Split (1)

train · 22.5k rows

article_text stringlengths 294 32.8k ⌀	topic stringlengths 3 42
Rising food costs have driven down the value of summer-holiday support for pupils on free school meals. During the holidays, many councils in England offer vouchers or cash payments to help those eligible. But BBC News research shows 67 of 92 councils have cut or kept their support the same as last year, leading to a drop in value once food inflation, currently 17.3%, is taken into account. Support has ended in Northern Ireland and varies across Wales and Scotland. Zoe, from Harlow, Essex, has three children, eight, 10 and 18, all entitled to free school meals during term time and vouchers worth Â£75 each for the summer holidays. They received Â£75 vouchers last year too - but the money buys less now. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), the main "headline" measure of inflation, is currently 7.9%. But inflation for food and non-alcoholic drinks is 17.3%. A food shop that would have been Â£75 last year now costs Zoe Â£88. A full-time carer for her husband, she is grateful for the vouchers but says they will cover her food shop for only the first three weeks of the seven-week holiday. "The vouchers only stretch so far, so I'm up every night with worry," she says. "Last year, things had started to go up - but it wasn't as bad as now." The vouchers can be spent only at supermarkets, so this is where Zoe, whose surname BBC News has chosen to withhold, does most of her food shopping - switching between shops to make the most of reductions and deals. She can just about afford to feed her children the same food as last year - but she and her husband now often eat soup made from vegetables she picks up at the local food bank. "Please don't ever be embarrassed to go to a food bank," Zoe says. "We're all in the same boat - I never thought I'd go... [but] without them, we'd be in a lot worse situation." The funding for this summer's food vouchers for families in England comes from the Â£842m Household Support Fund (HSF). Of the 153 local authorities in England, 92 shared data on the payments and vouchers: - 10 have given lower payments or vouchers than last year - 57 have kept the amounts the same - 25 have increased the value but 10 of those by less than food inflation Most councils in England also offer a Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with events providing childcare, healthy meals and activities for children from low-income families. The HAF is separate to the HSF and specifically aims to support children eligible for free school meals. About 600,000 children attended last summer, the Department for Education (DfE) says, more than 475,000 of them eligible for free school meals. But across England, more than two million are eligible. Tanisha Bramwell had to prioritise children on free school meals when allocating places on her HAF programme, in West Yorkshire, but worries about low-income families not eligible. "Most of the people who need our support are working families who don't get vouchers or help in the holidays," she says. "I've only got funding for 20 places - and we've got 70 children on the list. "My fear is that many children are going to get missed and will be going hungry this summer." Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham says: "We've reached a low point if it's hit and miss whether children get the food they need in summer, depending on where they live." "The underlying problem is that so many families don't have enough money to live on year round and that's on central government - not local authorities - to tackle." 'Great reluctance' The DfE says it is taking action in England "to support families and boost children's life chances". It had increased per-pupil funding for free school meals for state-school pupils in Reception and Years 1 and 2, it said, and would be raising it a further 5% over the next year. An official from Northern Ireland's Department of Education said it had ceased direct payments to cover the holiday period, with "great reluctance". There are no holiday activity schemes in Northern Ireland either. More than 96,000 children who would be eligible for support in the other UK nations are receiving none. The Welsh government has also ended funding for food during the holidays for children on free school meals. Instead, it is spending Â£4.85m on a holiday scheme where children can attend an activity and have a meal. And some local councils are handing out payments from their own budgets. Support also varies from council to council in Scotland. Inverclyde offers a total of Â£102 per child for the holiday, Edinburgh Â£85. The Scottish government said it had Â£21.75m in funding for children eligible for free school meals to be supported over the holidays. Additional reporting by Alice Evans and Rahib Khan.	Inflation
Despite crypto’s badly tarnished reputation following FTX’s collapse, some large corporations are warmly embracing its underlying distributed ledger technology. LG CNS, the IT solutions subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate, has formed a strategic partnership with QuickNode, a blockchain deployment platform aiming to bring web2 services into web3. Besides announcing the partnership, LG also revealed that it has invested in QuickNode through LG Technology Ventures for an undisclosed amount. To date, QuickNode has raised around $115 million. Upon raising $60 million from 10T Holdings, Tiger Global and others, the company was valued at $800 million in January. LG CNS‘s system integration and digital transformation businesses are wide-ranging, having built solutions in cloud, SaaS, artificial intelligence, big data, smart city, security, web3 and blockchain. The company initiated its blockchain business in 2015 and unveiled its own blockchain platform Monachain three years later. Unlike public, permissionless blockchains such as Ethereum, Monachain is custom-built for enterprises and is applied to traditional industries like finance, logistics, and energy. Some of the solutions powered by Monachain include mobile identity cards, NFTs, digital currency platforms, used battery distribution history management, issuance of healthcare information documents, and electron contract systems. South Korea’s tech-savvy population positions it as an ideal testing ground for blockchain applications. The government’s plans to replace physical IDs with digital alternatives authenticated by blockchain have given industry players a boost of confidence. It’s no surprise, then, that Monachain has secured over 50 corporate customers, including several of the biggest Korean banks, such as NH Noghyup Bank, Woori Bank and KB Bank, as well as LG’s telco unit called LG U+. In 2022, NongHyup Bank started working with LG CNS to work on a digital wallet solution that supports the circulation of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). QuickNode is not LG CNS’ first foray into the crypto space. For one, the LG-owned IT arm has been working with U.S.-based decentralized identity firm Evernym on decentralized identity, a way to put control over personal information back into the hands of users by using blockchain. In addition, last year, LG CNS launched its blockchain-based encrypted mobile ID card service for staff and released token-as-a-service, which helps corporations issue NFTs on Monachain. Altogether, the two areas of services have attracted around 10 enterprise customers in the finance, telecommunications, and manufacturing sectors. Meanwhile, LG Electronics, LG CNS’s sister company, said in 2022 that it had officially added cryptocurrency and blockchain as its new areas of business. For QuickNode, the partnership with an LG subsidiary is a prime opportunity for its expansion in Asia. “By partnering with LG CNS, we’re setting a course for a future where blockchain technology is integrated into every digital facet, especially in the dynamic APAC market,” Alexander Nabutovsky, co-founder and co-CEO of QuickNode, said in a statement.	Crypto Trading & Speculation
Can you retire at 65 with $750,000 in a Roth IRA and $1,800 in monthly Social Security? Based on median incomes and the 10x rule, most people will need about $740,000 to finance a secure retirement. So in theory, a $750,000 Roth IRA and $1,800 in Social Security benefits will be enough for many individuals to retire. But there are many things to consider to ensure sustained comfort throughout retirement based on your specific circumstances. A financial advisor can help you plan for retirement. Match with a fiduciary advisor today. Plan for Portfolio Income After all, it all depends on how you manage your money. Continued investment is one of the most commonly overlooked issues in retirement. For example, say you hold this portfolio in cash and withdraw the standard 4% per year. That would give you $30,000 per year for 25 years, or $2,500 per month, plus the $1,800 per month from Social Security. This might be enough to live on, but as CEO of Total Wealth Academy Steve Davis points out, you may not live particularly well. "Yes, you could retire, but to what?” he said. “Just living paycheck to paycheck. No money for romance, travel or fun. That is not what the golden years are supposed to be." "The whole problem is the ineffective belief that you can save your way to retirement," he added. "It doesn't work. As soon as you retire, you are praying to die before you run out of money. The effective thing would be to invest that money into income-producing assets like real estate. Now you have money for romance, travel and fun. Building a second stream of income is the way to do it, just like Warren Buffett said." If you need help building a retirement income plan or identifying new streams of income, consider speaking with a financial advisor. Manage Risk But investing in assets that generate income can come with added risk. The more money your portfolio generates, the more you may be exposed to risk and volatility. To manage that, Maurer recommends what he calls a "bucket" approach. "The conversation might start with the question of, how much do you need on a monthly basis?" he said. "How much income do you want to set up that is not going to be exposed to market volatility?" That's what he calls the "live bucket." This is the money that you place in an annuity or in bonds – safe assets that will reliably cover your costs of living. For example, say that you need $3,000 per month to pay the bills. You put some of your Roth IRA into a lifetime annuity that pays $1,200 per month so that, combined with Social Security, you will have an indefinite minimum income. Then you might take the rest of your Roth IRA and put it in a "growth" bucket. This money can cover luxuries, inflation and other changing needs. And if you’re interested in the bucket approach or another retirement income strategy, consider matching with a financial advisor. "That's the money that you can feel free to put in the market and expose to volatility, but because you have the live bucket you don't have to worry so much." Manage Your Spending Finally, in addition to growing your money, it's important to keep an eye on your spending. Bryan Cannon, author of “Retirement Unplanned: An Expert Guide For Navigating The Crossroads of Retirement With Confidence,” said retiring on $750,000 and $1,800 in Social Security "largely depends on the individual’s anticipated retirement expenses and desired lifestyle, which should be carefully budgeted." Among other issues, he recommends planning specifically for healthcare costs and potential emergencies or other unexpected expenses. Do your best, too, he said to pay off any debt before retiring and reducing your monthly overhead. Basically, as much as possible, eliminate bills and commitments. Doing this will give you more flexibility for growth since you don't need as much money dedicated to non-discretionary spending. It will also help insulate you from inflation, since you will have the option of spending less as prices rise. "Overall retiring successfully at 65 with those assets and income is very possible," Cannon said. "However, it requires a well-thought-out financial plan tailored to individual circumstances and goals." A financial advisor can help you build a budget in retirement and assess your spending needs. Bottom Line Retiring with $750,000 in a Roth IRA and $1,800 in monthly Social Security is entirely possible, but that doesn't mean that your work is over. Your lifestyle in retirement will depend entirely on how you manage this portfolio. Roth IRA Tips A Roth IRA can be a powerful retirement savings vehicle, because it’s funded with after-tax dollars, which allows your money to grow tax-free.. Here's what you should know before you go out and get yourself one. A financial advisor can help you build a comprehensive retirement plan. Finding a financial advisor doesn't have to be hard. SmartAsset's free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you're ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Photo credit: ©iStock.com/Tinpixels, ©iStock.com/Inside Creative House, ©iStock.com/adamkaz	Personal Finance & Financial Education
Billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Uganda IPO Flops As Investors Prefer Bonds Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Airtel Uganda Ltd. failed to sell about half of the shares on offer in its initial public offering as investors stayed away, preferring high-yield government bonds. (Bloomberg) -- Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Airtel Uganda Ltd. failed to sell about half of the shares on offer in its initial public offering as investors stayed away, preferring high-yield government bonds. Airtel said it managed to raise 211.4 billion shillings ($56 million) after selling 54.5% of the 8 billion shares on offer. Retail investors bought just 0.3% of the IPO. Shares were unchanged at 100 shillings on its debut on Tuesday. Government bonds in the East African country yield as much as 15%. By comparison, shares of Airtel’s rival MTN Uganda Ltd. have dropped 14% since its IPO in 2021. Investors have also been wary after Uganda enacted a draconian anti-LGBTQ law, prompting US President Joe Biden to withdraw the nation’s preferential trade access. Investors may have opted for less risky government securities while disregarding the future value of the stock, the Uganda Security Exchange’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Bwiso said in the nation’s capital, Kampala. “It comes down to financial literacy, understanding the asset classes,” Bwiso said. “If I buy Airtel today, can I in two years consistently get a dividend like I would get an interest return from my fixed deposit from my market fund or from treasury bonds?” The demand for Ugandan government bonds maturing in 2033 exceeded the amount on sale by eight fold in an auction on Thursday. President Yoweri Museveni’s government four years ago ordered wireless companies to sell 20% stakes to local investors in a bid to deepen the market. The state-controlled National Social Security Fund bought a 10.55% stake, according to Airtel. A decision by the company to spin off its mobile-money business, also played a role in the IPO’s failure, according to Centenary Bank financial markets head Benoni Okwenje. African telecom operators have been devising plans to capitalize on their lucrative mobile-money businesses. TPG invested in Airtel’s unit valuing it at $2.65 billion in 2021, and more recently MTN sold a minority stake of its fintech business to Mastercard valuing the business at $5.2 billion. (Updates to add closing trade in second paragraph.) ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Stocks Trading & Speculation
Jeremy Clarkson has finally said the unsayable. Ahead of the launch of the second series of Clarkson’s Farm last week, Britain’s most famous farmer declared: “Food is far too cheap. I know you can’t say that, but it’s far too cheap.” He wants food prices doubled, because currently farmers are “working seven days a week with their arm up a cow’s bottom for nothing”. If you are a consumer, with food inflation at 14.6% per annum, you doubtless wish that Jeremy Clarkson would shut up. If you are a farmer, with input inflation running at anything up to 400%, in the case of electricity, you applaud him for articulating a truth usually only whispered behind closed barn doors. Food is too cheap. In the Fifties, about a third of an average household’s budget went on food; now, it’s about a tenth. What’s the cost of this cheapening? Well, aside from the ruin of the farmed environment by relentless exploitation, food has been devalued: we now throw a third of it away. Moreover, farmers now “work for nothing” — or thereabouts. A report last December revealed that cereal farmers receive, on average, 9p from an 800g loaf with a retail price of £1.14. When the cost of growing and harvest is calculated, the cereal farmer is making a 0.09p profit. The report analysed other everyday foods, including apples, cheese, beef burgers and carrots. In every case, the farmers or growers received less than 1% of the profit after the deductions of intermediaries and retailers. In some sectors of farming there is merely pure loss. For much of 2022, pig farmers were losing £60 for every animal they offered up to consumers. By Christmas, free-range egg producers were losing nearly 30p on every dozen they supplied. Welcome, then, to the mad world of British farm economics, where cost of production is skyrocketing but the amount a farmer gets paid for his or her goods is risible. A mad world, where farmers subsist on subsidy — which, over the past few decades, has made up over half of the average farm income — and diversification. Alas, most farmers do not have an Amazon Prime contract, so the usual diversification is a farmhouse B&B — at best a modest and seasonal income stream. When all the numbers were run through Defra’s calculator, it found that the agricultural part of the average British farm business made £5,600 profit in 2022. For this £5,600, the British farmer works an average of 65 hours a week. Many in livestock farming work in excess of 100 hours a week, every week, whatever the weather. You can’t take a break or even be ill: the livestock depend on you like kids do. So you end up forking hay to Margot the 550kg heifer, despite your broken ribs. The same Margot accidentally gave you those broken ribs. Unsurprisingly, given the long, hard hours for the short money, farmers are flocking out of the industry, or cutting back on production. One third of members of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association say they have either reduced their number of hens, paused production, or left poultry farming completely. As for dairy farmers, the nation is running dry. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of dairy farms dropped from 11,900 to 7,880. In 1950, there were 196,000 dairy farms in the UK. So now you know why so many in British farming think Clarkson is doing more for the industry than three decades of Countryfile ever did. He has told the truth that none of us dared speak, in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis: food prices need to go up. And if you listen very closely at the barn door, you might hear some pertinent rhetorical questions. Why can’t the great British public perhaps spend a bit less on their iPhone or their foreign holiday, and a bit more on their daily bread? But Clarkson is correct: you can’t say things like this to the media. Even if you are a farmer with an Alcatel 1B, who hasn’t had a foreign holiday for years and works for less than the National Minimum Wage. You’d be trolled to death. Where Clarksonian economics are unfortunately reminiscent of Trussian economics is in the optimistic assumption that any mark-up in the shop price will trickle back to the farmer. Grocery retail in the UK is dominated by supermarkets, which take over 95% of consumer spending on food. That retail is in turn dominated by the “big four” of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons (although discounter Aldi is now perhaps pipping Morrisons to fourth place). These super supermarkets are making super profits, despite inflation and the cost-of-living crisis: Sainsbury’s is expecting £690 million this financial year, while Tesco expects retail-adjusted operating profit in its 2022-23 financial year to be £2.4-2.5 billion. Since the opening of the first supermarket in Britain — a Co-op in Manor Park in 1948 — the supermarket business model of pile high, sell cheap has involved squeezing supplier price until it starts to hurt. That is where the eye-watering profits come from. It is as simple as that. Someone pays for the supermarket “price war”, and it’s almost always the farmer. That benevolent two-for-one offer on punnets of strawberries? Behind the label are thousands of farmers who signed a contract to deliver strawberries without a price being set. Supermarkets are failing farmers in ways not limited to the paltry remittance. Everybody in farming who has dealt with one — or worse, with the intermediary, the producer organisation — has stories about orders being cancelled without justification or notice, about a cheaper foreign source being found, about the arbitrary rejection of fruit and veg for lacking the correct aesthetic. One arable farmer responding to a Feedback survey on the role supermarkets play in crop waste estimated that 1,750 tonnes of his annual carrot crop are refused by the packhouse, because the carrots are too small, too big, too crooked. Another endless irritation is the supermarket’s restrictive contractual stipulation that packaging is done by companies nominated by them, at twice the cost of the same service on the open market. Yet another beef is the supermarket’s habit of foisting all risk onto the farmer. If a supermarket over-orders, guess who picks up the bill? When a cauliflower glut occurred in 2017, Geoff Philpott’s buyer dramatically reduced their order, leaving him with 100,000 vegetables to plough back into the Kentish ground. Something like this happens every day in British agriculture. According to a 2017 survey by the Groceries Code Adjudicator — the ombudsman created by Parliament to bring some fairness to the supermarket-supplier relationship — in 20% of cancellations, the farmer receives no compensation from the supermarket. Large farm enterprises may be able to weather the vicissitudes of supplying supermarkets, but smaller enterprises fare less well. The Council for the protection of Rural England cites the “inequality of power” between supermarkets and suppliers is blamed for driving small and medium-scale agricultural holdings out of business; the number of farm holdings in England alone fell from 132,400 in 2005 to 104,200 in 2015, according to Defra data, a loss of over a fifth of all farms in just ten years. Cheap food, Prince Charles warned in a Radio 4 essay last year, threatens the survival of the country’s smaller farms — and if they go, it will “break the backbone of Britain’s rural communities”. Small farms preserve the identity of regions, and offer employment in places with few job opportunities. They are part of their community in a way that mega agri-industrial enterprises are not, and never will be. And they also tend to be associated with biodiversity and landscape protection. Yet the supermarkets insist they are the friends of farmers. Aldi and Lidl are currently love-bombing us, with the chief executive of the latter’s GB branch, Ryan McDonnell, saying last week that the company would be spending £2 billion more than planned on “buying British” in the coming year. Aldi has pledged to spend an extra £3.5 billion a year with UK suppliers by the end of 2025. Alas, British farmers have heard such wooing noises before — in 2022, Asda pledged to buy only British beef for its fresh meat counters, only to drop the commitment last month. And Lidl are encumbered by their record: last year they ranked the worst of any major retailer in the 2022 Groceries Code Adjudicator survey, with less than a third of suppliers saying the company consistently complied with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice — the legislation introduced in 2010 precisely to protect food and suppliers to the 14 major supermarkets. Farmers tend not to complain to their supermarket or the dreaded middle man, for fear of retribution. Tesco has nearly 30% of the UK pork market, so if you piss them off, finding another outlet is far from easy. “What I’m concerned about is that most farmers and growers are incredibly nervous about speaking up,” Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, told the Telegraph last week, when asked about the supermarkets’ hardball practices. “They know that the dangers of having their products delisted are enormous.” Farmers may not wish to speak up in public, but in the privacy of their own homes, 500 of them filled in a survey for Sustain’s Beyond the Farmgate report. Just 5% preferred to sell to supermarkets. Overwhelmingly, farmers wanted localised selling, via independent retailers, box schemes, and the farm gate. This would put more in their pocket, as well as supporting climate change and nature objectives. For farmers as for consumers, every little helps.	Agriculture
Journeys from London to Manchester that use the new HS2 line as far as Birmingham could run slower as they continue north than existing services, and with less capacity, rail experts have warned. And in a blow to Rishi Sunak’s plan to spend the money saved by scrapping HS2 north of Birmingham on other transport projects, the Observer has seen invoices suggesting the government will have to spend more than £1bn on work relating to the part of the line now terminated. There is now concern among experts that the plan to allow HS2 trains to continue to Manchester on existing lines, as outlined by the former transport secretary Grant Shapps before Sunak’s conference speech, could adversely affect the service on the crowded west coast mainline north of Birmingham. The longest Pendolino trains on the much-criticised Avanti service have 607 seats and can travel at speeds of up to 125mph due to their tilting mechanism. However, HS2 trains, which cannot tilt, would be limited to 110mph under current restrictions. The trains to destinations north of Birmingham will also be half the size of those originally planned, comprising one 550-seat unit. The full HS2 trains require longer platforms than will now be available at Manchester’s Piccadilly station. Philip Haigh, a writer on the rail industry, said: “The key to the capacity for HS2 was that they were going to run these two 550-seat units together. “The platforms aren’t long enough at Manchester, so you will end up with … fewer seats. It’s cutting capacity.” Haigh said it was likely upgrades to the railway track by 2030 would ensure HS2 could travel at higher speeds, but under the current restrictions the rolling stock would be slower north of Birmingham than existing services. Sunak claimed in his conference speech that “every penny” of money saved would be reinvested in new projects. But more than £1bn in invoices had already been submitted relating to phase two of HS2, according to Tussell, a company that monitors government contracts. The money covers services such as environmental work, construction, utilities and civil engineering. New polling suggests that while voters may favour Sunak’s decision to scrap HS2 in favour of investment in more local services, they are also very sceptical that the so-called Network North programme will ever be built. When asked about Sunak’s decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2, 59% of people surveyed said they backed spending the money on other rail, road and bus projects and 62% said that doing so reflected better value for money. However, a majority (57%) said it was unlikely that Sunak would deliver the other projects if he won the next election. With regard to voting intention, Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium, said: “After last week’s 10-point lead we’ve seen a reversion to the mean with Labour returning to the low 40s and the Conservatives staying relatively consistent on 29% and little sign of a post-conference bounce. “In the data on HS2 we can see Rishi Sunak’s problem in a nutshell: voters have heard about the HS2 announcement, they are split on the decision itself but in the abstract overwhelmingly think the money would be better spent on other rail, road and bus projects. However, only 25% think it is likely that these projects would be delivered on.” With fewer HS2 trains now planned to run, or be required, it is understood a £2bn rolling stock contract could be reviewed by the Department for Transport and the Treasury. The initial contract for 54 trains, with further orders due to follow, was seen as an important guarantee for skilled British manufacturing jobs in the Midlands and the north-east. A joint venture between Hitachi and Alstom won the bid in 2021, with a 12-year maintenance contract attached. Train bodies are to be built first in the Hitachi plant in Newton Aycliffe – opened to great fanfare by George Osborne in 2015 – then fitted with Alstom equipment in Crewe, then fitted out at Britain’s biggest and oldest manufacturing plant in Derby. The DfT spokesperson said: “Network North will drive better connectivity across the north and Midlands with faster overall journey times, increased capacity on the west coast mainline and more frequent, reliable services across rail, buses and roads.” It said HS2 train journey times would be faster overall.	United Kingdom Business & Economics
There are thought to be more than 165,000 vacancies in adult social care in England, which is a jump of 52% in a year. So how can people be attracted to the industry at a time when increasing numbers of people need care in their own homes? The care industry has plenty of issues to confront. There is increasing demand for support in the community, and not enough people wanting to work as carers. A spotlight is being shone on low rates of pay and there are clear difficulties in retaining staff. Now one care agency in Staffordshire, formed two-and-a-half years ago, says it is determined to address these issues. 'You should not be entering a profession like this on a minimum wage' For the last two-and-a-half years, Helen Lofts has been co-owner of Visiting Angels in Burton-upon-Trent, and she sees caring for her own staff as a massive priority. "This is a skilled job and needs to be rewarded accordingly," she said. "Minimum wage has no part to play in care as far as Visiting Angels is concerned. "We are out to change the face of care, and that starts by recruiting your carers, paying them accordingly and treating them in the right way." A care worker in England is paid on average Â£8,000 a year less than NHS staff with the same skills, research for a care provider suggested in December. And many pay packets hover around minimum wage levels, which for workers aged 23 and over will rise from Â£9.50 to Â£10.42 an hour next month. At Visiting Angels East Staffordshire, bosses have increased care client fees by 13% in part to ensure their 21 staff receive an hourly rate at least Â£2-Â£3 above the minimum wage. "Business costs are also up by an average of 15% and we raised our pay rates by 15-17%," said Ms Lofts. "It is a model that's working. And it is about retaining the staff, because if you can retain the staff, you're not then forking out the money to keep recruiting new staff. "It's a lot better to spend the money on the staff that you've got and already value." She added: "We pay them mileage between their calls, we pay them travel time between their calls. We pay their MOTs and we pay towards the servicing of their cars. "If you value your carers, they will stay with you. And it's not just about pay, it's about support in so many different ways." Many of Visiting Angels' clients are self-funded, but some top up their local authority payments to receive their care. 'It's a really rewarding job' Erin Woodhouse's passion for working as a carer comes from the impact of illness at the heart of her family. "My dad has multiple sclerosis so I've seen first-hand my mum care for my dad, and me helping out in between my university studies," she said. "And I thought I'd like to take that role on myself and help other people and gain a little bit of experience in this sector." The 23-year-old added: "I think we get paid pretty well to be honest. I think it does show what we're worth. "But a lot of care companies only pay minimum wage." The government said it was "incredibly grateful" to carers and recognised their "extraordinary commitment". A spokesperson added: "That's why we prioritised social care in the Autumn Statement, providing up to Â£7.5bn over the next two years." "I don't think you can really understand the nature of the job until you've actually done this job," said Ms Woodhouse. "I didn't really understand what care givers really go through until doing this job myself." She added: "We get to meet so many different people, and you do get to become part of their family too." 'They look after David absolutely beautifully' Beryl Pipe's husband David had a heart attack 23 years ago. He is confined to a chair and unable to speak. "The carers are absolutely invaluable. I certainly could not manage without them," she said. "I've managed to look after him for 21 years, but then he got too bad for me that I just could not manage any longer." She added: "It does cost quite a lot of money. It soon adds up and you're talking thousands over a year. "But I couldn't be without it." Councillor David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association's Community Wellbeing Board said: "The adult social care sector is facing significant financial and workforce challenges. "Councils across the country are working with local care providers to understand their pressures and identify ways to best support the sector, including through the council tax precept and other funding. "We have consistently said that Â£13bn is needed for social care so that its many pressures can be addressed and councils can deliver on all of their statutory duties."	Workforce / Labor
NEW YORK -- Thousands Cash App and Square customers were unable to access their accounts or send money Thursday and early Friday due to system outages impacting both payment services. Outage reports for both platforms picked up around the same time Thursday afternoon, according to data from outage tracker Downdetector. In the hours following, numerous customers took to social media to share error messages and frustrations about not being able to access their money. “Since around noon PT (3pm ET) on Thursday, sellers have been unable to access accounts or process payments due to a systems outage within Square,” Square wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, shortly before 7am ET Friday. “We know you trust us with your business, and these situations add challenges to running your operations. For that, we are truly sorry.” In a later update to its online status portal, Square said that its services were “steadily regaining their functionality” Friday morning. Cash App similarly reported some service recovery Friday. As of around 7:30 a.m. ET, Cash App said that customers could once again add cash, make purchases with their Cash Card and buy Bitcoin. But not all services had fully returned yet. “We're continuing to get the ability to send payments and cash out back up and running,” Cash App wrote on its status page Friday morning. On Thursday night, the payment service urged those experiencing issues to “not reattempt any actions such as sending and receiving payments.” Block Inc., a San Francisco-based tech company formerly known as Square Inc., is the parent of both Cash App and Square. The payment services are widely used by small businesses, donation drives and everyday payments between consumers.	Banking & Finance
Spencer Platt/Getty Images toggle caption The extra SNAP benefits are gone now as the government winds down its pandemic assistance programs. Spencer Platt/Getty Images The extra SNAP benefits are gone now as the government winds down its pandemic assistance programs. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Teresa Calderez has never seen her nails look better. "They were real split, cracked and dried," she said, fanning out her fingers. "And I noticed having eaten fresh vegetables and meats, you know, they look a lot better. They're not pretty, but they're healthier. And I think your nails say a lot about what your health is like." Calderez is 63 and lives in Colorado Springs. Disabled and unable to work for years, she used to get a little over $20 a month in food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. That would run out very quickly. But as one of the millions of Americans who got extra federal assistance during the pandemic, her balance jumped to $280 a month. She said she was finally able to eat whenever she felt hungry. "You know, I feel better. I have a little more energy," she said. Teresa Calderez toggle caption Teresa Calderez says the extra SNAP benefits made a noticeable difference to her diet and her health. Teresa Calderez But that extra money is gone now as the government winds down its pandemic assistance programs. The boosted benefits expired this month and payments are dropping by about $90 a month on average for individuals, and $250 or more for some families, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research institute. Calderez is now back to the minimum monthly payment: just $23 a month. The reduction comes as food prices in the U.S. continue to rise. Without the extra help, many people will go hungry. "I don't think people understand how much impact this relief had," said Raynah, who asked we not use her full name for personal safety reasons. "I was finally able to feed my child without the stress, without the worry, or the tears." Raynah lives in a rural area in southern Oregon. She said that before the added benefits, she was also getting little more than $20 a month to feed herself and her son. "At the beginning of the pandemic he was underweight," she said. When SNAP payments went up, she was overjoyed to get an extra $500 to spend on food. "Throughout the pandemic I was able to supplement his diet with protein drinks that cost $30, introduce new foods, let him choose and explore. And he is now on target weight. Even his doctors noticed." The (dis)comfort zone Faced with hunger and malnutrition again, people like Raynah don't have a lot of options. "There is only one food bank here," she said. "It was already overflowing, even when the pandemic benefits were available. I can't even imagine how it will be now." Food banks aren't a great option for Lisa Clenott, either. "I would say 90% of it, we can't eat," she said. Clenott lives in Haverhill, Massachusetts and said she and her two children have a lot of allergies. They're particularly sensitive to high fructose corn syrup. "And that's in everything," she said. Clenott said the supplemental SNAP benefits were a huge help to her family and she was able to buy healthy, filling food that worked for their food sensitivities. But even without stress at the grocery store, there was plenty of it elsewhere in her life. "I have to pay the mortgage," she said. "I still co-own the house with my former husband, who isn't helping me at all. Plus my car is 20 years old and I have to pay for repairs on that." She said she's been going into debt to cover bills for a while. And losing the SNAP extras won't help her there. "I really don't know what we're gonna do," she said. "I've been trying to get through to the Department of Transitional Assistance but I've been put on hold for an hour and a half. And their website is ... well, it is what it is." "We've seen this before" Megan Sandel is a pediatrician and co-director of the Boston Medical Center's Grow Clinic, which focuses on treating malnutrition issues in kids. She sees a lot of heartbroken parents in her office. "They're working sometimes two jobs," she said. "They have this, you know, young child that's not growing the way you would expect on the growth curve. And the mom will break down in tears and say, 'I just got my rent bill; landlord is increasing it; I can't keep up. And now I know that there's going to be one less tool in the toolbox to try and help this kid grow and get back on the growth curve.'" Which goes hand in hand with the learning curve. "In the first three years of life, you are in the most rapid growth period in terms of brain and body. And so when you're missing out on key nutrition, it's hard to catch up. It literally can be situations where we get to kids late and they're starting to struggle in school or they're not reading on time." And for hints of long-term effects, look no further than the Great Recession. After Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, SNAP benefits went up for all recipients by at least 13.6%, according to Children's HealthWatch. The boost was meant to be temporary, but experts studying the benefits say it ended too soon to make its intended impact. A policy brief by Children's HealthWatch found: Under ARRA, SNAP benefit levels were not intended to be adjusted again until food price inflation caught up with the increase, which was estimated to occur at the end of 2014... On November 1st, 2013, monthly SNAP benefits for all program participants were cut. The total national cut was approximately $5 billion — decreasing the SNAP amount allotted per person from approximately $1.70 per meal to approximately $1.40 per meal. For a family of four the monthly benefit decreased by about $36, equivalent to about 21 meals per month. The effect of the decrease was not offset by funding other programs because a) young children do not benefit from school meals as they are not in school and b) school-age children need to eat nutritious meals outside of school hours as well as at school. Ultimately, by cutting SNAP to fund these programs, young children were placed at greater risk of food insecurity. "We saw kids stop growing, being in fair-to-poor health and their caregivers being in fair-to-poor health," Sandel said. "So this is really a family issue. Think about what SNAP is. It's the largest anti-hunger program in the United States. It's an evidence-based tool for ensuring families put food on the table." Back to hunger The assistance programs of the pandemic era were working — not just to uphold communities affected by COVID-19, but as examples of how long-standing issues like food insecurity and unstable incomes could be addressed as a whole. But that safety net is fading fast. Gone are the extra unemployment payments, free school lunches for all, and the extended child tax credit. According to the Department of Agriculture, SNAP cost $119 billion last year with the extra benefits. That would equate to about 2% of the national budget for the 2023 fiscal year. Raynah in southern Oregon thinks the stigma around government assistance is stopping a lot of people — including those in charge — from being realistic about it. "People are really closer to needing SNAP than they realize half the time," she said. "No one should ever face food insecurity." But that will be unavoidable for many Americans now, including her and Teresa Calderez in Colorado Springs. Calderez said her rent went up and was already squeezing her budget, even with the SNAP benefits. Now, she has to give up the healthy diet she'd gotten used to. "You know, buying a gallon of milk — a lot of people don't really give it another thought," she said. "But there are lots of us out here who can't buy a gallon of milk when we need it. I'm just going to have to go back to not eating very much, about a meal a day." "Unfortunately, I have known hunger. And it's not a good feeling."	Consumer & Retail
India’s Small Merchants Are The Proud Ambassadors Of Paytm’s Pioneering Mobile Payments Technology Paytm’s QR code has empowered millions of people with digital payments. *This is in partnership with BQ Prime BrandStudio From Rishikesh to Varanasi to Mumbai, India’s leading mobile payments and financial services company Paytm is transforming businesses with the convenience and security of mobile payments, serving as a catalyst for financial inclusion. The innovative Paytm-pioneered QR code has empowered millions of people across the length and breadth of India with its reach and adoption. A man who sells idlis on his cycle in Varanasi recently caught the attention of social media. He has integrated Paytm QR into his business, accepting digital payments on the go. Saw PAYTM QR like this , in Varanasi while having idli .. he accepted Paytm payment not cash .. india is Truly digital and it would be immense pleasure for its founder when he visits roadside see similar thing like this #paytmmoney #paytm #zerodha pic.twitter.com/wlGyKSLBIv— L.K .. Stock market Learnerððð®ð³ (@imLalitJayswal) May 13, 2023 “Saw Paytm QR like this in Varanasi while having idli. he accepted Paytm payment not cash .. India is Truly digital and it would be immense pleasure for its founder when he visits roadside see similar thing like this,” tweeted Lalit Jayswal. In Mumbai, a tadgola (ice apple) seller, as National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) CEO Dilip Asbe tweeted, also uses Paytm to receive payments. “Bought summer special to beat the Mumbai heat at Carter road, Bandra using RuPay CC on UPI. With Digital Credit on UPI, the street vendors can now accept credit money and be part of the credit ecosystem,” he said. Paytm users can make UPI payments through their eligible RuPay credit cards, enhancing the vendor’s ability to accept a wider range of payment methods. An unschooled seller on Ganga Ghaat #Rishikesh who sells empty canes for collecting Gangajal & flower baskets takes digital payment— Nischal Sanghavi (@NischalSanghavi) May 16, 2023 Huge credit to @narendramodi for marathon efforts leading to @_DigitalIndia transformation Also credit goes to @vijayshekhar and @Paytm forâ¦ pic.twitter.com/VsMB0QYTXU Paytm’s reach extends even to the Ganga Ghaat in Rishikesh, where an unschooled seller who sells flower baskets and empty cans for collecting Gangajal was seen taking digital payments with the help of Paytm. The reach and adoption of the Paytm-pioneered QR Code show how far India has come from a cash-reliant country to a digital-first economy. The revolutionary technology, as illustrated by a cobbler at Churchgate station in Mumbai with a Paytm QR, has been enabled by millions of shopkeepers, street vendors, and service providers. “Digital payments have also reached the bottom of the pyramid too. Came across this Paytm QR at Churchgate station,” tweeted Anurag Shah, who shared the picture. Paytm’s innovation does not stop at QR codes. The company pioneered Soundbox, a user-friendly device that announces payment confirmations through a voice alert. This feature helps merchants easily verify transactions without having to check their smartphones, making the payment process even more seamless and efficient. The widespread adoption of Paytm QR code and Paytm Soundbox is a testament to its ease of use and convenience for both merchants and consumers. The company said it has deployed over 71 lakh Soundboxes and remains the leader in person-to-merchant UPI payments in India.	Banking & Finance
- Coca-Cola is done hiking prices this year in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe. - Coke's prices were up 10% in the second quarter compared with the year-ago period. - Customers in the U.S. and Europe are switching to private label bottled water and juices, Coke CEO James Quincey said Coke follows the lead of rival PepsiCo, which said in February it wouldn't raise prices beyond its usual hike for beverages in the fourth quarter. Both companies have reported strong sales growth thanks to higher prices, but consumer demand has weakened, although not as much as expected. Coke's prices were up 10% in the second quarter compared with the year-ago period. Customers in the U.S. and Europe are switching to private label bottled water and juices, Coke CEO James Quincey said Wednesday on the company's conference call. The company reported that U.S. unit case volume fell 1% in the second quarter. "Across the sector, consumers are increasingly cost conscientious. They are looking for value and stocking up on items on sale," Quincey said. Coke plans to keep raising prices in line with inflation in developing markets like Latin America. Pepsi has seen even steeper declines in demand than Coke. The Frito-Lay owner reported that its North American beverage volume tumbled 4.5% in the second quarter. Its Quaker Foods North America unit's volume fell 5%. Frito-Lay North America was the only bright spot, reporting 1% volume growth, thanks to consumers' enduring snack habits.	Consumer & Retail
Rishi Sunak’s has achieved no positive conference bounce after trying to relaunch the Tories as the party of “change” at their annual gathering in Manchester last week. Instead Labour, ahead of their gathering in Liverpool which starts this weekend, is up three points since last weekend and now stands on 42%, stretching its lead to 13 points. Despite all the coverage of Sunak and the Tories, the latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows the Conservatives unchanged on 29%. The Liberal Democrats are down one point on 11%, while the Greens and Reform are both down one point, on 6%. Tory strategists hoped the conference would mark the moment when Sunak would start to close the gap on Starmer and Labour. The results suggest Sunak’s gamble of opting for a combination of eye-catching new policies and dramatic U-turns, has not worked in the way he hoped. In Manchester Sunak tried to present himself as the leader strong enough to take long-term decisions in the national interest – even if they were unpopular. They included ditching the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the HS2 high-speed rail line, launching plans to abolish A levels in favour of a new system in which pupils would have to study English and maths to 18, and moves to ban young people from smoking. Keir Starmer’s party is seen as far more united than the Conservatives. Some 47% of voters think Labour is united, and just 29% that it is divided. The Tories, on the other hand, are seen as divided by 50% of voters and united by just 30%. Although Starmer is often criticised – even by some of his own MPs - for lacking detailed policies, he comes out better in the poll than Sunak on the question of policy. Some 48% think the Tories have poorly thought-out policies, compared with 38% who say the same about Labour. Some 52% of voters expect Labour to be the largest party at the next general election, against 26% who believe the Tories will be. Many Tory MPs conceded at their conference that Sunak’s approach of casting himself as a leader representing change would be a hard sell after 13 years of Conservative government.	United Kingdom Business & Economics
Inheritance tax is "punitive and unfair", government minister Grant Shapps has said, amid reports the prime minister is considering cutting death duties. Inheritance tax is levied at 40%, but the vast majority of estates fall below the threshold - which can be up to £1m for a couple - to incur the charge. Just 3.73% of UK deaths resulted in an inheritance tax (IHT) charge for the tax year 2020 to 2021. After reports from the Sunday Times that Rishi Sunak is considering controversial plans to slash the tax, cabinet minister Grant Shapps told Sky News it is a question of "aspiration" for many people. Read more: Latest on HS2 costs and inheritance tax reaction "People know that there's something deeply unfair about being taxed all their lives and then being taxed in death as well," he said. He said that as someone who has lost a parent recently - his father, aged 91, earlier in September - he understands why people may feel inheritance tax is "particularly punitive". But Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is in a "fiscal straitjacket", Mr Shapps said, indicating that immediate changes in November's autumn statement were unlikely. "I'm generally in favour of all taxes being lower, but we've got to be fiscally responsible," he said, adding that it is "right that every single tax is kept under consideration". A senior government source told the Sunday Times: "No 10 political advisers have been looking at abolishing inheritance tax as something that might go in the manifesto. It's not something we can afford to do yet." Former prime minister Liz Truss was among those calling for inheritance tax to be axed and there has been pressure within the Tory Party to change or scrap the rules. But the move would not be universally popular within Tory ranks. Read more: 'Money is not infinite' - Grant Shapps hints at change to HS2 plans Ed Davey commits Lib Dems to pensions triple lock under any circumstances Former cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke said: "If we are choosing our priorities for tax cuts, income tax should surely trump inheritance tax every time. "I understand why IHT is inherently resented, but at a time when we face profound problems of inter-generational unfairness - especially on housing - we should focus our ability to ease the burden on rewarding the value of work."	Inflation
Adani Energy Solutions Plans To Raise $360 Million Via Bonds CFO Rohit Soni also told analysts about the company's plan to raise another $1 billion. Adani Energy Solutions Ltd., earlier known as Adani Transmission, is planning to raise $360 million (around Rs 3,000 crore) through issuing bonds on a private placement basis. "...we are looking for a private placement of $360 million of transmission assets which were commissioned in the last three to four years," Rohit Soni, Chief Financial Officer of Adani Energy Solutions, said during an investors call. He further informed that the company is still working if it can get $360 million via bonds early next year and the work is still in progress. He also informed that paperwork (for the bond issue) are underway. Soni also told analysts about the company's plan to raise another $1 billion, saying, "we are looking at a billion dollar of raise, so I think we are still working on it, so the time what we have given by year end that still holds good from our perspective." In May this year, the board has approved raising of funds by way of issuance of equities worth up to Rs 8,500 crore by way of qualified institutional placement or other permissible mode. AESL, part of the Adani portfolio, is a multi-dimensional organisation with presence in various facets of the energy domain, namely power transmission, distribution, smart metering, and cooling solutions. AESL is the country's largest private transmission company having presence across 16 states of India and a cumulative transmission network of 19,800 circuit kilometers and 53,000 MVA transformation capacity. AESL serves more than 12 million consumers in Mumbai and the industrial hub of Mundra SEZ.	Bonds Trading & Speculation
- According to a CNBC Your Money Survey, Americans’ financial stress has increased significantly over the summer. - About 4 out of 10 survey respondents with a 401(k) don’t contribute anything to the plan. - Financial advisors say paying off high-interest debt while still building emergency savings can help reduce financial stress. A new CNBC Your Money Survey conducted by SurveyMonkey found that 74% of Americans are feeling financially stressed, up from 70% in an April survey. About 37% of respondents indicated that they are "very stressed" about their personal finances, compared to only 30% in April. More than 4,300 adults in the U.S. were surveyed in late August for the new report. The top stressors remained the same as in April: inflation, rising interest rates and a lack of savings. Those financial strains also make it harder for many workers to fund a retirement plan. About 2,700 respondents of the CNBC Your Money Survey are employed full time or part time. Of that group, 4 out of 10 workers, 41%, don't contribute any money at all to a 401(k) or employer-sponsored plan. They're missing out on a significant opportunity to improve their financial security for the future, experts say. Yet, the survey found nearly 6 out of 10 workers, 57%, are contributing to a 401(k) or company-based savings account. The CNBC Your Money Survey found that, among those who are contributing, here's how they're funding their 401(k) plan: - 46% are contributing as much as they can afford. - 24% are putting away as much as their employer will match. - 11% are saving up to this year's employee contribution limit. - 8% just save the automatic default amount set by their plan. In 2023, workers younger than 50 years old can save up to $22,500 for retirement in 401(k) plans, and savers who are age 50 and older can put away an extra $7,500 in "catch-up" contributions. Some plans will let you save even more through after-tax 401(k) contributions. Those workers may be able to combine employee deferrals plus the company match, profit sharing and other deposits from their employer to save up to a total 401(k) plan limit for 2023 of $66,000 — or $73,500 with catch-up contributions. The average company match in a 401(k) plan was 4.7% of a worker's salary in the second quarter of 2023, according to Fidelity, the nation's largest 401(k) plan provider. The average default contribution rate for auto-enrolled employees reached 4.1% in that quarter, which is the highest Fidelity said it has seen. Once they've stashed away their 401(k) savings, workers' understanding of where their money is going is mixed. Nearly half, 46%, don't know what investments are in their 401(k) and a little more than half, 54%, are aware of their investment choices. Still, the majority — 56% — admit they are not on track with their yearly 401(k) savings to retire comfortably, while some 42% say they are on track for a comfortable retirement. Financial advisors recommend taking these three steps to help ensure you're on the right track: - Save enough to get the employer match: Most financial advisors recommend contributing at least enough to a 401(k) to receive the employer match. "If you're a person making $50,000 a year, [a] 6% match is $3,000 — that's huge," said certified financial planner Malcolm Ethridge, executive vice president at CIC Wealth Management in Rockville, Maryland. - Boost your emergency fund: Having cash that you can get to quickly is critical, financial advisors say. "Before focusing on long-term retirement savings, it's crucial to establish an emergency fund," said Ashton Lawrence, CFP and director and senior wealth advisor with Mariner Wealth Advisors in Greenville, South Carolina. "An emergency fund helps protect you from unexpected expenses, like medical bills or car repairs, and prevents you from relying on credit cards when emergencies arise." Lawrence recommends trying to save three to six months' worth of living expenses in a liquid and easily accessible account. Some high-yield savings accounts let you earn more than 5% interest on your money right now. - Prioritize paying off high-interest debt: Stashing away less than the maximum employee contribution limit, or sometimes even less than is needed to get the company's matching contribution, makes sense to some financial advisors, especially if paying off high-interest debt helps reduce your financial stress. "Clients are hesitant to decrease retirement savings rates because they view it as a step back," said CFP Edward Silversmith, a financial advisor and portfolio manager with Wealth Enhancement Group in Pittsford, New York. With average credit card rates topping 20%, Silversmith said that temporarily adjusting long-term savings to eliminate high-interest debt and reestablishing an emergency fund can be a winning strategy over time. Remember, "the long run is a series of short runs," he said.	Personal Finance & Financial Education
Cryptocurrency prices moved higher on Tuesday after Hong Kong's securities regulator announced it will allow retail trading of certain crypto assets starting June 1. Bitcoin rose 1.7% to $27,293.64, according to Coin Metrics. The largest cryptocurrency has been trading in a small range throughout May, struggling to break meaningfully above $30,000 but staying above $25,000. Ether advanced nearly 2% to $1,851.91. Late Monday night, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission said it would allow retail investors to trade certain crypto assets beginning next month on registered trading platforms. The move was widely expected, with the announcement marking the end of a request for public comment it put out in February on its proposed regulatory requirements around retail trading in crypto. The new guidelines are part of a broader effort of Hong Kong's to become a global crypto hub. That ambition is in sharp contrast with China, which banned crypto trading in 2021, as well as the U.S. where the regulatory stance toward crypto has turned hostile since the collapse of FTX. "This news doesn't mean that a flood of retail buying power will enter the market at the beginning of June. … We could see some volume uptick in June, however," said Noelle Acheson, economist and author of the "Crypto is Macro Now" newsletter. Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has already licensed two digital asset platforms, OSL and Hash Blockchain, and it's likely some are already actively trading offshore, Acheson said. Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer, called Hong Kong "pretty aggressive" for trying to become a crypto hub. "It will continue to capture the attention of the community and attract more firms to set up offices in Hong Kong," he said. "It is hard to gauge the exact impact but it has a long-term effect on capital flow and talent movement." Both crypto assets have struggled to make meaningful moves in either direction in May. While the market has been lacking in big catalysts and investors are closely watching the debt ceiling negotiations, trading has been relatively still and bitcoin has returned to behaving like a risk asset.	Crypto Trading & Speculation
This fight is not over. I will have more to announce when I address the nation this afternoon. My Administration’s student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families. And it would have been good for economic growth, both in the short- and long-term. The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses – including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it. While today’s decision is disappointing, we should not lose sight of the progress we’ve made – making historic increases to Pell Grants; forgiving loans for teachers, firefighters, and others in public service; and creating a new debt repayment plan, so no one with an undergraduate loan has to pay more than 5 percent of their discretionary income. I believe that the Court’s decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong. But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American. And later today, I will provide more detail on all that my Administration has done to help students and the next steps my Administration will take. ###	Personal Finance & Financial Education
FBI investigating after Oklahoma education funds misspent The FBI is investigating the misspending of federal funds meant to help Oklahoma children learn at home during the pandemic, law enforcement sources confirmed Thursday. A scathing state audit in June blamed Ryan Walters, now state schools superintendent, for failures that resulted in the misspending of Bridge the Gap funds. Those funds were part of a $39.9 million Governor’s Emergency Education Relief, or GEER, grant. “We are not aware of any investigation involving Superintendent Walters," his chief adviser, Matt Langston, said Thursday. "The vendor for GEER should be held accountable for the program and any misspent funds.” Oklahoma's new attorney general in January blamed "state actors" for the misspending and dropped a lawsuit against the out-of-state vendor involved in the program. "My office will continue engaging with various state and federal agencies to investigate this egregious misuse of tax dollars," Attorney General Gentner Drummond said then. Why the FBI is investigating Sources confirmed that the FBI is one of those federal agencies after online news site NonDoc reported Tuesday that FBI agents were investigating the GEER grant. The sources would not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The FBI would not confirm its agents are investigating. However, a public affairs specialist did say the FBI has the authority "to investigate allegations of federal funds being misused, with consideration to all applicable criminal statutes." "It is then up to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to decide whether a case will be prosecuted," the specialist, Kayla McCleery, said. The governor's office said it "has not received any subpoenas, nor have we been contacted by the FBI regarding this matter." Drummond's office said it does not typically confirm or deny the existence of criminal investigations. State Rep. Mark McBride, chairman of the House education budget committee, said he has "heard that there's something going on." "If there is, I'm sure that the FBI will expose any wrongdoing," the legislator said. Audit revealed thousands in misspent funds for Bridge the Gap program The federal government already has called for Oklahoma to return $652,720 in education funds parents spent on "unallowable" items. The state audit determined the misspending in the Bridge the Gap program actually was much more. "We found that $1.7 million was spent on various non-educational items such as kitchen appliances, power tools, furniture and entertainment," the state auditor, Cindy Byrd, said in June. “Proper system controls were offered by the digital wallet vendor to limit the families’ purchases to education-related items but those controls were declined by the individual placed in charge of the (Bridge the Gap) program," she said. Read the audit:Full audit into education fending funds The audit identified the executive director of a nonprofit, Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, as the individual who "directly participated" in the administration of the Bridge the Gap program. Before taking office in January, Walters was executive director of that nonprofit. He also was Gov. Kevin Stitt's secretary of education. Auditors reported they confirmed through interviews and emails that the education secretary gave "blanket approval" of all vendors on the ClassWallet system. That approval applied to all items the vendors offered on the system, according to the audit. Auditors reported officials failed to review "any purchasing reports which would have alerted the State to the unallowable and questionable purchases." Walters, a Republican, has become a polarizing figure in the state since taking office in January because of his far-right brand of politics. Contributing: Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
It’s no secret that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange—which has no head office or formal address but processes $12 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions per day. But the charge sheet filed today by the SEC in the District of Columbia contains a list of 13 alleged violations of securities laws, some with unavoidable echoes of FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed in spectacular fashion in November, triggering industrywide turmoil.Among other allegations, the SEC claims that Binance and the company’s CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao, had the freedom to “divert customer assets as they please” to another Zhao-owned business, Sigma Chain—an entity the SEC accuses of engaging in “manipulative trading that artificially inflated the [Binance] trading volume.” The SEC also alleges that Binance and Zhao concealed the commingling of billions of dollars of customer assets, which were delivered to yet another third party, Merit Peak Limited, also owned by Zhao. In the case of FTX, customer assets are alleged to have been commingled and passed to a sibling company, Alameda Research, to finance trading activity and debt repayment, among other things.“We allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement accompanying the charges. “The public should beware of investing any of their hard-earned assets with or on these unlawful platforms,” said Gensler.In an email statement, Binance spokesperson Simon Matthews said the firm is “disappointed” with the SEC charges and attacked the regulator for failing to provide sufficient rules for crypto companies operating in the US—by now, a common refrain. He also said that all user assets across all Binance platforms are “safe and secure.” In a tweet published shortly after the SEC complaint, Zhao wrote “4”—a symbol he uses to dismiss allegations made against his company as baseless FUD (shorthand for fear, uncertainty and doubt).But as dramatic as the charges seem, industry players were far from shocked. “No one who operates in the space will be surprised by any of the charges,” says Cory Klippsten, CEO at rival trading platform Swan Bitcoin.Established by Zhao in 2017, Binance expanded rapidly with an emphasis on low fees, alternative crypto assets, and advanced investment products. But it has long had a strained relationship with regulators.Since US laws prohibit the sale of crypto derivatives—more lucrative but risky investment products—Binance operates a separate, more limited service, Binance.US. But the SEC alleges that the exchange deliberately sidestepped geo-restrictions to allow US users to trade on its international platform and claims that the two platforms were, in effect, operated as one—with no controls in place to protect their independence. Another regulator, the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, has previously leveled the same allegation.The SEC also claims that Binance misled investors about risk controls supposedly in place to protect against manipulative practices like “wash trading”—a process whereby crypto assets are sold in a circular pattern between a small number of accounts, creating an exaggerated appearance of demand and potentially inflating the price. The complaint claims wash trading was commonplace on Binance.US.The allegations against Binance are “very serious,” says Aaron Kaplan, a securities attorney, who adds that if proven they demonstrate a “complete lack of internal risk management and controls necessary to operate a business that handles billions of dollars of customer funds.” The likely outcome, he says, is that Binance will be pressured into ceasing operations in the US.Some experts speculate that there could be consequences for Binance’s top leadership. John Stark, who served for 18 years as an attorney at the SEC, says this initial complaint, despite being lengthier and more extensive than any he composed while working at the agency, may still only be the “tip of the iceberg.”The contents of the “scathing” civil complaint, Stark adds, set the stage for potential criminal action against those at the helm. “When you have an SEC complaint that contains allegations of scheming and fraudulent conduct, it certainly creates the opportunity for a criminal prosecutor to step in,” he says. “These companies took the approach that it’s better to seek forgiveness than permission—and got very rich. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see criminal action follow,” says Stark. “And in a situation like this, people get very nervous and start cooperating. You get a parade of informants.”Other exchanges may also have cause for concern. The SEC hit Nasdaq-listed Coinbase with a notice of intent to sue in March. The SEC’s complaint accuses Binance of engaging in unregistered securities offerings through the sale of tokens that include SOL, ADA, and MATIC, all of which Coinbase also supports. Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Kaplan says the SEC complaint marks the transition from a freewheeling crypto ecosystem to one regulated under securities laws—a necessary “maturation” process. “In a post-FTX paradigm, there is no longer a hall pass for the industry,” he says. “Previously, Gensler has said that time is running out for crypto exchanges to register under securities laws. But this is proof that time has run out. The writing is on the wall.”	Crypto Trading & Speculation
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Binance have come to an agreement that will allow the cryptocurrency exchange to continue operating in the US until a lawsuit filed by the SEC earlier this month is resolved. The regulator sued Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, on June 5th, alleging the company had artificially inflated trading volumes, mixed and diverted customer assets and failed to restrict US investors from trading on Binance.com when they were supposed to stay on a separate US system. After announcing the charges, the SEC sought to freeze Binance’s US assets. The regulator said the move was necessary to protect customer funds and prevent the company from potentially moving money abroad. Binance, meanwhile, argued an asset freeze would put it out of business in the US. On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the litigation ordered the two sides to come to a compromise that would safeguard customer assets. In a court filing seen by The New York Times, the SEC said Friday that Binance had agreed to move all assets belonging to US customers stateside. Additionally, the company’s US operation is prohibited from providing access or control of domestic assets or funds to Binance’s international operation or Zhao. Until the ligation is resolved, Binance.US is "solely" allowed to transfer assets “to make payments for expenses or to satisfy obligations incurred in the ordinary course of business.” Additionally, the exchange is required to create new customer wallets which its international employees can’t access. The deal still needs approval from Judge Amy Berman – and won’t resolve the SEC lawsuit even if it’s put in place. Although we maintain that the SEC's request for emergency relief was entirely unwarranted, we are pleased that the disagreement over this request was resolved on mutually acceptable terms.— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) June 17, 2023 User funds have been and always will be safe and secure on all Binance-affiliated… “Given that Changpeng Zhao and Binance have control of the platforms’ customers’ assets and have been able to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please, as we have alleged, these prohibitions are essential to protecting investor assets,” the SEC said Saturday. “Further, we ensured that US customers will be able to withdraw their assets from the platform while we work to resolve the alleged underlying misconduct and hold Zhao and the Binance entities accountable for their alleged securities law violations.” Zhao took to Twitter on Saturday morning to comment on the deal. “Although we maintain that the SEC's request for emergency relief was entirely unwarranted, we are pleased that the disagreement over this request was resolved on mutually acceptable terms,” he posted. “User funds have been and always will be safe and secure on all Binance-affiliated platforms.” The SEC’s lawsuit against Binance is part of a broader crackdown by the watchdog against the crypto industry. At the end of last year, the agency accused FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried of carrying out an alleged multi-year scheme to defraud investors. One day after suing Binance, the SEC filed a complaint against Coinbase, the largest crypto trading platform in the US, alleging the company had failed to register as a broker, national securities exchange or clearing agency.	Crypto Trading & Speculation
Keir Starmer has doubled down on his decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap, warning his party that there will have to be more tough choices if Labour is to win the next election. The Labour leader, who faces pressure from senior party figures to row back from his position on the policy, instead told them they had to be even more focused and disciplined in the months ahead. At the Future of Britain conference, Starmer said Labour had had to make “really ruthless” decisions, including ruling out other unfunded spending commitments, since he took the reins to ensure it was in a good place to contest the next election. He acknowledged that would involve not being able to do everything that shadow cabinet ministers may want to, but added: “We keep saying collectively as a party that we have to make tough decisions. And in the abstract, everyone says: ‘That’s right Keir.’ “But then we get into the tough decision – we’ve been in one of those for the last few days – and they say: ‘We don’t like that, can we just not make that one, I’m sure there is another tough decision somewhere else we can make.’ But we have to take the tough decisions.” In conversation with Tony Blair, and in remarks that appeared to be directed at his own MPs before the party meets this weekend to thrash out policy before drawing up its manifesto, he added: “The next stage is where we’ve got to be even tougher, even more focused, even more disciplined.” At a tense meeting of his shadow cabinet on Tuesday, Starmer defended his position over the two-child cap – stressing that without fiscal responsibility Labour would never make it to power. Aides maintained that tackling child poverty remained a central ambition. He told his top team: “Tough choices is not a soundbite. We’re going to have to take them. Without them, we don’t get to the next stage.” However, he faced further pressure from senior Labour figures to mitigate the decision. Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, said he should promise that “when there is the headroom to do something, this clearly should be at the front of the queue”. The senior Labour MP Stella Creasy argued that scrapping the cap could in fact save money as it was “potentially costing more than it is saving” as greater hardship prevented people from finding work. Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now sits as an independent MP, said he had spoken to backbenchers and they were “seething with anger” over the policy. However, the shadow cabinet minister Lucy Powell suggested that any significant changes would have to wait until a second term. “We can’t do everything that we would want to do in the first term of a Labour government, because quite honestly, there’s no money left, to coin a phrase, and we have to take that responsible position,” she told Times Radio. The policy, introduced by George Osborne during his austerity drive when he was Tory chancellor, prevents parents claiming universal credit for any third or subsequent child. Scrapping the cap would lift about 270,000 households with children out of poverty at an estimated cost of £1.4bn in the first year. Blair told his successor the economic picture Labour could inherit next year, with the party riding high in the polls, was far more stark than in 1997 when New Labour won a landslide. “What you are going to inherit next year, it is grim,” he said. Starmer agreed the current mood of the country was “pretty bleak” as he set out the need to reassure voters about the situation while also setting out a vision for the future. Repurposing a slogan used by New Labour, he said: “We need three things: growth, growth, growth.”	United Kingdom Business & Economics
Michael Gove is announcing plans to relax planning rules in England to create more homes in towns and cities. The levelling up secretary says he wants to make it easier to convert empty retail premises and betting shops into flats and houses. But critics say such conversions are often poor quality. It comes as Rishi Sunak insists his party will meet its commitment to building a million homes before the next election, expected in 2024. A report by the Commons housing committee earlier this month found that while ministers are on track to deliver its one million homes target they are not expected to meet their other commitment to deliver 300,000 new homes every year by the mid-2020s. Hitting that figure became harder after the government was forced to water down its housing targets on local councils following a fierce backlash from its own MPs. The prime minister said his government would not be "concreting over the countryside" adding: "Our plan is to build the right homes where there is the most need and where there is local support, in the heart of Britain's great cities." Lisa Nandy, Labour's shadow housing secretary, said: "It takes some serious brass neck for the Tories to make yet more promises when the housing crisis has gone from bad to worse on their watch." In a speech in central London, Mr Gove will provide details of his plan to build more homes including making it easier to convert shops, takeaways and betting shops into homes. This idea has been around for a long time, with minister launching a consultation on such changes back in 2013. The Local Government Association has warned that offices, shops and barns are not always suitable for housing, and could result in the creation of poor quality homes. Mr Gove also wants to ease rules on building extensions to commercial buildings and repurposing agricultural buildings. In order to speed up big developments, the government will establish what it calls a "super squad" of planners to unblock certain projects - a development in Cambridge will be the team's first task. Developers will be asked to pay higher fees to fund improvements to the planning system. However, in an early sign that Mr Gove's plans may attract criticism from the government's own MPs, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire Anthony Browne has tweeted: "I will do everything I can to stop the government's nonsense plans to impose mass housebuilding on Cambridge, where all major developments are now blocked by the Environment Agency because we have quite literally run out of water." The issue of building more homes has been a tricky one for the government. While there is great demand for housing, particularly among younger voters struggling to get on the property ladder, new housing developments have proved unpopular in Conservative heartlands.	Real Estate & Housing
Demand for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) is growing as interest rates on conventional home loans surge and as people seek an affordable on-ramp for buying a home. The average interest on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, reaching its highest level since August 2000. By comparison, rates on the average ARM currently range between 7.12% and 7.65%, according to Bankrate. Still, ARMs aren't right for everyone. Here are three questions homebuyers should ask when considering an adjustable-rate mortgage. What different types of ARMs could I apply for? Adjustable-rate mortgages typically come in four forms: 3, 5, 7 or 10. Those figures refer to the number of years your interest rate will be the same or "fixed." There are two numbers that homebuyers should pay attention to on an ARM — the fixed-rate period and the floating-rate period. The floating-rate period refers to how often your mortgage rate will change. During the floating-rate period, your mortgage rate could increase or decrease depending on what the typical interest rates are at the time. If your rate increases, the amount you pay monthly for your mortgage will increase as well. For example, a 5/6 ARM means the mortgage rate will be locked in — meaning it will not increase or decrease — for the first five years of the home loan. After five years, your mortgage rate will change every six months based on what current rates look like. A 10/1 ARM means the mortgage rate is fixed for a decade, after which it will adjust once a year based on current rates, until the entire loan is paid. Is an ARM an ideal option for me? A homebuyer looking to sell the property during the fixed-rate period is a great candidate for an ARM, according to the National Association of Realtors. It's a better option for people who have unstable income sources that change often, NAR said. ARMs are not a good route to take if you are someone who wants a consistent mortgage amount month after month, according to NerdWallet. Because of the way interest rates fluctuate during an ARM loan, borrowers could face substantially higher mortgage payments at a time when they may not be able to afford it. For example, someone using a 5/1 ARM on a $394,000 home (the median home price for September according to NAR) purchased with a 20% down payment, would pay roughly $2,891 a month for the first five years of the mortgage, based on today's 8% interest rate. After five years, if interest rates happen to rise to 12% in 2028, that mortgage will jump to $3,720. Will I save money if I get an ARM? In the short term, yes, because the fixed-rate period of an ARM usually comes at an interest rate that's lower than what someone would pay for a conventional home loan. But the savings aren't guaranteed over the long run. No one knows what interest rates will be in the future, and the floating-period of an ARM is when a homebuyer is most vulnerable to having to meet higher monthly mortgage payments. Still, mortgage experts say borrowers typically enjoy lower-than-average payments during an ARM's fixed-rate period. Those savings could continue into the floating period depending on current rates, but anyone who takes out an ARM must be able to afford a higher mortgage payment if interest rates skyrocket after the ARM's fixed-rate period. for more features.	Interest Rates
Moody's on Friday lowered its outlook on the U.S. credit rating to "negative" from "stable" citing large fiscal deficits and a decline in debt affordability, a move that drew immediate criticism from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration. The action follows a rating downgrade by another ratings agency, Fitch, earlier this year, which came after months of political brinksmanship around the U.S. debt ceiling. Federal spending and political polarization have been a rising concern for investors, contributing to a selloff that took U.S. government bond prices to their lowest levels in 16 years. "It is hard to disagree with the rationale, with no reasonable expectation for fiscal consolidation any time soon," said Christopher Hodge, chief economist for the U.S. at Natixis. "Deficits will remain large ... and as interest costs take up a larger share of the budget, the debt burden will continue to grow." The ratings agency said in a statement that "continued political polarization" in Congress raises the risk that lawmakers will not be able to reach consensus on a fiscal plan to slow the decline in debt affordability." "Any type of significant policy response that we might be able to see to this declining fiscal strength probably wouldn't happen until 2025 because of the reality of the political calendar next year," William Foster, a senior vice president at Moody's, told Reuters in an interview. Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, expect to release a stopgap spending measure on Saturday aimed at averting a partial government shutdown by keeping federal agencies open when current funding expires next Friday. Moody's is the last of the three major rating agencies to maintain a top rating for the U.S. government. Fitch changed its rating from triple-A to AA+ in August, joining S&P which has had an AA+ rating since 2011. While it changed its outlook, indicating a downgrade is possible over the medium term, Moody's affirmed its long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings at Aaa, citing U.S. credit and economic strengths. Immediately after the Moody's release, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was "yet another consequence of congressional Republican extremism and dysfunction." "While the statement by Moody’s maintains the United States’ Aaa rating, we disagree with the shift to a negative outlook. The American economy remains strong, and Treasury securities are the world’s preeminent safe and liquid asset," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. Adeyemo said the Biden administration had demonstrated its commitment to fiscal sustainability, including through over $1 trillion in deficit reduction measures included in a June agreement struck with Congress on raising the U.S. debt limit, and Biden’s proposal to reduce the deficit by nearly $2.5 trillion over the next decade. Treasury yields have soared this year on expectations the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policy tight, as well as on U.S.-focused fiscal concerns. The sharp rise in Treasury yields "has increased pre-existing pressure on U.S. debt affordability," Moody's said. A Moody's downgrade could exacerbate fiscal concerns, but investors have said they are skeptical it would have a material impact on the U.S. bond market, seen as a safe haven because of its depth and liquidity. However, “it is a reminder that the clock is ticking and the markets are moving closer and closer to understanding that we could go into another period of drama that could lead ultimately to the government shutting down," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. Moody's decision also comes as Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024, has seen his support fall sharply in the polls. A New York Times/Siena poll released on Sunday showed him trailing former president Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate, in five of six battleground states: Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Biden was ahead of Trump in Wisconsin. The outcome in those six states will help determine who wins the presidential election. The Moody's move will also heap pressure on congressional Republicans to advance funding legislation to avert a partial government shutdown. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has spent days in talks with members of his slim 221-212 Republican majority about several stopgap measures. The House and the Democratic-led Senate must agree on a vehicle that Biden can sign into law before current funding expires on Nov. 17. "We cannot, in good conscience, continue writing blank checks to our federal government knowing that our children and grandchildren will be responsible for the largest debt in American history,” hardline Republican Representative Andy Harris said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Infighting among House Republicans has led to flirtations with government shutdowns yet both parties have contributed to budget deficits. Biden's Democrats have backed a wide range of spending plans, while Republicans pushed through sharp tax cuts early in Donald Trump's presidency that also fed the deficit. Neither party has seriously addressed rising costs of the Social Security and Medicare programs that represent a significant slice of federal spending.	Interest Rates
- Buy now, pay later firm Klarna has begun a legal entity restructuring to set up a new holding company in the U.K., as a precursor to an eventual IPO. - Klarna has no immediate plans to go public, the spokesperson said, and setting up its new legal entity in the U.K. does not necessarily mean that the company will list there. - Klarna last raised cash at a valuation of $6.7 billion, which marked a massive 85% haircut to its previous valuation of nearly $46 billion. Buy now, pay later firm Klarna has established a holding company in the U.K. that will sit at the top of its corporate structure, in a symbolic move that paves the path for an eventual listing. A Klarna spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the Stockholm-based business, which lets shoppers defer payments over a period of instalments, has begun a legal entity restructuring to set up the holding company. Preparations for the new company have been agreed with some of Klarna's largest shareholders, including Sequoia and Heartland, the spokesperson said. The Klarna spokesperson said that the move was a precursor to a formal listing, but added these are still "very early days," and the company has no immediate-term plans to go public. Klarna also hasn't decided on where it would opt to list, the spokesperson said, and setting up its new legal entity in the U.K. does not necessarily mean that the company will go public there. It does, however, give Klarna flexibility over which stock exchange it decides on. The restructuring "is an administrative change that has been in the works for over 12 months and does not affect anyone's roles, nor Klarna's Swedish operations," the Klarna spokesperson told CNBC via email. "Klarna Holding will continue to be the regulated financial holding company under the direct supervision of the SFSA and we will continue to hold a Swedish banking license." Klarna is a big player in the European payments industry, worth $6.7 billion. Like PayPal and Stripe, it allows merchants to add checkout functionality to their online stores. It differs from these competitors in its flexible payment plans, known as buy now, pay later. At the height of the Covid-driven boom in e-commerce, Klarna was worth a whopping $46 billion, onboarding SoftBank as an investor. Its valuation slashed by 85%, to $6.7 billion after the pandemic-fueled boom in technology valuations deflated. Klarna, which was included in CNBC and Statista' list of the top 200 fintech companies, has raised more than $4 billion in funding to date from investors including Sequoia, Silver Lake, and China's Ant Group. The U.K. was originally set to enforce tough new regulations on the buy now, pay later industry, with plans to require affordability checks and clearer communication in the advertisement of such services. Britain has reportedly been considering shelving those plans after a number of the biggest players said, in talks with the government, that they may be forced to leave the U.K. if they are subjected to "heavy-handed" regulation. Bosses at Klarna and Block, which owns buy now, pay later service Clearpay, had lashed out at certain aspects of the U.K.'s regulation plans, including a measure which would have exempted e-commerce giant Amazon from being subjected to the rules. It has since been pushing aggressively toward profitability, reporting its first month of profit earlier this year for the first time since 2020. Klarna has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence products, most recently launching an AI image recognition tool that can identify certain products, like a jacket or a pair of headphones. Separately this weekend, Klarna also reached a deal with workers in Sweden to put an end to plans to go on strike.	Banking & Finance
Gandhar Oil Refinery IPO Subscription Day 2 Live Updates The IPO has been subscribed 6.69 times, as of 10:33 a.m. on Wednesday. State-run Gandhar Oil Refinery Ltd. launched its initial public offering on Wednesday. It was subscribed 5.54 times on its first day. The company plans to raise Rs 500.69 crore via a fresh issue worth Rs 302 crore and an offer for the sale of 1.18 crore shares, worth up to Rs 198.69 crore, by the promoter selling shareholder. The price band is fixed between Rs 160 and Rs 169 per share. At the upper price band, the company is valued at Rs 1,654 crore in market capitalisation. The company raised Rs 150.2 crore from anchor investors on Tuesday ahead of its initial public offering and allotted 88.88 lakh equity shares at Rs 169 apiece to 16 anchor investors. Major anchor investors include ICICI Prudential ELSS Tax Saver Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Whiteoak Capital Flexi Cap Fund, Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte, Societe Generale, and Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Co., among others. Issue Details Issue opens: Nov. 22. Issue closes: Nov. 24 Total Offer Size: Rs 500.69 crore. Fresh issue size: Rs 302 crore. Offer for sale size: Rs 198.69 crore. Face value: Rs 2 apiece. Fixed price band: Rs 160–169 per share. Listing: NSE, BSE. Business Gandhar Oil Refinery is a producer of white oils by revenue, with a growing focus on the consumer and healthcare end-industries. As of June 30, their product suite comprised over 440 products, primarily across the personal care, healthcare and performance oils, lubricants, and process and insulating oils divisions under the “Divyol” brand. The company's products are used as ingredients by Indian as well as global companies for the manufacture of end products for the consumer, healthcare, automotive, industrial, power, and tyre and rubber sectors. Subscription Day 2 The IPO has been subscribed 6.69 times, as of 10.33 a.m. on Thursday. Institutional investors: 1.47 times Non-institutional investors: 9.57 times Retail investors: 8.35 times	Stocks Trading & Speculation
A Treasury minister has refused to commit to public sector pay rises, arguing it would be "irresponsible" not to take into account the impact on persistently high inflation. Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, John Glen signalled the government could reject recommendations by the independent review bodies in the face of concerns that wage increases of around 6% for teachers, police and junior doctors would further fuel price hikes. The chief secretary to the treasury underlined the government's determination to tackle inflation, which he warned would be "tough to get down". It stayed at 8.7% in May despite efforts to tame it and led the Bank of England to increase interest rates to a 15-year high last week, putting the squeeze on mortgage-holders. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also said he was willing to make unpopular decisions on public sector pay as he warned that "inflation is the enemy". Unions have expressed anger following reports that ministers are likely to take the rare step of blocking some recommendations of the independent pay review bodies. While the proposals are not legally binding on the government and, although they are typically accepted, ministers can choose to reject or partially ignore the guidance. But this would be a controversial move, after the government defended last year's below-inflation pay rises by saying they had followed the bodies' advice. It threatens to further inflame ongoing industrial disputes and lead to more strike action. Mr Glen said: "As a matter of principle pay review bodies are a very significant part of resolving the pay issues. "But obviously we've also got to take account of the effect on inflation. "That would be irresponsible not to do that." He added: "Obviously I'm very aware of the massive contribution that teachers, nurses and public sector workers make and we've got to get the right outcomes that are fair to them, but also aren't inflationary. "Inflation is going to be tough to get down. It is something that we are focused on and we are united and determined to do so." Read more: Junior doctors to strike 'in longest single walkout in NHS history' Economy 'going to be okay', Rishi Sunak promises Mortgage holders to get 12-month grace period before repossessions amid interest rate hike Labour's shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy told the Ridge programme: "If we were in government right now we would be asking the pay review bodies to give far more weight to the retention and recruitment crisis in the recommendations that we make. "We'd take seriously their recommendations but we wouldn't be bound by them." Mr Sunak told the BBC: "When it comes to public sector pay I'm going to do what I think is affordable, what I think is responsible. "Now that may not always be popular in the short term, but it's the right thing for the country." Defending the rise in interest rates, Mr Sunak said: "The Bank of England is doing the right thing. The Bank of England has my total support. Inflation is the enemy for all the reasons that we have talked about. Inflation is what makes people poorer."	Inflation
Titagarh Rail Shares Surge 12% After Metro Deal With ABB India The agreement includes technology transfer and licensing as part of the government’s 'Make in India' initiative, a filing said. Shares of Titagarh Rail Systems Ltd. surged nearly 12% to record high on Tuesday after it formed a strategic partnership with ABB India Ltd. for the supply of propulsion systems for metro rolling stock projects in India. The agreement includes technology transfer and licensing as part of the government’s 'Make in India' initiative, according to an exchange filing. Titagarh specialises in the design, manufacture, supply, commissioning and servicing of various passenger rolling stock and metro coaches for Indian and international markets. While, ABB is involved in the design, manufacture and servicing of propulsion systems and electrical equipment relating to rolling stock used for railways and metro systems. Shares of Titagarh Rail Systems Ltd. rose as much as 11.81%, before paring gains to trade 7.62% higher at 10:05 a.m., compared to a 0.37% advance in the NSE Nifty 50. The stock has risen 349% on a year-to-date basis. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 7.8 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 77, implying that the stock may be overbought. All eight analysts tracking the company maintain a 'buy' rating, according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analyst price targets implies a potential downside of 3.9%. Shares of ABB India Ltd. rose as much as 1.91%, the highest since Sept. 12, before paring gains to trade 0.24% higher at 10:05 a.m. This compares to a 0.37% advance in the NSE Nifty 50. The stock has risen 62.2% on a year-to-date basis. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 4.1 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 62. Of the 30 analysts tracking the company, 14 maintain a 'buy' rating, 10 recommend a 'hold' and six suggest a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analyst price targets implies a potential upside of 6.4%.	Stocks Trading & Speculation
Hero plumber James Anderson, 55, is determined to create a 24/7 community hub in Burnley to teach homeless people vital life skills, after he was picked up off the streets by kind strangers as a teenJames knows exactly what it feels like to have nothing and live on the streetsA man who was previously homeless is raising £250,000 for a 24/7 community hub to take people off the streets and teach them how to cook, clean, pay bills and work. James Anderson - also known as "Britain's kindest plumber" - has helped hundreds of strangers struggling amid the cost of living crisis, fixing their boilers for free and offering out vital food packages. Now he's got big plans to expand DEPHER (Disabled and Elderly Heating Emergency Repairs) and build a centre to transform homelessness in Burnley, Lancashire. James, who was picked up off the street by strangers when he was a teen, knows exactly what it feels like to be "assaulted, spat at and beat up" - and is determined to give others that life-changing chance in return. He plans to create a community hub and home 50 homeless people a year ( Image: gofundme) When James turned 18, he decided to leave his mum's home in Liverpool and venture out to the capital city with a friend. But his carefree and happy-go-lucky attitude soon found him living on the streets between London and Bristol for two years with no belongings and no address. "It was a terrible experience. I got assaulted, spat at, beaten up and nearly raped. I would not wish anything like that to happen to anyone," James told the Mirror. "I got my second chance when two strangers offered to help me. A couple called Beryl and Gordon, who lived near Chipping Sodbury, converted their garage and got me a job in logistics. Hero plumber James is on a mission to transform the lives of more strangers ( Image: Manchester Evening News) "I lived with them for eight months. I was earning £300 a week packing palettes to go to supermarkets and I thought I was the king of England." In his twenties, James moved back up North to live with his mum, and later in life met his wife Barbara, 48, in a pub where it was "love at first sight". In 2013, the pair had a son called William, who tragically passed away at 16-weeks-old due to a birth heart defect. James made a promise to William to be a "better man" in his memory and six years ago, he founded Community Interest Company, Depher, to provide boilers and plumbing repairs to the most vulnerable. It started just in the Burnley area but soon expanded nationwide with dozens of subcontractors and thousands of volunteers now helping out. He has achieved nationwide recognition for his selflessness over the years ( Image: Manchester Evening News) Since lockdown, James has helped customers on the verge of bankruptcy with everything from gas and electric top ups to food parcels, funeral costs and even bailiff charges. He has set up food banks, provided PPE to nursing homes and the NHS, and organised surprised parties for children whose parents had been furloughed or laid off. Depher, which is largely supported by donations, has received national recognition and James has been awarded for providing £1.2 million of support to Brits in deprivation. Last year, he was announced as the winner of a Pride of Manchester Special Recognition Award, for providing that vital support. And actor Hugh Grant and his wife Anna Eberstein have donated more than £65,000 to James's cause during the cost-of-living crisis. James, who has daughter Annalise, 17, son Thomas, 15, and stepson Josh, 23, said: "I only take £168 a week because that's all I need to live off." His next venture is the company's biggest to date and he hopes it will transform the lives of 50 homeless people in Burnley every year. But he needs to raise another £250,000 to turn his plan into a reality ( Image: MEN MEDIA) James is planning to buy a large property - which was previously a self-contained retail outlet - and convert it. The building will sleep 10 homeless people for three months at a time, run a charity shop to raise money and have a training facility inside, as well as offices to rent. It will offer long-term support to the homeless community and provide a steady income for the company. James, who has raised £300,000 so far, said: "We have tradesmen who will work free of charge but we still need £250,000 to buy it and do it up. "It would mean a new life for so many people. We wouldn't just give them a bed, but support them with opportunities, education and a chance at qualifications. "The training centre would teach them the basics of home economics including how to cook, clean, pay bills and DIY maintenance. It's a stepping stone for a new life." If you'd like to support James' 24/7 homeless hub, you can donate via his fundraising page. Do you have a real-life story to share? Get in touch via [email protected]. Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
Consumers in some countries might not bat an eye at rising macaroni prices. But in Italy, where the food is part of the national identity, skyrocketing pasta prices are cause for a national crisis. Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso has convened a crisis commission to discuss the country's soaring pasta costs. The cost of the staple food rose 17.5% during the past year through March, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported. That's more than twice the rate of inflation in Italy, which stood at 8.1% in March, European Central Bank data shows. In nearly all of the pasta-crazed country's provinces, where roughly 60% of people eat pasta daily, the average cost of the staple has exceeded $2.20 per kilo, the Washington Post reported. And in Siena, a city in Tuscany, pasta jumped from about $1.50 a kilo a year ago to $2.37, a 58% increase, consumer-rights group Assoutenti found. That means Siena residents are now paying about $1.08 a pound for their fusilli, up from 68 cents a year earlier. Such massive price hikes are making Italian activists boil over, calling for the country's officials to intervene. Durum wheat, water — and greed? The crisis commission is now investigating factors contributing to the skyrocketing pasta prices. Whether rising prices are cooked in from production cost increases or are a byproduct of corporate greed has become a point of contention among Italian consumers and business owners. Pasta is typically made with just durum wheat and water, so wheat prices should correlate with pasta prices, activists argue. But the cost of raw materials including durum wheat have dropped 30% from a year earlier, the consumer rights group Assoutenti said in a statement. "There is no justification for the increases other than pure speculation on the part of the large food groups who also want to supplement their budgets with extra profits," Assoutenti president Furio Truzzi told the Washington Post. But consumers shouldn't be so quick to assume that corporate greed is fueling soaring macaroni prices, Michele Crippa, an Italian professor of gastronomic science, told the publication. That's because the pasta consumers are buying today was produced when Russia's invasion of Ukraine was driving up food and energy prices. "Pasta on the shelves today was produced months ago when durum wheat [was] purchased at high prices and with energy costs at the peak of the crisis," Crippa said. While the cause of the price increases remains a subject of debate, the fury they have invoked is quite clear. "People are pretending not to see it, but the prices are clearly visible," one Italian Twitter user tweeted. "Fruit, vegetable, pasta and milk prices are leaving their mark." "At the supermarket below my house, which has the prices of Las Vegas in the high season, dried pasta has even reached 5 euros per kilo," another Italian Twitter user posted in frustration. This isn't the first time Italians have gotten worked up over pasta. An Italian antitrust agency raided 26 pasta makers over price-fixing allegations in 2009, fining the companies 12.5 million euros. for more features.	Inflation
China’s Slow-Motion Financial Crisis Is Unfolding as Expected It is not surprising that China is now facing widespread financial distress, with more to come as the property sector’s woes emerge within the financial system. A credit bubble of historic proportions that drove China’s growth over the past decade is currently unwinding, and slowing the economy as a result. Defaults on multiple asset classes, along with failures at banks and other financial institutions, have raised new questions among depositors and investors about when Beijing will finally intervene more forcefully. Losing credibility has consequences, as Beijing’s long track record of intervention in response to financial stress has so far been the primary bulwark against crisis. When local government financing vehicles begin defaulting on their bonds, Beijing will need to actively manage the crisis, most likely using the central bank’s balance sheet. The Credit Cycle Turns It is difficult to overstate just how disappointing China’s economic performance has been so far in 2022. Even at the start of the year, discussions focused on the potential strength of any recovery, and which sectors might lead that rebound. Instead, lockdowns destroyed that narrative as the economy contracted in Q2 at over a 10 percent annualized rate, posting only 0.4 percent year-on-year real GDP growth. Official growth targets have now been abandoned. Recent data screamed soft credit demand, with private sector companies withholding future investment. New lockdowns in large cities such as Chengdu, as well as national testing requirements before holiday travel, have dampened the economic mood in early autumn. Households have been hit hardest by Covid-19 restrictions and the resulting uncertainty about employment and incomes from service industries, which has slowed consumption. Financial stress is also materializing in multiple places—from protests at banks in Henan to growing boycotts on mortgage payments, as well as accelerating defaults by property developers. The property sector is predictably at the center of the storm, as the sector represents around 24 percent of China’s GDP, similar proportions of overall employment, and around 30–35 percent of total credit. Viral social media posts in mid-August showed local officials urging their subordinates to buy properties, even if they already owned multiple houses. Property sales revenues have declined by 31.4 percent so far in 2022, leaving developers unable to complete houses that were sold in 2020 and 2021. They are now awaiting financial assistance from Beijing to do so. The property sector was always going to be a drag on growth in 2022, dwarfing any pickup in infrastructure investment, but Covid-19-related restrictions have accelerated and deepened an inevitable economic adjustment. Yet much of China’s current underperformance—besides the direct impact of Covid-19 restrictions—has been years in the making. The CSIS report Credit and Credibility published October 2018 highlighted the importance of China’s rapid credit expansion in driving China’s growth over the previous decade, and the importance of Beijing’s track record of intervention in the face of financial distress in maintaining stability and avoiding crisis. Starting in late 2016, Beijing launched a deleveraging campaign, acknowledging that credit growth averaging 18.1 percent from 2007 to 2016 was far too fast, and that conditions in the financial system were unsustainable and needed urgent correction. This effort has cut credit growth in half since 2017 by shrinking the shadow banking system, cutting off significant numbers of borrowers and financial institutions. Grasping Shadows, a new project from Rhodium Group and CSIS to be released in early 2023, will more comprehensively assess the impact of China’s deleveraging campaign on China’s economic and financial stability Change in Various Measures of Credit Growth, January 2007–July 2022 Note: Old TSF refers to the method used to calculate TSF growth before the PBOC’s data revisions in 2018 and 2019. Beijing delayed a credit growth slowdown because it inexorably would lead to defaults, as borrowers addicted to rolling over loans in lieu of paying off debt with profit would hit the wall. One asset class after another has become unsafe for investment, starting with peer-to-peer lending networks in 2018 and continuing with corporate bonds, local state-owned companies, trust companies, smaller commercial banks, and property developers. In a very short timeframe, China evolved from conditions in which defaults and losses on most financial products were unthinkable (as late as 2017), to a situation in which these losses are increasingly common, across a growing number of asset classes. With Defaults Rising, Guarantees Are Losing Credibility The loss of credibility behind Beijing’s implicit guarantees on assets was inevitable, and consequential for the economy. Credit and Credibility argued that China’s long period of financial stability was primarily the result of the credibility built by persistent government intervention to prevent investors, banks, and companies from facing financial losses, rather than conditions such as China’s high savings rate or the internal nature of its debt. The attempt to bail out the boom-and-bust equity market in 2015 was only one step in a series of smaller-scale but similar interventions over the previous decade. At the same time, Beijing had no interest in indefinitely subsidizing increasingly risky financing schemes that had proliferated in the informal banking sector from 2012 to 2016, which were starting to pose systemic risks. As the defaults from these shadow banking loans finally piled up, Beijing started to back away from these implicit guarantees. Once investors suddenly face losses on an asset they previously considered to be guaranteed, they will similarly begin to question the credibility of the same guarantees in other asset classes considered safe. Ever since the deleveraging campaign started, investors have been disappointed in consistently expecting Beijing to bail them out. Even today, with the property sector’s woes mounting, investors are openly discussing what level of defaults or economic and financial stress will require Beijing to finally step in. But as losses are now plausible for investors in trust products, wealth management products, structured deposits, state-owned enterprises’ corporate bonds, banks themselves, and individual mortgages, there are not many asset classes remaining that carry unassailable promises of government support. And as the credibility of Beijing’s government guarantees continues eroding, this will impact borrowers’ and investors’ confidence and slow overall credit growth further, weakening investment growth and the broader economy. The fundamental conditions that facilitated China’s rapid economic growth after the global financial crisis have now changed, and risk aversion among both lenders and borrowers is spreading within China’s financial system. Property Fallout Will Amplify Financial Distress The fallout in China’s property market is a prime example of this rising risk aversion. Property was the asset that benefited the most from China’s rapid credit expansion over the past decade. Rapid credit growth fed a self-reinforcing cycle of rising property prices, more construction activity, rising land prices and land revenues for local governments, stronger economic growth, and then additional credit growth to the sector and even higher property and land prices. Property was the asset bubble that did not pop for two decades precisely because there was a widespread expectation that local governments depended upon the market and rising land prices, so they could never allow it to fail. But ultimately, the rise and fall of China’s property market were tied to changes in credit conditions. Chinese authorities tried but failed to control the property sector’s rise amid rapid credit growth, and they will have limited success containing its fall as the sector faces a sharp credit crunch. The only surprise has been why the credit-dependent sector continued expanding rapidly from 2017 to 2020, even after the shadow banking system contracted. Property developers bought themselves a few more years of growth starting in 2017 by substituting informal credit from the shadow banking system with credit directly from homebuyers, in the form of pre-construction housing sales. Developers are currently facing a collapse in property sales, and the drop is too large to be fully offset through fiscal policy or credit policy. Developers’ total annual residential housing sales revenues reached a peak of 18.0 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion) in June 2021, but have now declined to only 13.2 trillion yuan over the past 12 months, a loss of 4.8 trillion yuan, or around 4.5 percent of GDP. The credit crunch is currently extending, with more homebuyers threatening to halt payments on their mortgages, leaving even fewer interested in buying homes before they are fully built. Sales of completed houses this year are actually unchanged—only sales of pre-construction houses are declining. Change in Annualized Sales of Completed Houses and Pre-construction Housing in million square meters, January 2014–July 2022 As argued in Credit and Credibility, the Chinese system is most vulnerable to crisis during attempts at reform, such as Beijing’s attempt to rein in the property sector, not from exogenous shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic. China does not want to continue relying upon the housing sector to drive economic growth—most technocrats in Beijing have been concerned about the property bubble for years, and do not want to see it grow even larger. As a result, no one can be certain how much financial stress Beijing is willing to tolerate before finally backstopping the market. And that uncertainty allows financial contagion from losses in the sector to continue spreading. Local Government Financing Vehicle Bond Defaults Are Next Nowhere is the stress from the property sector more apparent than local government finances. Localities have been impacted by the decline in land sales to struggling developers, with those sales down 48 percent by area and 32 percent in terms of revenues so far this year, according to Ministry of Finance data. Local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) were some of the primary borrowers from the shadow banking system, and many localities have already suffered from the deleveraging campaign and its impact on informal financing. The pain has been spread unevenly across Chinese provinces as well, with credit contractions hitting hardest in northeastern and western provinces. Local government state-owned enterprises have already occasionally defaulted on their corporate bonds, and investors have started to assess credit risks of many corporate bonds based on the fiscal conditions of localities themselves. However, the one Rubicon that has not yet been crossed is a default on an onshore local government financing vehicle (LGFV) bond. These are still considered to be implicitly guaranteed by most investors, and have actually been bid aggressively in recent months, because there are few other “safe” assets in China’s bond market still offering reasonable yields. Yet given local governments’ financial distress and declining land sales revenues, a bond default by LGFVs is only a matter of time. The period immediately following the 20th Party Congress this autumn may be particularly dangerous, given that newly appointed local officials will likely wait out the political season over the next two months before trying to extricate themselves from their predecessors’ debt starting in November. Estimated Average Credit Growth (TSF) by Region, Q4 2014–Q2 2022 Note: Calculations of regional credit growth are based on simple averages of credit growth rates among provinces within that region, which are not weighted based on the total volumes of credit. When the credibility of guarantees on LGFV bonds evaporates, almost half of China’s corporate bond market will suddenly face new credit risks. Refinancing for these firms will be extremely difficult, as the average duration of their bonds has declined from 5.5 years in 2016 to only 3.3 years in 2022. If LGFVs are unable to refinance their debts, most of the mechanisms for implementing Beijing’s fiscal policy will become basically inoperable, because these are the entities that actually build local infrastructure projects. A bailout of LGFV debt and other forms of local government debt will become a necessity, very quickly. Where Are the Technocrats? As China’s credit growth continues to slow, the consequences are reasonably predictable. Overall interest rates are likely to decline as Beijing will need to keep rates low to manage debt levels. Expanding the central bank balance sheet is the most obvious tool to absorb some of the pressure of rising defaults, which will likely catalyze capital outflows and additional depreciation pressure on China’s currency. Technocrats always appear far more capable during credit expansions and far less prepared as credit bubbles unwind. Many investors are now asking why China’s economic technocrats appear so restrained in responding to widespread economic and financial distress. The choice now facing Beijing is where to try to redraw a line in the sand to defend the credibility of government guarantees on certain types of assets, presumably including central state-owned enterprises and state banks. But until Beijing makes that choice, defaults will continue and will expand to new asset classes while credibility erodes. Widespread failures of LGFV bonds would force Beijing’s hand, and some sort of bailout, fiscalization, or monetization of local government debt would likely be necessary to restore these local vehicles to their regular operations. Once Beijing starts down the path of expanding the central bank balance sheet to manage domestic financial stress, China will appear to the rest of the world to be engaged in crisis management rather than regular monetary or counter-cyclical policy. When the Covid-19 pandemic started, China’s central bank argued publicly that it was acting responsibly by refusing to conduct unconventional monetary policy in response to the economic fallout. New local government bailouts would mark an abrupt about-face in that position, but in the face of a serious liquidity squeeze for China’s localities, no other option would appear feasible. The slow-motion financial crisis now unfolding in China is exactly what should be expected as a historically large credit bubble unwinds. Some still argue the deleveraging campaign was a success and reflected the adaptability of China’s system and the wisdom of Beijing’s technocrats in containing systemic risks. It is reasonable to argue that continued rapid growth of the shadow banking system would have been far worse, and could have sparked a crisis earlier. But overall, the deleveraging campaign replaced one form of financial risk with another, and one can see the widening and predictable consequences of slowing credit growth and Beijing’s weakening credibility. Logan Wright is adjunct fellow (non-resident) with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Commentary is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2022 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.	Banking & Finance
Rapper Lil Nas X waded into the outrage over Target’s controversial sales of woke Pride Month apparel this week, trolling conservative ire over the retail giant’s offering “tuck-friendly” swimwear and LGBTQ-friendly clothing for infants. In a Thursday tweet that has so far garnered more than 5.1 million views and hundreds of comments, the Grammy Award-winning rapper imitated a concerned parent: “Can’t believe Target is supporting this nonsense, im never shopping there again, my son is not ‘too cool for school’ these shirts are ridiculous. He is going to school and he WILL learn.” Known for his queer lyrics, the gay musician is a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights. He sent out a message of support last month to his LGBTQ fans in Saudi Arabia, where his song “Sun Goes Down” is a huge hit. “To my gays fans from Saudi Arabia reading this, I hope this song is getting you through whatever you’re going through and I hope someday soon the laws against us change and you can be free in your own home,” he tweeted Why is Target facing backlash? Target started to bring out items from their “LGBT Pride” collection in preparation for Pride Month in June. Items from the collection include rainbow-colored onesies for infants and children and bathing suits with “tuck-friendly construction” and “extra crotch coverage.” After seeing the collection, the public has compared this to the backlash Bud Light faced after its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Many critics have taken to social media to share their protest of the new collection, with some calling it “inappropriate” and “disturbing.” SiriusXM podcast host Megyn Kelly and other commentators such as Tomi Lahren have warned that Target is at risk of losing business. Target CEO Brian Cornell has dismissed the social media uproar, saying that products are good for business and “the right thing for society.” The Minneapolis-based retailer on May 23 told NBC News the company had “offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month” for more than a decade. But since rolling out this year’s collection, “we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.” Target said it was reacting to “volatile circumstances” and removed some items from its LGBTQ Pride Collection following threats and confrontations in some of its shops. In some states, Target, which has 2000 stores throughout the US, said it moved Pride-month merchandise to the back of the store. The 2,000-item range of apparel includes T-shirts with rainbow motifs as well as a “tuck-friendly women’s swimsuit that allows adult trans women to hide their genitalia.	Consumer & Retail
LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog has stepped into a row over the closure of former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage's bank accounts, after Farage claimed NatWest's (NWG.L) private bank Coutts had sought to cut him off on political grounds. British banks are in the spotlight as the UK government has begun looking into concerns some have allegedly blacklisted certain customers over their politics. Farage said on Tuesday that he had obtained a 40-page document from Coutts after filing a "subject access request" with the bank, to learn more about its rationale for proposing to shut the accounts. NatWest's treatment of Farage drew criticism from several government ministers on Wednesday, while prime minister Rishi Sunak said the government was tightening rules around account closures. The Financial Conduct Authority is talking to NatWest about the handling of Farage's accounts, the regulator's CEO Nikhil Rathi told lawmakers, adding existing rules made clear banks should not discriminate on the basis of political views. Coutts said in an updated statement on Wednesday that it was not its policy to close customer accounts solely on the basis of legally held political and personal views. Coutts reiterated that account closures involved a number of factors "including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements." Coutts said it could not comment on the detail of the case due to client confidentiality. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told parliament on Wednesday that "it wouldn't be right" for banks to deny services to those exercising the right to lawful free speech. Under planned reforms, banks will have to give customers three-months' notice of account closures, Sky News reported. Financial services minister Andrew Griffith said on Twitter that while businesses had a right to protect against reputational risks, banks in a democracy had a "duty not to 'debank' because you disagree with someone's views." Reuters has not independently verified the documents cited by Farage. 'REPUTATIONAL RISK' The Mail Online on Wednesday published what it said were the full documents cited by Farage, which showed that Coutts' wealth reputational risk committee had decided to cut ties with Farage after a mortgage he had taken out had expired. The document, as published by the Mail Online, said the bank was ending the relationship "on commercial grounds", and referred to the extra cost of managing the accounts of high profile individuals. But the document, first reported by The Daily Telegraph, also cited at length other "risk factors including... controversial public statements which were felt to conflict with the bank's purpose". Farage said on Twitter that "Brexit", "Russia" and "Donald Trump" were mentioned multiple times in the documents he obtained and that Coutts had said "the client's [Farage's] financial position is now sufficient to retain on a commercial basis". Farage told Reuters on Wednesday the issue "raises very broad questions about our banks and how deeply political they have become." "A lot of people in prominent political roles will be scratching their heads and thinking will I be next?," he said. Farage previously said he believed he was deemed a "politically exposed person" (PEP), meaning banks have to apply additional scrutiny to accounts. Reuters previously reported that Coutts was closing Farage's accounts mainly for commercial reasons, citing a source familiar with the matter. The BBC previously reported Farage had fallen below the financial threshold required to be a customer of the private bank - something Farage said he had had no knowledge of. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.	Banking & Finance
The potential gift tax implications of Clarence Thomas’ luxury trips Following the report that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been accepting luxury trips and hospitality from Dallas businessman Harlan Crow for decades, experts are now looking into whether Thomas violated ethics rules, the law, or both, in failing to report the gifts on required financial disclosure forms. While Thomas maintains that these trips were the result of personal hospitality from close friends and therefore not reportable under the Ethics in Government Act, guidelines recently issued by the Committee on Financial Disclosure of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts suggest otherwise. The latest version specifically provides that the “personal hospitality exception” does not apply to transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation. In other words, Thomas should report the value of any trips he receives. Thomas has stated that going forward, he intends to comply with these rules. The value of the many luxury trips taken by Thomas and his wife Ginni on Crow’s dime is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A nine-day cruise the Thomases took in Indonesia in 2019 would have cost over $500,000 had Thomas paid for it himself. Annual trips to Crow’s invitation-only private resort, Camp Topridge, in an exclusive part of the Adirondacks — with 68 structures, 3 boathouses a soda fountain, and a replica of Hagrid’s cottage from Harry Potter — would have cost Thomas $2,250 a night if he and his wife had stayed at the nearby hotel built by the Rockefellers. Thomas was also the guest of Crow at the Bohemian Club, an all-male private club described by one commentator as “a fraternity party in the woods” with an initiation ceremony and a $25,000 initiation fee. Crow, a political megadonor, is in the unprecedented position of owning the house that Thomas’ mother allegedly lives in rent-free for the remainder of her life. The full extent of all of Crow’s largess is not fully known and may never become public unless a group of angry Democrats has their way. So far, most of the attention has understandably been on Justice Thomas (although news of Crow’s creepy sculpture garden certainly raises eyebrows). There’s one important question that no one is yet asking, though. Did Harlan Crow make taxable gifts to Thomas in the form of this luxury travel and hospitality? If Thomas had rented his own private jet to fly round trip from Washington, D.C. for a three-hour stay in New Haven, Conn., the home of his law school alma mater, Thomas would have incurred a bill of about $70,000. So, the question then is whether Crow made a $70,000 gift when he allowed Thomas to use the corporate jet for that three-hour trip. What if Crow were already planning to take his corporate jet to the exclusive all-male summer retreat at Bohemian Grove in California, and invited Thomas to hop a ride? Is that a taxable gift in the amount of whatever Thomas would have paid to fly, perhaps even first class, to California? It turns out that the answer is not obvious. The federal gift tax is mostly uninterested in the subjective intent of the donor. Gift tax is imposed on the transfer of property, and whether a gift has been made involves a simple comparison of what Crow transferred (thousands of dollars worth of travel to Clarence and Ginni Thomas) with what Crow got in return (nothing, it would seem, other than the pleasure of his guests’ company, one hopes). Arguably travel is a service, not property, and thus outside the scope of the gift tax. Here’s the wrinkle. Long before Clarence Thomas became a justice, the Supreme Court decided in a 1984 case called Dickman v. United States that “property” is an expansive concept. In that case, the court held that when a husband and wife made interest-free demand loans to their son, they were making “transfers of property” for federal gift tax purposes. It turns out that the right to use property, whether that property is money or even jet, is subject to the gift tax. The reason that Crow’s gift tax obligations are not 100 percent clear, though, is what the Supreme Court had to say in the Dickman case about what the tax law did not reach. The court said that the IRS did not appear to be extending the gift tax to the “traditional family matters,” like when parents lend their adult children use of a car or a vacation home. When or if the moment arrived, the court said, that the government attempted to tax “such commonplace transactions as a loan of the proverbial cup of sugar to a neighbor or a loan of lunch money to a colleague,” there would be time to consider the issue. If one accepts at face value Thomas’s declaration that Crow is one of his dearest friends, perhaps all of these luxury trips as the equivalent of a cup of sugar or lunch money. While there’s a certain appeal to that reasoning, we think it is time to consider the issue. To be clear, it is not the purpose of the Internal Revenue Code to serve as a stopgap to hold justices accountable when impropriety falls between the cracks of ethical rules. However, Clarence Thomas has cast into sharp relief the need to clarify the scope of the tax laws, perhaps through Treasury regulations. Private jets and luxury yachts are instrumentalities of the uber-wealthy. Gifts of luxury vacations should not escape taxation because someone utters the words, “We are good friends.” There will be some who argue that gifts of travel, like Crow’s gifts to Thomas, should not be subject to the gift tax. Their rationale will be that the tax should only reach estate-depleting transfers, like if Crow were intentionally trying to give money away so that he couldn’t be taxed on it when he dies. Arguably, Crow is not doing that when he invites Clarence and Ginni Thomas to join him on a yacht that is already taking a friends-and-family cruise around Indonesia or on a jet that is already taking Crow to a particular destination where Thomas needs to go as well. On the other hand, lending someone a jet for a three-hour trip (at a cost of $70,000) is not a de minimis expenditure, the way lending a friend a car for three hours might be. Even if a billionaire like Crow might not feel any financial “pain” when he lends his jet, the tax system as a whole suffers a loss of integrity when these transactions are treated as commonplace simply because of the wealth of the donor. The right to use a jet should be treated the same as the right to use money: It is a gift. Ultimately, wealthy individuals like Crow are mostly free to do with their money as they wish. Crow, in fact, could allow his yacht and jet to sit unused as long as he desires. What Crow should not be able to do, though, is do an end-run around rules that are designed to capture gifts — including gifts of the use of property — that are well beyond the realm of what the Supreme Court in Dickman called “commonplace transactions,” even adjusted for billionaires. The integrity of the tax system depends on it. Bridget J. Crawford is a distinguished professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. Her scholarship focuses on issues of taxation, especially wealth transfer taxation. Victoria J. Haneman is the Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts & Estates at Creighton University School of Law. They are coauthors of, “Federal Taxes on Gratuitous Transfers: Law and Planning, Second Edition.” Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.	Personal Finance & Financial Education
Two former Andreessen Horowitz crypto division executives, Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy, launched web3 startup Bastion this week with $25 million in seed funding. Eddequiouaq was chief security officer, while Faizullabhoy was chief technology officer. Along with the funding, Bastion launched a suite of products so companies can integrate web3 infrastructure into their existing enterprise technologies. These include ownership and monetization of digital goods, smart transaction routing and customer analytics, according to the company. Bastion said it “eliminates the need to individually source solutions such as custody, wallet management and user onboarding.” “We founded Bastion to enable businesses to onboard their products and end-users into a web3 environment without the complicated, overwhelming experience we know today,” Eddequiouaq said in a written statement. Meanwhile, the funding round was led by their former employer, a16z crypto, who was joined by Autograph, Laser Digital Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Robot Ventures, Alchemy Ventures and Aptos Ventures. The company said it intends to deploy the capital into scaling Bastion’s operations, engineering recruitment and securing additional licensing to further diversify its product offerings. The funding comes amid a challenging crypto environment, both funding-wise and activity. My colleague Jacquelyn Melinek reported in July that crypto funding was down for a fifth straight quarter to $2.34 billion globally. She reports various reasons for this, including a push for more stringent regulations. However, all is not bad. Earlier this week, Blockchain Capital closed on two funds, totaling $580 million, to invest in decentralized and centralized finance, decentralized and centralized infrastructure, gaming and consumer/social. And Arianna Simpson, a16z’s general partner, told Melinek during a TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 panel this week that the crypto section will be fine, saying, “What we’ve seen is that the pace of technology development and innovation is not correlated with the amount of capital that’s flowing in at a given moment.”	Crypto Trading & Speculation
On Tuesday, U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the island in 25 years. The move is being interpreted as a direct threat by China, which claims the island as part of its territory, and Beijing has repeatedly warned the U.S. that the Chinese army won’t “sit idly by” and “will take strong countermeasures.” As the international community waits to see how China will react, in the business world, chipmakers are already feeling the pain of a brewing U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. Semiconductor stocks on Tuesday plunged in anticipation of Pelosi’s Taiwan trip. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)—the world’s biggest and most valuable semiconductor manufacturer, valued at $440 billion—fell 2.4% on Tuesday. Its Taiwanese peers United Microelectronics and MediaTek dipped 3% and 1.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, U.S. chipmaker Intel stock dropped 1.5% on the same day. As Pelosi gets ready to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, technology investors are watching her moves closely—and any sign of retaliation from China. And chipmakers—particularly those in Taiwan—are at high risk of becoming collateral damage if there is a falling out between the U.S. and China. Global chip disruption Taiwan plays an outsize role in the global chip supply chain, as its manufacturers are especially important suppliers of advanced chips. Global companies from Apple to Intel and Tesla depend on Taiwan to produce smartphone and computer processors, and A.I. chips for autonomous driving. And Taiwan’s chip dominance is only growing stronger—chipmakers in the country are set to increase their global market share to 66% this year. That means that any Chinese move against Taiwan in retaliation for U.S. acknowledgement, and the resulting international fallout, would severely disrupt the global chip technology supply chain. Mark Liu, the chairman of TSMC, said in an interview with CNN this week that the company’s sophisticated manufacturing operations rely on real-time global links with the rest of the world. Any military action or move to take TSMC by force would render its factories inoperable and create “economic turmoil” whereby most of the world’s advanced chip components will disappear, Liu said. Experts agree. TSMC is the most irreplaceable company in the world today, Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), tweeted last month. Chinese action in Taiwan would affect TSMC’s production because it operates in close partnership with Dutch firm ASML to produce a type of advanced microchip. ASML would likely move its key personnel out of Taiwan—one-tenth of its staff work in the country—before any Chinese takeover, Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at research firm Capital Economics, wrote in a Tuesday note. “Without support from ASML, TSMC would be unable to increase [its] capacity of advanced chips or create next-generation chips,” he wrote. TSMC has already begun shifting operations outside its home base in preparation for international fallout. The Taiwanese company is building a $12 billion plant in Arizona and an $8.6 billion factory in Japan. It has also promised $100 billion over the next three years to shore up its chip capacity and help resolve the global chip supply-chain issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. TSMC has chip fabrication plants in China as well. But it’s not just a literal invasion that could destabilize the global chip industry. China could retaliate against the U.S. and Taiwan in other ways. Beijing, for instance, could pressure Taiwan by surrounding its borders and dictating what goods and people are allowed to flow in and out, including Taiwan’s high-end chip supply, Williams said. “The prospect that this supply could be disrupted or severed in the near future would trigger panic-buying and stockpiling” by countries, Williams wrote. U.S.-China decoupling Even before the announcement of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, there was “little near-term optimism surrounding the trajectory of U.S.-China relations,” Jason McMann, head of geopolitical risk analysis at research firm Morning Consult, told Fortune. But her visit will “likely prove to be the nail in the coffin—and will steer relations down a negative path more quickly than before,” he said. Pelosi’s Taiwan trip comes at a particularly sensitive time, as Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to confirm his third presidential term at the Chinese Party Congress this October. Thus it’s “absolutely imperative that Xi doesn’t appear weak to his domestic audience,” Dan Pickard, attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and international trade and national security expert, told Fortune. As a result, he says, “there will be significant pressure on Xi to take action rather than rely on the typical bellicose statements.” In the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, there would be a “hard decoupling of most trade, investment, and financial flows between the West and China…at minimum,” Williams wrote. Aside from Taiwan specifically, the biggest chip companies in the U.S., like Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), have major exposure to China, and rely on the country for a large portion of their sales. The U.S. public largely backs Taiwan’s sovereignty, with more than 60% of Americans supporting the country’s independence, according to a recent survey from Morning Consult. Over 40% of Americans say that the U.S. should definitely or probably impose economic sanctions against China if it invades Taiwan, such as banning U.S. investment in China. But the U.S. and China are not on an inevitable collision course. China has “more than $1 trillion reasons—the size of their U.S. Treasury positions—not to have Pelosi’s trip lead to significant escalation,” Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer at Krane Funds Advisors, an investment management firm for China-focused ETFs, wrote in a Tuesday note. China will need to respond in some manner to “satisfy the domestic audience…some level of saber-rattling, but I doubt [and] hope nothing more than that,” Ahern said. Sign up for the Fortune Features email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.	Stocks Trading & Speculation
RBI Seeks Explanation From Trading Platform On Friday's Rupee Volatility—BQ Exclusive The regulator is seeking root cause analysis to see if system failure or human error led to the rupee volatility on Friday. The Reserve Bank of India on Friday has sought an explanation from an electronic trading platform regarding a sudden system outage, which resulted in sudden sharp volatility in the currency markets. The regulator is also seeking a root cause analysis to see whether system failure or human error led to the rupee touching an all-time low of Rs 83.50 against the dollar midday on Friday, according to a person in the know. The system outage resulted in many market players not being able to log in to their trading accounts, which meant that orders began drying up, the person quoted earlier said on the condition of anonymity. This created heightened uncertainty in the market, causing the volatility in rupee movements. The RBI is seeking to understand if all the standard operating procedures were duly followed, relating to business continuity processes during such system outage. The rupee rose to its all-time low against the dollar, suddenly and soon later dropping to Rs 83.34, a record closing low. The RBI has been consistently selling dollars around Rs 83-83.35 till now, according to a trader at a large private bank. However, owing to the volatility on Friday, the market participants may have started cutting short positions as stop losses were triggered. The next level to watch out for is Rs 83.65 against the dollar, the trader said on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.	Forex Trading & Speculation
Stock Market Live: GIFT Nifty Hints At Lower Open For Benchmarks; Coal India, ONGC, CAMS In Focus Find the latest news on Indian stock markets here - Oldest First Global Cues U.S. Dollar Index at 103.59 U.S. 10-year bond yield at 4.25% Brent crude up 0.19% at $78.18 per barrel Nymex crude up 0.26% at $73.23 per barrel GIFT Nifty was down 0.21%, or 44 points, at 20,816.50 as of 8:13 a.m. Bitcoin was down 0.80% at 41,698.27 Trading Tweaks Price band revised from 10% to 5%: Alkali Metal, Inox Wind Energy. Price band revised from 20% to 5%: Borosil. Price band revised from 20% to 10%: Munjal Auto Industries. Move into short-term ASM framework: Man Infraconstruction, Wonderla Holidays. F&O Cues Nifty December futures fell 2.11% at 20,804.05 at a premium of 117.25 points. Nifty December futures open interest increased by 5.92% by 11,777 shares. Nifty Bank December futures increased 3.62% at 46,701.20 at a premium of 269.8 points. Nifty Bank December futures open interest fell by 1.98% by 2988 shares. Nifty Options Dec. 7 Expiry: Maximum put open interest at 20500 and maximum call open interest at 21000 Nifty Bank Options Dec. 6 Expiry: Maximum put open interest at 45000 and maximum call open interest at 48,000. Securities in the ban period: Delta Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Cements, Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Insider Trades Thomas Cook: Promoter Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) sold 4 crore shares between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Bajaj Electricals: Promoter Niraj Holdings bought 4.71 lakh shares on Nov. 23. Promoter Rajivnayan Bajaj A/c Rishab Family Trust sold 4.71 lakh shares on Nov. 23 Jindal Stainless: Promoter JSL Overseas bought 15,425 shares on Dec. 1 Star Cement: Promoter Rajendra Udyog HUF sold 28,364 shares between Nov. 28 and Nov. 29. Pledge Share Details Emami: Promoter Suraj Finvest revoked a pledge of 36 lakh shares on Nov. 30 and promoter Diwakar Finvest created a pledge of 7.5 lakh shares on Nov. 28. Block Deals Computer Age Management Services: Great Terrain Investment sold 97.59 lakh shares (19.86%) at Rs 2,766.47 apiece, while India Acorn Icav bought 11 lakh shares (2.24%), Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte. bought 7.61 lakh shares (1.54%), Societe Generale bought 12.11 lakh shares (2.46%), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority bought 4.9 lakh shares (0.99%), and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund bought 4.88 lakh shares (0.99%) at Rs 2,766 apiece, among others. Bulk Deals 360 ONE WAM: Nirmal Bhanwarlal Jain sold 50 lakh shares (1.39%) at Rs 600.24 apiece, Madhu N Jain sold 30 lakh shares (0.83%) at Rs 600 apiece, and Venkatraman R sold 20 lakh shares (0.55%) at Rs 600.03 apiece. ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund bought 35 lakh shares (0.97%) at Rs 600 apiece. Bharat Wire Ropes: Authum Investment & Infrastructure bought 3.51 lakh shares (0.51%) at Rs 296.74 apiece. MTNL: Giriraj Ratan Damani bought 15 lakh shares (0.23%) at Rs 32.04 apiece. Paisalo Digital: Silver Stallion bought 23 lakh shares (0.51%) at Rs 94.47 apiece. Tide Water Oil Co. (India): Standard Greases And Specialities bought 7.63 lakh shares (4.38%) at Rs 1,364.81 apiece. PQR Consultants sold 3.65 lakh shares (2.09%) at Rs 1,353.14 apiece. Zomato: Alipay Singapore Holding sold 26 lakh shares (3.05%) at Rs 112.7 apiece.	Stocks Trading & Speculation
Barclays is cutting 900 UK jobs as it looks to reduce costs, the trade union Unite has said. The union said the "disgraceful" move in the lead-up to Christmas would boost the bank's "massive profits". Jobs will go across several back-office divisions, including compliance, finance, legal, policy, IT and risk, according to Unite. Barclays has not confirmed numbers, but said it was taking action to "simplify the business". Affected staff were told at lunchtime on Tuesday, Unite said. It said it was pressing Barclays to avoid all compulsory redundancies and redeploy staff in the impacted areas of the business. The union said it had secured improved payments and support for affected workers, including those with less than two years' service. But a spokesperson for Barclays said the cuts had been outlined in its third-quarter results in October. Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan said at the time that the bank saw "further opportunities to enhance returns for shareholders through cost efficiencies and disciplined capital allocation across the group". Speaking on Tuesday, a bank spokesperson confirmed it was making changes to its headcount, "as management layers are reduced and the group improves its technology and automation capabilities. "We are committed to supporting impacted colleagues through these changes." But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Barclays is disgracefully cutting jobs to further boost its massive profits. This is a mega-rich bank that is already on course to make eye-watering profits this year." The bank reported pre-tax profits for the three months to September of Â£1.9bn, slightly better than analysts' forecasts, but down from Â£2bn a year ago. Barclays has cut costs in the last few years, and has already seen jobs go across its retail and investment banking businesses. It has also announced nearly 200 branch closures in recent years, saying only 10% of transactions were now taking place face-to-face. The group had around 22,300 staff in total at the end of last year. The cuts come as reports suggest up to 2,500 jobs are at risk at another High Street bank, Lloyds. According to the Guardian, the bank is ready to start a consultation with staff in several roles, including analysts and product managers, as part of a shake-up.	Workforce / Labor
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will raise the minimum wage for health care workers to $25 per hour over the next decade under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday. The new law is the second minimum wage increase Newsom has signed. Last month, he signed a law raising the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour. Both wage increases are the result of years of lobbying by labor unions, which have significant sway in the state’s Democratic-dominated Legislature. “Californians saw the courage and commitment of healthcare workers during the pandemic, and now that same fearlessness and commitment to patients is responsible for a historic investment in the workers who make our healthcare system strong and accessible to all,” said Tia Orr, executive director of the Service Employees International Union California. The wage increase for health care workers reflects a carefully crafted compromise in the final days of the legislative session between the health care industry and labor unions to avoid some expensive ballot initiative campaigns. Several city councils in California had already passed local laws to raise the minimum wage for health care workers. The health care industry then qualified referendums asking voters to block those increases. Labor unions responded by qualifying a ballot initiative in Los Angeles that would limit the maximum salaries for hospital executives. The law Newsom signed Friday would preempt those local minimum wage increases. It was somewhat unexpected for Newsom to sign the law. His administration had expressed concerns about the bill previously because of how it would impact the state’s struggling budget. California’s Medicaid program is a major source of revenue for many hospitals. The Newsom administration had warned the wage increase would have caused the state to increase its Medicaid payments to hospitals by billions of dollars. Labor unions say raising the wages of health care workers will allow some to leave the state’s Medicaid program, plus other government support programs that pay for food and other expenses. A study by the University of California-Berkely Labor Center found almost half of low-wage health care workers and their families use these publicly funded programs. Researchers predicted those savings would offset the costs to the state. The $25 minimum wage had been a point of negotiations between Kaiser Permanente and labor unions representing about 75,000 workers. Those workers went on strike for three days last week. Both sides announced a tentative deal Friday. The strike came in a year when there have been work stoppages within multiple industries, including transportation, entertainment and hospitality. The health care industry has been confronted with burnout from heavy workloads, a problem greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.	Workforce / Labor
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out cutting income tax in Wednesday's Autumn Statement, as he insisted economic growth was his priority. Mr Hunt is finalising the government's spending plans and he seeks to revive a stagnant British economy. The chancellor is known to be considering reducing taxes on income, inheritance and businesses. But he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme his speech would focus on removing barriers to growth. The chancellor was traditionally coy when it came to confirming any of the actual financial decisions he will make before Wednesday. Mr Hunt said he wanted to put the UK on "the path to lower taxes" but would "only do so in a responsible way" that did not "sacrifice the progress on inflation". When asked if he would cut income tax, he said he would not comment on a decision ahead of the statement, adding: "Our priority is growth." Tax levels in the UK are at their highest since records began 70 years ago and are unlikely to come down soon, according to a leading think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Ahead of the Autumn Statement, Tory MPs on the right of the Conservative Party, including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, have been urging the chancellor to announce tax cuts. Mr Hunt has previously said tax cuts are "virtually impossible" given the state of the economy and stressed bringing down living costs was his priority. Appearing on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street said he would prefer taxes on businesses to be cut. The BBC has been told the chancellor is considering cutting inheritance and business taxes. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported that Mr Hunt was weighing up cuts to income tax or national insurance, and could put off the possible cut to inheritance tax until the Spring Statement. Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Hunt remarked that "if you believe the papers there won't be any taxes left". The chancellor and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are hoping the Autumn Statement will turn the political tide in their favour after a bruising few weeks. Last week Mr Sunak sacked Suella Braverman as home secretary and the Supreme Court ruled his plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. Inflation But there was some good news for the prime minister, as UK inflation fell sharply in October to its lowest rate in two years, largely because of lower energy prices. The government says it has met its pledge of halving inflation by the end of the year, but there is a limit to how much credit ministers can take as energy prices fall. The Bank of England says raising interest rates, which it controls independently, is the best way to make sure inflation comes down. Mr Hunt said the UK was "not out of the woods yet", but added he felt "there's too much negativity about the British economy". Held back by high energy prices and interest rates, the UK economy has been struggling to recover since the pandemic, with the Bank of England forecasting zero growth until 2025. The chancellor will base his spending plans on the latest economic forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), which assesses the health of the UK's finances and is independent of the government. As inflation slows, economists have estimated the chancellor could have more than Â£10bn to spend on tax cuts. Mr Hunt said tax cuts were not his only tool: "We need to be growing faster and that's why we're going to be taking a lot of measures." One policy that has already been announced is a plan to reduce the time to approve and build pylons, overhead cables and other electricity infrastructure. Under the plans, households living closest to new pylons and electricity substations could receive up to Â£1,000 a year off their energy bills for a decade. What was clear was the extent to which Mr Hunt will try to use Wednesday to mark a new era - one in which the worst pressures of inflation have passed and the focus is on getting the economy to grow, instead of bumping along the bottom. The tough task is how a message that things have improved translates into the real world when so many people are finding it hard to pay the bills. Benefits changes When questioned about possible changes to benefits, Mr Hunt again refused to be drawn on the detail but said in principle, the Conservatives "don't believe in parking people in welfare". This week, the BBC reported that ministers have drawn up large benefit changes for people who are unable to work due to health conditions. Plans were unveiled which would mean people on Universal Credit allowance would have their claims closed if they fail to take steps to find work over six months. The government says it will encourage people back into employment. Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves criticised the government's plans for welfare, saying the number of people out of work is "on them" after 13 years in power. Ms Reeves said: "The reason we've got so many people out of work is because our NHS is not functioning properly." She said people's "lives are on hold" because they are waiting for the treatments that would allow them to get back to work. The shadow chancellor was also asked about reports the government could subtly change how it sets the rate benefits increase for the next financial year to save billions for the Treasury. Traditionally, the September inflation rate is used, which this year was 6.7% - but the government could instead base the increase on October's lower rate of 4.6% in order to save money. Ms Reeves said: "In government I will use the inflation rate that is traditionally used to uprate benefits. I think that's the right thing to do."	Inflation
Last week Labour announced plans to make Britain a ‘clean energy superpower’ by 2030. While serious questions remain over how they actually plan to achieve this – especially after ditching the pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investment – it’s nevertheless a shot across the Government’s bows. The reaction can’t be to surrender environmental leadership to the Opposition. Instead, the Conservatives need to put forward their own alternative. With fossil fuel prices to blame for sky-high inflation, and high public concern about climate change, there’s no avoiding this issue. New wind and solar power are the cheapest energy sources available to us. Building them needs to be one of the Prime Minister’s priorities, both in policy and rhetoric. Among Conservative voters, 60% say climate change is important in determining how they vote. That’s why environmental leadership is essential if Sunak is to earn voters’ trust before the next election. Labour is right to put forward a plan to deliver more clean energy. But few experts think the UK could decarbonise its electricity grid by 2030, as proposed by Labour, because of slow planning decisions, supply chain bottlenecks, and local consent challenges. They plan to solve this by accelerating planning decisions and grid connections. These changes will be critical, but Labour’s proposals to overrule councils on planning decisions could create a backlash from communities, jeopardising renewables deployment. There can be no shortcut for local consent. The Government should show how they will meet their own ambitious target for decarbonising the power sector by 2035. They will need a detailed plan to unlock onshore wind, upgrade the grid, and speed up planning while ensuring local consent is still given. The Conservatives oversaw the construction of a world-leading offshore wind industry, scaling renewables to 44% of our electricity supply today from 7% in 2010. But despite that progress, there is much more to do, and all parties must offer an ambitious vision for clean power at the next election. The Conservatives will also need an answer on green spending. We aren’t investing enough to meet net zero. A recent report found that between 25 and 34% of the investment required this decade for net zero has not yet been committed. But Labour’s approach of starting with a big public borrowing target and then working backwards to find ways to spend is wrong. We need to start with a precise analysis of what investment is required and what should be public versus private. Otherwise, there is a risk that taxpayers’ money could crowd out private capital, or get wasted in a rush to get funds out the door. While, done right, borrowing to invest could help spur growth, it also pushes up debt payments, which already cost more than our defence budget, necessitating higher taxes and less money for public services. New spending commitments must be funded. Not every pledge can be paid for by closing loopholes in the oil and gas windfall tax. Commitments to expanded carbon pricing, including carbon border adjustments, and careful prioritisation of green incentives are needed. The Conservatives should support a net zero investment plan, which Chris Skidmore called for in his review. The plan would identify investment shortfalls, and put forward ways to close them and to fund the investment. It should be fiscally responsible, and needn’t rely exclusively on government grants. For example, one area where investment is too low is home energy efficiency. The government could boost insulation by offering a stamp duty cut for more energy-efficient homes, incentivising homeowners to retrofit before a sale, and a stamp duty rebate for homes that are retrofitted within two years of purchase to encourage buyers to include insulation in their renovations. This could be made revenue neutral by raising stamp duty on less efficient homes. What we can’t do is leave the investment challenges unsolved or fail to propose alternatives to endless public spending. Labour’s GB Energy – a national energy company – looks like ideology over practicality. The state arguably has a role in delivering nuclear projects, where competition will play less of a role and state co-investment is essential to de-risk private capital. But the argument for a state vehicle to get involved in the renewables rollout, where there is already fierce competition from private companies driving down strike prices to record lows, is much weaker. A conservative approach to growing a renewables supply chain by creating a favourable planning regime and fiscal environment to attract private investment can be more effective and cheaper. Labour’s plan also included a pledge to double the current green hydrogen target. Green hydrogen will play a critical role in replacing high-carbon hydrogen in industry, decarbonising aviation and shipping, and providing interseasonal storage for the power sector, among other things. But it is expensive to produce and these end-uses are still nascent, meaning there’s a risk that a surplus of heavily subsidised hydrogen just gets dumped into the gas grid in the medium term, needlessly pushing up bills without a significant climate benefit. The Conservatives need to develop a fair support scheme for low-carbon hydrogen to build this vital industry and a plan to deploy hydrogen efficiently, only where it is needed. As we head toward the next election, the Conservatives must ensure they are promoting a market-led, positive alternative, not giving up its environmental leadership or allowing Labour to dominate the issue. Critiques must focus on whether proposals are deliverable, offer value for money, and maximise opportunities, not whether we should accelerate the net zero transition. The Conservatives have made a bold environmental offer in every election from 2010 on and won. This vote should be no different. Click here to subscribe to our daily briefing – the best pieces from CapX and across the web. CapX depends on the generosity of its readers. If you value what we do, please consider making a donation.	Renewable Energy
Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Jeff Amy, Associated Press Jeff Amy, Associated Press Leave your feedback ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s governor is again suspending state taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, declaring a legal emergency over higher prices. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the executive order Tuesday morning. The suspension of the taxes, at 31.2 cents per gallon of gasoline and 35 cents per gallon of diesel fuel, begins Wednesday and lasts through Oct. 12. Georgia’s government gave up an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue during an earlier suspension over 10 months from March 2022 to January 2023, about $170 million a month. Georgia can easily afford to forgo the cash, which is used mostly for roadbuilding. Not only is its rainy day account full, but it has roughly $10 billion in additional surplus cash in state accounts. The state is also likely to run another multibillion dollar surplus in the budget year that began July 1, unless revenues fall sharply. The move also lets Kemp shift the state’s political conversation, which has been consumed by a Fulton County grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 others for attempting to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. Kemp has refused attempts to retaliate against the prosecutor in that case despite an outcry from the most pro-Trump elements of the Republican Party, underlining the divide between Kemp and those forces. WATCH: Hutchinson appeals to GOP voters saying Trump will ‘lead us to disaster in 2024’ The gas tax rebate lets Kemp instead pivot to talking about his tax cut efforts. He says they are an attempt to help Georgia residents fight inflation, even though most economists say putting more money into consumers’ pockets actually feeds higher prices. Overall, inflation has been easing in the United States in recent months. Inflation data in August showed that overall consumer prices rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier. That was up from a 3 percent annual rise in June, but far below last year’s peak of 9.1 percent. Kemp successfully campaigned on cuts to gas, income and property taxes in his 2022 reelection victory, contrasting himself with Democratic president Joe Biden. “From runaway federal spending to policies that hamstring domestic energy production, all Bidenomics has done is take more money out of the pockets of the middle class,” Kemp said in a Tuesday statement that accompanied the executive order declaring a state of emergency. “While high prices continue to hit family budgets, hardworking Georgians deserve real relief.” Kemp told state agencies they could propose more spending using Georgia’s surplus funds, but Tuesday’s action shows further tax cuts may be Kemp’s favored way to soak up the extra cash. It also shows the continuing political power of gas prices, even as Kemp plows effort and state incentives into recruiting electric vehicle makers to Georgia. Under state law, Kemp has the power to keep suspending taxes as long as state lawmakers ratify the action when they next meet. The earlier suspension was originally passed by lawmakers, with Kemp extending it seven times as he campaigned against Democrat Stacey Abrams. READ MORE: Oil prices spike as Saudi Arabia, Russia extend 1.3 million barrel a day oil cut through December State House Speaker Jon Burns signaled his support for the move on Tuesday, meaning Kemp is likely to have the legislative support he needs to affirm the tax break. Lawmakers are next scheduled to convene in January. “I applaud Governor Kemp’s suspension of motor fuel taxes to keep our people and our economy moving despite Washington’s inaction on rising fuel prices,” said Burns, a Republican from Newington. The order suspends taxes on wholesalers, and is likely to take a few days to trickle through to retailers who sell fuel to drivers. On Tuesday, Georgia drivers were paying an average $3.57 per gallon of unleaded gasoline, according to motorist group AAA. That was the 11th lowest among the states, and below the national average of $3.84. The average diesel price in Georgia was $4.35 a gallon. Gasoline prices in Georgia are higher than the $3.24 drivers were paying a year ago. Prices peaked at $4.50 a gallon in June 2022. Pump prices also include a federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel. Nationally, AAA said last week that gasoline prices were falling despite Saudi Arabia and Russia extending oil production cuts through the end of the year in a move that pushed up prices. Support Provided By: Learn more	Inflation
Sens. Warren, Rick Scott push for Fed inspector general’s salary details Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Monday made an official request for salary details of the Federal Reserve’s inspector general and raised concerns about the potential conflicts of interest inherent in the structure of the position. In the letter, which was addressed to Federal Reserve Inspector General Mark Bialek, Warren and Scott again pressed for legislation that would make the inspector general a Senate-confirmed position and would make it independent from the agency that it oversees. “You are supposed to be the watchdog of exactly the people who have the power to hire and fire you,” they said in the letter, citing exchanges from a recent hearing, during which they said the nature of the conflict was exposed. In one exchange with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Bialek explained that his compensation was determined by taking the average of the salaries and the average of the bonuses of the twelve individuals at roughly comparable seniority to him – all of whom Bialek, as inspector general, is responsible for overseeing. Warren clarified the compensation structure in a separate exchange cited in the letter. “Your compensation is the average of the other people who you investigate…it’s their salaries plus their bonuses. So if your investigation finds they did really bad and stupid things that causes them not to get bonuses, what happens to your compensation?” Warren asked Bialek in an earlier hearing cited. Bialek confirmed that his salary would be reduced. “This was a deeply troubling set of answers. It revealed that – because the Fed Inspector General’s salary is in part based on the bonuses earned by other Fed employees – there is a structural, financial incentive for the IG to overlook or downplay wrongdoing by those Fed officials,” Warren and Scott wrote in the letter. Warren and Scott set a deadline of seven calendar days to respond to a list of questions asking about the salaries and bonuses of the 12 Federal Reserve officials for the past five years. They also asked for information on any audits, evaluations, or inspections related to these 12 individuals conducted in the last five years. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.	Banking & Finance
- Black Friday generated $9.8 billion in U.S. online sales, according to Adobe Analytics, up 7.5% from a year ago. - The spending bump reflects consumers looking to advantage of big deal days and finding it easier to compare discounts online. - After Cyber Monday, sales will likely taper off through the rest of the holiday season as retailers trim discounts. Black Friday e-commerce spending popped 7.5% from a year earlier, reaching a record $9.8 billion in the U.S., according to an Adobe Analytics report, a further indication that price-conscious consumers want to spend on the best deals and are hunting for those deals online. "We've seen a very strategic consumer emerge over the past year where they're really trying to take advantage of these marquee days, so that they can maximize on discounts," said Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. Black Friday's spending spike reflects a consumer who is more willing to spend than in 2022, when gas and food prices were painfully high. Pandya noted that impulse purchases may have played a role in the Black Friday growth since $5.3 billion of the online sales came from mobile shopping. He noted that influencers and social media advertising have made it easier for consumers to get comfortable spending on their mobile devices. Still, shoppers are price-sensitive, managing tighter budgets due to last year's record inflation and interest rates. According to the Adobe survey, $79 million of the sales came from consumers who opted for the 'Buy Now, Pay Later' flexible payment method to stretch their wallets, up 47% from last year. The best-selling categories of Black Friday, the Adobe report found, were electronics like smartwatches and televisions, along with toys and gaming. Meanwhile, home-repair tools underperformed. Pandya said top sellers directly correlated to whichever products had the best discounts. Adobe gathers its data by analyzing one trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, 18 product categories and 100 million unique items. It does not track brick-and-mortar retail transactions. A Mastercard analysis of this year's Black Friday sales found that in-store sales rose just over 1% versus online sales, which grew by over 8% compared to last year. "I do think the paradigm has changed around the in-store Black Friday experience, the long lines and things like that," said Adobe's Pandya. Consumers are "more in the driver's seat" when they are online shopping, he added, because it is easier to make side-by-side price comparisons and secure a better price. Retailers are aware of the rise of deal-hunting consumers and want to capture as many of them as possible. Companies like Best Buy and Lowe's have both announced higher discounting levels. Other retailers like Target and Ulta Beauty have rolled out pop-up promotions that offer 24-hour discounts on certain brands and items. Black Friday kept the momentum going from the day before on Thanksgiving when online sales totaled $5.6 billion, according to a prior Adobe analysis. Adobe expects the spending strength to hold over the weekend and through Cyber Monday with the biggest bargains still ahead. The report forecasts that online shoppers will spend roughly $10 billion over the course of Saturday and Sunday, and a record $12 billion on Cyber Monday. But spending will likely begin to taper off deeper into the holiday season, according to Pandya. Cyber Monday, as the last major deal day of the holiday season, could be the final spending spike on non-essential goods for the rest of the year. "We do expect growth to weaken because those discounts will weaken and they are dictating a lot in terms of buyer behavior this season," said Pandya. He noted that there are always gift-givers who procrastinate their holiday shopping so spending could continue to trickle in late into December. But the real growth surges, he said, "end up being in November and Thanksgiving week."	Consumer & Retail
One of the big promises of NFTs was that the artist who originally made them could get a cut every time their piece was resold. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore. From a report: OpenSea, the biggest NFT marketplace still fully enforcing royalty fees, said today that it plans to stop the mandatory collection of resale fees for artists. Starting March 2024, those fees will essentially be tips -- an optional percentage of a sale price that sellers can choose to give the original artist. If the seller doesn't want to hand over any money, that'll be their choice. The NFT ecosystem has been on a race to the bottom when it comes to fees. As the market for NFTs collapsed, marketplaces have lowered their own trading fees and stopped enforcing royalty fees in order to attract sellers. Blur, which has overtaken OpenSea as the biggest NFT marketplace by trading volume, only enforces a 0.5 percent fee on most collections, whereas creators typically set their fees at 5 to 10 percent. OpenSea will stop enforcing royalty fees on all new NFTs starting August 31st. The marketplace will continue enforcing the fees on certain existing collections until March 2024, at which point they'll become optional on all sales. The NFT ecosystem has been on a race to the bottom when it comes to fees. As the market for NFTs collapsed, marketplaces have lowered their own trading fees and stopped enforcing royalty fees in order to attract sellers. Blur, which has overtaken OpenSea as the biggest NFT marketplace by trading volume, only enforces a 0.5 percent fee on most collections, whereas creators typically set their fees at 5 to 10 percent. OpenSea will stop enforcing royalty fees on all new NFTs starting August 31st. The marketplace will continue enforcing the fees on certain existing collections until March 2024, at which point they'll become optional on all sales.	Crypto Trading & Speculation
Gene J. Puskar/AP toggle caption Many back-to-school shoppers are relying on sales to save money, especially as inflation continues to strain people's wallets. Gene J. Puskar/AP Many back-to-school shoppers are relying on sales to save money, especially as inflation continues to strain people's wallets. Gene J. Puskar/AP Rainbow-colored masking tape. Clear storage bins. Dry-erase markers. Microfiber cleaning cloths. A bulk package of Crayola crayons. These are some of the items on third-grade teacher Dana Stassen's Amazon wish list, which she uses to crowdsource supplies for her classroom in Kennesaw, Georgia. Even with help, she typically spends more than $1,000 on school supplies, classroom decorations and snacks, she says. But this year, she's trying to spend around $800, although she doesn't know whether that will be possible with inflation. "I'm going to have a ton of out-of-pocket expenses as a classroom teacher to make sure that my students have what they need," Stassen said. Many parents are also hoping to pull back on spending on school supplies this year, according to a survey released Wednesday by Deloitte. The firm is predicting that spending will decrease 10% from last year, marking the first decline since 2014, said Stephen Rogers, the managing director of Deloitte's Consumer Industry Center. Inflation is having a big impact on how parents are shopping, he said. "So parents who say they're spending more and parents who say they're spending less, both blame inflation for that," Rogers said. "So that's also a curious place where we find ourselves. Inflation is definitely top of mind for everyone." Nabbing a $3 shirt and looking for discounts Prices for school supplies have jumped nearly 24% in the last two years, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Due to the higher prices, many shoppers this year are focusing more on getting classroom supplies like folders and pencils than they are on new clothes or tech products, Rogers said. Melissa Wright, a parent and former elementary school teacher in Chandler, Ariz., is back-to-school shopping this week before her kids' first day of school next Wednesday. She's aiming to spend under $250 on clothes and supplies for both of her kids. "I use the Target Circle app, so today even for the shirts and stuff I bought my daughter, they were all like 30% off. One of them I looked at rang up like 3 bucks," said Wright. "I do love a sale." She isn't alone. Most shoppers are planning back-to-school shopping around sales events, according to the National Retail Federation. Deloitte's survey found that 69% of shoppers will look at back-to-school deals on Amazon during its Prime Day event, which started Tuesday and ends Wednesday. But people prefer to shop in person for the majority of their back-to-school shopping. Stassen, however, is relying more heavily on online shopping to prepare for her return to the classroom, as well as to get items for her first-grader and fourth-grader. She works as an assistant director at a Pennsylvania summer camp, and she won't be back home in Georgia until right before school starts on Aug. 1. "Like many parents I know, we're all doing our school supply shopping online as best we can while we're away and just getting things shipped to the house," said Stassen. To save money, she also plans to use teacher discounts where offered and visit secondhand stores to maximize her budget. "I definitely try to keep my ear to the street for when those teacher discount days are happening, for my classroom and for my own kids," Stassen said. Summer started less than a month ago, but already it's time to shop for school The bulk of back-t0-school shopping will be over before July ends — even though some schools won't open until September. According to Deloitte, 59% of total back-to-school spending is expected to take place in July. Despite financial concerns, some shoppers will still splurge on some items, Rogers said. Wright said she'll probably spend the most money on new shoes and backpacks for her kids. According to the Deloitte survey, parents are most likely to splurge on apparel and tech, with 6 in 10 parents saying they would spend more on higher-quality items or to "treat their child," an experience Rogers shared. "It's something very familiar with me," he said. "I just spent more on my 13-year-old's first cellphone because she wanted a specific brand in purple." Editor's note: Amazon is among NPR's financial supporters.	Inflation
Once-pioneering British ethical beauty brand The Body Shop has been sold for Â£207m. It is a comedown for the brand that was worth four times that amount last time it was sold just six years ago. Brazilian cosmetics group Natura said it was selling the chain "to simplify and refocus its operations". The brand, which has a presence in 70 countries, has now changed hands three times since it was sold by founder Anita Roddick in 2006. The Body Shop, founded in 1976, initially stood out for its ethical stance. Ms Roddick, later made a dame, campaigned against animal testing and on social issues. The Body Shop's key products have included body scrubs, white musk perfume and fruit-scented shower gels with all-natural ingredients. But some loyal customers saw Dame Anita's decision to sell the company to L'Oreal for Â£652m in 2006 as a betrayal of its ethical values. L'Oreal then sold the firm to Brazilian beauty giant Natura in 2017 for Â£880m. Its new owner, global private equity group Aurelius, has investments in fashion and sportswear brands in the UK including Footasylum. Ian Bickley, chief executive of The Body Shop, said the sale would allow the company to open "a new chapter". Under Natura's ownership The Body Shop redesigned its stores and introduced a refills service, but failed to turn around its finances. Analyst Catherine Shuttleworth blamed a "lack of innovation" and "catch-up by other players in the market" which meant it had fallen out of favour with shoppers in recent years. The Body Shop's fortunes improved during the pandemic as people pampered themselves at home, but demand waned after the cost-of-living crisis hit, said Tash Van Boxel, analyst at GlobalData. "The Body Shop's recent struggle has been driven by consumers trading down to more affordable retailers, casting aside sustainability and ethical claims in favour of value-for-money and lower price points," she said. On top of the purchase price, Natura is in line for a Â£90m "earn-out" from The Body Shop's revenues over the next five years.	Consumer & Retail
SBI Q2 Results Review: Corporate Credit Pipeline May Drive Growth To 14% The lender's Q2 net profit rose 8% year-on-year to Rs 14,330 crore, largely in line with Bloomberg estimate of Rs 14,329 crore. State Bank of India Ltd.'s healthy second-quarter earnings were largely in line with market expectations, driven by lower provisions, according to analysts. The lender's net profit rose 8% year-on-year to Rs 14,330 crore in the July-September quarter, according to an exchange filing. This was largely in line with the Bloomberg estimate of Rs 14,329 crore. Net interest income, or core income, rose 12% to Rs 39,500 crore year-on-year. Asset quality for the lender improved, with the gross non-performing asset ratio falling 21 basis points to 2.55% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Sequentially, the net NPA ratio too improved to 0.64% in Q2, compared to 0.71%. Here is what analysts said about SBI's Q2FY24 results: Motilal Oswal Steady quarter, aided by lower provisions even as bank made higher provisioning towards wage revision GNPA ratio at 2.55%, led by decline in slippages and higher recoveries/write-offs Healthy business growth, with most segments showing traction barring corporate portfolio Maintain estimates as higher wage provisioning gets offset by controlled credit costs Estimate FY25E RoA of 1.1% and RoE of 18.3% Maintain 'buy' with unchanged target price of Rs 700	Banking & Finance
‘Modest’ China Stimulus May Bolster Growth Goal, Analysts Say More support is likely needed to boost weak demand, according to economists and analysts. (Bloomberg) -- New stimulus under consideration in China would raise this year’s budget deficit and ensure the economy achieves the government’s official growth target of about 5%, though more support is likely needed to boost weak demand. That’s according to economists and analysts after Bloomberg News reported policymakers are weighing the issuance of at least 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) of additional sovereign debt for spending on infrastructure. The discussions underscore mounting concerns among China’s top leadership over the trajectory of the world’s second-largest economy and how growth compares to the US. Here’s a roundup of reactions from analysts to the report: Tommy Xie, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd.: “I perceive this development as a constructive step toward addressing the issue of local government debt. While China’s aggregate government debt-to-GDP ratio aligns with those of many developed economies, the country’s distinct debt structure presents its own set of challenges.” “The proposition to enable the central government to assume a larger portion of the debt emerges as a viable solution. This approach could alleviate the financial strain on local governments, fostering an environment where resources can be reallocated and optimized to stimulate growth and bolster economic sentiment.” Xiaojia Zhi, head of research at Credit Agricole CIB: “China should do more to show they are committed to stabilize growth and boost demand. A modestly higher deficit by the central government should not be too concerning to investors. It’s necessary for the central bank to shoulder more responsibility to boost fiscal spending and stimulate demand.” “While this is yet to be confirmed, I think this is a reasonable consideration, given that private demand is still soft, and local fiscal conditions remain tight given the property sector downturn. The central government debt ratio remains low, and its balance sheet still quite healthy. One trillion yuan is a modest amount — about 0.7% GDP — but the message would be positive.” Bruce Pang, chief economist at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.: “The ad hoc issuance of additional debt from the central government could provide extra policy support and more resources to re-engineer a stronger and faster recovery, offsetting macro headwinds and uncertainties. China’s recovery story could be a relay race, spurred by infrastructure investment at first, and hopefully fueled by enterprises capital expenditures and household spending as a follow-up.” Kiyong Seong, lead Asia macro strategist at Societe Generale SA: “Mulling an additional bond issuance at this time of the year is a positive surprise. However, a speculated destination of infrastructure investment will dilute the positive impact. Therefore, there could be a marginal upside risk to China rates, but no meaningful downside impact on USD/CNY.” “An additional bond issuance is not free, probably at the expense of a bit higher yields or at least smaller scale of a decline in bond yields going forwards. Then, it would be better to be spent on the area with more direct effect on consumption recovery.” Ding Shuang, chief economist for greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Plc. “The initiative would sound more reasonable if it was contemplated three months ago, when China just suffered a setback in its post-Covid recovery in the second quarter. Given the fiscal room under the approved budget is not fully utilized, and the economy has seen marginal improvement in August and September, I think the timing of introducing additional fiscal stimulus is questionable.” He Wei, China economist at Gavekal Dragonomics: “It will lift the economy and increase the chance for China to reach GDP growth of 5% this year. If the additional sovereign debt can be used in time, it will bring a decent quarterly growth in the fourth quarter. ” --With assistance from Wenjin Lv, Iris Ouyang, Tania Chen and Tian Chen. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Asia Business & Economics
Your paycheck could arrive even sooner, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s newly launched payment system. The system, called FedNow, is an instant-payment service that operates on a 24/7 basis — even on holidays. First announced in 2019, FedNow acts as a “common network” between banks and credit unions, making it easier for them to route funds across different institutions. So far, there are only 35 participating banks and credit unions, along with the US Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Once it’s widely adopted, though, it will let you transfer funds between different bank accounts instantly or even pay your credit card bill on a bank holiday without worrying about it being late. And, if you have direct deposit, your paycheck should surface in your account as soon as you’re paid. FedNow doesn’t compete with apps like Venmo or Zelle, which act as middlemen for peer-to-peer transactions, since there’s no app to install and it only operates between the banks or credit unions. However, it does require having both financial institutions as participants in the network, and it could take months or years for those numbers to grow substantially. While the Federal Reserve has a $500,000 cap on the amount of money you can send, participating financial institutions will start with a default limit of $100,000, with the ability to raise or lower that amount. Financial institutions can also use negative lists to help protect against fraud. The Federal Reserve doesn’t name the financial institutions that currently have access to FedNow, but it said in June that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, US Bancorp, and Wells Fargo are among those ready to support FedNow. “The Federal Reserve built the FedNow Service to help make everyday payments over the coming years faster and more convenient,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell says in a statement. “Over time, as more banks choose to use this new tool, the benefits to individuals and businesses will include enabling a person to immediately receive a paycheck, or a company to instantly access funds when an invoice is paid.” It’s about time that the US implements an instant payment, as other parts of the world, including the European Union, the UK, India, and others, have long had similar systems. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty pumped about getting my paycheck faster.	Banking & Finance
ORLANDO, Fla. – Farmers Insurance is leaving the Florida insurance market, becoming the latest company to do so, and impacting thousands of policyholders. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation confirmed to News 6 that Farmers notified the agency Monday of its intentions. The notice has been marked “trade secret” which is limiting the ability of insurance regulators to give more details. Farmers says that only Farmers-branded insurance products are being ended in Florida, which account for roughly 100,000 auto, home and umbrella policies. Other insurance companies run by Farmers will stay in the Florida market, including Bristol West, Foremost Signature, Farmers GroupSelect, Foremost Choice and Foremost-branded policies, which account for about 70% of Farmers Insurance customers in the state. Last month, News 6 reported that Farmers Insurance stopped writing new property insurance policies in February. In a statement, Farmers said it paused writing property insurance policies to “more effectively manage our risk exposure.” [TRENDING: Become a News 6 Insider] An agent for Farmers told News 6 that the company was looking at whether to leave the market within the next 30 days. “There’s supposed to be news about what the state of Florida is going to bring and whether Farmers is going to stay or go and what they’re gonna do with agents,” the agent said. Farmers issued the following statement to News 6 Tuesday: We have advised the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) of our decision to discontinue offering Farmers®-branded auto, home, and umbrella policies in the state. This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure. Farmers offers insurance through several different brands, and this decision applies only to policies issued through our exclusive agency distribution channel. There is no impact to 70 percent of policies currently in force for customers in the state, including Bristol West®, Foremost SignatureSM, Farmers GroupSelectSM, Foremost Choice® and Foremost®-branded policies. Such policies will continue to be available to serve the insurance needs of Floridians. Affected customers will receive notifications detailing when their coverage will end and will be advised of options for replacement coverage.Farmers Insurance spokesman Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose agency oversees the Office of Insurance Regulation, tweeted Monday that he was hearing rumors that Farmers might pull out of Florida and said his office would “explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable.” A Farmers spokesman would not comment on Patronis’ tweet. Hearing rumors @WeAreFarmers might pull out of Florida. If that’s true my office is going to explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable. Don’t get to leave after taking policyholder money. Can’t write auto if you’re not doing homeowners either. Zero communication!— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) July 10, 2023 What does this mean for insurance policyholders? Florida law requires an insurance company to give a 90-day notice in writing to the state if it plans to discontinue services. Farmers Insurance is not allowed to send out nonrenewal notices until that 90-day period has lapsed. The company is also supposed to give a policyholder a 120-day notice before the date their insurance ends, so they have time to find new insurance coverage. In the meantime, customers can still contact their agent or call the national claim number if they need help at 1-800-435-7764. That might be cold comfort for policyholders, however, as the market for insurance policies continues to reel from high prices and fewer companies writing policies. In a series of special sessions, Florida lawmakers tried to address the issue and stabilize the market by reining in legal costs for insurers. That includes providing $3 billion in reinsurance aid to help the market and a law that ends homeowners’ ability to recover attorney fees when they prevail against insurance companies. “Most of the primary cost drivers in the Florida property insurance market, including catastrophic claims, adverse loss reserve development, and higher reinsurance costs, are notably exacerbated by excessive and costly litigation. These historic and unprecedented legislative reforms in recent years addressed these cost drivers to bolster Florida’s property insurance market and create stability and competition by reducing costly litigation,” the Office of Insurance Regulation said in a statement. Florida lawmakers had said the benefits of the new laws would not be seen right away, but eventually insurance rates would come down. Not helping is a new report showing property catastrophe reinsurance rates rose 30% to 40% July 1. Reinsurers insure insurance companies, and higher reinsurance rates can mean higher premiums for insurance customers. The instability in the market has left many homeowners with no choice but to go to Citizens Insurance, the state’s insurer of last resort. Citizens now insures more than 1.3 million Floridians. Citizens is also hoping to drop property insurance policies by increasing insurance rates by 13.1%, according to a hearing held last month. Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily:	Real Estate & Housing
The Bank of England may have lifted interest rates by less than a lot of people had been expecting up until recently - up by a quarter percentage point rather than a half - but for those with mortgages, the most striking thing from the trove of analysis they've published today isn't about today but about tomorrow. Because there are heavy hints dropped throughout the Bank's Monetary Policy Report that it expects borrowing costs to stay high for a lot longer than many had anticipated. Only a few months ago financial markets were betting that the Bank Rate - the official borrowing level set at Threadneedle Street - would be down to 4% by 2024 and 3.7% by 2025. Far higher than the post-financial crisis period but a fall all the same. Now, those same markets think rates will still be at 5.9% in 2024 and at 5% by 2025. And rather than challenging those assumptions, the Bank has come as close as possible to reinforcing them. This institution doesn't provide explicit guidance about where it's expecting interest rates to go; it prefers to drop hints. And the hint in the minutes alongside the decision today was about as heavy as you could get. "The [Monetary Policy Committee] would ensure that Bank Rate was sufficiently restrictive for sufficiently long to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably in the medium term, in line with its remit." Higher for longer, in other words. Why? Another clue is to be found elsewhere in the Bank's forecasts today. It's worth quoting at length: "Sharp increases in energy food and other import prices over the past two years have had second-round effects on domestic prices and wages. "These second-round effects are likely to take longer to unwind than they did to emerge and the Monetary Policy Committee has placed weight in its recent forecasts on the risk that they might persist for longer. "The committee now judges that some of this risk may have begun to crystallise." It fears, in other words, that the inflation cat is now out of the bag. And thus getting price rises to come down may involve considerably more work on its part than it previously anticipated. Higher for longer. Which of course means pain for many households - especially those with mortgages and those renting (most landlords also have mortgages). And unlike previous eras where most households were on floating rate mortgages and thus that pain was very quickly felt in their pockets, today that pain is being drip fed into the economy as two and five year fixed-rate mortgages gradually expire and are replaced with far more expensive monthly payments. Again, that means the impact of these interest rate increases is going to be a long, drawn-out affair. And you can see the implications in the Bank's economic forecast. The economy isn't likely to face a recession, at least according to its central projection. But it will essentially flatline - depressed by these higher rates - for three years, not showing meaningful growth until 2026. It is a depressing prospect. Perhaps the best thing to hope for is that the Bank is wrong. This has happened before - indeed it's already submitting to an independent inquiry into how it failed to foresee the recent spike in inflation, led by former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. It's not altogether implausible that they fail to foresee a more meaningful economic recovery.	Interest Rates
Food prices saw their first monthly fall in two years in September, but fuel prices rose sharply, official figures show. It came as the overall rate of inflation held steady at 6.7%, ending a run of three consecutive monthly falls. The price of milk, cheese and eggs all decreased, easing the pressure at supermarket tills, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. But petrol increased by 5.1p per litre, hitting drivers at the pumps. Analysts had expected the overall rate of inflation to fall slightly, and the ONS said there may be "some disappointment" about the unchanged figure. However, its chief economist, Grant Fitzner, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If you look across Europe, many countries have seen either periods lately of no change or in some cases of actual increases in the headline rate, before they started to resume their falls." On Tuesday, figures showed wages outpaced inflation for the first time in almost two years between June and August. However, many households remain under pressure because of the high cost of living and charities have warned things could get worse this winter. Hannah Nagy, a mum-of-two from Stainland in West Yorkshire, told the BBC she was still struggling. The recruitment professional said that her pay had gone up by about 5% since April but that it "hasn't really touched the sides particularly with the cost of shopping". "It's not going towards holidays or days out - it's going towards electricity, petrol, food, shopping - day-to-day living," she said. Mrs Nagy said the pace of price rises meant she felt like she was in a better position a few years ago when she earned less but things didn't cost as much. The cost of a weekly shop has soared over the last two years due to supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine, and on an annual basis food price inflation remains high at 12.2%. However, food inflation has been easing and prices fell by 0.1% between August and September, led by dairy produce and soft drinks. The only food category that went up was fish, led by frozen prawns. By contrast, the ONS said drivers were again being hit at the pumps as global oil prices rise. Between August and September, petrol rose to an average of 153.6p per litre and diesel by 6.3p to 157.4p per litre. That is up from levels closer to 140p in June, although still well below the highs seen last year. Oil prices rose last month after Saudi Arabia and Russia decided to cut production to support the global market, and events in Israel and Palestine have sparked fears of further increases. "The current conflict in Israel and Palestine is in an area of non-oil producers but obviously if this conflict spreads that could be disruptive," Mr Fitzner said. Further rate rises? In August, there was an unexpected slowdown in inflation, which prompted the Bank of England to freeze interest rates after 14 consecutive rises. The Bank had been putting up rates in a bid to get inflation under control, the theory being that it makes it more expensive to borrow money, meaning consumers spend less and businesses stop raising their prices. But higher rates have put pressure on households and businesses as the cost of mortgages and loans goes up. While many economists expect rates to remain unchanged again next month, the mixed picture painted by September's inflation's numbers means it's not certain. The government has promised to halve the rate of inflation to about 5.3% by the end of the year, and on Wednesday Rishi Sunak said this remained his "number one priority". How to save money on petrol and diesel - Watch your speed: The RAC says 45-50mph is the most efficient speed to drive for fuel efficiency - Switch off the air conditioning: Extra energy is needed to power a car's air conditioning system and turning it on can increase your fuel consumption by up to 10%, according to the AA - Check your tyre pressure: Underinflated tyres will use up extra petrol. Check your pressures regularly, especially before heading off on a long journey	Inflation
- The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting. - For consumers, it won't get any less expensive to carry credit card debt, buy a house, purchase a car or tap into home equity. - Here’s a breakdown of how the Fed’s decision impacts your money. Even so, consumers likely will get no relief from current sky-high borrowing costs. Altogether, Fed officials have raised rates 11 times in a year and a half, pushing the key interest rate to a target range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest level in more than 22 years. "Relief for households isn't likely to come soon, at least not directly in the form of a cut in the fed funds rate," said Brett House, economics professor at Columbia Business School. The consensus among economists and central bankers is that interest rates will stay higher for longer, or until inflation moves closer to the central bank's 2% target rate. The federal funds rate, which is set by the central bank, is the interest rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another overnight. Although that's not the rate consumers pay, the Fed's moves still affect the borrowing and savings rates they see every day. To a certain extent, many households have been shielded from the brunt of the Fed's rate hikes so far, House said. "They locked in fixed-rate mortgages and auto financing before the hiking cycle began, in some cases at record-low rates during the pandemic." However, higher rates have a significant impact on anyone tapping a new loan for big-ticket items like a home or a car, he added, and especially for credit card holders who carry a balance. Here's a breakdown of how it works. Credit card annual percentage rates are now more than 20%, on average — an all-time high. Further, with most people feeling strained by higher prices, more cardholders carry debt from month to month. "Rising debt is a problem," said Sung Won Sohn, professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University and chief economist at SS Economics. "Consumers are using a lot of credit card debt and paying very high interest rates," Sohn added. "That doesn't bode well for the long-term economic outlook." For those borrowers, "interest rates staying higher for a longer period underscores the urgency to pay down and pay off costly credit card debt," noted Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. Although 15-year and 30-year mortgage rates are fixed and tied to Treasury yields and the economy, anyone shopping for a new home has lost considerable purchasing power, partly because of inflation and the Fed's policy moves. The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is up to 8%, the highest in 23 years, according to Bankrate. "Purchase activity has slowed to a virtual standstill, affordability remains a significant hurdle for many and the only way to address it is lower rates and greater inventory," said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist. Other home loans are more closely tied to the Fed's actions. Adjustable-rate mortgages and home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, are pegged to the prime rate. Most ARMs adjust once a year after an initial fixed-rate period. But a HELOC rate adjusts right away. Now, the average rate for a HELOC is near 9%, the highest in over 20 years, according to Bankrate. Still, Americans are still sitting on more than $31.6 trillion worth of home equity, according to Jacob Channel, senior economist at LendingTree. "Owing to that, many homeowners could benefit from tapping into the equity they've built with a home equity loan or line of credit." The average rate on a five-year new car loan is currently 7.62%, the highest in 16 years, according to Bankrate. Now, more consumers face monthly payments that they likely cannot afford, however, experts say consumers with higher credit scores may be able to secure better loan terms or shop around for better deals. Car buyers could save an average of $5,198 by choosing the offer with the lowest APR over the one with the highest, according to a report from LendingTree. Federal student loan rates are also fixed, so most borrowers aren't immediately affected by the Fed's moves. But undergraduate students who take out new direct federal student loans are now paying 5.50% — up from 4.99% in the 2022-23 academic year and 3.73% in 2021-22. The government sets the annual rates on those loans once a year, based on the 10-year Treasury. If the 10-year yield stays near 5%, federal student loan interest rates could increase again when they reset in the spring, costing student borrowers even more in interest. So far, the transition back to payments is proving painful for many borrowers. "Borrowers are being squeezed but the flipside is that savers are benefiting," McBride said. While the Fed has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated to changes in the target federal funds rate. The savings account rates at some of the largest retail banks, which were near rock bottom during most of the Covid pandemic, are currently up to 0.46%, on average, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "Average rates have risen significantly in the last year, but they are still very low compared to online rates," added Ken Tumin, founder and editor of DepositAccounts.com. Some top-yielding online savings account rates are now paying more than 5%, according to Bankrate, which is the most savers have been able to earn in nearly two decades. "Savings are now earning more than inflation and we haven't been able to say that in a long time," McBride said.	Interest Rates
Assets Worth Over Rs 16,000 Crore Restituted Under PMLA, Says Minister Of State Finance The larger figure, a total amount of Rs 15,184 crore was restituted to public sector banks under PMLA, Pankaj Chaudhary said. Assets worth Rs 16,544 crore have been confiscated under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018 till date, said Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, on Monday. Chaudhary was answering a question on the sale of assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate. The larger figure, a total amount of Rs 15,184 crore was restituted to public sector banks under PMLA and Rs 1,220 crore has been restituted to victims of fraud, he said at the Lok Sabha. The PMLA law provides the special court, dealing with the case, to restore assets involved in money laundering to a third-party claimant with a legitimate interest and this can include banks too. "...Assets valued at a total amount of Rs 16,333.02 crore have been restituted under PMLA," Chaudhary said. Offering further explanation on the monitoring systems for the timely sale of attached assets, he said that the Central Board of Direct Taxes issues office memorandums and other administrative guidelines from time to time to the field formation, for the realisation of tax dues through the timely sale of attached assets. Similarly, the jurisdictional principal commissioner or commissioner of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs monitors the outcome of various court cases, wherein the cases of assets attached are pending, so that same can be timely disposed for recovery of government dues. The total revenue generated by CBDT and CBIC from selling of assets attached by it during FY23 totaled to Rs 149 crore and Rs 90 lakh, respectively	Banking & Finance
Monthly Foreign Inflows Into Domestic Debt Market At Six-Year High Foreign investors have infused Rs 14,556 crore in the domestic debt market as of Nov. 29, according to NSDL data. Foreign portfolio investment in the domestic debt market hit a six-year high in November, driven by robust yields and the domestic bonds' inclusion in JPMorgan's Emerging Market Global Bond Index. Foreign portfolio investors have infused Rs 14,556 crore as of Nov. 29, according to data from the National Securities Depository Ltd. The previous highest monthly inflow by FPIs was recorded in October 2017. The high-yield coupon and the attractive structure of the debt instruments are drawing FPIs, according to Venkatakrishnan Srinivasan, founder and managing partner at Rockfort Fincap LLP. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yields came down sharply to 4.30% as compared with the Indian government's 10-year Treasury yield, which is still trading around 7.25%, Srinivasan said. "FPIs will be keen to watch this development and we can expect some investment flow from FPIs in Indian government bonds." So far this year, foreign investors have net invested Rs 50,057 crore in the Indian debt market. The yields between sovereign and corporate bonds will widen a bit which will encourage a lot of overseas investors, apart from the domestic ones, Ajay Manglunia, managing director and head of the investment-grade group at JM Financial Products Ltd., told BQ Prime in an interview. Investors from the FPI route will probably look at the securities which are in the tenure of three to five years or may be the benchmark 10-year bond, Manglunia said. India’s inclusion in JPMorgan’s GBI-EM Index could attract around $25-50 billion (passive and active) foreign inflows. And India’s chances of inclusion into the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index have also risen. "We expect the momentum to continue slowly in the coming months too as foreign investors are getting attracted to corporate high-yield issuances combined with attractive structure," Srinivasan said. Indian investors looking for better returns and diversifying from equities are lapping up high-yielding but riskier corporate bonds as demand for domestic debt rises.	Bonds Trading & Speculation
Donald Trump’s lawyers focus on outside accountants who prepared his financial statements Donald Trump’s lawyers are digging into an outside accounting firm’s role in preparing financial statements at the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit NEW YORK -- Donald Trump blamed his accountants. So did the two sons he entrusted to run his company. Now, as they mount their defense in the civil fraud trial threatening the former president’s real estate empire, his lawyers are too. Trump’s lawyers spent Tuesday digging into outside accounting firm Mazars USA LLP’s role in preparing financial statements at the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, upping the blame with expert testimony from a former federal financial regulator. Jason Flemmons, testifying as an accounting expert, questioned some of the firm’s practices and raised doubts about earlier testimony from Donald Bender, the retired Mazars partner who spent years working on Trump’s financial statements. Bender, the first witness called by state lawyers, testified Oct. 3 that he'd asked a Trump Organization executive for all of the company’s property appraisals — not just ones used for the financial statements — and that he was surprised when he learned years later that some hadn't been turned over. Flemmons, a former deputy chief accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said Bender’s claim was “not professionally plausible” because such diligence isn’t required under professional accounting standards. Compiling financial statements involves a “much lighter touch” than more stringent accounting practices, like audits, and requesting appraisals “would be highly unusual" and “entirely inconsistent" with what’s required, Flemmons testified. In preparing financial statements, also known as compilations, accountants need only documentation used to determine the value of assets, like Trump’s skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties. In Trump’s case, Flemmons said, his company determined the numbers and met the requirements by providing justification for them and explaining instances where it used different standards to determine a value, which is permitted. Flemmons, who will return to the stand Wednesday, has not been asked to address the state’s specific claims that Trump executives used a variety of methods — sometimes misclassifying properties — to attain the highest values. “There would be no obligation or expectation on the part of Mazars or any accountant performing compilation services” to request appraisals that weren’t used to arrive at the values," said Flemmons, now a senior managing director at Ankura, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. A message seeking comment was left for Mazars. The firm cut ties with Trump last year and said his financial statements “should no longer be relied upon” after James raised concerns about their accuracy. Flemmons testified on the second day of the defense’s case as Trump’s lawyers seek to refute the state’s claims that the 2024 Republican front-runner, his company and top executives manipulated the value of his assets to make him look wealthier and his properties more successful than the actually were. James, a Democrat, alleges Trump, his company and top executives exaggerated his wealth by billions of dollars on the financial statements by inflating property values. The documents were given to banks, insurers and others to secure loans and make deals. James is seeking more than $300 million in what she says were ill-gotten gains, and she wants the defendants banned from doing business in New York. Before the trial, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump and other defendants committed fraud by exaggerating his net worth and the value of assets on his financial statements. The judge imposed a punishment that could strip Trump of some marquee properties, though an appeals court is keeping them in his control for now. Trump has denied wrongdoing. On the stand Tuesday, Flemmons echoed Trump’s longstanding assertion that disclaimers on the financial statements insulated him from liability for discrepancies or misstatements. “It’s effectively saying user beware,” Flemmons testified. Trump has argued that, if anything, his financial statements undervalued how much his properties were worth. On the stand last week, he reiterated his belief that his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida is worth up to $1.5 billion, more than double the highest value listed for it on his financial statements. Trump’s lawyers ran with that claim Tuesday, arguing it didn't matter if he overvalued some of his properties because he significantly undervalued others. They raised the argument while questioning another expert, real estate developer and Trump friend Steven Witkoff, who claimed that Trump’s Doral, Florida, golf resort had been severely undervalued on his financial statements. “Is it your position that if one property is overvalued by $300 million and another property is undervalued by $300 million it balances out and there’s no misstatement or fraud?” Engoron asked, criticizing the argument as “ridiculous” and shutting it down. Witkoff, who’s hosting a fundraiser for Trump in Florida next month, testified that developers value their properties based on their potential — like building condominiums on a golf course or turning an office tower into apartments — rather than their current state. Donald Trump Jr., a Trump Organization executive vice president, testified Nov. 1 that he signed off on statements as a trustee of his father’s trust, but had left the work to outside accountants and the company’s then-finance chief, Allen Weisselberg. “As a trustee, I have an obligation to listen to those who are expert — who have an expertise of these things,” Trump Jr. said. His brother, Eric, echoed that sentiment, testifying Nov. 3 that he relied on “one of the biggest accounting firms in the country” for assurance that the financial statements were accurate. Donald Trump, testifying Nov. 6, said he paid Mazars millions of dollars for its services and said he gave McConney and Weisselberg “total authority” to work with the firm and give it whatever it needed to come up with his financial statements. “If the accounting firm was unhappy, they would go back and they would say, we need this, we need that,” Trump testified. They were very insistent on that. Very insistent on that. But they came up with statements in each of those years, so obviously they were satisfied." __ Follow Michael Sisak at x.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips	Real Estate & Housing
- Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., advocated for cutting taxes and slashing government spending as part of his presidential campaign's new economic plan. - Scott backed economist Art Laffer's theory that helped popularize the view that cutting taxes will unleash enough additional economic activity to generate an increase in tax revenue. - Scott's plan would make the Trump-era tax cuts permanent, rescind President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and impose "welfare reform work requirements." Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on Thursday advocated for cutting taxes and slashing government spending, including targeting welfare programs, as part of his presidential campaign's new economic plan. Scott, touting his new plan on CNBC's "Squawk Box," argued that his system would ultimately usher more money into the country's coffers. "I believe the Laffer curve still works, frankly," Scott said. He was referring to conservative economist Art Laffer's controversial theory that helped popularize the view that cutting taxes will unleash enough additional economic activity to generate an increase in tax revenue. Lowering taxes "creates and encourages capital to come off the sidelines, and when that happens you see growth to the revenue in the Treasury," Scott said. "We saw that in 2019, we saw it in 2018. I believe that if we cut taxes again we'll see that same trajectory that will stimulate growth in our economy," he said. His plan aims to make permanent the tax cuts that were signed into law in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump. Those provisions are set to expire in 2025. The Laffer curve, reportedly conceived on a cocktail napkin in the 1970s, has been embraced by many in mainstream Republican circles, though its many critics will note that both conservative and liberal economists have assailed the theory. When challenged on whether that predicted bump in revenue would be enough to cover the loss created by the tax cuts themselves, Scott argued that the problem was overspending. "It's not simply a revenue problem, it's a spending problem," he said on CNBC, noting that his plan aims to rein in non-defense discretionary spending to pre-pandemic levels. Scott's plan would rescind the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping spending law that President Joe Biden contends has been critical to the inflation rate's decline over the past year. He would also impose "welfare reform work requirements," arguing it will "reduce our spending on welfare programs by encouraging work." "In America, if you're able-bodied, you should work," Scott said. Scott is consistently stuck in the low-to-mid single digits in national polls of the Republican primary race.	Inflation
Blackstone Gets $8 Billion In First Close Of Direct Lending Fund Blackstone Inc. has raised $8 billion from institutional investors in the first close of a fresh direct lending fundraise, people with knowledge of the matter said. (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc. has raised $8 billion from institutional investors in the first close of a fresh direct lending fundraise, people with knowledge of the matter said. The private capital giant is looking to raise about $10 billion across Europe and the US in its latest push, Bloomberg News reported in late September, targeting capital from institutional investors for a fixed term. A spokesperson for Blackstone declined to comment. Blackstone and other major private lenders such as Ares Management Corp. and HPS Investment Partners are increasingly able to write larger checks for borrowers as more investors pile into the $1.6 trillion asset class. Other large-scale lenders currently fundraising include Ares and Oaktree Capital Management. Blackstone has about $295 billion in its newly-formed credit and insurance unit. Recently, the firm has led direct lending financings supporting Bain’s buyout of Guidehouse as well as the merger of Virgin Pulse and HealthComp. ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Banking & Finance
The founders of a cryptocurrency once touted by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy have been accused of defrauding investors and using their money to buy real estate and a stable of high-end cars including a custom-made Porsche. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit on Wednesday against three tech moguls behind SafeMoon, the crypto token that saw a 19,000% gain in its value during the digital currency boom of 2021. The defendants in what the DOJ called a “multimillion-dollar fraud” were named as software developers Thomas Smith, Kyle Nagy, and Braden Karony. Smith was arrested in New Hampshire on Wednesday while Karony was arrested in Utah the same day, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. Nagy remains at large. “As alleged, the defendants deliberately misled investors and diverted millions of dollars to fuel their greedy scheme and enrich themselves by purchasing a custom Porsche sports car, other luxury vehicles and real estate,” US Attorney Breon Peace said. “As fraudsters increasingly use digital assets to mislead investors and misappropriate funds, our Office will be at the forefront of pursuing them and their ill-gotten gains.” SafeMoon, whose market capitalization grew to some $8 billion in 2021, was touted by Portnoy, who told his fans that he invested $40,000 in the digital currency. “Turns out it was a Ponzi scheme after all,” Portnoy wrote on his X social media account on Wednesday, admitting that he made a “huge f–k up.” Since Portnoy’s investment, the value of SafeMoon has tanked by more than 99%. In August of last year, Portnoy took to social media and posted a screenshot of his digital wallet showing that his original $40,000 SafeMoon investment was worth around $2,400. According to a lawsuit, SafeMoon “enlisted” Portnoy and other celebrities to promote the cryptocurrency. The lawsuit cited a May 2021 video that Portnoy posted to his social media account. “If it is a Ponzi, get in on the ground floor,” Portnoy told his social media followers in the May 2021 clip.	Crypto Trading & Speculation
(Bloomberg) -- Bayer AG hired several teams of bankers for a strategy simulation game that studied various breakup scenarios, according to people familiar with the matter. Their conclusion: Sweeping changes to the troubled German conglomerate won’t be easy. Most Read from Bloomberg The Leverkusen-based company hired two separate teams as it explored the pros and cons of a breakup, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Team Red simulated an activist campaign calling for splitting up Bayer’s businesses, the people said. Team Blue advised on how to respond to the approach. Bayer came to the conclusion that it should avoid responding to any potential calls for a breakup until the company finishes its own strategic review so as to avoid raising expectations among shareholders, the people said. The simulation took place before Bayer announced third-quarter results and a recent series of high-profile setbacks, but it hasn’t yielded new results in the meantime. Stock Slump The German conglomerate’s shares suffered their biggest drop ever on Nov. 20, losing about €7.3 billion ($8 billion) in market value, after major courtroom and drug-development setbacks raised pressure on its new leader to outline a turnaround plan. Bill Anderson, who became chief executive officer in June, said earlier this month that he’s weighing whether to separate its consumer-health or crop-science operations. The simulation found that any divestiture of Bayer’s consumer health business would likely trigger a massive tax hit potentially jeopardizing the benefits of a deal, the people said. To be sure, the review hasn’t been completed yet and Bayer may either find a more tax-efficient structure or a buyer willing to pay a significant premium, they added. Thyssenkrupp AG, for instance, sold its elevator unit at a substantial premium in 2021 without incurring a major tax bill. “Depending on what you would separate and how you do it, you create a taxable event that could require you to write a very big check before you get any money in,” Chief Financial Officer Wolfgang Nickl said last week. “And that would be one situation where it would be actually detrimental to the debt situation.” Bayer stock fell as much as 1.7% in Frankfurt morning trading Tuesday. The benchmark DAX index was down 0.2% at 9:24 a.m. in Germany. A representative for Bayer declined to comment. Activist Pressure Anderson at times has highlighted the fact that some investors are happy with the current strategy, which has different units focused on pharmaceuticals, consumer health and crop science. Earlier this month, he ruled out a simultaneous three-way split, even as some investors, including activist Bluebell Capital Partners, have renewed calls for doing so. Bayer could either sell the consumer-health business outright, conduct an IPO or spin the division off, Anderson has said. Bayer is now evaluating with its external advisers how those different routes could impact Bayer’s ability to pay down its high debt burden. Hiving off its crop-science operations would be also be complicated, both because of the unit’s massive legal liabilities and the fact that prices of agriculture commodities are slumping. Nonetheless, pressure is building. Some investors are wondering if Bayer has set aside enough money to resolve the mass US litigation over products it inherited with the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto in 2018, including the weedkiller Roundup and toxic PCBs. Plus, Bayer may struggle to grow its pharma unit through the rest of this decade after stopping a key study over the experimental medicine asundexian. As a result of these blows, the CEO told investors last week that Bayer has less room for maneuver as he considers a breakup. Read more: What’s a Spinoff? Why and How Companies Break Up: QuickTake --With assistance from Tim Loh. (Updates with Tuesday trading in eighth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Stocks Trading & Speculation
Oyo's Proposed Rs 1,600 Crore Debt Prepayment To Improve Ebitda Leverage, Says Fitch If the proposed transaction goes through, Fitch expects Oyo's debt to reduce by 30% and annual interest savings of $26 million. Hospitality unicorn Oyo's proposed Rs 1,600 crore, or about $195 million, debt prepayment using existing cash and free cash flow will improve its Ebitda leverage and interest coverage metrics, according to Fitch Ratings. On Nov. 13, Oyo, registered as Oravel Stays Ltd., proposed a $195 million buyback of its high-cost $645 million, or about Rs 5,350 crore, term loan by seeking lenders’ consent to remove the covenant requiring maintenance of $100 million in cash in a collateral account and amend the minimum liquidity covenant to include a revolving credit facility of $25 million. The company intends to use the freed-up cash, as well as some of its existing cash and free cash generation, to buy back $195 million in principal and reduce the outstanding term loan to $450 million, or about Rs 3,730 crore. If the proposed transaction goes through, Fitch expects Oyo's debt to reduce by 30% and annual savings in interest costs of around $26 million. "We believe that the potential transaction, along with sustained Ebitda growth, could improve Oyo’s Ebitda leverage to below five times, the threshold below which we may take positive rating action," it said in a note on Tuesday. The transaction could see Oyo's cash and equivalents decline to around $80-90 million before rising to $100-120 million by the end of FY24. "We expect the company to generate positive free cash flow of $20–40 million in the second half of FY24. We believe that such a cash balance provides adequate buffers to meet business needs at Oyo’s current scale and profitability levels," Fitch said. In May, the ratings firm revised the outlook on Oravel to 'positive' from 'stable'. "The positive outlook continues to reflect that Oyo remains on track to generate positive Ebitda on a sustained basis and deliver significant growth in FY24, benefiting from the demand recovery in the travel and tourism industry and a reduction in its operating costs," it said. Fitch expects Oyo to generate Ebitda of around $100 million, or Rs 830 crore, in FY24, while the company itself sees Ebitda crossing $110 million. In August, BQ Prime reported that IPO-bound Oyo is looking to clock about Rs 800 crore in adjusted Ebitda for FY24, according to a presentation by Chief Executive Officer Ritesh Agarwal.	Banking & Finance
Social Security is a lifeline for millions of older adults, but the program has its fair share of challenges. Many Americans are concerned that the program is going bankrupt, and that benefits will be going away entirely. In fact, around 75% of U.S. adults age 50 and older say they're worried about Social Security running out of funding in their lifetime, according to a 2023 survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute. While Social Security is facing some big problems, the situation isn't as dire as many people believe. Here's the truth about the future of the program -- and how it will affect your benefits. The good news about Social Security It's true that Social Security is facing a cash shortfall, but it's not running out of money entirely or going bankrupt. The program relies primarily on payroll taxes to fund benefits. Today's workers pay into Social Security through taxes, and that money is then funneled out to current retirees via benefits. The problem, however, is that in recent years, the money from taxes hasn't been enough to fully fund benefits. To bridge the gap, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has been tapping its trust funds. This has made it possible to avoid cutting benefits, but these trust funds will only last so long. According to the SSA Board of Trustees' latest estimates, the funds will be depleted by 2034, at which point the program will only have enough income to pay out around 80% of future benefits. While this does mean that benefits could be slashed by up to 20% by 2034 if Congress doesn't find a way to increase Social Security's income, the program isn't going away. As long as workers continue paying taxes, there will always be at least some money to pay out in benefits. The not-so-good news The bad news about the future of Social Security is that it's becoming less and less dependable as a source of income for retirees. Benefit cuts aside, the program has also faced a dramatic loss of buying power over the years. Social Security has struggled to keep up with inflation, despite annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) designed to do just that. Since 2000, Social Security has lost an estimated 40% of its buying power, according to a 2022 report from The Senior Citizens League. If this trend continues, your benefits may be even less reliable in the coming decades. While this isn't good news for anyone, it's especially troubling for those who expect their benefits to be a major source of income in retirement. Around 21% of adults age 50 and older have no other retirement income outside of Social Security, the Nationwide survey found. Even among those who do have savings, the median retirement account balance is just over $27,000, according to Vanguard's 2023 "How America Saves" report. It's already tough to make ends meet in retirement with little savings, but if Social Security continues losing buying power, it will be even more difficult. What you can do to protect your retirement You may not be able to control the future of Social Security, but you can take steps to protect your retirement. Perhaps the best solution is to decrease your dependence on benefits by increasing your savings. It's unclear right now whether benefit cuts will happen or how much of a toll inflation will take on the program, but if the majority of your income is coming from your savings, you won't need to worry as much about the future. Of course, this is easier said than done. But saving even a little more now can go a long way. For example, investing just $200 per month at a modest 8% average annual return would amount to roughly $65,000 after 15 years. It may not be enough to retire on by itself, but it can help cushion the blow if Social Security is less reliable in the future. You could also consider delaying benefits. For every month you wait past age 62 to file (up to age 70), you'll receive more money per month. Delay until age 70, and you'll receive your full benefit amount plus at least 24% extra every month for the rest of your life. Social Security may be facing some big challenges, but it doesn't have to spell trouble for your financial future. By staying aware of these developments, you can take steps to better protect your retirement -- no matter what happens with Social Security.	Personal Finance & Financial Education
SEBI Levies Rs 1 Crore Penalty On Money Classic For Flouting Market Norms SEBI, through its order dated Aug. 7, 2019, conducted an inspection of Money Classic -- a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) -- during 2019-2020, as per rules. Capital markets watchdog SEBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Money Classic for violating regulatory norms. SEBI, through its order dated Aug. 7, 2019, conducted an inspection of Money Classic -- a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) -- during 2019-2020, as per rules. However, the entity was not traceable and accordingly, the inspection could not be conducted, the regulator had said. The noticee (Money Classic) has failed to resolve the grievances of the investor in timely manner, and assured return to its clients, thereby, intentionally manipulating the fiduciary relations with its clients, SEBI said in its order dated Sept. 16. Further, it had not submitted any information to SEBI as asked by the regulator through its interim order passed in December 2019. "I also note that it (Money Classic) has failed to file any representation before me in the present adjudication proceedings. "Further, I note that Money Classic has failed to provide details regarding year-wise fees collected from the date of registration, and thus, in absence of any response from the noticee, the deposit of Rs 87.02 lakh as fees collected by the noticee in its bank account from April to August 2019, (should) also be taken into consideration as a fees charged to investors," SEBI's Adjudicating Officer Vijayant Kumar Verma said in the order. By indulging in such acts, Money Classic has violated IA norms, as well as the Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) rules. As per SEBI norms, a registered intermediary cannot be termed as "fit and proper" when it is not fulfilling one of the primary duties, i.e. resolving complaints of its clients, obligation of investment adviser on inspection. The regulator found that the noticee violated the "fit and proper" criteria under the IA regulations. In a separate order on Monday, SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh each on Vishal Ahuja and Prashant Prabhakar Gadkari for not complying with disclosure norms in the matter of Setubandhan Infrastructure Ltd (formerly known as Prakash Constrowell Ltd).	Stocks Trading & Speculation
- Among the smaller lenders receiving an official ratings downgrade were M&T Bank, Pinnacle Financial, BOK Financial and Webster Financial. - Major lenders Bank of New York Mellon, U.S. Bancorp, State Street, Truist Financial, Cullen/Frost Bankers and Northern Trust are now under review for a potential downgrade. Moody's cut the credit ratings of a host of small and mid-sized U.S. banks late Monday and placed several Wall Street big names on negative review. The ratings agency cut the ratings of 10 banks by one rung, while major lenders Bank of New York Mellon, U.S. Bancorp, State Street, Truist Financial, Cullen/Frost Bankers and Northern Trust are now under review for a potential downgrade. "U.S. banks continue to contend with interest rate and asset-liability management (ALM) risks with implications for liquidity and capital, as the wind-down of unconventional monetary policy drains systemwide deposits and higher interest rates depress the value of fixed-rate assets," Moody's analysts Jill Cetina and Ana Arsov said in the accompanying research note. "Meanwhile, many banks' Q2 results showed growing profitability pressures that will reduce their ability to generate internal capital. This comes as a mild U.S. recession is on the horizon for early 2024 and asset quality looks set to decline from solid but unsustainable levels, with particular risks in some banks' commercial real estate (CRE) portfolios." Regional U.S. banks were thrust into the spotlight earlier this year after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank triggered a run on deposits across the sector. The panic eventually spread to Europe and resulted in the emergency rescue of Swiss giant Credit Suisse by domestic rival UBS. Though authorities went to great lengths to restore confidence, Moody's warned that banks with substantial unrealized losses that are not captured by their regulatory capital ratios may still be susceptible to sudden losses of market or consumer confidence in a high interest rate environment. The Federal Reserve in July lifted its benchmark borrowing rate to a 5.25%-5.5% range, having tightened monetary policy aggressively over the past year and a half in a bid to rein in sky-high inflation. "We expect banks' ALM risks to be exacerbated by the significant increase in the Federal Reserve's policy rate as well as the ongoing reduction in banking system reserves at the Fed and, relatedly, deposits because of ongoing QT," Moody's said in the report. "Interest rates are likely to remain higher for longer until inflation returns to within the Fed's target range and, as noted earlier, longer-term U.S. interest rates also are moving higher because of multiple factors, which will put further pressure on banks' fixed-rate assets." Regional banks are at a greater risk since they have comparatively low regulatory capital, Moody's noted, adding that banks with a higher share of fixed-rate assets on the balance sheet are more constrained in terms of profitability and ability to grow capital and continue lending. "Risks may be more pronounced if the U.S. enters a recession – which we expect will happen in early 2024 – because asset quality will worsen and increase the potential for capital erosion," the analysts added. Though the stress on U.S. banks has mostly been concentrated in funding and interest rate risk resulting from monetary policy tightening, Moody's warned that a worsening in asset quality is on the horizon. "We continue to expect a mild recession in early 2024, and given the funding strains on the U.S. banking sector, there will likely be a tightening of credit conditions and rising loan losses for U.S. banks," the agency said.	Banking & Finance
The Labour Party significantly outspent the Conservatives last year, financial accounts released by the Electoral Commission show. Labour's spending totalled Â£44.45m, with the party's income up 3.5% on 2021, despite lower membership numbers. Meanwhile, the Conservatives' spending was Â£33.06m, with income down 3.3%, and money from donors to the party falling by Â£2.4m. The Liberal Democrats spent Â£6.7m, while SNP expenditure totalled Â£5.05m. The Commission is an independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance across the UK. It has published the accounts of parties with income or spending above Â£250,000, which numbered 18 in 2022. Labour recorded a Â£2.7m surplus, raising Â£47.2m, even as it lost nearly 25,000 more members, the Commission's figures show. In 2021, Sir Keir Starmer's party recorded a Â£5.2m deficit. By the end of 2022, Labour had 407,445 members, down from 432,213 in 2021, and nearly 125,000 down on its recent peak in 2019 when it was led by Jeremy Corbyn. The Conservatives lost Â£2.3m in 2022 during what the party's annual accounts described as a "turbulent year". Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister in July, to be succeeded by Liz Truss, who herself stepped down in October. The party raised Â£30.7m in income, but saw money from donors falling compared with 2021. A report from the party treasurer blamed this partly on "donor pledges moving into 2023". Northern Ireland spending The Tories do not publish membership figures, but their income from membership fees fell slightly from Â£1.99m to Â£1.97m. The Green Party of England and Wales raised Â£3.15m and spent Â£3.23m. Plaid Cymru had income of Â£970,000 and expenditure of Â£942,000. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein outspent the Democratic Unionists with expenditure of Â£1.19m and income of Â£1.53m. The DUP spent Â£488,000 and raised Â£426,000, less than the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland's Â£522,000. Reform UK, led by Richard Tice and formerly the Brexit Party, spent Â£949,000, 37% more than the Â£692,000 it brought in. Louise Edwards, director of regulation and digital transformation at the Commission, said: "We are committed to making sure political funding is transparent. "Larger parties spend and receive considerable sums of money so it's important that information on their finances is accessible to the public. Publishing their accounts allows voters to see how parties are funded and choose to spend their money."	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
Katie Blackley/WESA toggle caption Jonnie Lewis-Thorpe, now 83, (right) lives with her daughter Angela Reynolds. She has Alzheimer's and lost her home due to symptoms of the disease. Katie Blackley/WESA Jonnie Lewis-Thorpe, now 83, (right) lives with her daughter Angela Reynolds. She has Alzheimer's and lost her home due to symptoms of the disease. Katie Blackley/WESA Angela Reynolds knew her mother's memory was slipping, but didn't realize how bad things had gotten until she started to untangle her mom's finances: unpaid bills, unusual cash withdrawals, and oddly, the mortgage of the family home had been refinanced at a higher interest rate. Looking back, Reynolds realizes that her mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease: "By the time we caught on, it was too late." Reynolds and her mother are among a large group of Americans grappling with the financial consequences of cognitive decline. A growing body of research shows money problems are a possible warning sign — rather than just the fallout — of certain neurological disorders. This includes a 2020 study from Johns Hopkins University of more than 81,000 Medicare beneficiaries which found that people with Alzheimer's and related dementias started to develop subprime credit up to six years before a formal diagnosis. The reach of these conditions is enormous. One recent study found that nearly 10% of people over age 65 have dementia; more than twice as many are living with mild cognitive impairment. Isolated or ill, older adults are more vulnerable to exploitation by scammers or financial abuse from caregivers, say legal and medical experts. Other signs of dementia can include people buying things without reason, piling their homes with unopened boxes while draining down their bank accounts. Or they may impulsively give away large sums of money. This all puts their homes, retirement savings and inheritances at risk. Missing the signs of declining cognition One weekday during the spring of 2018, Reynolds sat next to her 77-year-old mother, Jonnie-Lewis Thorpe, in a courtroom in downtown New Haven, Conn. She listened in discomfort as strangers revealed intimate details of their finances in a room full of people, waiting their turn to come before the judge. Then it hit her: "Wait a second, we're going to have to go up there, and someone's going to be listening to us." That's because the family home was in foreclosure. The daughter hoped that if she explained to the judge that her mother had Alzheimer's disease, which had caused a series of financial missteps, then she could stop the seizure of the property. Reynolds can't pinpoint exactly when Alzheimer's crept into her mother's life. A widow, Lewis-Thorpe had lived alone for several years and had made arrangements for her aging, including naming Reynolds as power-of-attorney agent. But, Reynolds lived 450 miles away from New Haven in Pittsburgh, Pa., and wasn't there to see her mom's incremental declines. It wasn't until Reynolds began reviewing her mother's bank statements that she realized Lewis-Thorpe — once a hospital administrator — had long been in the grip of the disease. Katie Blackley/WESA toggle caption Reynolds and Lewis-Thorpe look through family photos together. Reynolds says she missed the initial signs of her mom's Alzheimer's because they lived in different cities. Katie Blackley/WESA Financial problems are a common reason family members bring their loved ones to the office of Robin Hilsabeck, a neuropsychologist who specializes in cognitive issues at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. "The brain is really a network, and there are certain parts of the brain that are more involved with certain functions," said Hilsabeck. "You can have a failure in something like financial abilities for lots of reasons caused by different parts of the brain." Some of the reasons are due to normal aging, as Reynolds had assumed about her mother. But when a person's cognition begins to decline, the problems can grow exponentially. Dementia's causes — and sometimes ruthless impact Dementia is a syndrome involving the loss of cognitive abilities: The cause can be one of several neurological illnesses, including Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, or can result from brain damage such as a stroke or head injury. In most cases an older adult's dementia is progressive. The first signs often manifest in memory slips along with changes in high-level cognitive skills that deal with organization, impulse control and the ability to plan — all critical for money management. And because the causes of dementia vary, so do the financial woes it can create, says Hilsabeck. For example, with Alzheimer's comes a progressive shrinking of the brain's hippocampus. That's the catalyst for memory loss which, early in the disease — sometimes before loved ones notice — may result in a person forgetting to pay their bills. Lewy body dementia is marked by fluctuating cognition: A person veers from very sharp to extremely confused, often within short passages of time. Those with frontotemporal dementia can struggle with impulse control and problem-solving, which could lead to large, spontaneous purchases. And people with vascular dementia often run into issues with planning, processing and judgment, making them easier to defraud. "They answer the phone, and they talk to the scammers," says Hilsabeck. "The alarm doesn't go off in their head that this doesn't make sense." Even if without dementia, many people experience mild cognitive impairment, or MCI — a reality that affects 10-20% of people 65 or older. A person can be easily confused, struggle to recall names and have issues with judgment. Sometimes MCI is just a facet of aging, along with joint pain and graying hair. But it's often the early presentation of diseases such as Alzheimer's or Lewy body dementia. Though they aren't as vulnerable as those with dementia, people with MCI are at heightened financial risk compared to the general population. "Financial decision making is very challenging cognitively," says Dr. Jason Karlawish, a specialist in geriatrics and memory care at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Memory Center. "If you have even mild cognitive impairment, you can make mistakes with finances, even though you're otherwise doing generally OK in your daily life." Some mistakes are irreversible. Despite Angela Reynolds' best efforts on behalf of her mother, the bank foreclosed on the family home in the fall of 2018. Property records show that Lewis-Thorpe and her husband bought the two-bedroom Cape Cod for $20,000 in 1966. Theirs was one of the first Black families in their New Haven neighborhood. Lewis-Thorpe had planned to pass this asset of generational wealth onto her daughters. Instead, U.S. Bank owns the property. A 2021 tax assessment lists its value at $203,900. Katie Blackley/WESA toggle caption Reynolds feels bad she couldn't protect her mother, Lewis-Thorpe, from losing her house. She thinks the bank could have done more to alert her to the signs of financially risky behavior. Katie Blackley/WESA Financial protections are slow to come Though she can't prove it, Angela Reynolds suspects that someone had been financially exploiting her mom. At the same time, she feels guilty for what happened to Lewis-Thorpe, who now lives with her: "There's always that part of me that's going to say, 'At what point did it turn, where I could have had a different outcome?'" Karlawish often sees patients who are navigating financial disasters. What he doesn't see are changes in banking practices or regulations that would mitigate the risks that come with aging and dementia. "A thoughtful country would begin to say we've got to come up with the regulatory structures and business models that can work for all," he says, "not just for the 30-year-old." Despite that evidence and the aging of America, the risk-averse financial industry is hesitant to act – partly out of fear of getting sued by clients. The Senior Safe Act from 2018, the last piece of major legislation to address elder wealth management on the federal level, attempts to address this reticence. It gives immunity to financial institutions in civil and administrative proceedings in instances where employees report possible exploitation of a senior — provided the bank or investment firm has trained its staff to identify exploitative activity. It's a lackluster policy, says Naomi Karp, an expert on aging and finances who spent eight years as a senior analyst at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office for Older Americans. That's because the act makes staff training optional, and it lacks oversight. "There's no federal agency that's charged with covering it or setting standards for what that training has to look like," Karp says. "There's nothing in the statute about that." One corner of the financial industry that has made modest progress is the brokerage sector, which concerns the buying and selling of securities, such as stocks and bonds. Since 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority — a non-governmental organization that writes and enforces rules for brokerage firms – has required agents to make a reasonable effort to get clients to name "trusted contacts." A trusted contact is similar to an emergency contact listed for health care providers. They're notified by a financial institution in the case of concerning activity on a client's account and then receive a basic explanation of the situation. Ron Long, a former director of elder client initiatives at Wells Fargo, gives this example: "It appears [the client] has fallen in love with someone in Belarus, and it appears to be a person who is taking advantage or exploiting." But the trusted contact has no authority. The hope is that once notified, the named relative or friend will talk to the account holder and prevent further harm. It's a start, but a small one. The low-stakes effort is limited to the brokerage side of operations at Wells Fargo and most other large institutions. The same protection is not extended to clients' credit cards, checking or savings accounts. A financial industry reluctant to help When she was at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Naomi Karp and her colleagues put out a set of recommendations for companies to better protect the wealth of seniors. The 2016 report included proposals on employee training and changes to fraud detection systems, such as raising concern over atypical ATM use or adding a new name to an existing checking account "We would have meetings repeatedly with some of the largest banks, and they gave a lot of lip service to these issues," Karp says. "Change is very, very slow." Karp has seen some smaller community banks and credit unions take proactive steps to protect older customers — such as comprehensive staff training and improvements to fraud detection software. But there's a hesitancy throughout the industry toward more decisive action, which seems to stem, in part, from fears around liability, she says. Banks are concerned that they might get sued — or at least lose business — if they intervene when no financial abuse has occurred, or a customer's transactions were benign. Policy solutions that address financial vulnerability also present logistical challenges. Expanding the use of something even as straightforward as the trusted contact program isn't like flipping a light switch, says Long, formerly of Wells Fargo: "You have to solve all the technology issues: Where do you house it? How do you house it? How do you engage the customer to even consider it?" Still, a trusted contact might have alerted Reynolds much sooner that her mom was developing dementia and needed help. "I fully believe that [her bank] noticed signs," says Reynolds. "There are many withdrawals that came out of her account where we can't account for the money ... Like, I can see the withdrawals. I can see the bills not getting paid. So where did the money go?" This story was produced in partnership with KFF Health News and WESA. Support for this reporting came from The Commonwealth Fund, the Association of Health Care Journalists and KFF Health News.	Real Estate & Housing
Financier George Soros and his son Alex provided maximum donations to President Biden's campaign during the second quarter, filings show. The father and son duo each cut $6,600 checks to Biden's re-election committee on June 30, according to its recently released records. The cash represents their first jump into the 2024 presidential election. Neither has given money to Biden's Victory Fund so far this cycle - which carries astronomical contribution limits - though that will presumably change as the election draws closer. Both George and Alex Soros will likely provide considerable amounts directly to Biden's re-election efforts and support outside super PACs backing his candidacy after helping to propel him during the 2020 elections. During the last presidential race, Alex Soros provided the Biden Victory Fund with over $720,000, while George Soros added more than $500,000 to the committee's coffers. The two also maxed out donations to Biden's campaign that election cycle. The newest Biden donations occurred weeks after George Soros announced he had handed Alex control of his massive Open Society Foundations network, which funnels large sums to left-wing initiatives across the country. Alex, meanwhile, has maintained a direct pipeline to Biden's White House and has visited at least 20 times since he took office, Fox News Digitial previously reported. He's also posted recent photos with Vice President Kamala Harris. Soros' spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the donations.	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
JPMorgan And Citi Pass Pain To Hedge Fund Shorts Investors betting that rising interest rates will hurt borrowers and cause more instability are wrong — so far. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon calls it “over-earning,” but his isn’t the only bank that still hasn’t felt much pain from loan losses or rising deposit costs. The expected hit from higher interest rates to consumers and the economy at large is yet to arrive and that is a huge boon to big bank earnings. Hedge funds and other investors focused on macro-economic trends have been betting against bank stocks in the expectation that bond-market volatility and a deteriorating economy are going to cause huge losses and threaten financial stability again. The KBW Bank Index has lagged well behind the S&P 500 over the past six months. Friday’s run of earnings show that at best, bearish investors were far too early, and they might even be just wrong. Shares in JPMorgan, Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. all rallied sharply after they reported third-quarter results. Part of that jump is likely down to short bets being unwound. In spite of a gut-wrenching leap in government bond yields in recent weeks, fears of a renewed bout of deposit flight from or within the banking system also look misplaced — for now at least. JPMorgan’s Chief Finance Officer Jeremy Barnum said the environment seemed much calmer than in March this year, when regional lenders were destabilized and four banks failed. Funding costs are still rising, but the pace has slowed and competitive pressure has eased since the first half of the year. Even the US government’s hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of new Treasury issuance hasn’t sucked cash out of the banking system because money market funds have drained more than $1 trillion from deposits at the Federal Reserve to buy these bonds. Credit is the other dog that hasn’t barked. As forecast, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo did report the highest write-offs for bad loans since the second quarter of 2020 (for Citigroup, it was the worst since a spike in the first quarter of 2021), but this comparison isn’t as bad as it might sound. The onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020 led banks to make huge provisions for potential bad debts, but swift central bank and government support meant that actual losses stayed relatively low. Banks folded those loss reserves back into profits in 2021. The truth is that losses are just continuing a slow and steady walk back towards longer-term, normalized rates. Write-offs as a percentage of loans for all three big banks have risen since the end of last year, but in the third quarter they remained way below averages for the period between 2011 and 2020 — after the financial crisis and before Covid. Credit-card losses tend to lead bad debts and these are returning to pre-Covid levels. JPMorgan’s Barnum said he expected card losses to approach normal rates by year end, but not necessarily rise much further from there. Citigroup Chief Executive Jane Fraser, meanwhile, said her bank was starting to see some cracks among borrowers with lower credit scores. Markets seem to be signaling a soft landing for the US economy and, for now, most borrowers are playing along. The over-earning that Dimon talks about could last for a while yet. In fact, listening to JPMorgan, the biggest threat to its profits comes from the Fed and its proposed changes to bank capital rules. Barnum spent a good five minutes at the start of the bank’s earnings call railing against the higher demands: JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have given the biggest estimates for their extra capital needs so far, both predicting a 25% jump. There are plenty of problems with the proposals, including some double counting of risks, as I’ve written. But Barnum criticized the bigger picture, saying that if these changes go through it will mean JPMorgan’s capital requirements will have increased by 45% since 2017. He called the proposal flawed and unjustified. “Why is this increase so large given repeated statements from regulatory agencies in recent years that big banks are well capitalized?” he said on one call. “We are hoping for and expecting radical changes to the rules as proposed.” Mark Mason, his opposite number at Citigroup, was somewhat more measured, telling reporters that the industry would push for regulators to have a better understanding of the impacts and a different perspective. There’s a decent chance that neither regulation nor higher-for-longer interest rates will cut down bank returns as much as investors fear. Those who are short on big names ought to double check their assumptions. More From Bloomberg Opinion: - It's Easy to Get Mixed Up Over Mortgage Risks: Paul J. Davies - The SEC Risks Being Ensnared in Its WhatsApp Trap: Aaron Brown - Too Much Lending Risk Is Growing Under the Radar: Paul J. Davies This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Paul J. Davies is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering banking and finance. Previously, he was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Banking & Finance
As the cost of living crisis rages and UK inflation remains at one of the highest levels in 40 years, many people are finding that even the most meticulous budgeting can no longer make up for astronomical price rises in many areas of life.Here, four people from different parts of the country share why they have had to take more drastic cost-cutting measures to stay financially afloat.‘I’ve moved my whole family into my mum’s small attic’Marc, 37, an office worker in the food industry from Salford, was faced with an impossible choice last July when his landlord said the rent would have to nearly double.“He said he would offer a ‘generous’ increase from £800 to £1,400, from October”, he says. “At that point, my utilities alone were costing me about 500 quid a month. The sums just didn’t add up.”After seeing that rents in the area were similar for comparable properties, Marc decided to give up the rented four-bed family home and has since moved his wife and three children, aged 5, 11 and 12, into an attic space in his mother’s house close by.“I’ve had to borrow £15k to make the attic livable. I’ve put windows in, a shower, plumbing, and electrics.“Living with my mother is not something I want to do, at almost 40, but otherwise I’d have to stop eating just to pay for housing costs, which would have been £2,200 monthly had we stayed,” Marc says.Putting the money towards a house purchase would have been out of the question, as it would have taken 15 to 20 years, Marc estimates, to get a 25% deposit together.“I haven’t measured how much space we have now, but it’s not a lot. The master bedroom is roughly as big as two kingsize beds pushed together; the other sleeping quarters are much smaller. We share the kitchen with my mum downstairs.”Although the family is relieved to have escaped some of the financial pressure, the move has put considerable strain on everyone.“It’s not been easy sailing, this move has been based on trade-offs. I’ve given up significant privacy, I can’t do what I want. My 22-year-old sister is also living here. “One of my kids, my son, has taken the move hard. He’s complaining about a lack of space, a lack of freedom.”How long the family will stay in the attic remains unclear, Marc says. “I want to pay off the loans, which could take between two and five years. Then we can explore further.”‘My daughter is sleeping in her winter coat this year’Vicky Page, 51, is working in near freezing temperatures to keep on top of her family’s bills. Photograph: Vicky Page/Guardian CommunityVicky Page, who lives in Warwickshire and works for an environmental charity, says the family has had to switch the heating off almost entirely this winter despite working from home and having young children.“I work in my north-facing conservatory – the only room with space for a full-sized desk – and this year I’ve had to turn the heating off completely. I’m wearing three jumpers, two pairs of trousers. I also have a heated mat on the floor for my feet, and a heated mouse mat – a little furry cave you can slip your hand into to keep warm. Today it was 2C in there when I started work. I sit shivering in this room six hours a day.”While the family is able to heat the living room with the help of a mini wood-burning stove to about 15C, her children’s bedrooms upstairs are much colder, she says.“My 11-year-old daughter sleeps with a winter coat and three blankets on top. We’re not destitute, but electricity prices have tripled and we have to be very careful.”‘I gave up my plans to adopt’ For Natasha, a full-time civil servant from Leeds paid £30,800 a year, many smaller cost-cutting exercises over the past year failed to generate enough savings and forced her to make bigger, life-changing decisions to create financial wriggle room.“In November my energy bills rose to £175 a month. My flat has very old heaters which are really expensive to run. I work from home and have requested to go in more, but I’m only allowed in once a week due to limited office space,” the 34-year-old says.When cancelling subscriptions, cutting out meat from her diet, buying a box of 600 teabags on offer and sleeping with a hat on did not bring her costs down sufficiently, Natasha decided more drastic action was necessary.“I was looking to adopt so I moved to a two-bed flat in March,” she says. “But I’ve had to put that on hold indefinitely because of my financial uncertainty.“I read about ‘one-room living’, and created one room for living, working and sleeping. Hopefully only having to heat one room will generate enough savings.“I have a Cpap machine for sleep apnea and I’ve started using it every other night, I don’t know what else to do to cut spiralling costs. I used to spend £25 a week on groceries. Last week my usual shop came to £60, so I had to put things back. It’s a shock when, as a middle-income earner, I have to give up some food so I can afford sanitary products.”‘I have to give up my career in London and move back home’Pre-pandemic, Eileen, in her 50s, had a relatively comfortable life in London, taking home about £40,000 a year as a theatre makeup technician.“I’ve lived here for 35 years, but now I can no longer afford to. It’s no longer working for me, and pushing me into debt,” she says.Eileen is single, lives alone, and pays £1,100 a month for her mortgage for her one-bedroom flat, which is due to go up again.“My bills are £1,800 monthly, leaving me with about £600 for food and everything else. I watch every flipping penny, buy mostly tinned food now, never go out – but you just can’t keep up with inflation, and run out of money. Two weeks into a month I have to use my credit card. I can no longer afford going to the dentist. I’ve built up about £7,000 of debt since the pandemic.”Eileen has come to the bitter conclusion that continuing in her career of 30 years is no longer financially sustainable.“I’m experienced and highly skilled, but the last time I was this hard up was when I was a student in the late 1980s. I’d be better off working at Marks & Spencer and owning a house outright back in my home town in Nottinghamshire – even on universal credit I would be better off. Many colleagues feel the same; everyone’s become really demotivated.“I’m going to sell up and move back home. London is no longer this place of great opportunity – it’s become unliveable, for so many of us.”	Inflation
One of the UK’s largest Conservative-run councils has warned it faces “financial meltdown” and has called on ministers to fix the “broken” local government funding system to avoid it and many other authorities plunging into effective bankruptcy. Hampshire county council said without a major overhaul of council finances in England – which it admitted was unlikely to come in time to prevent further cuts – it would be forced to push ahead with drastic reductions to local services over the next 18 months. The council has to find £132m by April 2025 to fill a widening budget gap but has warned itcannot rely on operational cuts and council tax rises alone to balance the books without ditching “safe” levels of core service. A paper to a meeting of the council’s cabinet next week states “these are not problems we can fix on our own and that the government must intervene if we and the whole of the local government sector are to avoid financial meltdown”. Hampshire hit the headlines last year after publishing a joint letter with Kent county council to Rishi Sunak warning that failure to properly fund local government in England would see the two councils “sleepwalk into financial disaster”. The situation has not improved since for either council. Kent’s auditors said last month it may have to issue a section 114 statement of effective bankruptcy. The wider picture is equally dismal: Birmingham city council declared effective bankruptcy last month and many others have said this is a realistic prospect for them too. Hampshire says that having already drained its reserves to meet budget gaps it would be forced introduce “bare minimum” levels of service by April 2025 to avoid bankruptcy. This would mean focusing solely on services it is legally obliged to provide, such as social care, while dispensing with “discretionary” services such as community transport and museums. A paper to be considered by the council’s cabinet next week, warns that 2025-26 “represents the crunch point for the county council’s budget; either the government steps in with additional funding or legislates to reduce the range of statutory responsibilities that we are required to undertake”. The leader of Hampshire county council, Cllr Rob Humby, said: “For a long time now, we’ve been very clear about the huge budget pressures facing the county council by April 2025, and like many local authorities nationally, our budgets are stretched to breaking point.” He added: “We know that council tax increases alone are not enough to plug the gap, and with no sign of government stepping in to provide a short-term budget lifeline or long-term sustainable funding solution to councils like Hampshire, we must take action now and plan to meet the budget shortfall ourselves.”	United Kingdom Business & Economics
Council tax is due to rise on 1 April for many people, another turn of the screw for those already struggling with the cost of living crisis. People in Wales have seen their council tax rise significantly faster than those in England and Scotland over the past 12 years. However it's those in Rutland and Nottingham, in the East Midlands, who will have the highest fees when the 2023/24 rates come in on 1 April. People living in Band D properties there will pay more than £2,400 a year, while those in similarly-priced properties in Westminster and Wandsworth will pay less than £900. Despite having lower rates per band than those in Rutland and Nottingham, people in Surrey councils are likely to pay some of the highest levels of council tax overall as there are more properties valued in the highest tax bands. In Elmbridge, a Surrey borough home to many Chelsea footballers seeking proximity to their Cobham training ground, more than a quarter of homes are in Bands G and H, six times more than normal across Great Britain. Just one in fifty properties are in the least expensive Bands A and B, compared with a national average of one in five. As a result, people in Elmbridge are likely to pay more than £2,800 each in the year to April 2024, more than any other area. At the other end of the scale, almost all the areas with the cheapest council tax after adjusting for house prices are in Scotland. People in Shetland or the Western Isles will pay less than £1,200 on average, higher only than Wandsworth and lower than even Westminster, which retain their positions towards the bottom of the table despite high house prices there. The cheapest areas outside of London or Scotland are Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wigan, where people are likely to pay just under £1,500 each. What's happening in the different nations? Every council in Scotland has reduced council tax in real terms since 2011/12, the first year for which equivalent data is available across all three of England, Scotland and Wales. In Wales, council tax has risen by at least 12% in every council area, even after adjusting for inflation. Northern Ireland's Department of Finance say that it is "impossible to make a straightforward comparison" to the other nations on council tax. The country has a system of domestic rates which is similar but different to council tax. In Wales as a whole, people are likely to be paying about a fifth more than they were twelve years ago even after adjusting for inflation, while people in Scotland will be paying about 8% less. This year's high inflation is cited as one reason why rates have risen in Wales: "Budget setting is extremely difficult this year due to high inflation and other cost drivers. While the settlement from Welsh government was better than expected, it still leaves an enormous gap of around £300m to be bridged," explained the Welsh Local Government Association. But inflation has also been high across the rest of Great Britain. The Scottish government froze council tax from 2007/08 to 2016/17, and blocked councils from raising rates by more than 3% in real terms from then until 2020-21. "This has resulted in 30-40% lower council tax charges on average in Scotland compared with England and Wales", said the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. There has never been such a cap in Wales, while in England, councils with social care duties can raise council tax by 5% and others can put it up by 3%. If a local authority wants to increase council tax by more than 5%, residents must vote for it in a referendum. As yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, none have been passed. Croydon, Slough, and Thurrock, however, have been granted special permission from the government this year to raise their council tax above this cap because of huge gaps in their finances. Click to subscribe to the Sophy Ridge on Sunday podcast Why do some councils set higher council tax than others? You get a different answer depending on who you ask. Councils that have managed to keep council tax low, like Wandsworth, Hillingdon and Hammersmith & Fulham credited prudent and responsible financial management from those responsible over several years. Places like Rutland, Dorset and Wakefield, which have all raised council tax by some of the highest amounts in England, have called for fairer funding for councils, however. They say that many councils which charge lower council tax get more money given to them by central government grants, despite often having less demand for expensive services like adult social care. Looking at the way the English government distributes grants to councils does appear to support claims that funding is used as a de facto subsidy for low council tax. And on the other side, councils that don't receive as much may have to raise taxes to fill the gap. The Revenue Support Grant is one example, it's a central government grant given to local authorities which can be used to finance revenue expenditure on any service. The more of this money a council receives the more likely it is to have lower council tax. Westminster receives more than £170 per person from the grant, more than the 157 bottom councils put together - each of which get less than £2 per person. Rural areas are worst affected. Five of the ten areas that receive the most per person from the Revenue Support Grant are in London and all the others are cities. Adding to add to that issue, councils with the most over-65s - also more likely to be rural areas - have higher council tax rates than those with fewer. Councillor Lucy Stevenson, leader of Rutland Council, told Sky News that "part of the first job is actually telling our rural story so that we get people to look beyond what they see is affluence, and actually inside the county." "When we were looking at levelling up, some of the residents said 'Are you sure we deserve that money?' I said 'absolutely. Have you looked at our data?' "The second job is to come up with solutions. There is a wider issue for local government. Most councils are looking at deficit budgets or cutting services. The whole of local government needs serious consideration. "It is the workhorse of the country for everybody's day-to-day lives." A spokesperson for the Local Government Association, who represent over 350 councils in England and Wales, said: "Levels of council tax are decided by individual councils based on their own circumstances. "While council tax is an important funding stream, it has never been the solution to the long-term pressures facing councils, raising different amounts in different parts of the country - unrelated to need - and adding to the financial pressures facing households. "Councils need long term funding certainty from government to cover increased cost pressures and invest in local services, enabling them to make meaningful decisions over their finances and change lives and communities for the better." The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.	United Kingdom Business & Economics
A 'baby bank' in London is helping desperate parents who cannot afford basic necessities for their children including nappies, clothes and toys. Volunteers expect 2023 to be even busier than 2022Tina browses the baby bank for a winter coatStruggling families have told how they can’t afford basics like nappies, winter clothes and toys for their children amid the cost of living crisis. The Mirror visited a “baby bank” which supplies thousands of parents struggling to make ends meet with bare essentials for under fives Little Village - one of around 200 baby banks across Britain - supported 7006 children in 2022 in their busiest year yet. With demand skyrocketing thanks to soaring food and utility bills, volunteers who lovingly wash, sort and hand out pre-loved kit and baby clothes expect 2023 to be even busier. When they come to Little Village, new mums usually leave with a bundle which would cost them around £1000 brand new. “It’s just not achievable,” spokesperson Emma Gibbs told the Mirror. “It’s an awful dilemma that families find themselves in.” One mum visited their Hackney branch to collect essentials for her second child, due next month. Parents can get clothes for their children ( Image: Phil Harris) The mum, 44, and her husband have fallen on hard times after health complications during her pregnancy forced her to stop work. She was referred for support by her midwife who was worried about her welfare. “I didn’t want to tell anyone that I wasn’t ready,” she told the Mirror. “When I was pregnant with my daughter I was working so I didn’t need anything. “Previously I would always put food in the charity basket at the shopping centre. But now I need it. I can’t believe how much things have changed for me. “Putting on the heater is a problem - so how can I buy some baby clothes? Even food is now expensive. “I only turn my heating on for 20 minutes then I have to turn it off. When my daughter goes to sleep I put a hot water bottle on the bed to keep her warm.” The baby bank also offers toys for children ( Image: Phil Harris) Masha Guyard receives a push chair donation from Rosie Scott ( Image: Phil Harris) Mum-of-two Bibi Aisha, 33, from Tower Hamlets, has no recourse to public funds while her asylum application is pending. Biba, who arrived from Bangladesh in 2014, is also reliant on food banks to feed her family. “The queue is so long now and there is little food left,” she told the Mirror. She said Little Village was the only way she could get any toys for her kids, aged three and five. A mum-of-three, who also volunteers at the baby bank, told how her family of five struggle to sleep in one bed in their cramped bedsit. Nappies are also offered at the baby bank ( Image: Phil Harris) Little Village is one of 200 'baby banks' around Britain ( Image: Phil Harris) Despite begging the housing authority for better accommodation for her kids aged five, three and six months, two of which are diagnosed with autism, she has been trapped in the tiny flat for seven years. Fighting back tears, she told the Mirror: “My son wakes up and doesn’t go back to sleep, so he wakes up the other kids. I go everywhere and I am tired." Tinah Nsemerizwe, 35, from Islington, told the Mirror she has a back problem from sharing a bed with her two daughters, aged five and eight. “At Christmas I was struggling to get them presents,” she added. “Sometimes I have to go without so we can pay the bills and eat. “Kids’ stuff is expensive and sometimes you have to sacrifice. You don’t want them to feel different.” Volunteers expect 2023 to be their busiest year yet ( Image: Phil Harris) She left the baby bank with a much-needed winter coat for her five-year-old. “She is going to be so excited,” she added. Sophie Livingstone, CEO of Little Village, said the charity supported 40% more children year on year from 2021 to 2022. In 2023, they expect to support 9,000 children. Demand is now so high they have had to introduce a weekly limit for referrals as they are at capacity. Little Village is open from Monday to Wednesday ( Image: Phil Harris) “We have a weekly cap for referrals and when that cap is reached we close referrals for the week,” she told the Mirror. “We are reaching that cap earlier and earlier each week.” And in the face of soaring demand the charity has also seen a drop off in donations, as many families opt to resell bigger items like cots buggies rather than donate them. “We can only fulfil about half of the big kit requests because we don’t have the items,” she added. Our Cost of Living team of experts are here to help YOU through a very difficult year. They'll be bringing you the latest money news stories and also providing specialist advice. Whether it's rocketing energy bills, the cost of the weekly shop or increased taxes, our team will be with you all the way. Every Thursday at 1pm they will take part in a Facebook Live event to answer your questions and offer their advice. Visit facebook.com/dailymirror/live to watch. You can read more about our team of experts here. If you have a question - or want to share your story - please get in touch by emailing [email protected]. Calling for action to tackle the poverty crisis, she said: “The country is in total catastrophe and it doesn’t feel like the government has recognised that. “The safety net has got too many holes in it. People are really falling through it now.” Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
(Bloomberg) -- EQT AB has resumed seeking to acquire Global Switch Holdings Ltd. in a deal that could value the data center company at around $6.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said, months after earlier talks stalled over disagreements on valuation. Most Read from Bloomberg The private equity firm is in discussions with Global Switch’s Chinese owners about a potential deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. An agreement could be reached in the coming months depending on the outcome of the due diligence, the people said. The owners of Global Switch — Chinese steelmaker Jiangsu Shagang Group Co. and Avic Trust Co. — have been exploring options for the London-based data center operator since at least 2019. Global Switch was initially eyeing an initial public offering in Hong Kong. The UK company’s shareholders started considering selling the business in 2021 at a time when other Chinese corporates were unwinding acquisitions of non-core assets they acquired in recent years. EQT was among the buyout firms that were in the final round of bidding for Global Switch, Bloomberg News reported in late 2022. Other bidders included KKR & Co. and PAG and the owners were seeking a valuation of about $10 billion for the assets. The discussions with prospective suitors ground to a halt later amid tightening financing conditions and lower-than-expected bids, people familiar with the matter have said. Global Switch’s owners were considering selling the operations in Europe and Asia Pacific separately to different buyers, which could potentially boost the likelihood of getting a deal done, Bloomberg News reported in August. Each division could be valued at roughly $3 billion, the people said at the time. Deliberations are ongoing and the companies could still decide against any transaction, according to the people. Representatives for EQT and Global Switch declined to comment, while representatives for Avic and Shagang didn’t respond to requests for comment. Shares of Shagang rose as much as 1.3% on Friday in Shenzhen. Founded in 1998, Global Switch owns and operates 13 data centers across Europe and Asia Pacific comprising about 428,000 square meters, according to its website. Shagang in 2019 became the largest shareholder of Global Switch after buying another 24% stake in a £1.8 billion ($2.2 billion) deal from British billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben, who had begun to whittle down their ownership in 2016. Data centers have become hot assets among investors, in part due to the perception of their stable returns and expectations of ongoing growth as people increasingly rely on technology. EQT manages €232 billion ($247 billion) of assets globally under private equity and real asset segments, according to its website. In 2020, the firm acquired EdgeConneX Inc., which has a portfolio of more than 50 data centers across Europe, Asia and the Americas. --With assistance from Elffie Chew. (Adds Shagang’s share move in seventh paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Banking & Finance
Former President Donald Trump has seen his wealth soar by a half billion dollars thanks to some shrewd moves including moving to low-tax Florida, selling off assets, and paying down personal debts, according to a report. Trump’s fortune has been valued by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $3.1 billion, up from $2.6 billion in 2021. A sizeable chunk of Trump’s wealth can be attributed to the rising property values of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as well as his Doral golf resort in Miami, according to Bloomberg. Trump also owns a dozen other golf venues in the US, Scotland, and Ireland which collectively generated 50% more revenue in the three-year period stretching from 2019 to 2022. Last year, the former president also sold the high-end Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC for the whopping sum of $375 million — enabling him to pay off a $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank. Trump is currently on trial in New York, where the state attorney general has alleged in a civil lawsuit that the former president fraudulently inflated the value of his assets in order to obtain loans from banks. Bloomberg conducted an analysis of Trump properties which found that the former president did indeed inflate the value of his assets, though not to the extent that New York State alleges. Mar-a-Lago, the 62,500-square-foot beachside property in Palm Beach that generates revenue since it doubles as a club that charges membership fees, is worth $240 million, according to Bloomberg, which cited comparable residential property sales as well as its value as a business. New York has alleged in its lawsuit that the property is worth $27.6 million, while Trump claimed a $612 million valuation. The state has also accused Trump of inflating the value of Trump Park Avenue, the residential condominium tower on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. New York has alleged the actual value of the property is $80 million, while Trump claims it’s around $91 million. Bloomberg’s analysis placed the value of the property at $86.4 million. Another Trump property — his penthouse at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue — is valued by Bloomberg at $40 million — less than a third of the $131.3 million valuation offered up by the former president. Bloomberg said it used Trump’s 2021 statement of financial condition as well as filings with the Office of Government Ethics. During testimony in court on Monday, Trump insisted that he undervalued his wealth. He also claimed that banks gave little weight to his statements when determining whether to lend him money. “They just weren’t a very important element in banks’ decision-making process,” Trump testified.	Real Estate & Housing
(NewsNation) — Researchers have found evidence that federal relief dollars issued during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted property crime rates across the country, according to a recent study. In March 2020, Congress passed and then-President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing $2.2 trillion in stimulus to offset the economic damage caused by lockdowns during the pandemic. But while the bill aimed to provide economic relief to Americans, Fisher University criminologist Peter Cassino found it impacted certain property crimes. He found for every $1 spent, per capita property crime rates like burglary, larceny and theft all showed statistically significant declines. Although he stressed that the study couldn’t determine precisely why CARES spending on stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment would lower the property crime rate, he offered his own speculation about what may have happened. “In the U.S. … being unemployed can mean stress, strain, all these things that are good about life go away, right? You might need to take a second job. Spend less time with kids,” Cassino said. Cassino’s research could help explain why property crime actually declined in 2020 despite widespread disruptions to society caused by the pandemic, lockdowns and social unrest. He said that more social spending can make life less painful for poor Americans. “So the CARES Act and the infusion of cash and the expanded unemployment … allowed people during a crisis to not to have to worry as much about — I lose my job, what am I going to do?” he said. Cassino did not, however, look at violent crimes for the purpose of this study. In 2020, there was a large increase in murders, with the largest single-year increase in homicides in modern history occurring that year. It would take further research to see whether the CARES Act impacted those crimes. While some property crimes declined, Cassino’s research didn’t show a statistically significant relationship between CARES spending and auto thefts, which have skyrocketed since 2019. Another thing that Cassino hasn’t had a chance to research is what happened after expanded unemployment insurance and stimulus checks of the CARES Act were no longer being paid out. Many parts of the country have seen increases in property crime over the past year. Might the reduction in federal social spending play a role in this? “By applying the same logic, you would think it’s certainly possible,” Cassino said.	Inflation
Robinhood is granting early access to the app starting today for those who join the waitlist, with things gradually opening up to everyone across the U.K. some time in early 2024. The Menlo Park, California-based company began its U.K. launch prep nearly five years ago starting with a local hiring spree, eventually launching a waitlist for users in late 2019 before abruptly pulling the plug in mid-2020. The company never really gave a full explanation for the decision, merely noting that “a lot has changed these past few months” and that it wanted to focus on its U.S. business. In truth, the company was facing mounting pressure at home, including allegations that it was misleading customers and using cynical gamification strategies to entice inexperienced users to make risky trades. The company has also been hit with several multimillion-dollar fines over system outages and other misdemeanours. And tragically, 20-year-old student Alex Kearns died by suicide after seemingly misinterpreting a negative balance of $730,000 in his Robinhood account, with the company eventually settling a private lawsuit brought by his family. Despite all this, Robinhood became a publicly-traded entity in mid-2021. The company now claims 23 million users domestically, though much of this growth was spurred by early-lockdown boredom as people hunkered down at home, growing from 11.7 million monthly users in December 2020 to more than 21 million six months later. Remember meme stocks? Yup, Robinhood was a major protagonist in that whole affair. So what does this all mean for Robinhood now, as it takes a second shot at international expansion? “We’ve certainly learned from our previous launch attempt, and as a business we’ve grown and matured to a level where we’re 23 million customers, $87 billion in assets, and a listed business,” Robin Sinclair, Robinhood’s U.K. president, explained to TechCrunch. “We’ve also built technology that allows us to scale internationally.” However, much has changed elsewhere since Robinhood’s last launch attempt. A number of local players have gained steam for starters, notably Richard Branson-backed Lightyear which started out by allowing U.K. consumers to trade U.S. stocks before expanding to support European users and stocks. And then there is Freetrade, where Sinclair previously served as European managing director before joining Robinhood this summer. Freetrade supports U.K.-based traders investing in U.S. and European stocks, and it’s gearing up to expand into Europe shortly. It’s these younger upstarts that Robinhood will most likely be up against at first, rather than dusty old legacy financial services firms such as Hargreaves Lansdown. “Robinhood’s appeal in the U.S. was to a younger tech-savvy audience looking to access the shares market,” David Brear, CEO at fintech consultancy 11FS and co-host of the Fintech Insider Podcast, told TechCrunch. “It’s likely they’ll appeal to a similar audience in the U.K. who have previously found the price and access barrier to the stock market too high. I can see them going head-to-head with Freetrade in terms of target market to start, and then moving on to target a more investment savvy audience such as Hargreaves Lansdown users, with bigger investment wallets.” Robinhood, for its part, has been making noises about entering the U.K. for much of this year. At its Q3 earnings this month, the company confirmed it would launch brokerage operations in the U.K. imminently, with crypto trading to follow for European Union (EU) markets. The first of these pledges has now come to fruition, with U.K. consumers able to trade thousands of U.S. stocks, including those of all the major companies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta. Users can place trades during standard market hours, which is 9.30am Eastern Time (ET) until 4pm, which translates into 2.30pm-9pm UK time. Outside those hours, Robinhood’s 24 Hour Market enables users to place so-called limit orders on 150 different stocks 24 hours a day five days a week, running from 1am (UK time) on Monday through 1am on Saturday. Lessons learned Despite the minor neobroker boom since Robinhood’s aborted launch three years ago, Sinclair believes his company is in a strong position to capitalize on what is still a relatively nascent market, and can lean on the experience it has amassed from the U.S. over the past decade. “I’d say the U.K. is a great opportunity, the market actually really hasn’t been disrupted yet,” Sinclair said. “It still looks and feels the same way it did, with traditional brokers dominating with high fees — and that hasn’t changed. So I’d say the opportunity still exists. We have the benefit of a 10-year-old platform in the U.S. that has developed and matured — we’ve added a lot of products and features, we’ve learned from 23 million customers.” While the company has faced scrutiny over how it targets inexperienced traders in the U.S., Robinhood is taking those lessons into its U.K. foray with in-app guides, tips, tutorials, data, and market news, designed to arm fledgling traders with the tools to invest wisely — or, at least, not blow their entire savings — without having to context-switch between multiple information sources. “This is all about putting it in one place for a customer, so they can facilitate all of that research and all that information before they make trades and to guide their investment strategy going forward,” Sinclair said. What’s clear from all this is that Robinhood is trying to start on the right-footing after missteps in its home-market — for instance, the company is introducing 24/7 chat, email, and phone support in the U.K. from the get go. But despite these recent efforts to improve its image domestically, the company might still be struggling to recover from recent controversies, according to Brear. “Robinhood saw tremendous growth in the U.S. during the peak of Covid when everyone was spending a lot more time indoors and online,” Brear said. “They benefited from a wave in hype around the product and the brand which then suffered significantly after the suicide of a 20-year-old customer, and it hasn’t quite recovered since. Much has been written about Robinhood’s responsibility to educate their customers about their product and safely engaging their money in the stock market, and even though they’ve invested in more customer education in the product and through content, their reputation probably hasn’t quite recovered since.” Two years after going public, though, the most obvious way for Robinhood to grow is through entering new markets, and as one of the world’s major financial centers, the U.K. makes a great deal of sense for its first move. “The U.K. is a super appealing market for fintechs for a bunch of reasons — a strong and collaborative regulator, a significant affluent fintech-engaged population, lots of talent, and a whole landscape of other fintechs and banks available as potential partners or suppliers,” Brear said. Show me the money Robinhood promises commission-free trades and no foreign exchange (FOREX) fees, while there are no account minimums either (i.e. users don’t have to deposit x amount to use the service). This all sounds great, but it begs one simple question: how will Robinhood make money? In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) criticised Robinhood for misleading customers over how it makes money. Indeed, while Robinhood is commission-free, it essentially accepts the customer’s trade and sells it on to larger trading firms which executes the trade on behalf of the customer — this is a process known as “payment for order flow” (PFOF). Thus, critics argue, Robinhood customers receive inferior prices for their trades, making the “free-trading” mantra little more than a marketing illusion — the investor themselves essentially become the product. All of this, though, is moot for Robinhood’s entry to the U.K. Indeed, PFOF has effectively been banned there since 2012, while the European Union (EU) is also introducing a ban on the practice which is set to come in by 2026. Elsewhere, Canada has also banned PFOF, as has Singapore, while Australia is moving in that direction. The SEC had previously indicated that it might consider a PFOF ban, though it has retreated from that stance for now. But it’s clear that the global regulatory landscape is increasingly taking a dim view of PFOF, leading Robinhood to pursue different revenue streams. Last year, Robinhood launched a new program that allows users to “lend” out their stocks to other users, with Robinhood taking a cut of the spoils, while it also introduced a new retirement product. Long before all that, the company rolled out a subscription-based Robinhood Gold product with premium features, while it had also been moving further into crypto territory, though it recently restricted some of the crypto it supports due to regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. It’s worth noting that these moves are also designed to appease Wall Street. Since going public more than two years ago, the company’s market cap has fallen from a near-$60 billion peak in 2021 to a little over $7 billion today. Trading volume is also down overall on the Robinhood platform, while news emerged this month that Google’s parent Alphabet had ditched its remaining stake in the company, having initially invested when it was still a private startup. All this points to a company that has not been faring particularly well, making revenue diversification and its impending U.K. launch all the more vital to its future. While there is no obvious moneymaking model in place for Robinhood’s U.K. launch, Sinclair said that it plans to “add products over time,” which might include introducing existing products such as Robinhood Retirement and Robinhood Gold to the market. “We’re gonna build a diversified revenue stream, there’s products on our roadmap that we’ll deliver, and local products is an important component for us,” Sinclair said. “What we’ve delivered in the U.S. really shows how diversified we can be.” What is also notable here is that while Robinhood is only bringing its stock-trading product to the U.K., the company is set to launch crypto trading in the European Union (EU). This is due to new EU rules coming into force next year focused on so-called “stablecoins” that are pegged to official currencies, bringing a clearer legal framework for crypto companies to work within. No such legislation yet exists in the U.K., though there are signs it might fall into step with the EU at some point. “For the U.K., we’re focused on launching brokerage, that’s our priority and we’re gonna get that right and then look to expand internationally with our brokerage business over time,” Sinclair said. “Our crypto business will be in the EU, and in time we’ll consider it in the U.K. — but for now, our focus is on brokerage.” On a similar note, Robinhood’s U.K. launch is notable insofar as it the platform only supports U.S.-listed stocks — this does actually make sense for the most part, as it will appeal to a new generation of retail traders, ones well-versed in the fortunes of Apple, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, Spotify, et al. However, Sinclair says it will look to open things up to additional stocks in the future. “It’s absolutely on our plan — U.K. equities is something we hear from customers, that’s important to them,” Sinclair said. “We’re starting with U.S. stocks, as it leverages our platform and our technology in the U.S. But absolutely — U.K. is on our roadmap.”	Stocks Trading & Speculation
"What did TV chiefs know?" asks the Daily Mirror, beside a photo of Russell Brand. A source tells the paper that investigations by the comedian's former employers will aim to establish whether "a blind eye was turned to any claims". According to the Daily Telegraph, media bosses could be "hauled in front of MPs" to explain their handling of allegations. The Sun says it's been a "fraught 24 hours" for the BBC, which it describes as being "under mounting pressure" because of allegations it "enabled" the comedian's alleged inappropriate behaviour and "did nothing" when staff raised concerns. The Times says the corporation is also "facing urgent questions" about new claims that it paid for a chauffeur-driven car to pick-up a 16-year-old girl from school and take her to Russell Brand's home. The BBC says it has clear policies around conduct at work and listens to people with concerns. Brand denies the claims against him. Sir Keir Starmer tells the Financial Times that he wants to make changes to the UK's Brexit deal with the European Union, if Labour wins the next election. He says the current agreement is "far too thin" and he would attempt to get a "much better deal for the UK". He says a closer relationship with the EU would be "at the heart of his efforts to bolster Britain's economic growth" - adding that he "owes it to his children". The leader of Unite announces in the Guardian that the union is launching campaigns in the so-called "red wall" seats, aimed at "stoking public pressure" on Labour. Sharon Graham tells the paper that funding earmarked for the party will instead be used to demand "more radical policies on energy, steel and green jobs". She says if Labour doesn't shift its position on these key issues, it "will be difficult for them". The Daily Mail has an interview with a paediatrician whom it calls the "prosecution's main expert witness" in the trial of Lucy Letby. Dewi Evans tells the paper he believes the nurse may have killed three more babies and tried to murder another 15. He says in many cases the babies' breathing tubes came out, but he believes it's "very, very unusual" for that to have accidentally happened so frequently. Households in England face an average council tax increase of Â£100 next year, according to The i. It reports that "cash-strapped" local authorities are expected to raise bills by the maximum amount; 5%. What the paper describes as "a leading local government figure" says that if councils don't do so, they "will have to cut services even more, and there's not a lot left to cut". The Daily Express says that two pubs a day have closed in England and Wales in the first half of this year. It says government data - compiled by the estate agents Altus Group - show that 153 were either demolished or converted in the first quarter of 2023, but that jumped by more than 50% to 230 in the three months to the end of June. The paper's headline is: "Last orders". Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.	Inflation
The UK Prime Minister has urged homeowners and borrowers to "hold their nerve" over rising interest rates aimed at bringing down stubborn inflation. Rishi Sunak told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "I want people to be reassured that we've got to hold our nerve, stick to the plan and we will get through this." This week the Bank of England raised interest rates to a 15-year high of 5%. Millions of people are facing higher mortgage repayments following the rise. Meanwhile, those who rent could face higher payments or the prospect of squeezed landlords selling their property, according to the National Residential Landlords Association. Mr Sunak continued to back the Bank of England despite some Conservatives saying it has not done enough to bring inflation back to its 2% target. Inflation - which measures the rate at which prices are rising - remained at 8.7% in May despite the Bank raising interest rates 13 times since December 2021. "I can tell you as prime minister, the Bank of England is doing the right thing," Mr Sunak told the BBC. "The Bank of England has my total support. Inflation is the enemy." Mr Sunak has pledged to halve inflation by the end of the year. But former Treasury Minister Andrea Leadsom accused the Bank of doing "too little, too late". While Karen Ward, a member of chancellor Jeremy Hunt's economic advisory council, said the Bank had "been too hesitant" in its interest rate rises so far and called on it to "create a recession" to bring inflation under control. Mr Sunak said: "I've never said that it's not challenging. I've never said that this isn't going to be a difficult time to get through. But what I want to give people the reassurance and confidence is, that we've got a plan, the plan will work and we will get through this." In recent weeks, banks and building societies have been withdrawing mortgage deals in anticipation of higher interest rates. The average two-year fixed residential mortgage is now 6.19% while the five-year rate is 5.82%. In June last year, those rates were closer to 3%. Last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt met with UK banks who have agreed that borrowers will be able to make a temporary change to their mortgage terms. The voluntary changes allow homeowners to just pay the interest on their mortgages and Mr Hunt said this would not affect borrowers' credit scores. Labour has called for the agreements to be mandatory and rolled out across the banking sector. Otherwise, according to Labour's housing secretary Lisa Nandy, an estimated two million people "will not experience the benefits". The government must "not just talk a good game," Ms Nandy told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg,"but make sure that it happens". Elsewhere Labour has called on banks to pass on interest rate rises to savers in order to reduce inflation.	Interest Rates
A San Diego woman told NBC 7 her local Starbucks location has been adding a little something to her bill without permission. She said she noticed multiple tips added to her digital receipts when she only ever tips in cash. The first time she noticed a tip added to her ticket was May 4. Robyn Dudley brushed it off because she was in a rush, but the total she heard at the window didn’t sound quite right. “I asked her for the receipt and she just had a shocked look that I even asked,” Dudley said. Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters. She drove off and then noticed a one-dollar tip added to her total. “I was talking to my friend on the phone at the time, I was just like, ‘this girl added a tip,'" she remembered. It happened in the drive-thru again on July 3. Dudley said she's been coming to the Starbucks since last September, sometimes even twice a day and doesn't normally ask for a receipt. On her most recent receipt: a lemonade, bagel, croissant, muffin and a little something extra. “He didn't even tell me the total or anything,” Dudley said. “He just said my name and I handed him the card. I looked on the app at my receipt and then I saw that he gave himself a tip. And I was just like, ‘Oh, this is what they're doing here now.’” A Starbucks spokesperson responded to her claims in a statement that reads: “We want everyone to have a positive experience in our stores; we take claims such as these seriously and are investigating the matter.” Dudley said it’s not the tip amount that upsets her. It’s the principle. “It may be a small amount to me, but if they're doing it so easily, I’m probably not the only one,” she said. “If it's more than a dollar, I feel like it's way more noticeable. So, I do think it's by design.” She reported the added tip to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) that told NBC 7, since the pandemic, something called cramming is happening more often. “Cramming is where, for example, you go pay for an item and they add a tip without your consent,” said spokeswoman Alma Galvan. “That is what actually is illegal.” If you notice this happening, file a report with the BBB, the state attorney general or the federal trade commission. Dudley said her biggest piece of advice to others is to always ask for your receipt. She said if you notice something seems off, speak up.	Consumer & Retail
China Banks Offer 25-Year Loans To LGFVs To Avert Credit Crunch There’s also increasing focus on the $9 trillion debt market for local government financing vehicles. (Bloomberg) -- China’s biggest state banks are offering local government financing vehicles loans with ultra-long maturities and temporary interest relief to prevent a credit crunch amid growing tension in the $9 trillion debt market, according to people familiar with the matter. Banks including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp. have started to ramp up loans that mature in 25 years, instead of the prevailing 10-year tenor for most corporate lending, to qualified LGFVs with high creditworthiness in recent months, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Some came with waivers on any interest or principal payments in the first four years, though the interest will be accrued for later, the people said. The total size of the longer-term loans to LGFVs couldn’t immediately be determined. The move comes at a time when concerns over financial fragility in the world’s second largest economy — particularly among China’s local governments — have made policymakers wary of repeating mega-stimulus packages of previous downturns. Instead they’ve turned to credit expansion to avert potential defaults at the government level, where a broad measure of official borrowing has swollen to some $23 trillion according to estimates from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Media representatives of Beijing-based ICBC and Construction Bank didn’t respond to requests for comment. There’s also increasing focus on the $9 trillion debt market for LGFVs. While none have defaulted on a public bond, a recent last-minute payoff of a note raised fresh concerns about the sector’s debt-servicing abilities. At the end of last year, a LGFV in China’s poor southwestern province of Guizhou announced that it reached an agreement with banks to extend loans of about $2.3 billion by 20 years. In addition, the company will make only interest payment in the first ten years and pay the principal via installments in the following decade. Local government finances are strained as land sales — a major source of fiscal income — dried up amid an ongoing real estate crisis. Slumping land sales and massive Covid-induced expenditures have weakened the ability of local governments to keep LGFVs, which are mostly tasked with building infrastructure, afloat. LGFVs have also bumped up purchases of land. LGFVs bought about 30% of land sales in May, up from around 22% in April, according to a tally by Huachuang Securities. That was the first month-on-month increase this year after the firms pulled back from buying earlier, the brokerage said in a report. Banks Dilemma Beijing has rolled out a raft of measures to prop up the economy, including asking big banks to lower their deposit rates at least twice in less than a year to boost lending, squeezing their margins. Tasking banks with helping the cash flows of local governments may further aggravate challenges. Banks have continued to lend to the LGFVs at low interest rates with the belief that local authorities will not let any of them fail. While LGFVs, which usually have strong demand for loans, can easily help banks achieve their lending targets, there’s a risk of creating more non-performing loans since many of the investments by the LGFVs have struggled to make a profit to cover debt payments. The International Monetary Fund estimated in February that nationwide there was 66 trillion yuan ($9.1 trillion) of LGFV hidden debt at the end of 2022, up from 40 trillion yuan in 2019. A quick increase underscores how local governments ramped up off-book borrowing and spending during the pandemic. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.	Banking & Finance
Marmite-maker Unilever and supermarket Sainsbury's have rejected suggestions that they are not protecting customers from rising prices. It comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) told the BBC that falls in global food prices were not yet being reflected in supermarkets. Unilever said it was not "profiteering in any form" from rising prices. Sainsbury's said it had spent millions on lowering prices and was "determined to battle inflation". The cost of living has surged recently, with food prices almost a fifth higher in March than a year earlier - the biggest such rise since 1977. However, wholesale food prices have started to fall with the World Bank saying it expected them to drop 8% by the end of this year. Supermarkets say such falls take time to reach supermarket shelves. But in March the Unite union accused some supermarkets of "fuelling inflation by excessive profiteering". In January, Tesco chairman John Allan suggested suppliers may be at fault, telling the BBC it was "entirely possible" that they were using high inflation as an excuse to raise prices unnecessarily. But on Thursday, Unilever boss Alan Jope dismissed such suggestions to reporters, saying the company was only passing on three-quarters of the higher costs it was facing. "We are very conscious that the consumer is hurting and that's why we are not passing through the full price increases and are asking shareholders to bear some of the burden," Mr Jope said. It came as the consumer goods giant, which also makes Ben & Jerry's ice cream, reported a 10.5% rise in sales in the first three months of the year. The better-than-expected figure was driven by price hikes, with the company lifting prices by 10.7% over the period. Separately, the boss of Sainsbury's said the chain would pass on any falls in the price of goods as soon as it could and was "absolutely determined to battle inflation for our customers". However, Simon Roberts said widespread price falls were not likely to come soon as energy and labour costs continued to rise. It came as the UK's second largest grocery chain reported a better-than-expected 5% fall in underlying profits to Â£690m and a near-6% rise in sales in the year to March. The war in Ukraine has driven up food prices around the world, but the UK has faced other problems on top of this - from Brexit red tape to labour shortages. This year in particular, bad weather abroad led to shortages of some vegetables - a situation made worse by UK farmers producing less due to surging energy costs. UK farmers have also argued that supermarkets are not paying a fair price for their produce - something the supermarkets deny. Last week, the British Retail Consortium, which represents grocers, said there was a three to nine-month lag to see price falls reflected in shops. "As food production costs peaked in October 2022, we expect consumer food prices to start coming down over the next few months," it said.	Inflation
Ex-Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg Draws a Blank on More Than 90 Questions Before Lunch in Civil Fraud Trial Ex-Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg signed a $2 million severance agreement right before his five-month tax fraud sentencing, evidence showed A months-long stint in Rikers Island didn't do much to jog the memory of Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization chief financial officer who's now a key witness and co-defendant in the former president's civil fraud trial. Throughout his questioning early on Tuesday, Weisselberg came up empty in his responses to more than 90 questions before the lunch break in Trump's civil fraud trial. He answered more than 60 of those questions with some variation of "I don't recall," "I just don't recall," or "I don't remember." He responded to more than 30 inquiries with "I don't know." New York Attorney General Letitia James' counsel Louis Solomon pressed Weisselberg on his denials and professed memory lapses throughout his tenacious and probing questioning. Weisselberg — who completed his five-month sentence in April for tax fraud in a separate criminal case — routinely attempted to duck questions about the value of Trump's New York apartment, calculations which a judge already found to have been fraudulent. The ex-CFO insisted he could not recall noticing discrepancies about the size of the Trump Tower triplex, a 10,996.39 square foot unit. The former president routinely valued the apartment as more than 30,000 square feet on financial statements. "A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron wrote in an order for the dissolution of Trump's top New York corporations. Weisselberg conceded that he became aware at some point that the size of the unit was inflated, but he avoided questions trying to pin him down on when he learned that information, any conversations about the topic, and his obligations to alert the Trump Organization's accounting firm Mazars about the error. - Ex-Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg Begins Testimony on Day Six of New York Civil Fraud Trial - Trump Lawyer Questions the Point of Upcoming Civil Fraud Trial in Wake of Landmark Ruling Dissolving Businesses - Trump Lawyers Seek to Pause New York Civil Fraud Trial - New York vs. Trump: What You Need to Know for Day One of the $250M Civil Fraud Trial - Trump Speaks Before Start of Civil Fraud Trial: ‘Our Country Has Gone to Hell’ - Trump Asks to Delay New York Civil Fraud Trial Year after year, Forbes editors and reporters questioned the Trump Organization about the deviations in emails addressed to Weisselberg, according to emails introduced at the trial. Weisselberg claimed on Tuesday not to have remembered receiving them. The financial publication eventually found their answer, published under the headline: “Donald Trump Has Been Lying About the Size of His Penthouse." Weisselberg owes his nearly half-century old history in New York real estate to the Trump family. The ex-CFO began his career working on Fred Trump, the former president's father, in 1973. He later agreed to testify against Trump's namesake company, when he pleaded guilty to 15 tax fraud-related counts in a separate criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Despite that agreement, Weisselberg stopped short of turning against his former boss, and the ex-CFO signed a $2 million separation agreement with the Trump Organization on Jan. 9, 2023, the day before his sentencing. On Tuesday morning, Weisselberg claimed not to remember the dates of his departure, but the agreement stated that he was put on leave on Oct. 1, 2022, some months after his guilty plea that August. Throughout the examination, Solomon snapped to keep Weisselberg on topic, hoping to pin down the witness on yes-or-no questions. So did Engoron, instructing the witness at one point: “Don’t make speeches. Just answer the question.” Weisselberg's testimony resumed at 2:15 p.m. ET, after the lunch recess. - Poll Shows Kari Lake With Narrow Lead Over Gallego, Sinema in ArizonaPolitics - Georgia Prosecutors Summon Alex Jones and RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to Testify in Trump Co-Defendants’ RICO TrialPolitics - Top US General Tells Iran Not to Get Involved in IsraelPolitics - Trump, Known for Ripping Fellow Republicans, Lashes Out, Says They ‘Eat Their Young’Politics - Biden Calls Hamas Attack on Israel ‘A Sheer Act of Evil,’ Says At Least 14 Americans DeadPolitics - Interim House Speaker Says Israel Aid Could Be Approved Before Replacement ‘If We Need’Politics - Biden Did Not Warn Netanyahu Against Going Into Gaza During Phone CallPolitics - Chuck Schumer Ends Senate Trip to Asia Early to Address Israel-Gaza WarPolitics - Jordan vs. Scalise: Aspiring Speakers To Go Head to Head at House GOP Candidate ForumPolitics - Supreme Court Declines to Revisit Landmark First Amendment Ruling, Clarence Thomas Calls for Decision to Be ReconsideredPolitics - RFK Jr. PAC Announces $11 Million In Donations After 2024 Independent AnnouncementPolitics - Watch Live: Georgia Hearing on Efforts by Pro-Trump Attorneys to Dismiss ChargesPolitics	Real Estate & Housing
Image caption, Samuel Beames went to the charity Christians Against Poverty to help sort out his debts"Deep down, you feel like a failure," Samuel Beames admits.After losing his job during the Covid-19 pandemic, he had crippling debts from loans and store cards.Samuel, 32, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, has received help from a charity to try to sort out his financial situation.But a debt advisor has warned that many more people in Samuel's position are borrowing money to try to cope with the rising cost of living."I was a manager in a shoe shop in Cwmbran, and after that, it spiralled. With no job, we were unable to pay the bills properly," Samuel said."I had a previous relationship that broke down, and I found myself becoming a single parent with my two children at the time, and I just couldn't pay back any of the loans."He borrowed to pay for essentials, as well as to cover the cost of his first Christmas with the children as a single parent.When he realised he was in above his head, he sought help form Citizens' Advice Bureau which suggested he speak to Christians Against Poverty.Image source, BBC Image caption, Karen Homans says she is worried for people who have paid for Christmas on their credit cards"They make you realise that you're not in this on your own," Samuel said. "There's thousands, or millions of people, in the same sort of scenario."Christians Against Poverty (CAP) said it helps anyone, with no pressure to be a Christian or to become involved with the religion.Monthly costs"People have put Christmas on credit cards, and are not sure how they are going to pay it off," said Karen Homans, the Wales area manager for CAP."We think there will be a knock-on effect in the coming months as people get those credit card [bills] in, and begin to realise they perhaps cannot afford the monthly costs," Ms Homans added.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Debt advisers can talk to anyone who is feeling overwhelmedThe debt charity StepChange warned money borrowed for Christmas could take years to repay.Individuals and organisations who help people in debt said they noticed an increase in demand since prices began to rise.The latest inflation figure will be published on Wednesday morning, and high prices have forced people to borrow money to pay for daily essentials.Independent debt advisor Sorcha Kennedy said it had got "busier and busier" over the past twelve months.Image caption, Sorcha Kennedy says the people coming to her for debt advise are increasingly on middle incomes"This is the busiest and the hardest time I think that I've seen in 20-odd years of money advice."It's very hard because there's an income problem, and it's an expense problem, rather than just debt and wanton spending. It's the cost of living that's really, really difficult to manage."Ms Kennedy runs a debt advice service called Money Saviour, having previously worked for the Citizens' Advice Bureau.'Struggling quite a lot'She said the demographic of her clients had changed, with people on middle incomes now more likely to seek help."We have a lot of working families, teachers, people working with the NHS that are having to use food banks that are not able to pay bills."And for a lot of those types of incomes, there's not actually funding [to support them]. A lot of the gas and electricity funding was for vulnerable groups, and quite rightly so."But there's a lot of people that miss out on funding. "And they're the ones that we're seeing now, and that are struggling quite a lot."	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
Africa’s agricultural sector has a significant social and economic impact, per McKinsey. The percentage of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa exceeds 60%, while agriculture accounts for approximately 23% of the region’s gross domestic product. But despite the apparent opportunity in the agricultural sector, it is difficult for Africa to successfully participate in global supply chains due to supply chain and infrastructure limitations. As a result of the preponderance of small and medium-sized farms, increasing productivity is essential for enhancing economic conditions in African countries. To that end, Ghanaian agritech Complete Farmer seeks to transform farming practices in the region by developing critical technical and physical infrastructure to enhance efficiency in the agricultural value chain. It raised a recently concluded $10.4 million pre-Series A funding round ($7 million equity and $3.4 million debt) to consolidate its efforts. The Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) and Alitheia Capital (via its uMunthu II Fund in partnership with Goodwell Investments) co-led the equity part of the round. Additionally, Proparco, Newton Partners and VestedWorld Rising Star Fund participated. Sahel Capital’s SEFAA (Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa) Fund, Alpha Mundi Group’s Alpha Jiri Investment Fund and Global Social Impact Investments provided debt financing. “We have been impressed with the progress that Complete Farmer has made in facilitating access to global trade for Ghanaian farmers, as well as introducing them to new crops and sustainable farming practices,” Tamer El-Raghy, the managing director of ARAF, said of the investment. “Complete Farmer’s technology platform and farming protocols enable farmers to access quality inputs, agronomical support and premium markets, resulting in improved yields and income as reported by the farmers themselves.” Complete Farmer describes itself as an end-to-end agricultural marketplace that connects African producers and global industries to competitive markets, resources, data and each other. This platform is a comprehensive one-stop resource that leverages proprietary cultivation protocols for crop production, enabling smallholder and commercial farmers to cultivate commodities that conform to global market specifications, thereby ensuring post-harvest offtake. Since its launch in 2017, the agritech has undergone several iterations before its current state. After graduating as a mechanical engineer, CEO Desmond Koney tried his hands on multiple projects, including a device that converted kitchen organic refuse into methane gas and a vertical farming venture. However, Koney quickly found his footing in agriculture after inheriting his father’s farm, where he discovered several challenges widespread throughout the value chain. “My area of expertise was in production engineering, and I desired to digitize my father’s property. On the call, he stated that this was how Complete Farmer started. “However, this aspiration can be vague, as one must determine what business model works, what the product is, etc. We’ve had to make several adjustments to determine both.” Initially, the company operated as a contractor to cultivate farms on behalf of clients. In 2018, the group launched a crowdfunding platform permitting users to invest in sustainable farms and monitor agricultural activities. The TechCrunch Battlefield Africa’s finalist received approximately $150,000 in pre-seed funding from MEST Africa. It moved forward with its solution until the pandemic, which disrupted the operations of numerous crowdfunding businesses, leading to scalability and payment default issues, struck. Due to these issues, platforms such as Farmcrowdy and Crowdyvest have suspended or ceased operations. It became apparent to Complete Farmer, which started raising a seed round in 2020, that investors were not enthusiastic about agricultural crowdfunding. Consequently, it transitioned to an aggregator and marketplace model, similar to what Thrive Agric, a former crowdfunding platform, now employs with considerable success. The marketplace model integrates the agritech’s experience operating as a contractor and being crowdfunded, Koney said. Complete Farmer realized it could provide customers with the necessary crops by leveraging its relationship with thousands of farmers from earlier platform iterations, he explained. The Accra-based agritech raised $2.2 million for its seed round from investors and accelerators, including Ingressive Capital, EchoVC, Samurai Incubate, Kepple Ventures and Norrsken Accelerator. “We realized there was demand and needed to determine how to satisfy it. “One of the most important insights we gained was that for the majority of the large buyers, such as FMCGs and food processors, there was a specific quality they wanted that most African farmers, who were seeking market access and higher yields, lacked,” the CEO noted. “As farmers, they may know how to cultivate soybeans. However, they wouldn’t know how to obtain the specifications that these large buyers desired, such as oil and protein content. So using a data-driven methodology, we developed cultivation protocols that help smallholder farmers farm more efficiently, produce superior commodities and satisfy market demand.” Complete Farmer provides producers and agricultural commodity purchasers with two primary solutions: CF Grower and CF Buyer. Its farmer-centric product, CF Grower, assists African farmers in optimizing their productivity, gaining access to global markets, and enhancing their living standards through precision farming instruments and data-driven cultivation protocols. CF Buyer, on the other hand, provides global purchasers with dependable and convenient access to commodities grown to their specifications. On the platform, buyers have access to a vast network of qualified producers, can obtain quality-certified items through a streamlined digital process and can monitor the progress of their orders from order to fulfillment transparently, giving them complete control over their procurement process. Khula, Twiga Foods and Farmerline are some of Complete Farmer’s competitors. Growth in terms of users and revenue has been instant following the pivot two years ago. Complete Farmer says it has successfully brought together over 12,000 farmers across five key regions in Ghana. The platform has also overseen the cultivation of over 30,000 acres of land, delivering commodities to Asia, Europe and other parts globally while reducing post-harvest losses. By the end of 2021, the six-year-old agritech, which takes a 30% commission of the profits made per trade between farmers and buyers, raked in an annual revenue of $2.8 million. Meanwhile, it ended 2022 with $5.3 million and is on track to reach $7.5 million this year, according to Koney. New product lines will generate additional revenue streams, which are essential for Complete Farmer to meet its revenue projections. Koney says the agritech is working on an embedded finance product to facilitate direct remittance from buyers to farmers and a vendor platform where farmers can purchase fertilizers and commodities to make their farms more efficient. As the agritech company enters its next growth phase, a portion of the investment will be used to scale these products, forge strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, bolster its team and expand domestic operations. In addition, it plans to use the debt facility to finance both CAPEX and working capital investments, such as expanding its fulfillment centers in Ghana (it currently has eight) and launching new ones in markets such as Togo.	Agriculture
An anti-plastic group has criticised Sainsbury's for swapping its mince out of hard plastic trays into vac packs. The supermarket said the change will see 55% less plastic used, after some customers said it turned the mince to mush and was hard to cook with. Campaign group A Plastic Planet said the vacuum packs will not go in most household recycling collections. Sainsbury's said they could be recycled at stores and customers had to get used to the new look and cook differently. The supermarket announced that it was "the first retailer to vacuum pack all mince, saving 450 tonnes of plastic each year". It is part of its goal to halve its use of plastic packaging of own brand products by 2025. But Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, said: "While there will be a saving in the weight of plastic used, switching to flexible plastics over rigid ones is no more green than changing from a petrol to a diesel vehicle." She said soft or flexible plastics were "almost impossible to recycle, especially where they are food-contaminated". "The old, rigid plastic packaging would at least have gone into recycling, however limited the UK's systems are," she added. "The new vacuum packs will instead be thrown into general waste and end up in incineration." 'Moral responsibility' Sainsbury's head of fresh food, Richard Crampton, told the BBC the UK was behind Europe and the rest of the world on its use and recyclability of flexible plastics. "So it's true you can't pick it up at the kerb yet," he said. He said they had "exactly the same issue" with the film that covered the hard plastic trays the mince used to be packaged in. "It's the same problem but now there's a lot less plastic," Mr Crampton said. "Customers can't impact the packaging that we produce," he said, but added that Sainsbury's took its responsibility for sustainable packaging "super seriously". "It's a moral responsibility as well as corporate responsibility - it's the right thing to do." Environmental campaign group Wrap said plastic bags and wrapping could be recycled at more than 6,000 places across the UK. It has a recycling locator to find your nearest one. 'Mushed off cuts' Some shoppers had posted their dislike of the vac packed mince on social media, and reviews on the Sainsbury's website. One said the meat now resembled "a rectangle of mushed off-cuts" and another "someone's kidney". Mr Crampton said: "It's exactly the same mince... but more compressed... so we do need customers to cook it slightly differently. "It's as straightforward as it just needs more agitation with a wooden spoon to break the product up," he said. The new vac packs have cooking instructions on them. Mr Crampton said Sainsbury's had tested the move with chefs and customers and "didn't get any negative feedback at all" so felt confident to roll it out across all stores. He said the number of complaints they had received were "fractions of less than a per cent" and sales and market share had not changed. Asked if Sainsbury's would consider switching back to the old packaging, he said: "We always listen to customers but at the moment there's no overwhelming data to tell us to not do this." He said vac packed meat was common in the EU and US as well as recipe boxes in the UK, and he would not be surprised if other supermarkets followed suit.	Consumer & Retail
A dad’s huge lottery win means he can finally buy a headstone for his baby son who died six years ago. Adam Scaife pocketed a £35,000 jackpot and the dad is going to use his winnings to buy a headstone for his son who tragically died when he was just four days old. The 48-year-old dad-of-two from Hull lost his son, also called Adam who was twin to his daughter Eve, after they were born prematurely. But despite saving up, he was never able to afford a headstone for the little one before now, but after winning the prize draw from the the People’s Postcode Lottery he can finally do so. He said: "We lost our son, Adam six years ago, who was a twin to our daughter Eve. We haven’t been able to afford to buy him a headstone or anything. "The twins were born three and a half months premature, and Adam passed away after four days, and it was a really difficult time for all of us. We wanted a place that was special, and we have been saving a bit for a memorial but it’s really hard at the moment to actually keep your savings. "But now with this, we can give him a place to rest, because we just couldn’t afford it." The Hull postcode HU3 5FY was announced as the winner and as the dad was given his winnings he shouted “We’re going to Disneyworld!” Due to tough recent economic conditions, Adam hasn’t been able to afford a holiday for his family but said the windfall of cash would allow him to take his kids somewhere special. He said: "We haven’t been able to afford a holiday because our wages go on everything. I’d love to take my kids to Florida, they’ve never really been anywhere, they’ve been to the seaside, but they’ve never been anywhere special. It’s not just the kids, I really to want to go to Disney too." Adam’s wife Dawn has struggled with chronic pain in her back and hips due to complications from the twin’s birth. Adam continued: "It’ll be nice for her to sit down and relax on a beach and not have to worry about anything because she’s an absolutely unbelievable mother, so she needs it," HullLive reported. But that’s not all as the dad also holds ambitions of running his own farm one day and hopes the winning will help make that dream come true. He continued: "I’ve always wanted to live on a farm and help people. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and losing our son made it even more of a goal. "I managed to get an acre of land and two 40-foot containers and some bits and bobs and that was without any money. So, this will help make the farm, named Eden’s farm, a reality." Adam celebrated alongside his next-door neighbour Donna Hall, 45, who also took home £35,000. She’s now on the lookout for a new caravan and making some home improvements with the winnings. Donna said: "It means the world; we can do so much with the money and more. I can get a top-of-the-range caravan. "I can also go to Zanzibar. I’ve wanted to go there since we started going away, me and my partner - the beaches, everything, that’ll be lovely." Postcode Lottery ambassador Judie McCourt said: "A massive congratulations to our six lucky winners in Hull! It was so lovely to meet Adam and Donna and it was amazing to hear what a difference it will make to their lives. "I hope they all enjoy celebrating tonight, spending the cash and have a great time on holiday." People’s Postcode Lottery costs £10 a month to play and participants play with their chosen postcode. Everyday throughout the February draws, one postcode will be announced as a £30,000 prize winner. All the players in the postcode will win £30,000 and an additional £5,000 for a holiday for every ticket they hold.	Consumer & Retail
RISHI Sunak tonight confirmed a mega climbdown on his climate agenda to spare millions of hard-pressed families paying for Net Zero. In a massive victory for the Sun's Give Us A Brake campaign, the 2030 on petrol and diesel car sales is set to be delayed by five years. And the phasing out of gas boilers is also expected to be softened to stop Brits forking out for expensive eco upgrades. The PM said successive governments "have not been honest about costs and trade offs" of going green and vowed to do it in a "better, more proportionate way". In a late-night statement the Tory leader said: "As a first step, I’ll be giving a speech this week to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children.” Tory MPs last night cheered the rethink as "positive news" for Brits already grappling with the cost of living After news of his climbdown was leaked, the PM got on the front foot with a message to voters. He said: “I know people are frustrated with politics and want real change. Our political system rewards short-term decision-making that is holding our country back. "For too many years politicians in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade offs. Instead they have taken the easy way out, saying we can have it all. “This realism doesn’t mean losing our ambition or abandoning our commitments. Far from it. I am proud that Britain is leading the world on climate change. "We are committed to Net Zero by 2050 and the agreements we have made internationally - but doing so in a better, more proportionate way. “Our politics must again put the long-term interests of our country before the short-term political needs of the moment. “No leak will stop me beginning the process of telling the country how and why we need to change.” A huge scaling back will reportedly see him push back both the phasing out of gas boilers and sale of non eco vehicles. Downing Street last night insisted Mr Sunak is committed to hitting Net Zero by 2050 but did not deny plans to curb the existing environmental pledges. In a speech in the coming days Mr Sunak is set to trumpet Britain’s progress while calling out laggard countries who are failing to curb emissions. He is expected to kick back the ban on the sale of new fuel-powered cars from 2030 to 2035, just weeks after saying he would not budge. An aim to completely get rid of gas boilers by 2035 will also be diluted to just 80 per cent of them gone. Most read in The Sun And proposed costly energy efficiency regulations on homes will also be scrapped, while the 2035 ban on off-grid boilers also delayed, according to the BBC. Ministers have been under pressure from Tory MPs to soften their eco drive for fear it will cost them at the next election. Scores have backed The Sun's Give Us A Brake Campaign to spare motorists paying the price of politicians' eco ambitions. A flagship demand is to delay the 2030 ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars until the country is ready. Ex-Cabinet Minister Sir John Redwood last night said delaying the eco pledges would mark a “treble win” for Brits. He told the Sun: “What you do with the petrol and diesel ban is actually increase Co2 emissions because people will just import cars from other countries. “It’s bad for the environment, bad for British industry and bad for families being thumped by the policies. So ditching it would be a treble win. “We simply must not be punishing the wrong people with these policies.” Tory MP Craig Mackinlay told the Sun: "If reports of a delay to the rollout of unrealistic Net Zero measures are to be believed this is positive news for UK consumers. "It will make previous pie in the sky ‘greenwash’ deadlines into something more achievable. "It will give the opportunity for technology to prove itself in the free market rather than being told this or that is to banned, what to buy and when. "We’ll leave those arguments of state control to Labour. This additionally matches with the timetables of competitor countries. I'm pleased to see sensible pragmatism from the PM."	Renewable Energy
Families across the country who are struggling to make ends meet will soon benefit from a cash boost. Two further cost-of-living payments will be paid to claimants before the end of this financial year in April. Temperatures have started to dip this week, which means households will soon be forced to start putting on their heating again. Last year, crippling energy bills saw many having to choose between staying warm or eating. Around eight million people will benefit from a £300 payment this autumn - and then another £299 in the spring of 2024. Added to the £300 given out in April/May, this will mean £900 for low-income individuals and families in receipt of either tax credits or five means-tested DWP benefits including Universal Credit, reports Birmingham Live. Angela Crawley, Scottish National Party MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, has asked if the DWP had assessed the impact of the rise in the cost of living on working families who qualify or do not qualify for Universal Credit. In a written response issued on September 11, Mims Davies, Conservative MP for Mid Sussex and Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions), admitted "no such assessments have been made" specific to Universal Credit recipients but then went on to detail the DWP's response to soaring household costs. Ms Davies said: "The Government understands the pressures people, including parents, are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills." Who qualifies for Cost of Living Payments According to DWP, you may be entitled to up to 3 Cost of Living Payments of £301, £300 and £299 if you get any of the following benefits or tax credits on certain dates: - income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) - income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Income Support - Pension Credit - Universal Credit - Child Tax Credit - Working Tax Credit	Inflation
Bud Light suffered its worst weekly sales drop since the nation’s No. 1 beer brand launched an ill-fated marketing tie-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. For the week ending June 10, Bud Light sales dropped by a whopping 26.8%, according to the latest data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ. That’s wider than the 24.4% drop seen during the prior week — and topped the all-time previous worst plunge of 25.7% during the week ended May 20 — since the beer giant got into bed with Mulvaney on April 1. Anheuser-Busch’s other brands also took a step backwards for the week ended June 10, according to the data. Sales of Budweiser were down 10% compared to a 7.8% decline the previous week, while Natural Light was down 2.3% vs. a 1% decline. Michelob Ultra – the nation’s No. 3 beer — was down 2.4%. “This was a tough week for Bud Light and other beer brands” owned by Anheuser-Busch, said Bump Williams, head of the eponymous consulting firm. The calls for a boycott from conservative corners of the country over the Mulvaney campaign has cost the Belgian-based beer company more than $20 billion. The nation’s No. 2 beer, Modelo Especial, meanwhile saw a 5.7% increase versus a year earlier in the most recent week. In the previous week, it had seen a 12.2% bump from a year earlier. Still, Bud Light remains the No. 1 beer brand and has a “several hundred million-dollar advantage” over Modelo Especial on a year-to-date basis, Williams said. Modelo has been outselling its rival on a weekly basis since May, the data shows, but for Bud Light to be unseated it would require the declines to continue and Modelo’s increases to continue through the end of the year. Williams predicts that it’s “unlikely” Modelo will become Amerca’s No. 1 brand on a 52-week basis. “In some instances the trends for a particular brand may be healthy in some local areas across the country and worse in others,” Williams explained. Though what had started out as a backlash against Bud Light and its sister brands in mostly red states has shifted to blue states, beer experts have noted.	Consumer & Retail
Time is ticking to score deals on spring break flights and hotel reservations, with prices on the rise due to strong demand for getaways. With air fares up about 25% this year compared to 2022, here are ways for savvy travelers to save on booking a trip. Tip one: Be flexible with your travel dates, to the extent that you can. Weekend flights tend to be more popular and more expensive compared to weekday flights. "When you travel is one of the key ways to get a deal. Take traveling in the middle of the week. If you can fly for a week-long vacation Tuesday to Tuesday, or Wednesday to Wednesday, you can save about $100 per ticket on a domestic flight," said Hayley Berg, economist for travel app Hopper. Traveling off peak can save consumers about $150 each way on an international trip, she added. Of course, some families are locked in to school vacation schedules. But workers without kids who have the option of working remotely likely have more leeway when choosing travel dates. Tip two: Look for deals in these destinations Warm-weather destinations are also most popular this time of year, according to Berg. Trips to Central America and destinations in the Caribbean can be pricey, but there are currently deals a plenty to destinations including Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Orlando, Florida, according to Berg. Puerto Rico is also popular among Americans looking to escape cold temperatures, and consumers can secure roundtrip tickets for $300 to $400 this time of year. Tip three: Don't wait any longer to book travel flights and make hotel reservations "It is late. If you haven't booked flights for spring break you should really be looking right now, I would suggest by the end of the weekend," Berg said. Tip four: Shop around Sometimes, online travel agencies offer lower rates, so it can pay to shop around before locking in a flight or hotel. "Do you homework, know where you want to go, if you can be flexible on travel dates, do that," Berg said. "Prices are really only going to increase from now on." for more features.	Consumer & Retail
Intuit announced this in an Oct. 31 post—a Halloween news dump that many Mint users seem to be treating as a trick. "This marks the next evolution of Credit Karma, one that combines the money management product expertise and momentum of Mint with Credit Karma’s scale, technology, and vast product ecosystem,” the post read. An FAQ page says that Mint features like its consolidated view of financial accounts, transaction tracking, spending and cash-flow reports and net-worth estimates will be available at Credit Karma in a new Net Worth section alongside that free service’s credit-management tools. But it also advises that Credit Karma lacks Mint’s budgeting features and may not support some financial institutions to which Mint could connect—without providing a way to check for account compatibility. Ryan Steckler, a vice president and general manager at Credit Karma, provided more details in an email sent by an Intuit publicist: Mint users who opt to switch to Credit Karma will get “the majority of their Mint financial account balances, historical net worth, and three years of transactions." Credit Karma’s financial advice will get more specific than Mint’s promotional recommendations of new financial products; for example, it will suggest which rewards credit cards better fit a user’s spending habits and add “Intuit Assist” AI-sourced tips. Credit Karma already integrates somewhat with Intuit’s TurboTax, which Mint did not. If Mint users don’t want to move to Credit Karma, they’ll have a month to download their data after Mint’s other features stop working on Jan. 1. Mint users noticed the switchover, and started venting their annoyance over it, in Reddit’s r/mintuit forum at least a week ago, but Intuit’s notification rollout still seems exceedingly uneven. For example, as of Thursday afternoon, I’ve yet to see an email from the company to the address on my Mint account or a notice in Mint’s web app about the complete and total shutdown coming in 60 days. “We have phased communications and user migration by design so the product team can ensure a smooth transition for Minters who decide to onboard to Credit Karma,” Steckler said in that email. “You will be notified multiple times via email and within the Mint app, once you can begin moving your financial account data to Credit Karma, if you choose to do so.” Intuit once thought highly enough of Mint to spend $170 million in 2009 to buy the startup that had developed this free, web-based competitor to its Quicken desktop app—after which Intuit shut down its own Quicken Online web app. But Mint then suffered years of neglect that, among other things, left it one of the last sites requiring Adobe’s vulnerability-riddled Flash Player. Intuit’s $7.1 billion purchase of Credit Karma in 2020 seems to have made Mint an even lower priority at the company. Mint saw its last major update in January 2022, the addition of a bill-negotiation feature and a paid tier, and Intuit’s last three quarterly-earnings filings brushed aside that subsidiary: “Revenue and operating results for Mint are not material.” With Mint going the way of such previous money-management tools as pocket calculators, VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3, the personal-finance market offers a variety of alternatives. PCMag’s current Editors’ Choice is Simplifi, a web and mobile app that costs $3.99/month or $28.68/year and comes from an old name—Quicken, which Intuit itself spun out in 2016. The co-founder of another fee-based competitor to Mint—who earlier was Mint’s second product manager—said he’s already seeing Mint refugees signing up. “Mint has been around for over 15 years and many users have a long history with the app, so their frustration is understandable,” emailed Val Agostino, co-founder of Monarch Money. “We’ve seen a massive influx of Mint users at Monarch over the past 24 hours as they scramble to find a solution to manage their personal finances.” Get Our Best Stories! Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. Thanks for signing up! Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!Sign up for other newsletters	Personal Finance & Financial Education
360 One Wam Q2 Results Review - Profitability Inline; Yields On ARR Assets Decline: Motilal Oswal On a closing AUM basis, ARR assets grew 31% YoY to Rs 2.02 trillion. TBR assets increased by 18% YoY to Rs 2.1 trillion BQ Prime’s special research section collates quality and in-depth equity and economy research reports from across India’s top brokerages, asset managers and research agencies. These reports offer BQ Prime’s subscribers an opportunity to expand their understanding of companies, sectors and the economy. Motilal Oswal Report 360 One Wam Ltd. ’s total revenue grew 12% YoY to Rs 4.3 billion in Q2 FY24, in line with our estimate, mainly driven by a 41% QoQ jump in transactional, brokerage revenue income (36% beat) to Rs 1.16 billion. However, annual recurring revenue income fell 4% QoQ to Rs 3.1 billion (10% miss). Total opex grew 19% YoY to ~Rs 2.1 billion (7% beat) as employee costs rose 21% YoY (9% above our estimate). Total ESOP stood at Rs 90 million (up 78% YoY and up 29% QoQ). The cost-to-income ratio rose ~320 basis points YoY to 50.1% (our estimate: 46.6%). 360 One Wam's profit after tax grew 7% YoY to Rs 1.9 billion (broadly in line). For H1 FY24, revenue/PAT grew 10%/12% YoY to Rs 8.3 billion/Rs 3.7 billion. Total assets under management grew 24% YoY to Rs 4.13 trillion as the company continued to focus on scaling up ARR assets. ARR AUM rose 31% YoY at Rs 2 trillion. The board has approved an interim dividend of Rs 4 per share. We broadly maintain our estimates for FY24/FY25. We retain our 'Buy' rating with a one-year target price of Rs 660 (based on 25 times March-25E earnings per share). Click on the attachment to read the full report: DISCLAIMER This report is authored by an external party. BQ Prime does not vouch for the accuracy of its contents nor is responsible for them in any way. The contents of this section do not constitute investment advice. For that you must always consult an expert based on your individual needs. The views expressed in the report are that of the author entity and do not represent the views of BQ Prime. Users have no license to copy, modify, or distribute the content without permission of the Original Owner.	Banking & Finance
Humza Yousaf accepted an invitation to meet controversial bus tycoon Sir Brian Souter last month in a desperate attempt to boost the SNP's floundering coffers. The Stagecoach founder used to bankroll the nationalists when they were led by Alex Salmond but has not donated since he stepped down. This was a common occurrence for the SNP since Nicola Sturgeon took over as First Minister as big donations from business people dried up, leaving the party reliant on dead supporters and their membership. Analysis of their accounts shows that they have received just one donation worth £50,000 or more from a living person in the last five years. Instead, the nationalists prided themselves on being funded by their massive membership numbers, which did hit over 100,000 a few years ago. However, this figure has plummeted to about 74,000 over the last couple of years despite the SNP attempting to cover this up through false briefings to the press. It means they could be facing major financial issues, especially with an expensive general election being on the horizon. They had to be loaned £107,000 by former chief executive Peter Murrell in 2021 to help with "cashflow issues" following the Holyrood election. Mr Yousaf is hoping that he can become more popular with tycoons and business people than his predecessor who was labelled "incompetent" by one former big donor. Figures from the Electoral Commission revealed that during Mr Salmond's seven and a half years as First Minister, he helped to take in more than £8.2m from supportive individuals and companies. That is double the £4.1m raised by Ms Sturgeon during her eight year tenure. It is this poor financial outlook that has led her replacement to accept Mr Souter's offer of attending a prayer breakfast as a guest of his in June. Politico reports that Mr Yousaf joined him at the annual Christian gathering. This was something never undertaken by Ms Sturgeon but some of her government ministers did attend. Mr Salmond's closeness to the bus tycoon did court controversy due to the latter's socially conservative views, which included campaigning to keep the Section 28 clause which forbade local authorities from "intentionally promoting homosexuality" He previously gave more than £2.5m to the SNP between 2007 and the independence referendum in 2014 but stopped donating once Ms Sturgeon took over. Her struggles to rule Scotland was also named as another reason why one former big donor stopped handing cash to the nationalists. Speaking anonymously to Politico, the donor who once handed over more than £150,000 to the SNP, said they had not donated in more than a decade as they were “disappointed with the performance of the Scottish government.” They added: "There has been an awful lot of incompetence. Nicola was basically a decent person, but she centralised everything too much and she lacked imagination." An SNP spokesperson said that “unlike the Westminster parties, the people-powered SNP relies on our members’ donations for the vast majority of our income. As the Tory-made cost of living crisis deepens, it’s understandable that some people have less disposable income to spare but we remain confident of returning to surplus in this year’s accounts." Never miss the latest top headlines from the Scottish Daily Express. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.	Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising
Rishi Sunak is to unveil a major package of measures on Monday to slash record levels of net migration, including a big increase in the salary threshold for foreign workers. The Prime Minister has bowed to pressure from Cabinet ministers and MPs for a significant rise in the minimum salary required for a foreign skilled worker to come to Britain from its current level of £26,200. It is understood the new figure will be £38,000 a year – higher than the £35,000 proposed by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, which is also the current median salary. The move goes far further than anticipated and effectively revives the pre-Brexit immigration system, under which skilled foreign workers largely required degrees. Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, claimed Mr Sunak agreed to a £40,000 salary threshold as part of a deal to secure her support during the second Tory leadership election. She and Mr Jenrick are understood to have pushed for a figure of up to £45,000. One senior Whitehall source familiar with the scale of the announcements told The Telegraph: “People will be surprised at how strong a package it is.” Mr Sunak is also believed to have accepted further proposals demanded by MPs on the Right of the Conservative Party, who have claimed the surge in net migration since Brexit has amounted to a betrayal of the party’s election pledge to voters. Net migration hit 745,000 in the year to last December, three times its pre-Brexit level of around 240,000,blowing a hole in the Tories’ 2019 manifesto commitment to reduce overall levels of migration. It is understood that the number of dependants that social care workers are allowed to bring into Britain will also be scaled back. Home Office figures showed that visas granted to foreign health and social care workers more than doubled to 143,990 in the year to September. Those migrants brought in a total of 173,896 dependants. The total number of NHS and social care visas may also be limited, as proposed by Mr Jenrick under a five-point plan to reduce net migration. The fifth proposal is expected to increase the minimum £18,600 income required for a British citizen to bring a spouse or dependant into the UK on a family visa. There will also be an overhaul of the shortage occupation list, under which companies can pay foreign workers in shortage areas 20 per cent below the going rate. Sources said it would be “widely scrubbed”, with a high bar set for any exceptions. There had been concerns that ending the exemption for care workers could worsen severe shortages in the care sector. The Prime Minister’s decision to sign off a substantial set of measures reflects in part the political pressure he is facing on net migration. Lord Cameron promised to bring annual net migration down into the tens of thousands when he was party leader. It formed part of the platform on which the Tories came to power in the 2010 general election. But the figure has remained stubbornly high and has soared in the wake of Brexit, which was voted for in June 2016 and took effect in January 2020. The revised statistics, released last month, which revealed that net migration peaked at 745,000 in the year to last December – more than seven times Lord Cameron’s initial promise – prompted calls for action from Tory MPs. Some called the new net migration figures “completely unacceptable” and demanded tough new measures to reduce numbers. Mr Sunak has previously put much of his focus on illegal migration, making a vow to “stop the boats” one of the five central promises for his premiership. The relaunch of Rwanda deportation flights, via a new treaty and new legislation, is also expected to be unveiled this week. James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, is expected to fly to Kigali on Monday evening to sign the treaty. Tory election strategists see migration as a key battle line with Labour, which continues to lead the Conservatives in opinion polls by around 20 percentage points. The next general election must be held by January 2025, but is widely expected to take place next autumn.	United Kingdom Business & Economics
Supermarket executives will be questioned by MPs on Tuesday over why food prices are still rising as some wholesale costs are falling. The UK's biggest grocers - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - will face a parliamentary committee examining the cost of a weekly shop. The price of goods continues to grow but not as steeply as in recent months, according to the latest figures. Food inflation reached 14.6% in June the British Retail Consortium said. That is down from 15.4%% in the year to May. British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "If the current situation continues, food inflation should drop to single digits later this year." However, food prices remain a key reason why the overall rate of inflation in the UK remains stubbornly high. And with many hard-pressed households also facing rising rents or mortgage costs, there is pressure on the supermarkets to defend the high cost of shopping. On Tuesday, MPs will grill senior supermarket bosses about food and fuel price inflation, asking if prices will come down this year. Politicians, trades unionists and the governor of the Bank of England have all questioned why prices on supermarket shelves have not fallen as rapidly as the cost of some ingredients such as wheat. They have suggested that retailers may be failing to pass on savings and are banking the profit instead. The Competition and Markets Authority is examining the issue. Supermarkets deny they are profiteering from high prices and claim their profits are being squeezed. The grocers say they are cutting prices where they can, arguing falls in commodity prices take time to filter through to the consumer. Most of the big chains have recently introduced high profile price cuts to staples, with Sainsbury's on Monday the latest to announce it was investing Â£15m to reduce the cost of basics such as rice, pasta and chicken. Tesco, Morrisons, M&S, Aldi and Lidl have all reduced prices on basic foods such as bread, milk and butter in the past few months. However, some items such as milk and eggs remain relatively expensive compared to pre-Covid prices. "These latest price cuts will help reassure customers that we will continue to pass on savings as soon as we see the wholesale price of food fall," said Rhian Bartlett, food commercial director at Sainsbury's, and one of the executives due to appear before MPs on Tuesday. As well as pointing to recent price cuts, the executives are likely to tell the committee that not all commodities have been falling in price, said Ged Futter, a retail analyst and former senior buying manager at Asda. "Yes, prices have come down for some things, but other things have gone up like sugar, potatoes [and] chocolate," he said. Wheat, which has fallen in price on global markets, is largely supplied from UK growers, and food manufacturers will still be buying last year's crop at last year's prices, Mr Futter said. "They won't get a new price until they get into a new contract. Just because prices have gone down globally that doesn't mean the price here goes down immediately," he said. Similarly, cheese sold today has been made with milk bought up to 12 months ago, so won't reflect recent falls in milk prices, he said. Jamie Keeble, co-founder of sausage and burger maker Heck which supplies most of the major supermarkets, told the BBC's Today programme that the price of pork was expected to remain high for the next 18 months. He said the only way supermarkets could lower their prices was by asking suppliers to cut costs, but he added: "We're certainly not in the position to start giving cost decreases on our products. "At the end of the day, [the supermarkets] are going to have to take a cut in their margins if they really want to lower the prices on the shelf, that's the only way to do it." The British Retail Consortium has previously said there is typically a three- to nine-month lag for price falls to be reflected in shops. Mr Futter thinks supermarket executives will point to other costs affecting food retail, from rising wages to the added charges related to Brexit, such as veterinary certificates. A study by academics at the London School of Economics last month found nearly a third of food price inflation since 2019 was due to Brexit. How is the price of food changing your diet? You can share your experiences by emailing [email protected]. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:	Inflation
It informed that the company has received notices from NSE and BSE on November 21, 2023, regarding non-compliance with the provision of Regulation 17(1) of the SEBI (LODR) for not having a requisite number of independent directors (including one woman independent director) on the Board during the quarter ended September 30, 2023. The Bombay Stock Exchange, BSE logo sits on display outside the exchange building in Mumbai, India. (Source: Vijay Sartape/BQ Prime) Leading exchanges BSE and NSE have imposed a fine of Rs 5,42,800 each on state-owned Power Grid Corporation for not having the required number of independent directors, including one woman. Leading exchanges BSE and NSE have imposed a fine of Rs 5,42,800 each on state-owned Power Grid Corporation for not having the required number of independent directors, including one woman. The NSE and BSE have imposed a fine of Rs 5,42,800 for non-compliance, Power Grid Corporation said in a regulatory filing said. It informed that the company has received notices from NSE and BSE on November 21, 2023, regarding non-compliance with the provision of Regulation 17(1) of the SEBI (LODR) for not having a requisite number of independent directors (including one woman independent director) on the Board during the quarter ended September 30, 2023. The company said that in response to the notices, it has requested NSE and BSE to grant a waiver of the fine with regard to non-compliance of Regulation 17(1) of the Sebi (LODR), Regulations, 2015. Powergrid, being a government company within the meaning of Section 2(45) of the Companies Act, 2013, the power to appoint functional/Official Part-time Directors/non-official Part-time Directors (Independent Directors) vests with the President of India, it explained. The said non-compliance of Regulation 17(1) of the SEBI (LODR), Regulations, 2015, for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, was not a lapse on the part of the company, it pointed out. The matter has been regularly taken up with the administrative ministry -- the Ministry of Power for filling up the vacant posts of Independent Directors (including one woman Independent Director), it stated.	Stocks Trading & Speculation
Government Reduces Subsidized Rate Of Tomatoes To Rs 80/kg, With Immediate Effect In Delhi-NCR New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) The Centre will sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg from Sunday, as against Rs 90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets. The Centre will sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg from Sunday, as against Rs 90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets. On Friday, the Centre started to sell tomatoes at a discounted rate of Rs 90 per kg in Delhi-NCR through mobile vans. More cities were added on Saturday. 'There has been a decrease in the wholesale prices of tomatoes due to the intervention of the government to sell it at a concessional rate of Rs 90 per kg, at several locations in the country where the prices were ruling exceptionally high,' an official statement said. 'After a re-assessment of the situation from across 500 plus points in the country, it has been decided to sell it at Rs 80 per kg from today, Sunday, July 16th, 2023,' it added. Sales have started on Sunday at several points in Delhi, Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Arrah through cooperatives NAFED and NCCF, the statement said. The sale of tomatoes at discounted price will be expanded to more cities from Monday depending upon the prevailing market prices at such locations. 'The government of India is committed to provide relief to the consumers,' the statement said. The National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) are selling tomatoes on behalf of the Centre through mobile vans. As per the data compiled by the Department of Consumer Affairs, the average all-India retail price of tomatoes was ruling at Rs 116.86 per kg on Saturday, while the maximum rate was Rs 250 per kg and the minimum was Rs 25 per kg. Modal price of tomatoes was Rs 100 per kg. Among metros, tomatoes were ruling at Rs 178 per kg in Delhi, followed by Rs 150 per kg in Mumbai, and Rs 132 per kg in Chennai. The maximum price of Rs 250 per kg was in Hapur. Tomato prices normally shoot up during July-August and October-November periods, which are generally lean production months. Supply disruption caused due to the monsoon has led to a sharp rise in the rates. Speaking to PTI, NCCF Managing Director Anice Joseph Chandra said tomatoes are being procured from Madanapalli, Andhra Pradesh, Kolar, Karnataka and Sanganeri, Maharashtra. The NCCF has already sold 35,000 kg of tomatoes in the last two days. It expects to sell 20,000 kg in Delhi-NCR on Sunday, 15,000 kg in Varanasi, 10,000 kg each in Lucknow and Kanpur, she said. Joseph Chandra said, 'Further reduction in the price to Rs 80 per kg will further cool down the prices in the coming days. We will continue to intervene till the price stabilizes.'	Inflation
A recent survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), found that 36 percent of respondents said they have little or no confidence in financial security after retirement. That data point, too, is creeping up; A year ago, 27 percent of workers lacked retirement confidence. Transamerica research found that only 17 percent of Generation X workers are “very confident” of a comfortable retirement. The oldest people in that cohort are nearing age 60. The summer of 2023 might seem an odd moment for Americans to feel short of retirement funds. Nearly three-quarters of all 401(k) money sits in stocks, and the stock market is booming, although this week has been rocky. But the full story of American retirement planning is more complicated. One big reason workers are worrying about retirement is inflation, which surged in 2021 and 2022 after many years of relatively flat prices. “How to make the dollars and cents of retirement work is a constant balancing act for those who are retired and Americans hoping to reach that milestone one day,” said Clifford Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs. Census data also shows more than two-fifths of baby boomers in the 55-64 age group have no retirement savings. Many work for small companies that don’t offer retirement savings, or work for themselves, or lack the income to put money away. The Hill’s Daniel De Visé digs further here.	Personal Finance & Financial Education

Subsets and Splits

List Unique Topics

Simple retrieval of unique topics from the dataset, useful for basic exploration but lacks deeper insights.