposing the governor, Mark Carney, and voting for an interest rate rise earlier this month.Just 24 hours after Carney said the state of the economy and the uncertainty caused by Brexit meant borrowing costs should stay on hold, Andy Haldane said it would be prudent to tighten policy before the end of the year.Related: Bank of England says interest rates should be kept on hold amid Brexit uncertainty Continue reading...
Policymakers must act before the lack of productivity and real wage growth causes further political upheavalsIn all major economies, the so-called productivity puzzle continues to perplex economists and policymakers: output per hour is significantly lower than it would have been had the pre-2008 growth trend continued. The figures are stark, particularly so in the UK, but also across the OECD. And while it goes without saying that economists have many ingenious explanations to offer, none has yet proved persuasive enough to create a consensus.According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, output per hour in France was 14% lower in 2015 than it would have been had the previously normal trend growth rate been matched. Output was 9% lower in the US and 8% lower in Germany, which has remained the top performer among developed economies, albeit only in relative terms. If this new, lower growth rate persists, by 2021 average incomes in the US will be 16% lower than they would have been had the country maintained the roughly 2% annual productivity gain experienced since 1945.Related: UK economy will slow amid Brexit talks and pay squeeze, warns CBI Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#2THD0)
OECD education director welcomes scheme but questions government’s decision to focus on working parentsThe government’s plan to provide 30 hours’ free childcare has been criticised by a leading global education expert for failing to target the most disadvantaged families whose children stand to gain the most.
While its residents are exempt from some of the government’s harshest welfare policies, it’s pretty much business as usual for everyone elseWhile the ideological certainties underpinning the past six years of cuts may seem to be unravelling, the day-to-day reality is that it is pretty much business as usual.Related: Look at Grenfell Tower and see the terrible price of Britain’s inequality | Lynsey Hanley Continue reading...
Sector’s jobs swell by 40,000 in 12 months and productivity returns to near peak, with voter support for government helpAustralia’s manufacturing industry could be poised for recovery, according to a new report, which says the sector is enjoying its largest improvement in employment conditions in a decade.It says Australian manufacturing jobs have swelled by 40,000 in the past 12 months – the second-largest number of new jobs created in any industry – and productivity has returned to near its previous peak.Related: Looking for the cause of low wage growth? It's underemployment | Greg JerichoRelated: Universal basic income could greatly improve workers' lives, report argues Continue reading...
by Stephen Doughty, Chuka Umunna and 49 others on (#2TFB1)
We oppose the Brexit policy being dictated by the Tory right. Leaving the single market would cost public services £31bn. Our party should fight thatJeremy Corbyn has rightly said that Labour’s position on Brexit is to focus on a deal that prioritises jobs first. We are all united behind that goal. For us that means membership of the single market. A country can be a member of the single market without being a member of the EU and we must be clear – “access†to the European single market is both different and inferior to “membership†of the single market. Why? Because if we leave the single market, whatever the level of access is negotiated, working people across Britain will be worse off and revenue to the exchequer will plummet – revenue the next Labour government will need to bring an end to years of damaging Tory austerity.Related: Labour is clear: Brexit would be better with single market membership | Chuka UmunnaRelated: Theresa May can still shape Brexit. But she may not have the skills | Martin Kettle Continue reading...
Chancellor says Britain is weary of austerity as he sets out Brexit path that includes pledge to keep borders openA Brexit deal that puts jobs and prosperity first is the only way the UK will be able to deliver the strong growth that will enable it finally to escape from the long years of austerity, the chancellor has said.In his strongest call yet for a managed approach, Philip Hammond said a comprehensive trade agreement, a transitional deal after the 2019 deadline for the end of talks, and a commitment to keep borders open should form a three-point Brexit plan for Britain.Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial news Continue reading...
Focusing more on appearances than outcomes is perilous. The Grenfell Tower fire has shown up the shortcomings of stretched public authorities putting up a frontAs the flames that engulfed Grenfell Tower died down, the blame game had already begun. One thing everyone has pointed to is the new facade on the building. Residents called it “the plasticâ€. It has since emerged that similar cladding was a factor in fires in tower blocks in France, and is banned from use in tall buildings in the US – and the UK, according to the chancellor (though this is denied by those who installed it).But “the plastic†was not the only potentially dangerous facade at Grenfell Tower. Residents saw the installation of the cladding as part of deeper processes of gentrification and even racial and class cleansing. Lacklustre concerns around fire safety were another facade. Following a fire at Lakanal House in 2009 in Camberwell, London, which killed six people, the authorities knew there were potential fire risks in tower blocks. Instead of responding immediately, the government created another facade – an inquiry that took four years and came to conclusions that were not fully acted on. And then there was the facade of accountability, such as forums set up by the local council to listen to local residents. The council did very little listening and, as a consequence, repeated concerns about fire safety went unheeded. Continue reading...
Governor Mark Carney holds fire as he monitors business and consumer response to Britain’s departure from EUFears that the start of Brexit negotiations will damage the economy mean that interest rates should remain at their record-low level, the governor of the Bank of England has said.Mark Carney said he would want to see how businesses, financial markets and consumers reacted to the reality of the UK’s looming departure from the EU before changing his view. Continue reading...
Business group says growth will be subdued over the next two years but increases forecasts after strong 2016Business group the CBI has warned the UK economy will shift down a gear as Brexit talks get under way and households are squeezed by rising prices.However, the cautious outlook was accompanied by an increase in the CBI’s growth forecasts for this year and next, due to a stronger than expected performance in 2016 when the economy defied expectations to grow strongly in the wake of the vote.Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial news Continue reading...
Younger people have been priced out of home ownership as baby boomers have benefited, says Resolution FoundationA £2.3tn windfall for those lucky enough to own their own homes during the property boom of the 1990s and early 2000s has opened up a deep and widening inequality gap between the generations, a thinktank has warned. Rising house prices that have enriched older generations have priced the young out of home ownership, said the Resolution Foundation, adding that the pattern whereby each generation was wealthier than the previous one had broken down.In a new report, the thinktank noted that the baby boomers born in the 20 years after the second world war were the big beneficiaries of rapidly rising house prices, but had amassed most of the wealth through no skill of their own. Wealth disparities would have “worrying consequences†for the living standards of younger generations, it added.Related: Wealth gap rises as home ownership falls, says study Continue reading...
Philip Hammond appoints LSE economics professor Silvana Tenreyro, who said leaving EU was a ‘major mistake’An economics professor from the London School of Economics who warned against Brexit has been appointed to the Bank of England’s interest rate-setting committee.Silvana Tenreyro was one of 280 economists who signed a public letter ahead of the referendum last year stating it would be a “major mistake†for Britain to leave the EU. She will replace the US economist Kristin Forbes who leaves the monetary policy committee (MPC) this month.Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial news Continue reading...
The Resolution Foundation’s forthcoming research into the socioeconomics of Britain is likely to be no laughing matterThere’s a joke, beloved of American economists, that has a chief executive, a member of the conservative Tea Party movement and public-sector employee sitting at a table eyeing a plate of 12 biscuits.The chief exec grabs 11 of them, before turning to the Tea Party member and warning: “You better watch him. He wants your cookie.†Continue reading...
The community in my family’s block was warm, thriving and diverse. But because residents are often poor, their concerns are frequently ignoredAt the foot of this blackened and devastating emblem of austerity, privatisation, and prejudice it was local residents, not the council, who assembled to support the survivors burned out of their homes. Their strength of community, their empathy and their tireless commitment to step in when the state did not, will come as no surprise to anyone who has lived in one of the UK’s many high-rises, council blocks, or so-called “sink estatesâ€. Because while many denigrate them as “antisocial, high-maintenance, disempowering, unnecessary, mostly uglyâ€, the reality inside is very different.At a time when many of the millions of people in the UK who live in high-rises and blocks will be looking around their homes with a new sense of fear, it has never been so necessary to celebrate them, and the communities that live within them.Related: MPs demand help for terrified high-rise residents after London firePeople were killed in a horrific fire that could have been prevented had their communities been taken seriously Continue reading...
Merkel and Macron are planning for a ‘golden decade’ and won’t let Brexit negotiations derail themThat Helmut Kohl, the man who oversaw the reunification of Germany and was for so long a giant on the European stage, should die on the eve of negotiations leading to Britain’s withdrawal from the EU seems symbolic. The former German chancellor made the best of the extraordinary circumstances and public mood that followed the collapse of communism and the opening up of eastern Europe.Today’s European leaders are, by contrast, confronted with an especially adverse set of circumstances. Trump, Putin, Erdoğan, terrorism, unprecedented flows of migration, unemployment, the rise of populism and, of course, Brexit. But, just as Kohl and his French contemporary François Mitterrand relaunched the European project in the early 1990s, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are, as Britain prepares to leave, readying their ambitions and vision for the continent.Related: Macron and Merkel signal new move to strengthen eurozoneRelated: Macron victory gives Brussels confidence boost over EU's future Continue reading...
International body claims closer cross-border ties are not to blame for within-country inequality and urges cooperation with governments to manage risksThe international body that represents the world’s central banks has claimed that globalisation has been made a “scapegoat†for rising inequality, as it launched a defence of closer cross-border ties.Against the backdrop of protectionist rhetoric in many countries, including from US president Donald Trump, the Bank for International Settlements used its annual report to argue that globalisation has cut global poverty and will continue to lift living standards around the world. Continue reading...
The Conservative project has left productivity and prosperity in tatters while plunging us into ever more debtThere are few people in the developed world who still cling to the maxim that “home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debtâ€.
Prioritise early agreement on rights of EU and UK citizens, and transition period preserving access to single market, Theresa May toldBritain’s biggest business groups have made a joint plea to the government to put the economy first in Brexit talks and to secure a transitional deal that preserves access to the European single market.The five lobby groups, including the British Chambers of Commerce and the CBI, have also called on ministers to prioritise an early deal on guarantees for EU 27 citizens in the UK and for UK citizens in other EU countries. Continue reading...
by Andrew Sparrow Political correspondent on (#2T93Y)
Chancellor says Tories ‘not deaf’ to election result, and left open possibility of raising taxes to fund more generous spendingThe chancellor, Philip Hammond, hinted on Sunday that the government would ease up on its austerity programme, saying the Conservatives were “not deaf†to the message delivered by the election result.In interviews in which he also criticised Theresa May’s team for sidelining him during the election campaign, Hammond said that he accepted that “people are weary of the long slogâ€.Related: Who will win the Conservatives’ battle of Brexit? Continue reading...
With living standards already stagnating or declining, the remorseless reaction of the international markets to the referendum vote is starting to make itself feltWhen I suggested before the election that an ideal outcome would be a hung parliament and a coalition to think again on Brexit, I was certainly not thinking of the DUP. But, as Harold Macmillan once said: “Here we are, and the question is: where do we go from here?â€It seems to be generally agreed that the election result boiled down to a vote against austerity and a vote against a so-called “hard Brexitâ€, with the young – predominantly Remainers and angry about austerity – in full swing. Continue reading...
Resolution Foundation finds that half the nation’s wealth belongs to a tenth of adults as property ownership declinesA fall in home ownership is fuelling the return of rising wealth inequality across Britain, it has emerged.Booming house prices in the run-up to the financial crisis had led to a decade-long fall in the uneven distribution of the country’s wealth. However, comprehensive new analysis of the UK’s wealth divisions has now found that the trend has gone into reverse. Continue reading...
Some Conservatives blame austerity for handing seats to Labour in the general election but the chancellor is reluctant to borrow to match popular policiesPhilip Hammond is resisting Theresa May’s demands for an end to austerity amid Treasury concerns that loosening the purse strings will lead to a black hole in the government’s finances.The chancellor has used discussions with the prime minister since the election to press the case for a cautious approach to the public finances, despite the widespread view among Conservative MPs that seven years of spending cuts and pay restraint handed seats to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party. Continue reading...
Austerity has fed rapacious cost-cutting, with devastating consequencesHow apt that a biography of Attlee won the Orwell prize for political writing as art (Tribute to NHS founder Clement Attlee wins Orwell prize, 16 June). Such reminders of Labour’s totemic achievements are essential in challenging Tory doublethink. Indeed even your leader this week (May’s coalition of chaos stumbles through another day, 14 June) suggested that “in rhetorical terms, austerity has been over for a yearâ€. Beware this Tory doublethink. Austerity is alive and kicking, harming national growth and living standards, and spreading poverty. It has fed rapacious cost-cutting, with devastating consequences – which fill your pages this week. The architect of this austerity, George Osborne, now London Evening Standard editor, suggests the misery should continue. He is profoundly wrong. More doublethink, I fear.In any democracy, if you impoverish the nation, you will lose the right to govern. But for this to work, we must champion the George Orwell of truth and challenge the George Osborne of austerity. The Tories’ ideology that “ignorance is strength†is an ever present danger for which they should pay the ultimate electoral price.
If the supermarket wants investors to back its executives’ pay, it shouldn’t annoy them with a top-up that looks greedyWhen 48% of shareholders rebel against a company’s remuneration report, most chairmen scuttle into the shadows muttering empty words about seeking further engagement with investors. So Andy Higginson, chairman of Morrisons, deserves some credit for coming out fighting after more than half of investors either voted against the proposal or withheld their vote. Morrisons “fundamentally disagrees†with the assessment by proxy voting agency ISS that executives’ new performance targets aren’t stretching.The argument here is slightly technical. Chief executive David Potts is being incentivised to get Morrisons to produce £800m of cash over the next three years. Is that demanding? It’s hard to tell, since comparisons are distorted by disposals and one’s view of how past working capital improvements should be regarded.Related: UK retail sales dive as consumers feel Brexit inflation pinch Continue reading...
EU and IMF thrash out deal following months of disagreements, with funds to be released in July once European parliaments ratify the dealFor the best part of a decade, Greece has wanted to become a “normal†country, and late on Thursday it appeared to begin that process, after creditors agreed to disburse €8.5bn (£7.4bn) of bailout funds aimed at putting the debt-stricken nation back on the road to recovery.The money, signed off after months of disagreement between the European Union and International Monetary Fund over how to reduce Athens’ staggering debt pile, will be released in July, once European parliaments ratify the deal.Related: Greek bailout deal agreed as creditors approve €8.5bn loan - as it happened Continue reading...
This is a win-win situation, for individuals and countries receiving remittances and for a more financially and socially inclusive UK, writes Dipti PardeshiFriday is the International Day of Family Remittances, a day dedicated to recognising the significant contribution that migrants make to the wellbeing of families back home and to the development of their countries of origin.We at the International Organization for Migration call for a wider and more active recognition of the many potential benefits of remittances for those who receive them, and financial inclusion for the many migrants who now form part of our community. Continue reading...