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The government should pause its sale of land acquired for phase 2 of HS2 for up to three years, its independent adviser on infrastructure has told BBC News.
Sir John Armitt warned there was a "real risk" that its plans would make rail travel between Birmingham and Manchester "even more congested".
Rishi Sunak recently announced he was axing the HS2 link to Manchester and selling off properties purchased.
The government said it was delivering "transport that matters most".
The opposition has accused the government of "salting the earth" and "sabotage" of a project that had enjoyed a decade-and-a-half of cross-party support.
In its recent announcement on HS2, the government revealed a plan to quickly sell off properties that had been purchased to make way for the extended line.
Sir John, who is the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, said that the decision to sell property was a "mistake" and that options should be kept open.
"I think it's a mistake. I think that the land should be kept for at least two or three years to give the opportunity for people to revisit that and look at what can be done within that space and find a more cost-effective solution, not write it off today," he said.
"I am disappointed because I think it's what we often describe as a sort of knee-jerk, snap reaction."
He urged the government to "pause" on that and have "a proper consideration about how best we can connect Birmingham and Manchester and give us that improved capacity that we still need".
Specifically, Sir John said that a full evaluation of the government's proposal - known as Network North - to spend the funding on a range of alternative local projects should be made, as the government no longer had a proper integrated rail plan.
"We had an integrated plan a few weeks ago, we've now lost that. There are a number of projects, some of which already existed, some new ones. Let's get those properly turned into a well-thought-through, integrated plan for the future," he said.
Earlier this month, the Department for Transport permanent secretary wrote to MPs saying that the benefit-cost ratio of HS2 was now "significantly below" one.
This means the £45bn plus of public money spent on Pphase 1 will generate significantly less in economic benefits. It will effectively lose money for every pound spent.
There is no way that the project as it has now crystallised, a stump of a line between London and Birmingham, would have been commissioned.
The project has delivered the most expensive bits - tunnels and viaducts in straight lines through parts of London and the South - and failed to deliver the actual benefits, of extra capacity and connections to and within the North.
The government has said the "strategic case for HS2" to help rebalance the economy "no longer applies". There are now less than half the trains originally envisaged to travel on the half-finished line.
The only way the decision to finish phase 1 was made to add up was by, essentially, writing off the costs so far as "sunk costs", and include both the benefits and costs to the taxpayer of the link to Euston.
The government has already reallocated the public spending on Euston to Network North's projects in the south.
Sir John said that it was "absolutely vital" the HS2 link to Euston was delivered, with public money if necessary.
A government spokesperson said: "Delivering high-quality infrastructure is the foundation of our future growth.
"Our Network North plan will deliver the transport that matters most to people, and we're adopting a fairer and more pragmatic approach to meeting net zero that supports households and families to make greener choices whilst easing the burdens on working people.
"We are delivering over £600bn of planned public sector investment in infrastructure, R&D and defence over the next five years, including an unprecedented package to improve connections in our city regions and billions to decarbonise buildings." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
How Subrata Roy Built (And Lost) His Sahara Empire
Subrata Roy's life is a living 'rags to riches' story of a man who rose from humble beginnings to head a conglomerate of chit-fund companies which dominated the non-banking financial sector in the country for nearly three decades.
While it is common knowledge that he formed Sahara on his own in 1978 and took it to the skies in the years that followed, very few know that he began his career with a tiny silver-testing laboratory close to a friend’s silver jewellery shop in Gorakhpur’s Gol Ghar area. What he would earn from each test was a sum of Rs 5 together with 5 grams of silver. There was no other source of earning for a diploma-holder from ITI.
His efforts to start a business with a bank loan did not bear fruit. And since the income from the silver lab was not enough to run the Roy household with a wife and mother, he continued to look for a job with a regular income. That search brought him managership in a Sahara India company run by a Jaggi family. Jaggi was caught in a COFEPOSA (foreign currency) case, following which the company was inherited by Roy, who took it to unfathomed heights.
There can be no dispute about his claim of providing banking facilities to a large population which had no access to banking. Yet, there can also be no denying that he also designed his schemes in a manner that reflected his passion for selling dreams to those who rarely live beyond their dreams.
What could be more appealing to a person than being promised to double or triple the investment being made by him over a relatively short period of time? Even though it would beat all financial logic for someone who understands the basics of economics or banking, the dream shown by the company lent hope to the poor and illiterate, for whom earning anything beyond what comes out of their daily drudgery is unthinkable.
A peek into different chit-fund schemes launched by Sahara clearly demonstrates how the simple villagefolk get lured to pitch in their hard-earned savings in the hope of multiplying them on a magical fast track.
What happened on the ground took things to yet another dimension. For instance, when he launched his most popular 'Golden Key' scheme way back in the late 80s and early 90s, it promised three times the multiplication of the deposit over a period of three years. By the company’s own admission at the time, the scheme was a huge draw and attracted a record number of depositors, mostly drawn from the economically weaker section in the urban towns or from the daily-wage earners in the vast rural expanse.
When it was maturity time for the depositors, they were told to plough 50% of the proceeds back into the same or another scheme of the company. As such, it was a trap from which there was no escape for the poor depositor. But as time went by and the trick got exposed, there were some protests, only to be silenced—thanks to Roy’s clout that cut across political parties as well as the bureaucracy of the day.
Eventually, the scheme was closed, though not without giving birth to another attractively designed plan with such high-sounding incentives that humble and innocent depositors would not be able to say ‘no’.
One such scheme that roped in yet another record number of depositors was a daily deposit plan of small amounts as low as Rs 10. I remember Roy himself telling me in an informal chat how the scheme had drawn as many as one crore depositors across the country. "You people might be making mockery of deposits of Rs 10 a day, but you fail to fathom its implication at the macro level," he said proudly.
“Besides the fact that this is providing a platform for the poorest of the poor to invest and make a fortune for themselves even with their minuscule savings, what you need to understand is its magnitude,” he sought to point out. What he went on to add was absolutely astounding and would give anyone goosebumps: “Just imagine, a petty deposit of Rs 10 a day by one crore people amounts to Rs 10 crore a day, which makes it Rs 300 crore a month and Rs 3,650 crore a year".
On closer scrutiny, what one discovered spoke volumes about how this scheme swelled into a money-spinner for Roy. With petty pavement shopkeepers or farm labourers as his depositors, he appointed agents who would collect the daily amount from their doorstep. The three-year scheme promised double the amount at maturity, which was too lucrative for all and sundry. However, what many depositors said was that after about 18 months or so, the practice of daily collection from one’s doorstep was discontinued. Instead, they were asked to make their daily deposit themselves at the nearest Sahara branch that would invariably not be less than a few kilometres from their homes.
For a variety of reasons, this change in the daily collection would often lead to defaults by depositors. Once the defaults went beyond a certain point, the money deposited was liable to be forfeited under the terms of the scheme. It was found that not many defaulters were able to retrieve their money.
What happened later was even more revealing and left the depositor at the receiving end. Yet another scheme was launched in which a deposit of Rs 16,000 promised a consolidated return of Rs 1 lakh after a period of five years. Villages across several districts of the poverty-ridden ‘purvanchal’ region are still overflowing with people fishing out Rs 16,000 deposit certificates. But the company’s offices have consistently refused to honour these deposits by terming them "fake".
Evidently, the bulk of such depositors neither have the capacity nor capability to get their grievance redressed by the authorities concerned, who rarely respond to complaints against an all-powerful Sahara India.
Thanks to SEBI, which eventually intervened to take up the cause of these poor depositors, followed by serious cognizance by the Supreme Court, Roy was made to face legal consequences that also led to a two-year incarceration in Tihar jail.
However, even that did not provide ultimate succour to the much-harried, harassed and deprived depositor, who is still left wondering whether he would ever realise the dreams that he was made to buy.
Sharat Pradhan is a Lucknow-based veteran journalist and political analyst. He has tracked Sahara Group since its early days.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team. | India Business & Economics |
The Ministry of Defence's plan for new weapons has a budget "blackhole" of £16.9bn, according to the public spending watchdog.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said the MoD's 10-year programme until 2033 was unaffordable and the projected deficit the biggest since 2012, when the plan was first published.
It puts the estimated costs at £305.5bn against a budget of £288.6bn.
Last's year 10-year estimate was under budget by £2.6bn.
The NAO said plans had become unaffordable due to forecast costs increasing 27% (£65.7bn) since the last report, outpacing a 19% (£46.3bn) budget increase.
Inflation is set to add £11bn to the bill, said the watchdog, while nuclear and naval plans are estimated to now cost £54.6bn more - the biggest increase.
None of the six "top-level budgets" - which cover the likes of the RAF, the Army and Royal Navy - are said to be affordable.
The NAO said plans for vessels including Type 83 destroyers, Type 32 frigates and surveillance ships are now unaffordable by £5.9bn against current budgets.
NA0 chief Gareth Davies called it a "marked deterioration" compared with the previous plan.
He said the MoD needed to give a "reliable assessment of the affordability of its equipment programme" and show parliament "how it will manage its funding to deliver equipment projects".
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Labour's Dame Meg Hillier, said she was "concerned about the risk to the UK" that the deficit represents.
She said the estimated deficit did not even include "all likely cost pressures".
"The Conservatives are failing British troops and British taxpayers," added shadow defence secretary John Healey
"Major defence decisions are now delayed until after the next election, and ministers have no plan to control defence budgets.
"With war in Europe and a Middle East conflict, this risks leaving our armed forces without the equipment and troops they need to fight and fulfil our NATO obligations."
Read more:
'Fearless' UK soldier, 32, 'killed' while off duty in Kenya
Unexploded bomb detonated after decades as ornament
However, the MoD said the report was based on a "dated snapshot" from April.
"Whilst this report recognises the significant impact global headwinds and high inflation has had on UK defence, it does not and could not accurately reflect the current or future state of the armed forces equipment plan," said a spokesman.
He said spending was increasing significantly and that "decades long underinvestment" in certain areas was being rectified.
"The defence secretary is currently leading work to ensure the armed forces have the next generation equipment they need to defend Britain and maintain a strategic advantage," he added.
The MoD remains committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP "as soon as economic and fiscal conditions allow," the spokesman said. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
The Federal Reserve will spend $931.4 million to print bills in 2023 — but there's a problem with U.S. cash.
"We haven't modernized or changed our currency. That's probably a mistake," Aaron Klein, senior fellow of economic studies at Brookings Institute, told CNBC. "We should have dollar coins instead of paper notes."
Physical currency has been updated around the world but not in the U.S., and while an increasing number of Americans are ditching cash for electronic payments, experts say cash isn't going away.
"The rest of the world has moved toward basically polymer notes, which are a form of plastic which lasts something like four times as long as the old paper notes," said Douglas Mudd, curator and director of the American Numismatic Association.
In 2017, the $100 bill surpassed the $1 bill as the most popular currency denomination. Some speculate that the rise in $100 bills in circulation may be to avoid taxes or for illegal activity.
"The $100 comes from the U.S. currency being a global currency. And a lot of those hundreds are outside the country and they're being used for store of value," said Franklin Noll, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Payments Specialist.
Accessibility has also determined what bills and coins get circulated in the U.S. The $2 bill is rarely seen, yet it remains in circulation. Meanwhile, bills such as the $500, $1,000 and $5,000 were discontinued in 1969 because they were rarely spent.
"The $2 bill has lost its place in everyday usage more than anything else, because … it was left out of the vending machine market. For denominations like the $2 bill or the half dollar coin, because there was no space made in the actual cash registers, they became less popular and less used. … In the 1960s, the half dollar lost its place because it wasn't included in the use of parking meters," said Mudd.
Watch the video to find out more about U.S. currency. | Inflation |
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Welcome back to Chain Reaction.
Looking at the first half of 2023, funding for crypto startups continued to grow more scarce. In Q2, venture capital flowing into the industry dropped for the fifth consecutive quarter since Q1 2022 to $2.34 billion globally as investors withheld their checkbooks, fearing risks from a severe regulatory stance and an uncertain economy.
The second quarter’s $2.34 billion tally was raised across 382 deals, according to PitchBook data, but it’s a stark decline from the $12.14 billion peak the industry hit in the first quarter of 2022. The biggest raises during Q2 2023 were LayerZero’s $120 million Series B round and Worldcoin’s $115 million Series C round.
“It’s a numbers game,” said Lydia Chiu, VP of business development at Ava Labs. In general, investors are seeing lower valuations, so they’re writing “smaller checks,” she told TechCrunch+.
Regardless, it appears the old venture adage “Great companies can always raise” seems to apply to crypto, too, regardless of how the U.S. regulatory system feels about the sector. A lot of projects that have “superstar teams and amazing use cases will always be competitive,” Chiu said. “Deals that everyone wants will continue to be wanted.”
“It’s been a long time of this bear market, and psychologically, it’s not easy,” said Lasse Clausen, founding partner at early-stage crypto investing firm 1kx. “We’re left with entrepreneurs who want to build whether they raise money or not. There’s not a lot of people like that, going against the odds and taking risks.”
But in the long term, Clausen believes the sheer determination of those few founders will pay off.
The latest pod
For last week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Jack Lu, co-founder and CEO of NFT marketplace Magic Eden. This is his second time on Chain Reaction, but the market has evolved a lot since the last time he came on in August 2022, so we’re excited to have him back!
Before co-founding Magic Eden in 2021, Lu worked as a product manager at Google and a consultant for Boston Consulting Group.
Magic Eden originally began as a Solana-based NFT trading platform, but has expanded its support to other blockchain networks like Polygon, Ethereum and Bitcoin. Today, it has grown into one of the largest NFT marketplaces with more than 8,000 collections, about $3 billion in NFT transactions and 22 million unique monthly visitors. In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Series B round that granted it unicorn status.
We discussed why Magic Eden expanded its support to other blockchains, adding BRC-20 token support to its secondary platform and how the company plans on staying competitive in the constantly changing market.
We also talked about:
- NFT market volatility
- Royalty fees
- Web3 gaming expansion
- Advice for NFT community
Follow the money
- CryptoQuant raised $6.5 million in a Series A round
- Privacy-focused platform Ola raised $3 million in a seed round
- Mind Network raised $2.5 million to help secure data, smart contracts and AI for web3
- DeFi protocol AlloyX raised $2 million in a pre-seed round
- Outdid raised $2.5 million in a seed round to improve privacy verification
This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as TechCrunch’s own reporting.
Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto news, memes and more. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
The Sam Bankman-Fried trial gained steam after a somewhat sleepier first half of the day. That’s when prosecutors and the defense asked a witness and former FTX developer about the technical details of the crypto exchange as well as Alameda Research.
But that changed around 4 p.m. when FTX co-founder and CTO Gary Wang took the stand, wearing a wrinkled suit. Prior to Wang taking the stand, there was a 15-minute break during which Bankman-Fried looked visibly irritated.
Bankman-Fried’s parents were also there. During the break, they went to their son seemingly in an effort to provide support. At one point his father, Joseph Bankman, patted his mother, Barbara Fried, on the back, said something and laughed. She didn’t laugh back but continued to look away toward her son.
On the stand, Wang admitted that he committed wire fraud, securities fraud and commodities fraud. He added that Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh and Caroline Ellison were the individuals he committed the crimes with.
Wang, Singh and Ellison pleaded guilty in late December 2022 as part of a deal to cooperate with the government and testify during this trial.
Wang said that they were given “special privileges from Alameda Research,” the crypto trading firm that he said he and Bankman-Fried started prior to launching FTX. Those privileges included getting large lines of credit, unlimited withdrawals and being able to have negative balances. Wang said that the “unlimited funds” came from FTX customers; a special code was added to customer transactions that funneled the money to Alameda.
He shared during his testimony that he was in charge of writing and reviewing code. And while Bankman-Fried did not write the code, Wang said Bankman-Fried did tell him and other developers what to implement. “Sometimes we talked [disagreements] out, but in the end, it’s Sam’s decision,” Wang said.
Negative balances, unlimited withdrawals
Because of these special privileges, Alameda had a $65 billion line of credit, Wang said. “Normal large businesses have single to double digits [of credit] in the millions.” By the time the two businesses filed for bankruptcy in mid November 2022, Alameda withdrew $8 billion, Wang said.
These internal financial advantages were not disclosed to the public, he shared.
Alameda and FTX were both started by Bankman-Fried and Wang, with ownership split 90% and 10%, and then 17% equity and 65% equity, respectively. Singh also had 5% equity of FTX, and a number of outside investors held other positions, Wang noted.
The ownership percentages never changed, he added. At the time, both Wang and Bankman-Fried were billionaires.
During his time at the companies, Wang also disclosed that Alameda “loaned” him around $200 million to $300 million. But the money never went to his bank account, and it instead went to investments that FTX made into other companies.
Naming the business
The company also picked its name to outsmart other businesses, which might have negative connotations toward companies with crypto jargon in their titles. “Alameda” derived from Alameda County in California and “Research,” was because it “sounds prestigious” and is not using a crypto-related name, Wang said.
The initial funds for Alameda came from Bankman-Fried personally as well as various lenders. Wang said Bankman-Fried also believed it would be easier to get bank accounts, rental leases, investors and so on, with a more “normal” company name.
The prosecutors aired a clip of Bankman-Fried from April 2021 on a podcast, where he explained Alameda’s name. “If we named our company Shitcoin Day Trader’s Inc., no one would do business [with us],” he said at the time.
Wang’s testimony is expected to continue on Friday morning until midday, according to prosecutors at the trial. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
World Bank Approves $ 150 Million For Sri Lanka’s Banking Sector Stabilisation
The Financial Sector Safety Net Project is designed to boost the financial and institutional capacity of the Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance Scheme (SLDIS), which is managed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The World Bank has approved $ 150 million to strengthen Sri Lanka's financial and institutional sectors, the Central Bank of the debt-trapped island nation said here on Friday.
“Sri Lanka’s economic crisis highlights the need for strong safety nets to support the financial sector. Stable and reliable banking sector is essential for the economy, businesses and individuals, small businesses and poor households,” Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka was quoted as saying in the Bank’s statement.
The World Bank Executive Board approved the $ 150 million assistance on Thursday.
“Strengthening the Deposit Insurance Scheme will help protect the savings of smaller depositors, including women and people living in rural areas. It will also sustain the confidence in Sri Lanka’s financial system, a critical part of building the country back better,” he said.
The Financial Sector Safety Net Project is designed to boost the financial and institutional capacity of the Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance Scheme (SLDIS), which is managed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The SLDIS was established in 2010 and has conducted several payouts for failed licensed finance companies in recent years.
“Currently, the SLDIS guarantees the deposits of households and enterprises up to LKR 1,100,000, which covers more than 90 per cent of deposit accounts in Sri Lanka”.
On October 31, representatives from major global money lending agencies in a meeting with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe observed that the economy of the island nation has shown initial signs of stabilisation but a “rapid and sufficiently deep external debt restructuring” remains essential for regaining a sustainable growth path.
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka has a total foreign debt of $ 46.9 billion.
As Sri Lanka awaits the release of the second tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout package, Wickremesinghe on November 3 said servicing external credit with interest to win the confidence of creditors will be the focus of the budget for 2024.
The budget is to be presented in Parliament by Wickremesinghe, who is also the Minister of Finance, on November 13.
Sri Lanka was hit by its worst economic crisis in history in 2022 when its foreign exchange reserves fell to a critical low and the public came out on the streets to protest the shortage of fuel, fertilisers and essential commodities. | Asia Business & Economics |
Sam Bankman-Fried may be headed to prison but the story of FTX is far from over. Indeed, like an evil spirit, the exchange seems destined to haunt the crypto community for the rest of its days.
Not only has the company’s downfall shattered faith in what was once the most trusted institution in the industry, but its epic implosion continues to shake faith in the most basic tenets of the web3 philosophy. Another example of this presented itself Friday when, only hours after SBF was remanded to the custody of the state, Bloomberg News reported that FTX advisers had been surrendering large amounts of user data to the FBI. If you know anything about the crypto community, it should be clear what a huge betrayal this is. Crypto fans obviously like their privacy, and FTX once promised to keep its customers identities, data, and assets safe. Now, it can be said that—in addition to “losing” (read: stealing) billions of dollars in customer funds—the platform has also proceeded to position itself as an informer for the federal government. This turn of events has to be a bit of a bummer for the droves of anarcho-libertarians who thought platforms like SBF’s might one day usher in an age of decentralized and anonymized exchange that cut government out of the picture completely.
Per Bloomberg, the company has surrendered customer transaction data to at least five separate FBI field offices over the past several months. It’s unclear exactly why FTX has been been sharing this data. The requests have largely been to the exchange’s cloud provider, Amazon, for information pertaining to specific customer transactions as well as device IDs. A court filing reviewed by Bloomberg shows that, in at least one case, the FBI subpoenaed FTX for information relating to a Grand Jury in Philadelphia.
RIP crypto privacy. You can mark that down as yet another promise that the industry hasn’t managed to keep to its customers. It certainly won’t be the last.
In my opinion, SBF’s conviction seems to mark the end of something: the era of crypto idealism. Once upon a time web3 proponents talked zealously of their products’ potential to change the world. You don’t hear so much about that anymore. Indeed, with FTX in tatters and its former leader headed up the river, is it too much to ask that we all just quit this bonkers industry altogether?
At the very least, web3 fans must be feeling burned right now. Before his downfall, Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the most well-connected and powerful executives in the tech industry and, for a time, FTX was considered the most trusted exchange in crypto. The company even tried to position itself as the “savior” of its ailing industry by offering lines of credit to other, struggling businesses. During its heyday, countless celebrities appeared in advertisements for the exchange, and its executives donated liberally to politicians across the U.S. political spectrum, reportedly in the hopes of currying regulatory leniency. All of that credibility evaporated last November, when the exchange abruptly filed for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried stepped down as top executive. Not long afterward, it became apparent that billions in crypto assets were MIA.
In the pandemonium that followed the exchange’s collapse, questions loomed about how so much money could be missing or why a business with such clout had suddenly become insolvent. The answer eventually turned out to be: because FTX was an insane company that operated less like an actual business than a money-crazed pirate ship. Indeed, since it filed for bankruptcy, a steady stream of reports from the company’s restructuring team have alleged rampant criminal activity and corporate incompetence, painting an almost farcical picture of misconduct on an epic scale.
But, frankly, the company’s downfall really shouldn’t be that surprising. There were plenty of red flags in the lead up to its collapse—perhaps the biggest one being that FTX was...you know, a crypto company. At this point, how many platforms have promised the moon to investors, pumped up their stocks with FOMO, then swindled customers before flaming out in a blaze of glory? I’m not keeping an official tally or anything, but it sorta seems like it’s a lot of them.
I’d also like to submit for consideration the premise that the cult of the crypto leader should be sent into permanent cultural exile along with SBF. Bankman-Fried was once portrayed by top media outlets as an eccentric but brilliant businessman, crypto’s Steve Jobs with weird hair. It’s obvious now how irresponsible that was. After his arrest and throughout the monthlong trial, his lawyers had to pivot his image slightly—taking it from crypto’s “boy king” to that of a humble “math nerd,” one who was simply out of his element in running a profitable, fast-growing company. Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, presented another, potentially simpler explanation of his character: that he, like other crypto criminals before him, was just a greedy liar who invented byzantine schemes to steal billions of dollars in customer funds. Now crypto’s former golden boy is stuck behind bars, waiting to hear how long it’ll be until he can get out and remake his image yet again, potentially this time to do the whole bad boy “pharma bro” rehabilitation thing.
You’d certainly hope that the story of FTX would permanently disabuse web3's most ardent supporters of the many delusions that have surrounded the industry. But that’s probably not going to be the case. In the immortal words of George W. Bush, “Ya fool me, we can’t get fooled again.” If only he were right. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
More than 700,000 households in Great Britain have missed out on £300m worth of support for energy bills, according to BBC analysis of government figures.
These are households in places such as park homes and houseboats who did not have an energy supplier to apply a one-off £400 payment automatically.
The government said in February that more than 900,000 such households were eligible.
But only about 200,000 applications were made before the 31 May deadline.
The government announced last year that all households would get £400 taken off their energy bill over winter. For households who pay their bills by direct debit, the support was given through monthly payments from October to March.
However, for those with non-conventional energy set-ups the government launched the £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding earlier this year.
BBC Verify analysis of data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero shows that of the more than 200,000 applications made under the scheme:
- almost 125,000 had already been paid by the beginning of June
- nearly 6,000 had been approved but not yet paid
- almost 13,000 were on hold or being validated by local councils
- around 60,000 were rejected or cancelled.
Matt Cole from the charity, the Fuel Bank Foundation, said it was disappointing that so many people had missed out and believed it was down to a number of factors.
"The launch of the scheme in spring this year rather before winter when it was needed most, the reliance on families self-identifying that they were eligible rather than them automatically receiving it, and the somewhat complex process to claim help will all have contributed."
The government said it had spent more than £50m "supporting 130,000 households without a domestic energy supplier".
This data suggests just over £300m of the possible £360m in Great Britain had not been claimed before the deadline.
People who thought they were eligible needed to apply on the government website or call a helpline, which is what Mark, who lives on his narrowboat, did.
"A lot of people [on canal boats] tried to put an application through for claiming for it [but] we hit a barrier when it said: 'Do you live in a marina or are you off grid?'
"The minute you clicked 'off grid' you went through to a box that said 'you are not eligible at this time'."
Mark uses three and a half bags of coal for his multi-fuel stove each week in winter. He had been paying around £9 per bag but last winter the price nearly doubled.
"[The £400 payment] would've been a great help. That money's had to come from somewhere so it's had to come out of the rest of my budgeting or my savings.
"It would've made my winter a bit easier, maybe I could have spent a bit more money on the grandkids."
A government spokesperson said: "We spent billions to protect families when prices rose over winter, covering nearly half a typical household's energy bill.
"We're now seeing costs fall even further with wholesale energy prices down by over two thirds since their peak.
"We are urging councils to process applications and complete final checks as quickly as possible to ensure all those eligible receive the support they need."
The government said anyone who did not apply before the deadline should visit its Help for Households page.
Carol lives on a park home site south east of Runcorn. She says the application process was simple, but she was forced to apply three or four times because she kept getting rejected.
"We got refused, I don't know how many times. I kept going, I wouldn't give up. Because I thought, 'Why should I give up?' I've worked all my life, I've paid into the system.
"[The £400] was very important because 99.9% of people on these sites are all retired and a lot of them only have a basic pension, or maybe a bit of a top-up pension.
"But it's not going very far because food's gone up, petrol's gone up, so the £400 was absolutely a godsend."
Park homes were the largest single group seeking the £400 support, with 47,400 households out of the 203,580 who applied.
Tenants in private accommodation had the highest rejection and cancellation rates, with 47% of applications from this group being stopped. Applications were rejected if people had already received support, made a duplicate application or were not eligible.
The Office for National Statistics estimated that about 137,000 care home residents in England pay for some or all of their care, and these were eligible to apply for the support.
There were just under 22,000 applications from households in care homes across Great Britain.
In a similar scheme for Northern Ireland, 28,000 households were eligible for £600 worth of support, totalling around £16.8m.
There were just over 8,000 applications in Northern Ireland from those without a domestic electricity supply, with just over 4,000 already paid by 1 June 2023 and 160 awaiting payment.
Of the rest, just over 2,700 were cancelled or rejected and just over 1,000 were still being worked on. This means almost 23,000 Northern Ireland households may have missed out on an estimated £13.6m.
You can hear more on this story on the Money Box podcast.
Here are some energy saving ideas from environmental scientist Angela Terry, who set up One Home, a social enterprise that shares green, money-saving tips:
- Get a water-efficient shower head free of charge from your water company and use showers rather than baths
- Consider loft insulation, which she says costs around £460 for a typical semi-detached home and could save £355 a year on gas bills
- Hang out washing instead of using a tumble dryer
- Use windy days to feel where draughts are in the house. Wetting the back of your hand helps to locate them, then use insulation or draught-proofing tape | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
- Michael Flynn's family kept money donated to his legal fund, according to new court documents.
- Filings from CNN revealed testimony by Flynn's sister, Barbara Flynn Redgate.
- Flynn's wife, Lori, and sister-in-law, Valerie, are suing CNN and accusing the network of defamation.
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's family fundraised for his legal defense fund from QAnon supporters and then kept the extra money once his lawyers were paid off, according to new court filings unsealed in a defamation case.
The court documents — filed by CNN as part of a defamation lawsuit brought by Flynn's wife, Lori, and sister-in-law, Valerie, against the network — cite deposition by Flynn's sister, Barbara Flynn Redgate, who was a trustee of Flynn's legal fund.
Semafor first reported on the unsealed documents.
Lori and Valerie Flynn allege that in 2021 CNN defamed them by airing a clip it said was of Flynn taking an "oath" connected to the QAnon conspiracy theory while his family members stand beside him with their right hands raised.
The unsealed court documents were part of CNN's attempt to have the defamation case tossed.
Flynn Redgate, who oversaw donations to Flynn's legal fund, agreed in testimony that she "didn't mind taking money from people who [used QAnon] hashtags" as long as they were "directing [people] to the legal defense fund," the court documents state.
"Barbara testified that, once legal fees were paid, the Flynns themselves received the remainder of the funds," the filing from CNN says.
Flynn is a retired US Army lieutenant general and Donald Trump ally who briefly served as the president's national security adviser and later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017.
The retired general and his family began garnering donations in 2017 while Flynn was facing a federal investigation over the 2016 election.
The Flynn family ultimately pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fund, according to Semafor.
Jared Roberts, an attorney representing the Flynn family members, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In a comment to Semafor, Roberts said CNN has "resorted to inappropriate mischaracterization of deposition testimony and the facts."
"We do not intend to fight this case in the media and we will make our response according to the scheduling order of the court and in our opposition brief," Roberts told the outlet.
Representatives for CNN did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The CNN report at the center of the suit primarily focused on a QAnon conference, but also featured the aforementioned clip of the apparent "oath."
Flynn's brother and another sister-in-law are also suing CNN in a separate case still pending in New York federal court, according to Semafor.
In the court filings, CNN alleges that Flynn and his family leaned into the conspiracy theorist community and used them for fundraising.
When a QAnon post in June 2020 shared the oath, the network noted in the filing, that Michael Flynn changed his Twitter profile to include the hashtag "TakeTheOath."
In a recording of a phone call between Flynn and GOP lawyer Lin Wood released in 2021, Flynn said he believed QAnon is "total nonsense," and baselessly claimed that the pro-Trump conspiracy theory is a disinformation campaign created by the CIA.
Flynn also sat for a sworn deposition in his family's case against CNN, documents show, but his deposition remains sealed. | Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising |
Over and over during Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial, lawyers showed pictures of the FTX founder living his best life. There he was at the Super Bowl flanked by Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom. There he was on a private jet, sleeping with his hands folded. There he was onstage, in shorts and a T-shirt, with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. The very traits that made him a cause célèbre in Silicon Valley—his intellect, his obsession with scale, his story—turned into liabilities. This evening, after deliberating for just a few hours, a jury found him guilty of all seven charges he faced, including counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering and securities fraud.
Bankman-Fried’s charges together carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, is set to determine his sentence in March. Outside the courthouse this evening, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, told reporters that “this kind of corruption is as old as time.” Mark S. Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, said in a statement, “We respect the jury’s decision. But we are very disappointed with the result. Mr. Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him.” He will likely appeal.
It’s a stunning turnaround for a man who sold a narrative that led his company, FTX, to be worth billions of dollars just one year ago. Stories undergird Silicon Valley, and Bankman-Fried was savvy enough to parlay his into what was, for a time, a wildly successful business. As a tech founder, “SBF” was straight out of central casting: unkempt, pedigreed, awkward in a way that has come to be a sign of brilliance. He replicated what investors, and the public, believed a founder should look like. But crucial to his narrative was the idea that he was a good guy, funneling his riches into causes such as effective altruism that he believed would make the world a better place.
Tech welcomes big characters, and many successful founders become synonymous with their brands. In the “founder friendly” tech ecosystem, leaders tend to remain at the helm of their companies for many years—think of Mark Zuckerberg, who has been the CEO of Meta (previously Facebook) since its founding, or Jeff Bezos, who reigned as Amazon’s CEO for 27 years. Investors give money to ideas they believe in, but also to people they feel confident can lead. In this way, the story of a founder and the story of a company become intertwined.
Indeed, investors saw big potential in Bankman-Fried. Influential firms, including New Enterprise Associates, Softbank, Sequoia Capital, and BlackRock, collectively put $2 billion into FTX. Investors enthusiastically backed his company—and him. “I LOVE THIS FOUNDER,” a Sequoia partner wrote before the firm invested $214 million. (Sequoia swiftly wrote down its investment to zero dollars.) The fact that so many tech companies go years without turning a profit makes storytelling all the more crucial, Adrian Daub, a Stanford professor and the author of What Tech Calls Thinking, told me. The longer any company is not making money and running on fumes, the more important the stories a founder can tell investors become. A key dimension of Silicon Valley storytelling is the narrative of inevitability. Founders push the idea that they will become so big that the rules of the game will change for them, Daub said.
Storytelling, beyond its function for founders pitching investors, is useful for founders trying to sell their products to a public that may be baffled by what a new piece of technology means. Companies pitching products such as crypto rely on narratives to make tangible what is abstract. Founders have multiple audiences for their stories: investors, regulators, the public. To all three, Bankman-Fried was charming, in his way, and consistent. You can trust me, he seemed to say, I’m a nerd.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with an ambitious founder painting a vivid, optimistic picture of what their company can one day achieve. But in an industry that rewards explosive growth, founders may face more incentives to pump up the potential of their products than to make reasonable claims. (Remember Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos? Or Juicero?) Telling stories is one thing. Telling lies, as the jury determined Bankman-Fried did, is another. The incentive structures of Silicon Valley—and the huge sums that can be gained from selling stories rather than functional products—mean that the door remains open for other people to follow in his tracks. As long as “there’s a certain kind of company that requires this kind of storytelling,” Daub said, “and a certain kind of investor that needs that kind of company as a vehicle, there’s going to be another one.”
One unintended outcome of this fiasco, according to Margaret O’Mara, a historian at the University of Washington and the author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America, may be that founders shy away from getting involved in politics and philanthropy. (SBF, after all, pledged “north of $100 million” to defeat Donald Trump in 2024.) This scandal—and the intense amount of vitriol raining down on a founder who twisted idealism into fraud—might lead Silicon Valley’s power brokers to say, “This is what happens when we don’t stick to building,” O’Mara told me.
Tech investors still have a lot of money to invest, of course. Now that the crypto boom is over, they have set their sights on generative AI—a technology that may be better defined than crypto but still has plenty of skeptics. Sam Altman, the controversial CEO of OpenAI, is an excellent spokesperson for his company, O’Mara said. He has already appeared in Washington to present to lawmakers his version of the story of AI—one in which the technology is careening toward world-ending potential. “If history is any indication,” O’Mara said, investors and founders “will go full steam ahead.” | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
NEW YORK -- Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott's first open call for grants yielded 6,353 applications from nonprofits — meaning candidates have at least a 4% chance of being selected for a $1 million grant.
Lever for Change, the nonprofit overseeing the application process, said Wednesday that the applications came from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The 250 winners will be announced in early 2024.
Scott has shaken up philanthropic giving since 2019, dropping large, unrestricted and unexpected donations on nonprofits when she began giving away the fortune she came into after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. She has donated more than $14 billion in unrestricted funds to 1,600 nonprofit organizations. Scott is currently worth more than $36 billion, according to Forbes.
In March, her organization, Yield Giving, announced it was soliciting grant applications for the first time. Until then, Scott and her team of advisors made grants by selecting and vetting organizations on their own. This open call created the first pathway to apply, but also created pressure on fundraisers and nonprofits to finally win some of her support.
Melanie Lambert has worked in nonprofit fundraising since 2007 and now runs her own grant writing consulting business from Georgia. She expressed some dismay that the application was limited to organizations with budgets between $1 million and $5 million.
“That really eliminates a lot of those organizations that that million-dollar gift would be transformational for,” she said.
The National Council of Nonprofits estimated in a 2019 report that about 5% of nonprofits, or some 45,000 organizations, have budgets in that range.
Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, said when the open call was first announced that they were looking for organizations that were already “making a meaningful difference in people’s lives."
The new potential funding comes at a time when nonprofits are coping with inflation and feel pressured to replace government funding that came during the pandemic, much of which has ended or will soon, Lambert said. Last month, Giving USA reported that charitable donations dropped in 2022 for only the fourth time in four decades.
Those funding pressures and Scott's high profile explain some of the rush to apply, though other organizations decided not to wade into the fray.
Danielle Gletow, founder and executive director at One Simple Wish, a nonprofit connecting donors with foster children who have specific requests, said she evaluated the application and decided that it was aimed for organizations that were led by members of the community that they serve.
“The tricky part when we say we want to be an ally is in doing things that are a little bit uncomfortable and against what you would normally do,” she said, adding her organization obviously would love to speak with Scott and get her support. "I feel like part of doing this right is sometimes saying, ‘This is my time to just sit it out.’”
Lambert had similar discussions with some of her clients, who also questioned whether the competitiveness of the application meant that it was worth the resources and effort to apply.
“It makes me feel like it’s my responsibility to be realistic with the nonprofits that are interested in it, particularly because they’re going to be paying me money to do this,” she said.
Lambert also wondered how Lever for Change would manage to evaluate so many applications within the timeframe that they've set.
Applicants themselves will help by reviewing other applications according to a set of criteria provided by Lever for Change. As many as 1,000 of the top applications will then be evaluated by a panel of reviewers. Scott and her team will then award grants to 250 organizations in the spring of 2024.
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This story has been corrected to show that philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and her team will select the recipients of the $250 million in grants.
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. | Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising |
Rishi Sunak has urged cash-strapped Britons to “hold our nerve” with interest rate hikes as he stressed “there is no alternative” to stamping out inflation.
The Prime Minister said “inflation is the enemy” as he defended the Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates to a 15-year high last week, piling pressure on mortgage-holders.
The central bank issued its 13th interest rate hike in a row, this time by half a percentage point from 4.5% to 5% in the sharpest increase since February.
Surprising economists who had been expecting a smaller hike of 0.25 percentage points, the move brought rates to the highest level in nearly 15 years.
The increase aims to reduce inflation, which measures the rate of rising prices and remained at 8.7% in May despite efforts to tame it.
The rates hike left mortgage-holders bracing for a big jump in their monthly repayments.
Mr Sunak told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “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.”
Asked if there is another way than raising interest rates, the Prime Minister said: “There is no alternative to stamping out inflation.
“I get that this is challenging, but we’ve got to stick to the course.
“I want people to be reassured that we’ve got to hold our nerve, stick to the plan and we will get through this.”
Treasury minister John Glen noted there “isn’t a single quick lever” the Government can pull to tackle inflation.
“There isn’t one single thing I can do sat in Whitehall that’s going to resolve this in one month,” He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last week agreed measures with banks aimed at cooling the mortgage crisis, including allowing borrowers to extend the term of their mortgages or move to an interest-only plan temporarily.
He also said the regulator has told banks that savings rates should be rising, and is “closely monitoring” the issue.
Labour has pushed the Government to intervene to ensure that banks pass on interest rate rises to savers, Lisa Nandy said.
“It can’t be right the banks are passing on interest rate rises to mortgage payers, and not to savers,” the shadow communities secretary told Sky.
“If you make it more attractive for people to save, then it does have a significant effect in cooling inflation.”
The Liberal Democrats said Mr Sunak should help people rather than telling them to be calm amid the dire economic situation.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Struggling homeowners will be rightly furious after watching an out-of-touch Prime Minister who has no idea of the pain caused by rising mortgage rates.
“Rishi Sunak’s patronising advice to struggling families coping with the cost-of-living crisis shows why he is not up to the job.
“People need help, not a Prime Minister instructing them to hold their nerve.” | Interest Rates |
- Investors have piled into short-term U.S. government bonds in a bid to wait out the upheaval caused by a blowout in longer-term yields, according to Lindsay Rosner of Goldman Sachs.
- An auction this week of 52-week Treasury bills at a 5.19% rate was 3.2 times oversubscribed, its highest demand of the year, Rosner said.
- "They're saying, 'I'm now being afforded a lot more yield in the very front end of the curve in government paper'," Rosner told CNBC in a phone interview, referring to 1-year T-bills.
An auction this week of 52-week Treasury bills at a 5.19% rate was 3.2 times oversubscribed, its highest demand of the year, said Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector investing at Goldman Sachs asset and wealth management.
"They're saying, 'I'm now being afforded a lot more yield in the very front end of the curve in government paper'," Rosner told CNBC in a phone interview, referring to 1-year T-bills. "That is really where you're seeing investors flock."
The trade is a key way that institutions and wealthy investors are adjusting to the surge in long-term interest rates that have roiled markets lately. The 10-year Treasury yield has been climbing for weeks, reaching a 16-year high of 4.89% Friday after the September jobs report showed that employers were still hiring aggressively. Investors poured more than $1 trillion into new T-bills last quarter, according to Bloomberg.
The playbook, according to Rosner, takes advantage of the presumption that interest rates will be higher for longer than markets had expected earlier this year. If that sentiment holds true, longer-duration Treasuries like the 10-year should offer better yields next year as the yield curve steepens, she said.
"You get to collect a 5% coupon for the next year," she said. "Then, in a year, you may have opportunities [in longer-duration Treasuries] at greater than 5% in government securities or potentially in [corporate bonds] that are now properly priced.
"You could then get a double-digit yield, but be confident about valuation, unlike now," she added.
While 10-year Treasuries have crashed in recent weeks, other fixed income instruments including investment-grade and high-yield bonds haven't fully reflected the change in rate assumptions, according to Rosner. That makes them a bad deal for the moment, but could create opportunities down the road.
The upheaval that's punished holders of longer-dated Treasuries in recent weeks has professional managers reducing the average duration of their portfolios, according to Ben Emons, head of fixed income at NewEdge Wealth.
"Treasury bills are in high demand," he said. "Anyone out there who needs to manage duration in their portfolio, you do that with the 1-year T bill. That's what BlackRock is doing, it's what I'm doing." | Bonds Trading & Speculation |
- Employees report that building savings for an emergency and paying monthly bills are just as stressful as — if not more stressful than — saving enough for retirement, according to a new workplace survey.
- Passage of the Secure 2.0 legislation last year gives employers more flexibility in their benefit plans.
- Companies are looking at financial wellness benefits more holistically, with some offering emergency savings and student loan repayment plans.
Concerns about high inflation and a possible recession have not only affected the financial lives of many American workers — they're also now changing the type of workplace perks that employees say they'd value most.
Some employers are taking notice and expanding their offerings.
More from Personal Finance:
Here's the inflation breakdown for September 2023 — in one chart
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Lawmakers take aim at credit card debt, interest rates, fees
Employees report that building savings for an emergency and paying monthly bills are just as stressful as — if not more stressful than — saving enough for retirement, according to the 2023 Workplace Wellness Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
This is the first time in four years of the EBRI survey that saving for retirement is not the primary financial stress factor for employees.
For years, employers' financial benefits mostly focused on offering robust workplace retirement plans.
Yet, when asked where they would put an extra $600 provided by an employer, workers in the EBRI survey said they would spread it out — putting $192 toward funding retirement, $171 to emergency savings and $89 toward a health savings account, followed by paid time off, college savings and paying down college debt.
About 42% of employees want to be automatically enrolled in an emergency savings account through their employer, according to research from the Bipartisan Policy Center. However, just 10% of employers offered these benefits in 2022, according to human resources consulting firm Buck.
Yet those numbers may increase as employers recognize the upsides for the worker and the workplace.
"When you do need that money for an emergency, you're not taking a withdrawal from your 401(k) plan, you're not missing a student loan payment, you're not getting evicted, you're not having your water shut off, so that you can actually come to work without having to worry about all of that," said Chantel Sheaks, vice president of retirement policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Starting next year, as much as 3% of an employee's paycheck can be automatically placed in an emergency savings account, up to a total of $2,500. Employees can then withdraw the money up to four times a year with no fees.
The law, which goes into effect in 2024, also includes provisions for matching 401(k) contributions based on employees' student loan payments.
"Employers used to be all about just talking about the wage, and I would say they spend about equal time now talking about those other things that are keeping their employees from being productive," said Amy Friedrich, president of benefits and protection with Principal Financial Group, which works with more than 145,000 small and midsized businesses across retirement and employee benefits.
Many employers are also now meeting worker requests for financial planning resources, from credit card and other debt counseling to financial coaching, to help them establish a budget and financial plan.
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Pat Jopson is 100 years old and widowed, her family live on the other side of the country.
She is one of the 25% of adults in the UK who experience loneliness.
The government is launching a £29million package to tackle loneliness across England.
The "Know Your Neighbourhood Fund" is designed to widen participation in volunteering in 27 disadvantaged areas across England.
Lyndsey Stark's job is in HR but has volunteered with Age UK for the past six years.
She was matched to Pat and visits her once a week at her flat in north London to keep her company.
"Pat says it gives her something to look forward to which is really nice, she says every Tuesday there's something to focus on and somebody to talk to and really listen.
"It's amazing to think some people have nobody all day and perhaps sit in day-in and day-out and can't get out of the house."
While loneliness is often associated with old age, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest young people feel particularly isolated.
Read more:
People on mental health waiting lists cautioned not to turn to chatbots
Rise in number of children needing help for serious mental health problems
According to ONS data, 36% of 16 to 29-year-olds say they experience loneliness "often, always or some of the time".
For those over the age of 70, it is 16%.
People with disabilities are also more likely to struggle with loneliness.
While community groups and charities may welcome the government's new fund, not everyone is convinced that recruiting more volunteers will tackle the underlying issues which come with loneliness.
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Neil Shah, the Director of the Stress Management Society, said: "Until we can start looking at chronic loneliness as part of the mental health spectrum, we're going to find that this may put provision in place, and these initiatives may reach some people, but it may not tackle the underlying issue.
"Also, people are highly unlikely to put their hand up and ask for support until it's already too late."
The Know Your Neighbourhood Fund will run until March 2025.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is hoping for long-term results.
It said: "A key focus of the programme will be to generate and share learning on how people in disadvantaged areas can be supported to volunteer and improve their social connections, which will help to support sustained action beyond the lifetime of the fund." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Rishi Sunak has delayed a ban on new petrol and diesel cars in a major change to the government's approach to achieving net zero by 2050.
The prime minister announced exemptions and delays to several key green policies, alongside a 50% increase in cash incentives to replace gas boilers.
The government could not impose "unacceptable costs" linked to reducing emissions on British families, he said.
Mr Sunak denied he was "watering down" the government's net zero commitments.
There has been criticism of the changes from Labour, business leaders and from within Mr Sunak's own party. But many Conservative MPs have come out in favour Mr Sunak's new direction, alongside some in the car industry.
The changes come as Mr Sunak seeks to create dividing lines with opposition parties ahead of a general election, expected next year.
Framing the changes as "pragmatic and proportionate", the prime minister has unpicked several of Boris Johnson's key policies, many of them launched when Mr Sunak was serving as chancellor.
And the political choices outlined in his speech preview more announcements later this autumn, as Mr Sunak promised he would set out "a series of long term decisions".
In a speech from Downing Street on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said moving too fast on green policies "risks losing the consent of the British people".
Among the key changes announced were:
A five-year delay in the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, meaning a requirement for all new cars to be "zero emission" will not come into force until 2035
A nine-year delay in the ban on new fossil fuel heating for off-gas-grid homes to 2035
Raising the Boiler Upgrade Grant by 50% to £7,500 to help households who want to replace their gas boilers
The ban on the sale of new gas boilers in 2035 remains, but the government will introduce new exemption for poorer households
Scrapping the requirement on landlords to ensure all rental properties had a Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of grade C or higher, from 2025.
The announcement was brought forward after plans to change the proposals were revealed by the BBC.
Mr Sunak ran the changes past a hastily-organised Cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning.
Responding to the statement, Labour unequivocally committed itself to keeping the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.
Without the ban the UK will miss its target "for a fully carbon free economy by 2050", shadow environment secretary Steve Reed said.
Mr Reed said the prime minster had "sold out the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century" for Britain "to lead the world in transition to well-paid secured new jobs of the green economy".
Mr Sunak also announced he would be "scrapping" a range of proposals which had been "thrown up" by the debate, including hiking up air fares to discourage foreign holidays and taxes on meat consumption - proposals that were not government policy.
Announcing the policies, Mr Sunak said the country needs "sensible green leadership", saying that without transparency and "honest debate" on the impact of green policies there would be a "backlash" against net zero.
"That's why we have to do things differently," he said.
Billions of pounds has already been invested across multiple industries, including car makers and energy firms, in preparation of the previous deadlines.
Korean carmaker Kia, which has plans to launch nine new electric vehicles over the next few years, said the announcement was disappointing as it "alters complex supply chain negotiations and product planning, whilst potentially contributing to consumer and industry confusion".
The CEO of E.On energy, Chris Norbury, said watering down net zero plans was a "mis-step on many levels."
"We risk condemning people to many more years of living in cold and draughty homes that are expensive to heat, in cities clogged with dirty air from fossil fuels, missing out on the economic regeneration this ambition brings," Mr Norbury said.
Jaguar Land Rover, which announced hundreds of new jobs in the West Midlands a few days ago, welcomed the change, calling it "pragmatic" and adding that it brings the UK in line with other nations.
"Pragmatic" was also how Toyota described the changes.
Wise or wobbly
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused Mr Sunak of being "selfish" and said the changes "epitomise his weakness".
"The prime minister's legacy will be the hobbling of our country's future economy as he ran scared from the right wing of his own party," he said.
The UK was now "at the back of the queue as the rest of the world races to embrace the industries of tomorrow", Sir Ed added.
But the shift in policy has gained support from some within Mr Sunak's party.
Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg backed the changes, telling the BBC: "The problem with net zero and having regulations coming in so quickly was that it was a scheme of the elite on the backs of the least well off."
Mr Sunak is instead "going with the grain of the nation and moving for 'intelligent net zero' by 2050 but not putting in costly bans in the next few years."
The BBC's Chris Mason says Mr Sunak and his advisers will hope that beyond the criticism, many voters might quietly conclude he is on to something and being reasonable.
Mr Sunak's proposals are dividing his party, Parliament, and many in the country, but the PM will be looking at Labour's lead in the opinion polls and concluding he has no choice but to gamble. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Protean eGov Technologies IPO Subscription: Day 2 Live Updates
The IPO has been subscribed 1.59 times, as of 11:03 a.m. on Tuesday.
Protean eGov Technologies Ltd.'s initial public offering will open on Nov. 6, and close on Nov. 8. The IPO was subscribed 1.07 times on day 1
The IT-enabled solutions provider is offering 61.9 lakh shares via an offer for sale only.
The selling shareholders comprise 360 One Special Opportunities Fund, HDFC Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG, Union Bank of India, NSE Investments and Unit Trust of India.
Protean eGov Technologies Ltd. has raised Rs 143.5 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial public offering.
The IT-enabled solutions provider allotted 18.12 lakh shares at Rs 792 apiece to 18 anchor investors.
The marquee investors include SBI Life Insurance Co., Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Co., Baroda BNP Paribas Fund, Unifi Capital-backed BCAD Fund, and ACM Global Fund, all of which subscribed to 14.43% each, among others.
Two domestic mutual funds have applied through a total of nine schemes, the company said in an exchange filing. They have collectively netted 21.4% of the anchor portion of Rs 30.7 crore.
IPO Details
Issue opens: Nov. 6.
Issue closes: Nov. 8.
Fresh issue size: Not applicable.
Offer for sale size: Rs 72.3 crore.
Total issue size: Rs 490 crore.
Price band: Rs 752-792 per share.
Lot size: 18 shares.
Face value: Rs 10 per share.
Listing: BSE.
The company has not undertaken any pre-IPO placement.
The shareholding pattern does not change for the company after the offer.
Business
Protean eGov Technologies was originally set up as a depository in 1995 and created a systemically important national infrastructure for capital markets. The company operates in the e-governance sector and has so far managed 19 projects across seven ministries, to establish public digital infrastructure.
Some of their key interventions include modernising digital tax infrastructure with PAN issuance, and projects like Tax Information Networking and Online Tax Accounting Systems. They also created tech infrastructure as a Central Recordkeeping Agency for the Atal Pension Yojana.
The company has also supported open digital building blocks, such as Open Network for Digital Commerce, for use cases across e-commerce, mobility, healthcare, agriculture, and education.
Subscription Status: Day 2
The IPO has been subscribed 1.59 times, as of 11:03 a.m. on Tuesday.
Institutional investors: 0.01 times
Non-institutional investors: 2.45 times
Retail investors: 2.21 times
Employee Reserved: 0.47 times or 47% | Stocks Trading & Speculation |
- Banks and businesses are reaching a boiling point over swipe fees, which are charged every time a credit card is used to make a purchase.
- This year, swipe fees will drive up the price of school and college supplies by more than $3 billion, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
- Electronic transactions are also essential.
Total back-to-school spending is expected to reach a record $41.5 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
related investing news
The so-called swipe fees, which companies such as Visa or Mastercard charge businesses every time a credit card is used to make a purchase, could drive up the price of school and college supplies by more than $3 billion this year, the Merchants Payments Coalition said Thursday.
"Swipe fees are astronomically high and make everything more expensive," said Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores and an executive committee member at the Merchants Payments Coalition.
Swipe fees — also known as interchange fees — have more than doubled over the past decade and jumped $22 billion to a record $160.7 billion last year. When the National Retail Federation first started tracking swipe fees collected by Visa and Mastercard in 2001, they amounted to roughly $20 billion.
"That's a lot of money," Kantor said. "Bankers skimming off the top of every transaction.
"They've made themselves an involuntary equity partner with every Main Street business," he added.
Banks and card companies charge the merchant about 2% of the transaction, on average, every time a credit card is used to make a purchase. Now, with margins strained, retailers are passing most, if not all, of that cost on to consumers.
But with each credit card transaction comes benefits for businesses, such as higher sales, a larger customer base, fraud protection and guaranteed payment, according to the Electronic Payments Coalition.
"Electronic payments are four times cheaper to process than cash," said Aaron Stetter, the Electronic Payments Coalition's executive director. "According to big-box retailers' own consultants, credit and debit card payments will save them over $7.5 billion on back-to-school shopping this year."
However, most of the value is "happening behind the scenes," he added. "You don't necessarily see it at the front end."
"Merchants love to hate them," said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. "But I would argue that credit cards lead to more spending and it's shortsighted when companies make it harder to use a credit card."
There are advantages for consumers, as well. Swipe fees largely fund credit card rewards, he added. There are some grocery rewards cards that can earn you as much as 6% back at supermarkets, while a generic cash-back card will earn you 2%.
"There's a lot to be said about the value of rewards," he said. "I would be wary of biting the hand that feeds you." | Banking & Finance |
A record number of people are getting help from family members to enable them to buy a house, a study suggests.
Financial support from the "Bank of Family" is expected to help with 318,400 property purchases this year, according to Legal & General (L&G).
Some 47% of all homes bought by those under the age of 55 will have been done so with the help of parents, grandparents or other relations.
But L&G said those without such support risk being "locked out" of the market.
The financial services group has been tracking support from families for homebuying for the past seven years, and it said that in 2023 more people than ever are relying on relatives' help for a deposit.
L&G used to refer to the support as the "Bank of Mum and Dad", but has changed this to the "Bank of Family" as it said the term more accurately reflects the contributions from other relatives, such as grandparents, and the diversity of modern families.
It found that the average amount given by families to loved ones is expected to hit £25,600 this year, with total lending set to reach £8.1bn. In 2016, when it first carried out the research, total lending was £5.3bn.
Separate research from Hamptons estate agents and Skipton Building Society suggests that brothers and sisters are also becoming an increasingly important source of funding.
It found that of the family members contributing to first-time buyer deposits, siblings made up a record 11%, more than double the 5% share seen five years ago. On average they donated £10,250.
L&G said that house prices have been growing at a much faster pace than wages, and with the cost of living crisis and rising interest rates, it is becoming increasingly hard to buy a property without family support.
"Whilst the majority are mums and dads helping out, also grandparents, aunts and uncles and even friends of the family are helping out as well... in ever increasing amounts of generosity," Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, told the BBC's Today programme.
However, he added that while nearly half of those buying a house under the age of 55 are doing it with family help, "the flip side of that means that if you're not, if your family isn't in a position to support you, it becomes that much more difficult to get on the property ladder".
Mr Hickman also said that families were also giving much more non-financial support, such as allowing adult children to live at home rent-free while they save for a deposit.
One-in-five of those surveyed by L&G said that without family support, they would have to delay their home purchase by more than five years, while one-in-10 said they would not be able to buy a home at all.
"Family wealth is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for homeownership, effectively locking some groups out of the housing market for years while they save for deposits, or even altogether," said Mr Hickman.
The research found that the scale of support from family members varied between regions. In London, more than two-thirds received help in buying their homes, with an average contribution of £30,200. The only area with a higher level of help was in the East of England where the average was £32,100.
By contrast, the lowest average amount from families was in the East Midlands, at £20,000, and West Midlands it was £19,800.
Recent housing surveys have indicated that house prices have been falling in recent months.
Last week, the Halifax said that a typical home in the UK cost 6.7 times average annual earnings of a full-time worker. That was down from a record 7.3 times a year ago.
While this could be good news for first-time buyers, a typical home is still less affordable than it was near the start of the pandemic, and rising interest rates mean mortgages are taking up a bigger chunk of incomes.
What happens if I miss a mortgage payment?
- If you miss two or more months' repayments you are officially in arrears
- Your lender must then treat you fairly by considering any requests about changing how you pay, such as lower repayments for a short time
- They might also allow you to extend the term of the mortgage or let you pay just the interest for a certain period
- However, any arrangement will be reflected on your credit file, which could affect your ability to borrow money in the future | Real Estate & Housing |
Zac Goldsmith is 'very tempted' to support Labour at next election
- By Najiba Feroz
- BBC News
Zac Goldsmith - who quit the government over its alleged climate change "apathy" - has said he is "very tempted" to back Labour.
The Conservative peer criticised his own party for not having "a clear answer" to what he called the "biggest challenge we've ever faced".
He told the BBC's HARDtalk he was "desperately hoping the Conservative Party comes to its senses."
But he was seriously looking at switching his support to Labour.
"The simple truth is there is no pathway to net zero and there's no solution to climate change that does not involve nature, massive efforts to protect and restore the natural world.
"And at the moment, I'm not hearing any of that from the Labour Party if I do, if there's a real commitment now the kind of commitment, frankly, that we saw when Boris Johnson was the leader, then I'd be very tempted to throw my weight behind that party and support them in any way I could."
Lord Goldsmith is a close ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson and was the government's international environment minister until he quit in June, after being among those accused of interfering in an MPs' inquiry into partygate.
In a scathing resignation letter, he said he had been "horrified" at the government abandoning its environmental commitments and withdrawing its leadership on the world stage.
As international environment minister, the former MP and London mayoral candidate travelled the world championing the UK's environmental initiatives, as well as promoting legislation to ban trophy hunting.
In his HARDtalk interview, Goldsmith also said the government can't meet its target to spend 11.6bn over five years in international climate change programmes.
"It's great that the government is saying that they're committed to 11.6, but mathematically, it is impossible for us to meet that target.
"Unless the Treasury intervenes, unless the prime minister intervenes, it's simply impossible.
"If you look at the trajectory of expenditure, in order to fulfil that promise the first year of the next government, which may or may not be this government, it might be the Labour Party, will have to spend over 80% of all of its bilateral aid on climate finance and that it obviously is not going to happen."
Rishi Sunak has insisted he cares about reaching net zero but that the 2050 target needs to be achieved in "a proportionate and pragmatic way".
The prime minister told LBC last week he wanted to leave the environment in "a better state than we found it in" for his two daughters.
Mr Sunak is facing pressure from some Conservative MPs to review the government's green policies, after the party's surprise win in the Uxbridge by-election, when it capitalised on anger over London's Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez).
You can watch the full HARDtalk interview with Lord Goldsmith on BBC News on Thursday and on the BBC World Service Radio on Friday - or on the BBC iPlayer.
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When a hacker, or hackers, broke into the Bitfinex crypto exchange and stole 119,754 bitcoins in 2016, their haul was worth $72 million. By the time US authorities arrested rapper Heather Morgan and her husband, startup founder Ilya Lichtenstein, last year on suspicion of laundering the stolen coins, their value had soared to nearly $4 billion. It’s the largest single recovery in the history of the US Department of Justice. But the perpetrator of the hack is still at large. The confidential report from the investigation, commissioned by one of Bitfinex’s owners, iFinex, and produced by Canadian cryptocurrency consultancy and development firm Ledger Labs, was never made public. But the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project has obtained a version of the report, which contains detailed findings, conclusions and recommendations. The document, seen by WIRED, says that Bitfinex had systematically failed to implement the operational, financial, and technological controls proposed by its digital security partner Bitgo. OCCRP was unable to independently corroborate the findings but, in communications with reporters, Bitfinex did not dispute the report was authentic. Bitgo declined to comment but did not specifically dispute the report’s existence or its findings. Ledger Labs did not respond to a request for comment.The Ledger Lab investigation found that two security keys required for access to the exchange’s systems were stored on a single device. The keys gave access to “security tokens,” which allowed the attacker to manipulate Bitfinex’s operating system. “If a single entity controlled two of the three keys in the scheme, it would give the entity control over all of the bitcoins,” the document said. The Ledger Labs report obtained by OCCRP said Bitfinex employed a security system that required an administrator to have two out of three security keys in order to carry out any significant operations on the exchange, including moving bitcoin.But it found that Bitfinex made a critical error by placing two of these three keys on the same device. Hacking that single device would give an attacker full access to Bitfinex’s internal systems, and to “security tokens” that allowed the attacker to manipulate Bitfinex’s operating system. “The hacker was able to take two…security tokens,” the document said, and in less than a minute was able to raise the daily limit on the number of transactions permitted in order to quickly drain as much bitcoin as possible. The Ledger Labs document said the tokens accessed by the hacker were associated with a generic “admin” email address and another linked to “giancarlo,” belonging to Bitfinex CFO and shareholder Giancarlo Devasini, a former Italian plastic surgeon with a checkered business history. The document did not lay blame for the hack with Devasini.Devasini did not respond to multiple requests for comment.The document said that storing multiple keys and tokens on a single device was “a violation of the CryptoCurrency Security Standard,” referring to an industry-led best-practice initiative, though it is unclear whether this specific device was the one compromised in the hack. It said other basic security measures were also absent, including the logging of server activity outside of the server itself and a “withdrawal whitelist”—a security feature that permits cryptocurrency transfers only to verified or approved addresses.Bitfinex told OCCRP the analysis was “incomplete” and “incorrect” and that there was “evidence of negligence…on the part of other counterparties that led to the hack.” Bitgo declined to comment. Ledger Lab did not respond to a request for comment.The hacker covered their tracks with a data destruction tool, used to permanently delete logs and other digital artifacts that might have identified the initial entry point into Bitfinex systems, meaning it’s not clear how they got into the exchange’s systems, only the security weaknesses that they took advantage of once inside. The transfer of the more than 119,000 bitcoins from over 2,000 users’ accounts to wallets under the thief’s control took just over three hours. The cryptocurrency sat there for months until, starting in January 2017, someone started sending small amounts zig-zagging through other accounts. The money was eventually cashed out or used to make small online purchases.Investigators managed to follow the money and, six years after the hack, arrested the couple on charges of laundering the stolen bitcoins. Burner phones, fake passports, and USB sticks containing the electronic security keys to the wallet holding $3.9 billion worth of bitcoin were found under the couple’s bed in their New York apartment. Both have pleaded not guilty, and are awaiting trial.It is unclear whether the lessons from the Bitfinex hack have led to changes in the company’s procedures. The company told OCCRP that the report was “incorrect” and that there was “evidence of negligence…on the part of other counterparties that led to the hack.” Bitgo declined to comment.Karen A. Greenaway, a former FBI agent and cryptocurrency specialist, says she thought Bitfinex’s security lapses were due to its desire to “put through more transactions more quickly” and thereby raise profits. “The fact that [Bitfinex] have not provided a [public] report accepting responsibility and remedying the security failures that led to the hack says more than any admission or denial on their part ever would,” the agent said.Security experts say that the crypto industry is in general less vulnerable to the kind of relatively straightforward hacks that were happening around the time of the Bitfinex breach, but that the size and complexity of the industry has grown dramatically since then.“The surface that needs to be protected for Web3 is much larger than you might expect,” says Max Galka, founder and CEO of blockchain analytics company Elementus. “In some cases, what might appear as a smart contract hack might actually have occurred several degrees of separation away.”Just as the stolen bitcoin from Bitfinex ballooned in value, the crypto industry is itself now massive, but the companies that provide its infrastructure are often more focused on moving quickly and executing new ideas.“A lot of crypto companies have great ideas but just don’t think about security,” says Hugh Brooks, director of security operations at blockchain security firm CertiK. “They push ahead with building a Web3 application until it gets hacked. Only a handful of apps pass even the most basic checks.”While there has been progress, Brooks says, crypto companies need to be investing a lot more in security. “If you get breached or make a mistake, it’s not just some usernames and passwords, it’s somebody’s life savings or potentially a massive amount of funds,” he says. “When you’re dealing with the internet of money, the stakes are that much higher.”This article was prepared in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an investigative reporting platform for a worldwide network of independent media centers and journalists. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Hindustan Oil Exploration - Undergoing A Strategic Shift: Motilal Oswal
Shift from single-asset to multi-asset strategy to drive growth
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
We met with Mr. Ramasamy Jeevanandam, Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd., on Dec 01, 2023.
Hindustan Oil Exploration is a play in the upstream sub-sector within the oil and gas sector, which is seeing a multi-year upcycle (as we noted in our report) after nearly eight years of under-investment globally.
Hindustan Oil Exploration management highlighted the following positive factors:
the company is transitioning from a single-asset to a multi-asset growth strategy;
the management remains confident of doubling the production in the next three-four years from a primarily low-cost reserve base (opex: $5-8/barrel of oil);
operating cash flow has improved significantly after the start of the B-80 asset (partially operating) in May 2022;
the company has engaged Baker Hughes to resolve production issues at the B-80 asset.
Hindustan Oil Exploration (not covered) trades at FY23 price-to-earning of 13.2 times.
Our top picks in the oil and gas sector remain Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. and Oil India Ltd.
For oil and gas companies, we believe the key risks are volatility, a sharp decline in oil prices and execution issues related to production volume.
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. | Energy & Natural Resources |
Mass culls to control animal diseases like bird flu are leaving farmers and vets facing mental health trauma with little support, a new report says.
A cross-party committee of MPs found there was a lack of health services in the countryside offering long-term support to those hit by such crises.
It called on the government to fund a "critical mass" of frontline health workers specialising in rural issues.
The government said it was committed to providing rural health services.
The UK Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee published the findings of its inquiry into rural mental health on Thursday.
The report said that crises or "shock" events such as animal disease outbreaks "can be very detrimental for the mental health of the farmers and the vets involved".
The world is currently suffering its worst avian influenza outbreak, with millions of poultry culled. Meanwhile, last year more than 22,000 cattle were slaughtered in England due to bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
Sam Stables, 43, is a Herefordshire farmer who founded mental health charity We are Farming Minds with his wife Emily. He said more needed to be done to support farmers dealing with the impact of disease outbreak.
Mr Stables said culling necessitated by a disease outbreak can have "a horrendous effect on a business, on a whole family". But he said it was not just farmers affected by culling.
'A dark place'
"If a farm goes down to TB it's the vet who has to break the news. Vets know just how much that is putting a family under - you're dealing with their livelihood. A vet giving out a failed TB test, well, it's devastating," he said.
The Stables have been running the charity since 2020, offering a befriending service and a dedicated 24-hour helpline to farmers, which is staffed by trained volunteers.
The father of two said he himself had experienced mental health issues brought on by the isolation and pressures of farming. Eleven years ago, when he was "in a dark place", he planned to take his own life.
He said more had to be done to support farmers who, like himself, do not usually talk about their problems.
"When a farmer says they are suffering mentally or feeling suicidal you know you have to take it seriously - that's a rare event. They are such a proud people," he told the BBC.
James Russell, a farm vet of 21 years who now teaches at Nottingham University's veterinary school, said employers needed to recognise the pressures on young farm vets, and support them.
"Vets are let into the inner circle of a farming family and that comes with a lot of responsibility, particularly if you are person delivering bad news. Vets take that responsibility very seriously and it weighs heavily," he told the BBC.
"The message I give my students is 'make sure you interview the practice you are going to' because good practices give support very, very well. Bad practices are leaving people without the support they need."
The committee found there was little in the way of long-term targeted mental health support for those hit by disease outbreaks.
It said the government should fund and roll out mental health first aid training to create "a critical mass" of front-line support workers dealing with farmers and those working and living in rural industries and areas.
Committee chairperson Sir Robert Goodwill said rural mental health needed to be a "top priority".
MPs also said they had "deep concern" about how isolation, poor public transport links and a lack of digital connectivity have all contributed to "poor mental health outcomes" for all rural communities.
A government spokesperson said: 'We are committed to providing the public services that rural areas deserve."
"We are also providing mental health and wellbeing support through the Future Farming Resilience Fund and working with charities, to ensure farmers can access the support they need." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Grant Shapps has hinted at a change to plans for HS2, as the northern section of the rail project looks set to be scrapped.
Sky News understands the high-speed line planned between Birmingham and Manchester will be binned by the prime minister due to concerns over the cost of the much delayed project.
And it is still unclear if the final section between Old Oak Common in west London and the planned central destination at Euston will go ahead.
Speaking to Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips show, Mr Shapps would not confirm the reports, but he suggested there could be a change to the "sequencing" and "pace" of HS2 from the government due to the soaring price tag.
"Money is not infinite," said the former transport secretary, who is now in charge of the Ministry of Defence.
"All of these big decisions where budgets are, in particularly in the case of HS2, inexorably going higher and higher and higher and your viewers are having to pay that bill, it is absolutely right that the government looks at it and says hold on a minute, is this just a sort of open ended cheque or are we going to make sure this project gets delivered to a pace and a timetable that actually works for the taxpayer?
"We take those long term decisions seriously, but we don't think any amount of money, no matter how big the budget gets, that you should just carry on ploughing it in. There has a point where you say hold on a minute, let's just take a break here."
Mr Shapps also pointed to the impact of COVID and the Ukraine war on the public purse.
"The country has to respond to the circumstances," he said. "We did not know there would be coronavirus, a one in 100 year event... we didn't know there would be a war on in Europe… so of course, if circumstances change, you have to look at the sequencing of the big infrastructure cash that you spend.
"Any government that doesn't do that, any opposition that claims you don't need to is not fit to govern this country."
But the expected announcement was slammed by Labour's mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who said people in the north of England were "always treated as second class citizens when it comes to transport".
He told Sky News: "This was the parliament where they said they would level us up. If they leave a situation where the southern half of the country is connected by modern high speed lines and the north of England is left with Victorian infrastructure, that is a recipe for the north/south divide to become a north/south chasm over the rest of this century.
"That is why people here are fed up with false promises and also watching now what seems to be the desperate acts of a dying government. This is not right and not fair to people here who were given so many promises." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
- Shopper turnout across websites and stores hit an all-time high of 200.4 million over the five-day weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.
- Shoppers shelled out an average of $321.41 on holiday-related purchases over the weekend. That's roughly in line with last year.
- The strong turnout comes as shoppers bargain hunt and retailers strike a more cautious tone.
Shoppers kicked off the holiday season with a bang, as a record 200.4 million people hit stores and searched websites for gifts from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.
The turnout marks an all-time high since the major trade group and Prosper Insights & Analytics began tracking total in-store and online traffic in 2017. It topped last year's figure of 196.7 million shoppers and the NRF's forecast for about 182 million people during the five-day weekend.
The number of people shopping online rose to 134.2 million this year, up from 130.2 million a year ago, the NRF survey found. Consumers who shopped at stores fell slightly, from 122.7 million people in 2022 to 121.4 million people this year.
The major trade group did not estimate total spending, but said shoppers shelled out an average of $321.41 on holiday-related purchases over the weekend. That's roughly in line with the $325.44 average last year. The number is not adjusted for inflation.
On a call with reporters, NRF CEO Matt Shay said the large turnout "speaks to the way consumers are feeling, but also the deals that were out there." He said other factors including the weather worked in retailers' favor. Cooler temperatures, which many parts of the country had this weekend, can help motivate shoppers to spring for seasonal items like jackets, sweaters and boots.
Top gifts during the period were clothes and accessories, which about half of those surveyed purchased, and toys, which nearly a third of people surveyed bought. For the first time, personal care or beauty items also cracked into the top five most popular gifts, the group said.
As of Thanksgiving weekend, consumers said they were about halfway done with their holiday shopping, according to the results. NRF's survey of 3,498 adult consumers was conducted Nov. 22 to 26.
Another early read on holiday spending showed strength in online sales. On Black Friday, consumers spent $9.8 billion in U.S. online sales, according to Adobe, up 7.5% from a year ago.
Cyber Monday topped that, as e-commerce spending in the U.S. totaled $12.4 billion, up 9.6% year over year.
Adobe's data covers more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, 100 million unique items and 18 total product categories. It does not cover in-store purchases, where the majority of U.S. holiday purchases still take place. It does not include in-store holiday sales, which drove about 70% of overall holiday spending last year, according to the NRF.
Yet it is too soon to predict how the rest of the peak retail season may play out. Strength in early shopping could reflect shoppers' hunger for good deals rather than their desire to spend. It could also show a reversion to a pre-pandemic pattern of holiday shopping, when customers concentrated their spending during peak times like Black Friday sales events and the final days before Christmas.
Retailers struck a cautious note about the season when reporting earnings earlier this month. Some companies, including Walmart, saying discretionary spending remains weak, but has picked up during promotional events.
Holiday sales in November and December are expected to rise by 3% to 4% year over year to between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion, according to the NRF. That's slower growth than during the pandemic, but roughly in line with average sales increases prior to Covid.
NRF's Shay said sales this holiday season may look modest, or even disappointing, because of comparisons to the pandemic spending boom.
"There's no question that there's been some moderation and deceleration in consumption relative to the last 36 months," he said. He referred to the end of stimulus checks and the return of higher spending on services.
But he, added, "there's a difference between moderation and bleak" sales. | Consumer & Retail |
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NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Bankman-Fried got a test run at testifying at his fraud trial Thursday when a judge sent jurors home so he could hear snippets of testimony and decide what the FTX founder will be allowed to tell the jury.
Bankman-Fried has decided to testify Friday to tell his version of how his multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency empire grew into a giant in the industry and then collapsed, causing billions of dollars in losses that prosecutors blame on his extravagant spending on investments, donations and a lavish lifestyle.
It seemed on Thursday that Bankman-Fried was about to start his testimony before the jury after lunch when Judge Lewis A. Kaplan changed the plans, saying he’d prefer to make rulings on what Bankman-Fried can testify about before he starts. He had previously said he’d conduct a hearing and make those rulings on Friday.
“We’re in the home stretch,” Kaplan told jurors as he sent them home for the day, saying he knew it was a little surprise for them to have the rest of the afternoon off. He told them they were likely to get the case in the first few days of next week.
Since early October, prosecutors have presented their case through witnesses and dozens of exhibits including financial records.
READ MORE: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried jailed after judge revokes bail in crypto fraud case
After prosecutors rested Thursday, defense lawyers immediately asked Kaplan to acquit Bankman-Fried on the grounds that prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence. The judge rejected the request.
The California entrepreneur has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges accusing him of diverting billions of dollars from his clients and investors to make risky investments, buy luxury housing, engage in a star-studded publicity campaign and make large political and charitable donations.
Bankman-Fried, 31, has remained quiet through a three-week trial as several members of his executive inner circle have testified against him in cooperation deals they made with the government before pleading guilty to criminal charges.
In their testimony, the executives insisted that Bankman-Fried directed them to spend billions of dollars taken from the accounts of FTX customers and funneled through Alameda Research, a hedge fund he started in 2017, two years before he created the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States last December, a month after his businesses collapsed.
READ MORE: Founders of crypto mixer arrested, sanctioned after U.S. cracks down
Initially, he was freed on a $250 million personal recognizance bond and required to remain at the Palo Alto, California, home of his parents, longtime Stanford University law professors.
Kaplan revoked the bail in August after concluding that Bankman-Fried had tried to influence potential trial witnesses and ordered him jailed.
Those testifying against Bankman-Fried have included Caroline Ellison, his former girlfriend who was chief executive of Alameda before it was publicly revealed that billions of dollars were missing last November.
She told jurors that the collapse of the businesses brought her “relief that I didn’t have to lie anymore” and she blamed Bankman-Fried for corrupting her moral compass by creating justifications for doing things that she knew to be wrong and illegal.
She also admitted doctoring financial balance sheets to try to hide that Alameda was borrowing about $10 billion from FTX customers by June 2022, a discrepancy that was revealed when customers rushed to withdraw deposits last November as word got out that their money was not safe.
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Jun 06 | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Rishi Sunak’s approval ratings have failed to improve over the summer political break – despite several weeks of Tory policy blitzes intended to win back voters.
The latest Opinium survey for the Observer shows the Conservative have failed to shift the dial in Sunak’s favour, with the prime minister dropping two points in the past two weeks to a net score of -25% (24% approve, 49% disapprove).
Overall, Labour holds a healthy 14-point lead, with 42% of the vote share (+1 compared with a fortnight ago) against 28% for the Conservatives (+2). The Liberal Democrats are on 9% (-2), Reform UK is on 8% (-1) as is the Green party (+1).
Keir Starmer’s approval rating, while also negative, is far better than Sunak’s, with the Labour leader standing on -7% (28% approve, 35% disapprove).
Similarly, views about who would make the best prime minister have also remained stable – Starmer now leads with 27% choosing the Labour leader, versus 23% who prefer Sunak. While this support could be stronger for Starmer, there is no evidence that voters are moving to Sunak as Tory strategists had hoped.
In early July Sunak’s approval rating stood at -26, before the Tories decided to spend the summer focusing week by week on specific policy areas they believed would expose Labour’s weaknesses – such as crime, immigration, health and schools – and win them back support.
Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium, said: “Rishi Sunak’s ratings remain poor and have barely changed since July.”
The Tories’ “small boats week” last month was derailed by figures showing record numbers of crossings, the evacuation over a health scare of the Bibby Stockholm barge used to house migrants, and the deaths of at least six people when a small boat capsized and sank in the Channel.
Opinium found evidence that highlighting the issue did indeed raise its importance in the public’s mind, but had the effect of strengthening Labour’s lead on immigration.
Most recently, the government tried to focus on schools, only to be hit this weekend by a developing crisis over dangerous school buildings. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
All You Need To Know About Buying Sovereign Gold Bonds From Secondary Market
The long term nature of the bonds, as well as the additional interest rate offered on these bonds ensure higher rate of return.
Sovereign Gold Bonds are one of the most popular instruments to invest in gold in paper form.
The long term nature of the bonds, as well as the additional interest rate offered on these bonds ensure that not only does this give a higher rate of return to investors, but that they are suitable for a wide range of people.
In the current financial year there have been just a couple of new issues of these bonds and in such a situation those looking for an exposure to these bonds can consider the secondary market route. This will, however, give rise to specific conditions that the investor needs to know about and these are explained here.
Investment Basics
If you are looking to invest in these bonds in the secondary market, then the process is similar to what is done for a share purchase.
The SGBs are listed on the stock exchanges, so they can be bought through your trading account and they will be credited to your Demat account. Just like a normal equity trade, you can buy the SGB from other investors who have put their holding for sale.
This gives rise to two important factors. One is the liquidity aspect and it has been witnessed that different issues that have hit the market over the years have varying amounts of liquidity. So, choosing the issue that you want, based on the time remaining till maturity and the quantum of investment, will need to go hand in hand with the liquidity in the issue. The other point is the price at which these are traded in the market. It has been seen that issues that are maturing in the next one or two years can often be at a slight premium to the days gold price, while those that have a maturity several years away are usually at a discount.
Interest Earned
The purchase of the SGB through the secondary market will lead to the bonds coming into the Demat account of the investor and they will become the holder of the bonds.
One factor that is vital to understand here is the interest that is earned on the bonds. Most of the past issues have a 2.5% interest that is paid out twice a year. However, the key point is that the interest is calculated on the issue price and not the current price or the price at which the bonds were bought in the secondary market.
This means going back to see what was the original issue price of the bond and then the 2.5% has to be calculated based on the investment made at this price.
Taxation
The taxation aspect has a big impact on the final returns that are earned on the instrument. The interest earned on the bonds are taxable in the hands of the investor.
There is a good chance that the investor also earns capital gains on the investment, as the gold price might increase over the years till the time of maturity of the bonds. The tax rules state that redemption of the bonds at the time of maturity will not result in any capital gains for the investor. This can be interpreted to mean that any holder who keeps the bonds till maturity will not have to pay capital gains on the rise in value due to price. This will also cover those who have bought the bonds from the secondary market.
So, the way in which the tax benefit can be taken is to ensure that the bonds are held till maturity. If they are sold before maturity in the secondary market, then the change in the value will give rise to capital gains tax.
Overall Situation
Investors who want an exposure to gold can use the secondary market route to buy these bonds in the absence of new issues. There is a wide choice available for them when it comes to options, because all the issues that have come till now are listed and this enables them to match the time period of their investment. Bonds bought at a discount can build in an additional level of safety on the returns front. The rise in the price of gold will determine the kind of returns that are earned, but an exposure in the portfolio through this instrument is a sound move.
Arnav Pandya is founder Moneyeduschool | Bonds Trading & Speculation |
A ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 is in doubt after Rishi Sunak failed to confirm it will go ahead as planned amid reports green policies could be watered down.
The Prime Minister stressed he wanted to tackle the climate crisis in a “proportionate and pragmatic” way that does not unnecessarily impact people’s lives.
But when asked whether he intended to stand by the Government’s proposal to ban new petrol and diesel cars from the end of the decade, Mr Sunak said: “Of course net zero is important to me.
“So yes we’re going to keep making progress towards our net zero ambitions and we’re also going to strengthen our energy security.
“I think the events over the last year or two have demonstrated the importance of investing more in home-grown energy, whether that’s more nuclear or offshore wind. I think that’s what people want to see and that’s what I’m going to deliver.”
The Government announced in November 2020 that it would bring in the ban as part of accelerated efforts to achieve its 2050 net zero emissions target.
Mr Sunak’s comments came just hours after Andrew Mitchell, a Foreign Office minister, also failed to confirm the ban will go ahead as planned.
Asked if the ban could be pushed back in the short term, Mr Mitchell told Times Radio: “Well, I think the important thing is to wait for any announcement from the Government but as I say, the measures we have taken are affordable, they have been very carefully thought through and we are setting a good lead in this matter.
“And it really matters because just a fortnight ago we saw the hottest temperatures on Earth in the history of mankind on a Monday, those figures were then exceeded on Wednesday and a third highest level ever on Thursday.
“Climate change is real and every country has to do everything it can now to beat it.”
The EU is planning to impose its own ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, some five years later than the UK Government’s timeline.
It has been claimed the Government could retreat from or shelve some of its net zero policies because of concerns about the financial impact on families as they already struggle with the cost of living crisis.
Many Tory MPs are concerned about the political ramifications of the net zero drive and fear being punished at the ballot box if direct costs are imposed on households.
The Times reported the Government could water down some of its policies, with one potential change seeing landlords given more time to meet energy efficiency targets.
Green costs
The cost of green policies has been thrust back into the political spotlight in recent days after the Tories defied expectations to hang on to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat in west London.
Sadiq Khan’s Ulez rollout was widely blamed for Labour’s failure to take the constituency at last week’s by-election.
It was suggested to Mr Mitchell that sticking with the 2050 emissions target while also potentially delaying some green measures appeared to be contradictory.
He told Times Radio: “I think the important point to recognise is that you can do both. Britain is the leading one of the G7 nations in terms of taking successful measures to achieve net zero so we are well on target for that.
“But, equally, the Government has made it absolutely clear under this Prime Minister that we will defend people from rising costs whenever we can.”
Mr Mitchell said he believed hitting the 2050 net zero target was “incredibly important”.
His comments came after Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, urged the Tories to scale back their net zero policies to help them win the next general election. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the fact that central banks got financial forecasting “100% dead wrong” about 18 months ago should prompt some humility about the outlook for next year.
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Speaking on a panel at the Future investment Initiative summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dimon voiced doubts that central banks and governments around the world could manage the economic fallout from rising inflation and slowing global growth.
“Fiscal spending is more than it’s ever been in peacetime and there’s this omnipotent feeling that central banks and governments can manage through all this stuff,” he said in the discussion moderated by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein. “I am cautious about what will happen next year.”
Dimon likened today’s situation to that of the global economy in the 1970s, with high spending and lots of wastage, and brushed off the impact of further rate hikes.
“I don’t think it makes a piece of difference whether rates go up 25 basis points or more,” he said. “Whether the whole curve goes up 100 basis points, be prepared for it. I don’t know if it’s going to happen.”
On the same panel, Bridgewater Associates CEO Ray Dalio struck a gloomy note, saying his outlook for the global economy in 2024 is “pessimistic,” citing several risks such as high levels of public debt, conflicts and disorder.
Dimon also slammed policymakers’ approach to tackling climate change, likening current efforts to inefficient “whack-a-mole” with little discernible strategy.
“We will make the breakthroughs we need, but its going to be later and longer than we think due to our own basic incompetence,” he said.
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©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Inflation |
Ever since the surprise Tory Uxbridge by-election victory, attributed to the party's opposition to the ULEZ congestion charge scheme, Rishi Sunak has been reviewing the government's net zero commitments.
We are about to hear the results of that review, according to Whitehall sources.
The PM has personally long been cautious about the costs that tackling climate change will impose if done too hastily, and is, it appears, keen to seize the opportunity to do something he believes will go down well with parts of the Tory voter base after a rocky six weeks.
What will that look like?
We already know the headline conclusion of that review, since new Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho spelled them out in an article in The Sun at the weekend.
She made clear - as No 10 does tonight - that the party will remain committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
However, this was coupled with a new promise that no "hard-working families [would be] forced to change their lives or have extra financial burdens put on them," as she puts it.
That rang immediate alarm bells amongst environmental groups on Sunday.
Now we are about to find out how that complicated circle is squared - and the questions that change in approach will raise.
Two big areas have to change in order for Britain to meet its net zero obligation.
One is in the home - ending the dependence on gas boilers to heat the majority of British homes while making them more energy efficient; the other is moving away from petrol and diesel cars towards electricity powered vehicles.
The targets designed to drive both those changes look as if they are about to be softened. There have been signs for some time that the government would water down its approach to ending dependence on gas boilers.
Under the current plan, there would be a ban on gas and oil boilers in new buildings in 2025 and they would be phased out by 2035, when there was an "ambition" for all new heating systems in the UK to be low carbon after this point.
The level of ambition looks set to be watered down - no longer is the plan that every boiler will have to be low carbon by this point.
Meanwhile controversial changes to block landlords from renting properties if they did not have a minimum "C" level of energy efficiency (on a scale of A-G) also look likely to be dropped, according to sources.
The second change is a much bigger surprise - reports that the government would push back the date by which new cars must have electric rather than petrol or diesel engines from 2030 to 2035. Electric car manufacturers have poured massive of investment into Britain on the understanding that this target would drive an uptick in purchases.
It was thought by many that the battle in Whitehall had been won by those wanting to keep the target - which has been policy since 2020 - so as not to harm the industry.
Reports tonight by the BBC suggest this might change, and the reaction to this decision will be fascinating.
Some Tory MPs have already expressed their surprise. One calls it "anti-business" and said Sunak is breaking a promise he made in private to Tory MPs. "I'm seriously considering a no confidence letter," they added.
Read More:
What are Sunak's green policies - and what could be scrapped?
Other smaller changes likely to be announced within days include a delay to the abolition of off-grid oil boilers which will please rural Tory MPs.
Small wins to appease sections of the backbenches are becoming increasingly important to No 10.
Sunak will present this package as a pragmatic softening while insisting he still believes in the headline targets, and the Tory campaign chiefs will be strongly warning him to avoid presenting himself as an opponent of climate action, which actually loses votes.
Environmental groups will now say the PM has a target but no plan to get there - they say it means the government doesn't have a plan to meet the net zero promises they made in law.
They regard it as a significant moment since it is the first time the government has rolled back ambition on climate since David Cameron's "cut the green crap" outburst, and means there is now a very substantial gap between Labour and Tories on this issue.
Sunak, however, believes he needs a roll of the dice to improve his poor political standing - and this could be one of the things that changes his fortunes. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
The head of NatWest has apologised to Nigel Farage for what she called “deeply inappropriate comments” about the former Ukip leader in an internal report that led to the closure of his accounts at the group’s exclusive private bank, Coutts.
Dame Alison Rose issued a public statement on Thursday and wrote a letter to Farage apologising for the way the NatWest subsidiary had handled its decision to cut ties with the Brexit campaigner.
It came after a series of interventions by the prime minister and senior members of his cabinet, and more than two weeks after Farage first disclosed that his accounts had been closed by Coutts because it no longer wanted him as a client.
On Thursday night, Farage welcomed the apology from Rose but said it was only “a start” and claimed she had been forced into it by the Treasury.
An internal report had described Farage as a “disingenuous grifter” who promotes “xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views”. After obtaining a copy and releasing it to the press, Farage had described the dossier as a “prejudiced, nasty document”.
Rose said the comments, prepared for Coutts’ wealth reputation risk committee, “do not reflect the view of the bank”. She added: “No individual should have to read such comments and I apologise to Mr Farage for this.” However, she stopped short of reinstating Farage as a Coutts client, instead reiterating an offer to open a basic account for him at NatWest.
It follows days of mounting public and political pressure, with Rishi Sunak intervening to warn it “wouldn’t be right if financial services were being denied to anyone exercising their right to lawful free speech”. The home secretary, Suella Braverman, called the decision “sinister”.
The government announced on Thursday that it would force banks to “explain and delay” any decision to close accounts. Andrew Griffith, economic secretary to the Treasury, said “banks occupy a privileged place in society” and must allow “everyone to express themselves freely” without fear of losing their access to banking.
It also ordered the Financial Conduct Authority to begin a review of the rules governing how banks treat “Politically Exposed Persons” (Peps) such as Farage over the next two months. Lasting up to a year, the review will examine whether to ease the tough rules inherited from the EU on domestic Peps while maintaining them on foreigners with bank accounts in the UK, in line with international standards.
Before Farage made the dossier public, reports had cited sources at Coutts saying that the decision to “unbank” Farage was purely because his account had fallen below its “wealth limit”, which requires customers to borrow or invest at least £1m or hold £3m in savings. The former politician fell below this threshold after his mortgage expired this year.
However, Coutts’ reputation committee report also said Farage posed a risk, accusing him of being “seen as xenophobic and racist” and of making remarks that are “distasteful and appear increasingly out of touch with wider society”.
On his GB News programme on Thursday night Farage accused Rose of being forced into an apology by the Treasury. He said: “In life it is always good to get an apology, so thank you Dame Alison for apologising. What I’ve actually been told quietly, privately, is that you were forced into doing this by the Treasury.
“But at least you’ve done it, I suppose. But the whole letter smacks of ‘not me, guv, I mean I’m just the chief executive, I mean, don’t blame me for what the banks under my direct control are doing’.”
He said there were thousands in the same position as him, as he vowed to battle on. “I’m afraid I can’t just walk away from this. I’ve started this, and I’ve got to continue. So thank you for the apology. It’s a start, but it’s no more than that.”
Rose had said it was not the bank’s policy “to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views”.
“Both freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society,” she said. “Decisions to close an account are not taken lightly and involve a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements.”
Announcing the new account closure rules, which will come into effect later this summer and are likely to be among the first post-Brexit changes to banking rules, Griffith said: “Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our democracy, and it must be respected by all institutions.
“These changes will boost the rights of customers – providing real transparency, time to appeal and making it a much fairer playing field.”
The changes will increase the notice period for closing accounts to 90 days – giving customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service. Banks will also be required to spell out why they are terminating an account – increasing transparency for customers and aiding their efforts to overturn decisions.
The Treasury said the changes could only be made due to new powers in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023.
The proposed new rules follow a call for evidence launched in January, after PayPal’s temporary suspension last year of several accounts, including that of Toby Young, the social commentator and director of the Free Speech Union.
The Treasury said the changes were needed to “ensure the right balance is being struck between protecting customers, and providers’ rights to manage commercial risk”. | Banking & Finance |
The Scottish National Party could be about to penalise homeowners with a fresh 'ridiculous' policy that will prevent Scots with gas boilers from selling their homes.
First Minister Humza Yousaf is considering the controversial ban which could cripple homeowners unless they swap their gas boilers for heat pumps.
It comes after Mr Yousaf was accused of 'blatant misuse of public money and resources' on plans for a Scottish passport in the event of a split from the UK.
Now, a new policy change could see properties forced to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C or above at certain trigger points by 2025, including in a sale, GB News reports.
Properties currently meeting the C grading will likely be downgraded if they do not implement the proposed changes. Strong EPC ratings are vital as they currently indicate how much it costs to heat a home. Ratings could include the type of heating in the future.
If the changes go through, lower EPC ratings could be given to huge swathes of Scots unless they install more eco-friendly sources of heating such as heat pumps which can cost around £7,000 to £14,000 to buy and install.
The Government's £150m drive to get Britons to install heat pumps in their homes was labeleld 'shameful' in April after missing its installation target.
Furious Scots reacted to the proposed changes, with some claiming there was 'no chance' the SNP could get away with it.
One user simply tweeted: 'Ridiculous!'. While another posted: 'Good luck with that plan. If the snp bring that idea closer than a thought process they have absolutely zero chance at the next election. Not that they did anyway.'
A third said: 'Good luck with that. No chance.' And a fourth added: 'Well that will be a popular policy, I'm sure.'
Patrick Harvie, the green zero carbon buildings minister, said the Scottish Government wanted 'all homes to reach new energy efficiency standards by no later than 2033'.
'Improved energy efficiency is essential but nowhere near enoughm' he wrote in the Herald on Sunday.
'We can't insulate our way to zero carbon buildings. To do that we need to change the way we heat homes.
'To meet our 2030 targets alone, more than one million Scottish homes will need to change to a climate-friendly heating system: a massive transition – as big as the shift from coal to gas last century, but in a shorter timescale.'
The Scottish Conservative Party has raised concerns about the financial burden families could face amid the cost of living crisis.
Douglas Lumsden, the Tory party's shadow net zero secretary, said: 'The green minister is typically acting like he knows best by ploughing ahead with these plans.
'This is hugely naive considering he has put in a pitiful amount of the funding required to support homeowners to replace gas boilers.
'Penalising them during a cost of living crisis is simply unacceptable. While we all want to see a just transition, policies must be fair and measured.'
The Scottish Government has confirmed that it will cost an estimated £33billion to convert all homes to zero emissions.
Homeowners would, however, be given an initial support package of around £1.8billion during the current Parliament. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
The Bank of England has warned the economy will be on the brink of recession in an election year after signalling interest rates will need to remain high for an extended period to tackle stubborn inflationary pressures.
After holding rates unchanged at 5.25% for a second consecutive time – the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis – Threadneedle Street said the risks from war in the Middle East and domestic inflationary pressures would force it to keep borrowing costs high despite a worsening growth outlook.
“It’s much too early to be thinking about rate cuts,” said Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s governor. “Higher interest rates are working and inflation is falling. But we need to see inflation continuing to fall all the way to our 2% target. We’ve held rates unchanged this month but we will be watching closely to see if further rate increases are needed.”
Issuing updated forecasts as Rishi Sunak’s government comes under growing pressure over his economic management in the run-up to an election expected next year, the central bank said it anticipated flatlining growth throughout 2024.
Giving a 50-50 chance of a recession by the middle of next year – beginning around the time a spring election could be held – it forecast four consecutive quarters of zero growth in gross domestic product (GDP), should interest rates follow the path expected by financial markets.
City investors expect a cut in rates next autumn as households and businesses come under pressure from previous increases. However, if borrowing costs were held at current levels, the Bank forecast a recession could be under way by the summer. Economists regard two quarters of falling GDP as the technical definition of recession. The Bank estimates that at best, the UK economy will not grow at all in 2024.
The Bank’s monetary policy committee voted by a majority of six to three to keep rates on hold, with a minority – the external members Catherine Mann, Megan Greene and Jonathan Haskel – pushing to restart the toughest cycle of rate increases in decades by calling for a quarter-point rise.
Financial markets had widely expected a hold decision as Britain’s economy comes under increasing pressure from 14 consecutive rises from a record low of 0.1% in December 2021. It comes after similar decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
Inflation in the UK remained at 6.7% in September after a sharp rise in fuel costs for motorists in recent months offset weaker growth in the cost of a weekly food shop. Britain has the highest inflation rate among the G7 group of advanced economies.
Threadneedle Street said it expected the full impact of previous rate increases feeding through to the economy would help to bring inflation down to about 4.75% by the fourth quarter of 2023 – meaning Sunak would narrowly meet his pledge to halve the inflation rate this year from 10.7% at the end of last year.
However, it would take time for the full impact of its previous increases to be felt, as millions of mortgage holders approach the end of cheaper deals purchased before the surge in borrowing costs – with 2 million expected to refinance this year and next.
With about half of the impact on households and businesses still to come, the Bank said interest rates would probably need to be kept “restrictive for an extended period of time”, and warned there was a danger that further rate increases could be needed if inflationary pressures proved stronger than anticipated.
Forecasting a drop in the inflation rate back to the 2% target set out by the government by the end of 2025, the central bank warned rising energy prices amid the war between Israel and Hamas had potential to add to inflationary pressures.
It also warned that evidence of stronger pay growth and price rises in the services sector of the economy could fuel persistently higher levels of inflation, as the impact from last year’s surge in energy prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine gradually fades. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Katie Blackley/WESA
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Sharon Gwinn holds a picture of her husband, who had Lewy body dementia toward the end of his life. Reckless financial behavior was one of the first signs of the disease. "It's what attacked his brain first," Gwinn says.
Katie Blackley/WESA
Sharon Gwinn holds a picture of her husband, who had Lewy body dementia toward the end of his life. Reckless financial behavior was one of the first signs of the disease. "It's what attacked his brain first," Gwinn says.
Katie Blackley/WESA
Sharon Gwinn had been married almost 30 years when she cleared out the savings and checking accounts that she shared with her husband, and then transferred that money into accounts that were only in her name. It felt horrible, like she was stealing. But short of losing everything, Gwinn was out of options.
That was some 20 years ago. Gwinn's husband was still working as a hospital orderly when he started to spend money erratically. One Thursday night he racked up a $3,000 tab at a Pittsburgh cop bar, buying rounds for strangers. Gwinn says she discovered his splurge — something totally out of character for him — when her credit card was declined at the grocery store.
That's when she realized that her husband was showing the first of a series of cognitive changes that eventually would be diagnosed as Lewy body dementia.
"He drove for years after his financial awareness was gone," Gwinn says. "It's just this one area. It's what attacked his brain first."
A growing body of research shows that people with dementia face worse financial outcomes. As NPR has reported, a 2020 study from Johns Hopkins University of 81,000 Medicare beneficiaries found that people with Alzheimer's and related dementias started to develop subprime credit up to six years before a formal diagnosis.
It is among a cluster of studies that point to financial problems as a possible warning sign — rather than just the fallout — of cognitive decline.
Carole Shepard, a self-employed geriatric care manager in suburban Pittsburgh, says it's best to start planning for the financial implications of dementia when people are still cognitively healthy: "It's about controlling your own destiny."
Though there are no perfect solutions, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself or your loved ones as you age. Here is advice from financial advisers and mental health professionals.
Put financial guardrails in place in advance
To avoid surprises, some financial advisers recommend having open conversations about money with loved ones and setting up tools that track your finances and flag any unusual patterns.
Sharon Gwinn was able to protect herself and her husband from financial ruin. But now, at 63 and a widow, Gwinn worries that if she, too, develops dementia, she could bankrupt herself before anyone notices: "I would hazard a guess, my children know way more about my finances than probably 90% of the people in my age group. They still don't know what my day to day is."
Experts say Gwinn's fear is a real possibility for millions of Americans, in part because the financial industry has been hesitant to enact changes that would protect the wealth of aging Americans. That leaves individuals and families to seek out safeguards.
The tech world offers some options to individuals and families who are seeking support. In 2020 the National Institute on Aging highlighted the work of SilverBills, a concierge service that makes sure bills are paid on time and inspects invoices for fraud and errors. The Cetera Financial Group has partnered with Carefull, an online company that monitors for fraud and financial errors, while also providing identity theft insurance.
And as the AARP notes, EverSafe scans accounts for unusual spending, such as the huge bar tab that Sharon Gwinn's husband tallied.
Katie Blackley/WESA
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Sharon Gwinn doesn't want dementia to harm her finances if she should come down with it. She designated her oldest daughter as her power of attorney and set up a tool to flag any unusual financial behavior. This added protection makes Gwinn feel lighter."[My daughter] can hopefully help me nip things in the bud before I get myself into trouble," Gwinn says.
Katie Blackley/WESA
Sharon Gwinn doesn't want dementia to harm her finances if she should come down with it. She designated her oldest daughter as her power of attorney and set up a tool to flag any unusual financial behavior. This added protection makes Gwinn feel lighter."[My daughter] can hopefully help me nip things in the bud before I get myself into trouble," Gwinn says.
Katie Blackley/WESA
EverSafe says it can also help prevent financial fraud and exploitation — a major scourge for older Americans. The National Council on Aging estimates that seniors in the U.S. lose $36.5 billion every year due to elder financial abuse. (In comparison, last year Americans spent $45 billion in out-of-pocket costs on nursing home and other institutional care.)
"Those really smart scammers aren't just going to steal a huge amount from one account," says Liz Loewy, EverSafe's chief operating officer, as well as the former chief of the elder abuse unit at the New York County District Attorney's Office. "They usually are smart enough to start small and cover more than one account at more than one institution."
Not everyone can afford a service like EverSafe: packages range from roughly $7 to $26 a month. But such a service might have helped Gwinn, who couldn't prevent her husband from signing up for new credit cards even after she took control of the couple's finances. After consulting her four children, she decided to purchase the basic package for herself.
Now Gwinn's oldest daughter, who is designated as her power of attorney, will be notified if EverSafe flags anything unusual. This added protection makes Gwinn feel lighter.
"[My daughter] can hopefully help me nip things in the bud before I get myself into trouble," Gwinn says.
Work together to set up a collaborative plan with your family
Even more than financial monitoring, arguably the most important thing you can do is to involve your family or friends in a collaborative plan around aging and finances — ideally before any symptoms of dementia appear.
Katie Blackley/WESA
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Carole Shepard, a geriatric care manager, and her husband both have family histories of dementia. They've drafted extensive financial plans and shared them with their adult children. "Hope is not a strategy," she says.
Katie Blackley/WESA
Carole Shepard, a geriatric care manager, and her husband both have family histories of dementia. They've drafted extensive financial plans and shared them with their adult children. "Hope is not a strategy," she says.
Katie Blackley/WESA
That's easier said than done, says Matt Lundquist, a New York City-based therapist who often works with families on issues around money — such as budgeting or caring for an elderly parent.
Money can represent stability, control, power, autonomy and safety, Lundquist notes. Therefore, addressing the financial safety concerns requires people to acknowledge the inevitability of death — their own and that of those they love — as well as the physical, mental and economic realities of aging. Even in the best of circumstances, money is a touchy subject — one that can raise discomfort and hackles, and one that is often considered no one else's business
It's crucial not to blindside family members with this big talk; instead, Lundquist advises that people give a heads-up that money issues need to be discussed: "It makes a difficult conversation much more likely to go well."
The conversation should cover topics such as selecting a financial power of attorney, how to safeguard against exploitation, and the responsibilities of day-to-day money management. A guide from the University of Minnesota offers a host of practical advice on everything from selecting a financial advocate to a list of important documents and how to complete a financial inventory.
Carole Shepard, the Pittsburgh-based geriatric care manager, warns that hard conversations are necessary and conflicts are inevitable, especially when they involve someone with progressive dementia. Too often, she sees her older clients in crisis because their hope had been that one day they'd peacefully die in their sleep without any of the humiliations of aging.
"Hope is not a strategy," she says.
That's why Shepard and her husband, both in their 60s and both with family histories of vascular dementia, have drafted extensive plans which they've shared with their adult children. They appointed their younger son as financial power of attorney and their older son as medical power of attorney. By making these decisions now, Shepard and her husband believe — hope — they're preserving their autonomy.
Shepard also hopes that being proactive will make it easier on her family, both emotionally and financially, as she and her husband continue to age.
Sharon Gwinn feels the same way: "I do not want my children to be responsible for taking care of me. What I have, I want my money to be spent for my care, and I don't want to burden them."
If dementia has already set in, include loved ones in decision-making as much as possible
Both Gwinn and Shepard know that if they do eventually develop dementia, all their planning won't protect their children from some degree of hardship. Symptoms are unpredictable and variable: depression, irritability, paranoia, impulsiveness. That creates a dilemma for adult children: Pushing help onto resistant parents incites strife; ignoring reality begets neglect.
"The truth is it's going to be difficult, and the chances of complete success are not very good," says Bob Levenson, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in the emotional changes that accompany aging.
Levenson's best advice for caregivers and loved ones is to include the person with dementia in the decision-making process as much as possible. If a person can't articulate their desires, it's still important to consider the values and interests they held while healthy.
For example, perhaps a lifelong football fan is no longer capable of paying their own bills; the person in charge of their monthly budget could include a cable package that allows them to watch NFL games.
It's crucial to remember that the disease is the enemy, Levenson says: "Somehow, you have to try to find a way to stay on the same side with your loved one and not end up blaming each other."
Sarah Boden's reporting on dementia and financial decision-making is part of a fellowship with the Association of Health Care Journalists, supported by The Commonwealth Fund. | Personal Finance & Financial Education |
The number of homeless families being housed in hotels and B&Bs over the legal limit by English councils has doubled within a year, figures reveal.
The latest figures released by the government show 1,210 families were in hotels and B&Bs for longer than the six-week legal limit between 1 July to 30 September in 2022, up from 570 in 2021 for the same period. These are the highest figures since 2017.
A total of 11,490 homeless households spent time in hotels and B&Bs in the same period in 2022, the highest number since 2003.
The problem is particularly acute in London. According to data from London Councils, there was an 180% increase in families being housed in hotels and B&Bs for more than six weeks from 2021 to 2022.
Families living in B&Bs and hotels often have no access to cooking and clothes washing facilities and have to pay for launderettes, storage services and takeaway food.
Piotr Rembikowski, 46 has been living with his wife, Madga, 44, and two sons aged 15 and 20 in a Travelodge in Enfield since August last year. They are one of 200 families currently being housed in commercial hotels by Enfield council.
Rembikowski is a wheelchair user and has a reconstructed bowel after suffering from colitis. He was made homeless after his privately rented property, which the family lived in for 16 years, burned down last year after a fire spread from a nearby construction site.
Rembikowski said he was unable to find another property on the private rental market due to his family’s income and the fact he is on disability benefits. “I called many agencies but nobody wants to rent to a crippled person in a wheelchair,” he said.
He was told by letting agents he would need to have a household income of £54,000 to rent a three-bedroom home. He reported the family was homeless to Enfield council, and they were housed in the Travelodge.
Rembikowski has turned down food from the food bank because there is nowhere to store or cook the food. Due to his reconstructed bowel, Piotr usually has a strict diet but due to a lack of cooking facilities, he has had to rely on dry or takeaway foods. “It has badly affected my health,” he said.
He spends £50 a week to wash his clothes at a nearby Morrisons and has to pay for storage for the belongings that survived the fire. “I have had to borrow money from family members,” he said.
Sylvia Natukunda, 43, has been living in a room in the Travelodge with her husband and two sons, Simon, 14 and Stephen, 13, since December last year after their house caught fire.
They have to move rooms every 28 days due to Travelodge policy. Natukunda, a care worker, and her husband, a nurse, both work irregular shift patterns including nights.
The Travelodge is situated next to the A10. As she and her husband often sleep during the day after coming home from work, her sons have little choice but to stay in the room and be quiet. “There is nowhere safe for them to play outside,” Natukunda said.
Paula Barker, the shadow minister for homelessness and rough sleeping, said: “These latest figures should shame the Conservative government.
“Too many families are placed in unsuitable accommodation such as bed and breakfasts and far too many children find themselves there for longer than the six-week statutory maximum. The effects on these children are profound.”
An Enfield council spokesperson said: “We are competing with 21 other London boroughs and the Home Office who all look for homes in Enfield … at least 6,000 homes in the borough are used by other councils and government departments.
“The housing challenges in the borough requires national action to address the fundamental shortfall of affordable housing.”
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities did not respond to a request for comment. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Free school meals will be offered to all primary school pupils across London for a year under plans by Sadiq Khan to tackle what he said was a failure by ministers to step up support during the cost of living crisis.
The move will come into force from September, saving families about £440 for every child and benefiting 270,000 children, City Hall estimates.
The mayor, who himself received free school meals as a boy, said he hoped the move would help “reduce the stigma that can be associated with being singled out as low-income” and boost take-up among families who needed the help most.
Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren live in poverty but are not eligible for free school meals because of the government’s “restrictive” eligibility criteria, the mayor’s office said.
A household on universal credit must make less than £7,400 a year – after tax and not including benefits – to be eligible.
Khan’s one-off proposal, worth £130m and funded from higher-than-expected business rates income, is designed to fill that gap by making free meals universal across London primary schools.
“The cost of living crisis means families and children across our city are in desperate need of additional support,” Khan said, before a visit to his old school, Fircroft primary in Tooting, south London.
“I have repeatedly urged the government to provide free school meals to help already stretched families, but they have simply failed to act.”
Khan said he knew “from personal experience that free school meals are a lifeline”, as his parents relied on them to give his family “a little extra breathing room financially”, and free meals could be “gamechanging” for others struggling to make ends meet.
The mayor, who has said he intends to seek a third term in 2024, said the free meals would ensure parents “aren’t worrying about how they’re going to feed their children” and would stop them going hungry in the classroom so they could better concentrate on their studies.
Charities and unions welcomed the move. Victoria Benson, the chief executive of the single parent charity Gingerbread, called it a “huge relief” given many children had “gone without basic essentials because household budgets have been stretched beyond breaking point”.
Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, described it as a “much-needed lifeline” and hit out at a “decade of economic mismanagement from the government”.
Some London boroughs – including Islington, Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets – already offer free primary school meals universally, and Westminster started offering them for 18 months from January.
The average cost of a hot school meal for a primary school child was estimated by City Hall to be between £2.25 and £2.35; because children are expected to attend school for 190 days a year, the saving per child for families is projected to be about £440.
An official announcement will be made on 23 February, as part of Khan’s final budget before the mayoral election scheduled for 2 May 2024.
A Department for Education spokesperson said that since 2010, the number of children receiving a free meal at school had increased by more than 2 million, given the introduction of universal infant free school meals and “generous protections” put in place as benefit recipients move across to universal credit.
They stressed that more than a third of pupils in England received free school meals in education settings, compared with 1.1 million in 2009, with investment in the National School Breakfast Programme to extend it for another year. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Orient Cement Q2 Results Review - Better Than Expected Performance: Axis Securities
The cement prices are higher by Rs 20/bag or Rs 400/tonne which will support higher profitabilty in H2 FY24.
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.
Axis Securities Report
Orient Cement Ltd. reported revenue/volume/Ebitda growth of 15%/17%/166%YoY (above expectations) and profit after tax of Rs 25 crore against loss of Rs 9 crore last year on the back of lower operating cost and higher realisation YoY.
Orient Cement recorded an Ebitda Margin of 12% (above expectations) against 5.3%YoY.The quarter’s volume stood at 1.43 million tonnes per annum, up 15% YoY. Orient Cement’s Ebitda/tonne stood at Rs 607 (above expectations), up131% YoY and it reported realisation/tonne of Rs 5,057 against Rs 4,978 up 1.5% YoY.
The company’s cost/tonne declined by 6%/3% YoY/QoQ to Rs 4,449 on the back of lower Power/fuel and inventory adjustment.
Outlook:
The cement demand is expected to remain robust driven by increased capex towards infrastructure and affordable housing and real estate demand in its operating region. We expect company to grow its volume/revenue/Ebitda/adjusted profit after tax at 11%/13%/34%/48% compound annual growth rate over FY23- FY25E.
Valuation and recommendation:
The stock is currently trading at nine times and eight times FY24E/FY25E enterprise value/Ebitda higher than its five years average EV/Ebitda multiple of seven times.
We therefore change our rating from 'Buy' to 'Hold' with target price of Rs 215/share implying no upside from current market price.
Key risks to our estimates and target price-
Lower realisation and demand in its key market. Delay in capacity expansion.
Higher input costs may impact margins.
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. | India Business & Economics |
When you’re saving for retirement, there are a variety of accounts you could use. The Roth IRA, or individual retirement account, is one of those options. Roth IRAs offer more investment flexibility, as well as their own tax benefits. Understanding how a Roth IRA is taxed is essential to taking full advantage of it. It’s important to understand how Roth IRAs are taxed, especially when it comes to gains and withdrawals. You can work with a financial advisor who can help set your retirement and tax planning strategies up in ways that can benefit you.
How Roth IRAs Are Taxed
Roth IRAs aren’t taxed on capital gains like so many investments that you may be used to. They share this in common with traditional IRAs. This applies to both short-term and long-term capital gains and it doesn’t matter if you keep the money in the account or if you withdraw it. In fact, the ability to avoid capital gains is one of the major perks of using an IRA.
A Roth IRA is what’s known as a post-tax retirement savings account. This means that, unlike a 401(k) or traditional IRA that is taxed when you withdraw, a Roth IRA uses money that’s already been taxed. In other words, you pay the income tax on your money, then invest it. When it comes time to withdraw, as long as you’re 59 1/2 or older, you won’t pay taxes or fees on it.
What Should You Invest in With a Roth IRA?
Along with the tax benefits, another benefit of the Roth IRA is the options you have when looking to make an investment. You can invest your Roth IRA money in many places, including:
Stocks
Bonds
Real estate
Mutual funds
CDs
If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
One popular method of growing your retirement account is to use your Roth IRA to invest in dividend stocks. These stocks regularly pay out money to investors and you can reinvest that money in your IRA without it counting toward your contribution limit. This makes dividend stock investments a desirable way to maximize your retirement savings.
You should also regularly rebalance your IRA with a focus on growth. Because a Roth IRA isn’t taxed on withdrawals or returns, you can take full advantage by investing in actively managed funds. Without having to worry about capital gains tax or taxes on returns, you can actively focus on getting the most return on your investment.
Roth IRA vs. Other Retirement Accounts
So, we’ve talked largely about the advantages Roth IRAs have. Because they use already taxed money, you don’t have to pay taxes upon withdrawal, like you would with a traditional IRA or an employer-sponsored plan, like a 401(k).
While Roth IRAs have many advantages, they also have some drawbacks. For instance, unlike 401(k)s, 403(b)s and 457s, Roth IRAs have a much lower contribution limit. For the tax year 2022, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and 457s have a limit of $20,500, whereas IRAs are limited to $6,000.
On top of contribution limits, another major drawback is that Roth IRAs don’t lower your taxable income. You see, 0ne of the benefits of retirement accounts that use pre-tax money is that contributions lower your taxable income in the year they’re made. So, if you make $80,000, but contribute $20,500 to your 401(k), you’re only taxed on $59,500.
Another drawback of Roth IRAs is that you may not be able to use them if you make too much money. For the tax year 2022, your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) must be under $144,000 if filing singly or $214,000 if married and filing jointly.
The Bottom Line
Roth IRAs aren’t taxed on capital gains. In fact, they aren’t taxed on any returns. Because all of the money you invested has already been taxed, you can invest without worrying about capital gains. Along with that, Roth IRAs offer plenty of flexibility when it comes to investing, letting you stash your money in individual stocks, funds, CDs and even real estate.
Of course, there are drawbacks. While you can avoid capital gains, there are contribution limits to IRAs. Plus, you won’t be able to deduct your savings contributions from your income taxes on the applicable year. Utilizing all of the retirement savings options you have can help you meet your goals. Follow our tips to help you get ready.
Tips for Retirement Planning
According to industry experts, if you work with a financial advisor, you’re likely to save twice as much for retirement. An advisor can help you create a financial plan and help you get on track for your retirement goals. If you don’t have a financial advisor, finding one 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 interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
When you retire, you want to retire comfortably. Use SmartAsset’s retirement calculator to estimate your retirement goals and determine how much you need to save
If your employer offers 401(k) matching, you need to take full advantage of it. SmartAsset’s 401(k) calculator can help you figure out how much you’ll have based on your annual contribution and your employer’s matches.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/FabrikaCr, ©iStock.com/PixelsEffect, ©iStock.com/shapecharge | Personal Finance & Financial Education |
The Conservative Party is engulfed in a major row over inheritance tax today after more than 50 MPs demanded it be axed ahead of the next election.
The Conservative Growth Group, formed by allies of former prime minister Liz Truss, wants Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to act in the autumn Budget.
The 55-strong group, includes a former Chancellor, Mr Zahawi, who suggested it was 'morally wrong' to take someone's assets on their death.
However they were facing pushback today from other Tories who say that giving a handout to mainly richer, older homeowners should be less of a priority than a cut in income tax for working people.
Writing in the Telegraph, the multi-millionaire - who was sacked from the Cabinet in January over his tax affairs - added it was a 'spectre' that haunts peoples 'alongside death' and created 'inefficient distortions' in personal finance.
However a Treasury source questioned how much getting rid of the tax would solve, as it is paid by just 7 per cent of family estates anyway.
And the Next Gen Tories group, which represents younger Conservatives, said: 'Taxes are high but we must consider how cuts should be prioritised. More estates are in the inheritance tax bracket because of inflated house prices.'
The Conservative Growth Group will publish a paper on the issue in June to convince the Treasury to abolish inheritance tax in the next budget.
Former cabinet ministers Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg also criticised the tax as 'unfair'.
Mr Zahawi said: 'As well as being morally wrong to take someone's assets on their death, it also creates all sorts of inefficient and damaging distortions in our personal finances, and the wider economy.
'The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are doing admirable work to help people through a global inflationary spike and war on our continent.
'By abolishing inheritance tax, they can show that they back families in their desire to pass on their hard-earned savings to the next generation.'
Mr Rees-Mogg also called for the tax to be scrapped, saying: 'Death duties are an inefficient form of taxation that is unfair and economically damaging.
'Unfair because it is a double tax on already taxed assets. Economically damaging because it leads to the misallocation of capital, as investments are made to avoid a distortive tax rather than to maximise investment return.'
Former Home Secretary Miss Patel added: 'People should be in control of their income and have the ability to determine the future of the assets they have worked hard to save and build up during their lifetime.
'Substantial long-term reform is required and I would encourage proactive steps to support hard-pressed families across our country.'
But Paul Johnson, head of the independent economic think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the tax should instead be overhauled, as it tends to be easier to avoid for the very rich with broadly-based wealth than for those with only one asset.
He tweeted: 'Rather than scrapping IHT we urgently need to reform it. It is genuinely unfair.
'The very wealthy pay an average rate half, or less, that paid by the moderately wealthy. If all you leave is the family house it's hard to avoid. If you have millions it is absurdly easy to avoid.'
A Treasury spokesman said: 'More than 93 per cent of estates aren't expected to pay any inheritance tax in the coming years - however the tax still raises more than £7billion a year to help fund public services like the NHS and schools.
'Estates of surviving spouses and civil partners can pass on up to £1 million without an inheritance tax liability - significantly more than the average UK home of £285,000.' | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
FIRST ON FOX: A bank investigator responsible for detecting and combating money laundering warned in 2018 of "unusual" and "erratic" activity related to more than a dozen wire transfers of large sums of money to accounts belonging to Hunter Biden.
In an email released by the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, a Bank Secrecy Act manager raised concerns that the payments did not appear to correspond to "any services rendered," as well as Chinese efforts to target children of politicians. The investigator suggested the bank re-evaluate its relationship with the client.
The payments from China ultimately funded a $40,000 to Joe Biden from his brother that had been labeled loan repayment, according to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. Comer is co-leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden and has been investigating the Biden family’s business dealings for months.
The email is from a Bank Secrecy Act manager to an assistant vice president and branch manager of a financial institution. The names of the investigator, the vice president and the bank have been redacted in the email, dated June 26, 2018.
"We have been monitoring the subject customer due to the PEP designation and observations on the account activity as well as recent negative news indicate this entity to be high risk," the investigator writes in the email.
A "PEP designation" is short for a "Politically Exposed Person," meaning the individual, through their prominent position or relationships, could be more susceptible to being involved in bribery or corruption, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
"Since the initial funding of $5,000,000.00 from Northern International Capital Holdings (HK) Limited on 08/08/17 as a business loan, it was noted that there was no loan agreement document submitted," the investigator wrote in the email.
The investigator noted that the funds in the account had "primarily funded 16 wires ranging from $157,393.19 to $400,000.00," totaling more than $2.9 million to a redacted name and to "Owasco PC—Law Firm in D.C." Owasco was an entity controlled by Hunter Biden.
"These payments were indicated as management fees and reimbursements," the investigator notes.
"We find it unusual that approximately 58% of the funds were transferred to the law firm in a few months and the frequency of payments appear erratic," the investigator notes. "It was also previously indicated that HUDSON WEST III LLC does not currently have any investment projects at this time, which raises further concerns as millions in fees are being paid but does not appear to have any services rendered by Owasco PC."
"Furthermore, there has been negative news regarding the beneficial owner of Owasco PC, Robert Hunter Biden (son of former U.S. Vice President- Joe Biden) regarding allegations by his ex-wife that there were financial concerns about his extravagant spending on his own interests (drugs, strip clubs, prostitutes, etc.) which may put his family in a deep financial hole," the investigator wrote.
The investigator also pointed to more "recent negative news indicate China targeting children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.’"
"Specifically, Hunter Biden’s $1.5 billion dollar deal with the Chinese-State to establish a private-equity firm in which they manage the funds over time and make huge fees," the investigator wrote. "The management company’s purpose is to invest in companies that benefit Chinese government."
The investigator added: "Thus, the activity on the account appears unusual with no current business purpose and along with the recent negative news…may require re-evaluation of [the bank's] relationship with the customer."
Last month, the Oversight Committee obtained bank records revealing that on August, 8, 2017, $5 million in funds were sent to Hudson West III, a joint-venture established by Hunter Biden and an associate of Chinese Communist Party-linked CEFC, Gongwen Dong.
The records revealed that on the same day, Aug. 8, 2017, Hudson West III sent $400,000 to Owasco, P.C.— as mentioned by the bank investigator in the new email.
On Aug. 14, 2017, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, a company owned by James Biden and his wife Sara Biden. By Aug. 28, 2017, Comer said Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group and later deposited it into her and James Biden’s personal checking account.
Days later, Sara Biden wrote a check to Joe Biden for $40,000. The memo line of the check stated "loan repayment."
The White House, upon discovery of the check, said the committee found that as a private citizen, the president loaned his brother James his own money when his brother needed it, and only discovered a record that he was repaid.
Comer, reacting to the new email Wednesday, said the money laundering expert’s concerns were raised "long before" his committee’s investigation.
"Long before our investigation into President Biden’s corruption, a bank money laundering investigator raised the exact concerns that we raised publicly about the Biden family business: ‘payments appear erratic,’ ‘does not appear to have any services rendered,’ ‘no current business purpose,’ and ‘China target[s] children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.’ Those are the words of a bank investigator who was just doing his job," Comer said. "The bank investigator was so concerned about Hunter Biden’s financial transactions with the Chinese company, he wanted to re-evaluate the bank’s relationship with the customer."
Comer said that "even worse, we know that the sitting President of the United States knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family’s shady China dealings."
"Joe Biden showed up to his son’s CEFC meetings and benefited from the money wired from China," Comer said.
Comer went on to blast "the White House and their Corporate Media allies’ efforts to excuse and cover up this blatant corruption," calling the denials "appalling to the American people." | Banking & Finance |
New York-area shoppers who need employee assistance to get products that have been locked up because of soaring retail theft are being forced to wait as long as 40 minutes for their goods, according to a report.
Reporters from the investigative outlet Inside Edition visited five Targets, five Walmarts and five CVS stores across New York and New Jersey to see how long it took to receive items set behind lock and key after pressing the stores respective help buttons.
A Walmart in New Jersey made Inside’s investigators wait the longest, even after calling for assistance three times to snag locked-up baby formula.
It took 15 minutes for a store employee to the rescue, and a manager apologized for the lengthy wait time, Inside Edition reported.
In another aisle at the NJ Walmart store, the wait for an electric toothbrush was a staggering 24 minutes. The Inside team waited a staggering 40 minutes in total to pick up just three items, per the outlet.
Inside journalist Lisa Guerrero stepped into a Target in Manhattan, and appeared shocked by how many things were locked behind product cases as footage showed a handful of customers waiting for assistance.
“They locked up the underwear,” Guerrero said in surprise, “and the socks.”
“Everything’s locked up,” she said in an aisle where a stockpile of toothpaste was set behind glass casing.
Just outside of the NYC Target, a shopper told Inside that he “ended up waiting about 13 to 14 minutes, and then I just kind gave up,” while another woman called the barricades “discouraging.”
Again Guerrero and her team had to ask for assistance three times — and wait seven minutes — before a Target staffer showed up.
“And then their key didn’t even work,” Guerrero said, who had to wait even longer for the staffer to fetch the correct key before she could fetch a tube of toothpaste of the shelf.
In another aisle stocked with vitamins, the journalist said she waited 10.5 minutes for an employee to unlock the anti-theft barrier.
Waiting on assistance added nearly 20 minutes of time to Guerrero’s shopping trip at this Target outpost.
The Post has sought comment from Walmart and Target.
Meanwhile, a CVS in Manhattan had the shortest wait time of all the stores the Inside team visited by far. Inside investigators had to wait a very manageable 30 seconds to retrieve body wash, and 30 seconds for razors.
The barricades exemplify how much the shoplifting crisis has been plaguing the nation, forcing retailers to stash increasingly more items away under heavy lock and key to avoid losing revenue.
Crime-battered Target said earlier this year that expected to suffer as much as a $1.3 billion hit to its bottom line because of “theft and organized crime.”
The Minneapolis-based chain said its profit will be squeezed by “$500 million more than what we saw last year” – when the company lost as much as $800 million from “inventory shrink.”
“While there are many potential sources of inventory shrink, theft and organized retail crime are increasingly important drivers of the issue,” the company said. “We are making significant investments in strategies to prevent this from happening in our stores.”
Inventory shrink is an industry term that refers to fewer products being on its shelves than what’s reported in its inventory catalog.
Last summer, even a $3.99 can of cheap meat Spam was locked up, with Post reporters finding cases of lousy tins of tuna at half the price getting the same treatment at one of the chain’s stores in Penn Station under Madison Square Garden this past June.
At the time, The Post visited a handful of shops in the Big Apple on Friday to find a slew of low-priced items — including Dawn dishwashing liquid ($2.19), Vaseline lip balm ($2.79), kids toothbrushes ($3.99), Cadbury chocolate ($3.99) and the $1.79 can of tuna — locked in cabinets that require customers to ring a bell and then wait for employees to eventually get them.
Experts have blamed rising cases of rampant theft on lax policies — including the passage of Prop 47 in California, which reduced theft from a potential felony to a misdemeanor — as well as calls to defund the police in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, which resulted in a mass exodus of cops nationwide.
The atmosphere has made retail-laden cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago a “shoplifter’s paradise.”
According to the Chicago Police Department, thefts are up 25% to-date year over year. Robberies are up 11% — perhaps a reason Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he wants to open city-owned grocery stores.
There’s no nationwide policy on how to deal with shoplifting, which many retailers have tried to combat by implementing these anti-theft cases.
If a theft incident still does occur, many employers have encouraged staffers to do nothing at all in an effort to keep them out of harm’s way.
Just last month 49-year-old Michael Jacobs, a CVS operations manager in Mesa, Ariz., was killed on the job by Jared Sevey, 39, who was suspected of shoplifting, police say.
And in April, a 26-year-old Home Depot employee was fatally shot after confronting a woman attempting to steal from the home improvement retailer’s Pleasanton store, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Just days earlier, a pregnant shoplifter at a Walgreens in Nashville was shot by a staffer following a confrontation over stolen merchandise that resulted in an exchange of Mace and bullets. | Consumer & Retail |
Avantis Labs, a decentralized finance (DeFi) derivatives ecosystem, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Pantera Capital, the company’s co-founder and CEO Sehaj Singh exclusively told TechCrunch.
Founders Fund, Coinbase’s Base Ecosystem Fund and Modular Capital also invested in the round. The capital will be used to grow its flagship product Avantis, a perpetual-trading and market-making protocol.
“We saw an opportunity to build a protocol that caters to the complex LPs,” Singh said. “They’re not your run of the mill, average Joe; they’re very complex, sophisticated, on-chain, risk managing, yield-hunting individuals. The next big step was to build a protocol that caters to their individual risk profiles.”
Perpetuals are a type of derivative contract that allow traders to speculate on the price of an asset without actually owning it, meaning that they don’t have an expiration date (like futures contracts) and can be held indefinitely.
Many DeFi perpetual protocols focus mainly on trading cryptocurrencies, opposed to traditional assets like forex or commodities. Across the crypto community, there has been an increased demand in recent months for more real world assets (RWAs) to link the traditional financial market to the DeFi world and leveraged trading.
But many RWAs that are available on-chain through DeFi protocols are offered to accredited institutions, not everyday traders. Avantis plans to enable forex and commodities to “be hedged and traded on-chain” without the need for tokenization, which is a slow and expensive process, Singh said.
“We take the leverage trading mechanism [and] we not only expand it to real-world assets, using oracles, we also expand out the LP side of things by making it a bit more complex,” Singh said. “We like to call it the Uniswap V3 moment for LPs of these leverage protocols.”
Avantis’ underlying trading engine is powered by oracles from Pyth and Chainlink, which are low latency and aim to provide traders with better prices across centralized and decentralized financial markets. The platform is being developed on Optimism Superchain, a network of chains built using the OP Stack, and uses USDC stablecoins as collateral for trades on its protocol.
In the third quarter of this year, Avantis launched its private testnet phase on Base’s blockchain with initial offerings of bitcoin and ether perpetual trading. It plans to launch on Base’s mainnet by the first quarter of 2024 and roll out general access afterward.
Its waitlist has about 90,000 applicants, but it started onboarding about 2,500 people this past weekend, Singh said. It will not be operating in the U.S. or any OFAC sanctioned countries unless it can get approval to operate as an exchange under a CFTC license, he added.
The protocol aims to provide institutional and retail investors the ability to trade crypto and RWAs with up to 100x leverage on its decentralized exchange. It aims to give these traders and liquidity providers better DeFi derivative-trading and market-making infrastructure as well as “capital-efficient composability that’s scalable,” the company said in a statement.
Composability is a generally “untapped” area by orderbook-based derivative protocols because they have minimal trading opportunities for non-crypto asset classes. As a result, the DeFi space has been restricted to mainly crypto assets.
On launching on the mainnet, Avantis will go live with bitcoin and ether and three pairs for foreign exchange: the pound, JPY and the euro. Over time, it will add more cryptocurrencies as well as “exotic forex pairs” like INR and USD, and commodities like gold, silver and crude oil, Singh said.
“I really do believe that it’s possible to give access to anyone to market-make these products,” Singh said. “These are not as sophisticated as people make them out to be. It’s just that they’re very gated to market makers who are in the traditional institutional world… In order to do it, you have to make a complex engine that people can still understand and that can function well at scale.”
It’s worth noting that while this platform wants to cater to different trading personas, it’s not for someone who isn’t “crypto-native and who hasn’t bought crypto in their life,” Singh said. “It’s for people who have and understand leverage trading. Someone who has an understanding of leverage is very important, [because] if you don’t understand it, you end up burning yourself.”
In the long term, Avantis has a bigger roadmap to expand its protocols’ capabilities beyond perpetual trading, and plans to begin working on an options engine by mid next year.
“The goal is to build a whole ecosystem of margin-based products that are fully on-chain,” Singh said. “Options [perpetuals trading] are the next big step for us.” Beyond that, the “next frontier products” for Avantis can range from “on-chain casinos” to leverage vaults, he added. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Why You Need to Reimburse Your Employee Expenses Sooner Than Later
Slow-paying employee reimbursements can lead to resentment, fraud and lost opportunities. Take these simple steps to pay employees quickly and keep your business on track.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You may have heard this story (or one like it) before: Imagine this: A top sales executive, Lee, undertakes a sales trip to woo a potential client. The trip successfully bumps your expected revenues for the coming year and beyond quite nicely. Naturally, Lee incurred numerous expenses during the trip — airfare, hotels, rental car, meals and other incidentals. Lee paid these with the understanding the company would reimburse them.
But the expenses aren't reimbursed quickly, and Lee's personal savings and credit cards reflect that. As days turn to weeks and months, interest mounts and late fees are incurred, affecting Lee's personal financial history. Lee becomes disenchanted and frustrated, which is followed by job dissatisfaction and diminished performance. Quiet quitting becomes real resignation, with your Lee's valuable skills and connections now working for a competitor that reimburses their employees on time. That lucrative business deal is likely to go with Lee.
What you can do — and what you should do
A wide range of business expenses allowed by the IRS often need to be paid by employees. Those that cannot be covered in advance can include unplanned flights, cab or rideshare trips, meals or hotel stays. Other times, employees may be traveling on business with their own vehicle, in which case you should, of course, reimburse them for their mileage and vehicular wear and tear. Other common categories of reimbursable expenses may include training, professional dues, supplies, tools and parts and entertainment (note, while you may elect to reimburse employees for expenses such as taking a customer to a sporting event, those costs are not deductible for you and haven't been since the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act).
The importance of being timely and accurate
Accuracy in tracking your business expenses is important because most, if not all, purchases made by an employee on behalf of your company are for items and services that can be deducted against your taxes.
Some businesses often re-bill expenses to a customer. Examples might be a plumbing or electrical contractor whose employee may need to pick up a plumbing or electrical fixture at a hardware or building supply store.
Employees who lay out their own funds on behalf of your business deserve to be repaid straightaway for myriad reasons. First, the business — and the risks and expenses — is yours and not theirs. You may pay them a salary, but it's not up to them to carry cash or expenses to earn you a profit or secure future business. Don't leave them on the hook for doing you a favor any longer than necessary. Prompt payment also underscores your commitment to them as valued employees.
Rules are needed
It also helps when employees understand what they're expected to do on your behalf. Give guidelines to employees asked to spend their money on your behalf. That would start with your budget for certain expenses. Establish this in advance. And while the annual list of crazy expense report submissions is amusing to read — from helicopter rides to work to hang gliders "to avoid a divorce" — you don't want your business to show up on that list. Often a budget solves this problem, with the added benefit that you don't have to approve every two-dollar purchase.
As reimbursable expenses are realized, they should be recorded promptly using your preferred system. This may be a spreadsheet, but many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) use contract bookkeepers or bookkeeping platforms. More often, they rely on document management systems with expense-tracking features that use optical character reading (OCR) to input data such as receipts and invoices. These documents can be captured in multiple ways, including photographing them, emailing them directly to a cloud server, importing them directly from a computer or scanning them.
Once converted by OCR technology, the data can be manipulated in pretty much any method that makes sense. For instance, you may track them for each salesperson you have, you may track them by which department puts in the request or you can track them by client or project. Your employee can do the entry, too.
Using a cloud-based system that will let you capture receipts in this way means you can avoid the complexity — and errors — of re-keying information and managing spreadsheets. You can sort the data by category, by vendor or by date. Compare that with spreadsheets, where remembering which tab your expense belongs on and ensuring each cell has the proper equations make it that much harder to reimburse your employees promptly. Paper files have similar flaws. Plus, paper can be lost, misfiled or damaged in tragic coffee-spill accidents.
These platforms are also more efficient, which goes hand-in-hand with saving time and money. They make review and control simple, too. Pay your employees back quickly, while gaining insight into what's being spent and for what purpose. You can then make any spending adjustments needed and please your employees.
What's in it for you?
But paying back your employees without delay provides key benefits to you. It improves employee morale and job satisfaction, which makes them better employees. Being anxious when your expenses damage their own finances can also hurt their on-the-job performance and spark resentment. And suppose your reimbursement practices become a problem for employees. In that case, it can also make it difficult to recruit new, high-performing employees.
But when you give employees their money back promptly, everyone will be happy, resulting in time and resources spent on growing the business. | Workforce / Labor |
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NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump signed a document 30 years ago that gave the true size of his New York penthouse that was later listed as far larger on his financial statements, according to evidence shown Tuesday at the former president’s civil business fraud trial.
The evidence appeared in an email attachment shown as Allen Weisselberg, the former finance chief of Trump’s company, testified in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud lawsuit against Trump and his Trump Organization. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The attachment was a 1994 document, signed by Trump, that pegged his Trump Tower triplex at 10,996 square feet — not the 30,000 square feet later claimed for years on financial statements that were given to banks, insurers and others to make deals and secure loans.
Weisselberg said he recalled seeing the email but not the attachment, explaining that the attachments were documents he already had on file in the company’s offices. But in any event, he said, he didn’t pay much mind to the apartment’s size because its value amounted to a fraction of Trump’s wealth.
“I never even thought about the apartment. It was de minimis, in my mind,” Weisselberg said, using a Latin term that means, essentially, too small to care about. He insisted that even if he had known about the size discrepancy, he wouldn’t necessarily have thought it worth mentioning to the outside accountants who prepared Trump’s financial statements.
“It was not something that was that important to me when looking at a $6 billion, $5 billion net worth,” Weisselberg said.
Weisselberg repeatedly said he couldn’t remember whether he discussed the financial statements with Trump while they were being finalized. The former chief financial officer said he reviewed drafts “from a 30,000-foot level” (9,100-meter level) but paid special attention to something “very important” to Trump: the descriptions of his properties.
READ MORE: Court rejects Trump request to pause fraud trial amid fight over real estate empire ruling
“It was a little bit of a marketing piece for banks to read about our properties, how well they’re taken care of, that they’re first-class properties,” said Weisselberg, who recalled during a deposition in May that Trump sometimes quibbled about the language used in such descriptions.
“I might say beautiful. He might say magnificent,” Weisselberg said then. “I might say it was cute. He would say it’s incredible.”
Weisselberg said Tuesday he learned of the Trump Tower penthouse size discrepancy only when a Forbes magazine reporter pointed it out to him in 2016. He testified that he initially disputed the magazine’s findings but said he couldn’t recall whether he directed anyone to look into the matter.
“You don’t recall if you did anything to confirm who was right?” state lawyer Louis Solomon asked?
Weisselberg said he did not.
As Forbes zeroed in on the apartment size question in 2017, emails show, a company spokesperson told another Trump executive that, per Weisselberg, they weren’t to engage on the size issue. A week later, Trump’s 2016 financial statement was released, using the incorrect square footage.
Weisselberg, testifying as a prosecution witness, is also a defendant in the lawsuit. He took the stand after a recent jail stint for evading taxes on perks he got while working for Trump.
James’ lawsuit alleges that Weisselberg engineered Trump’s financial statements to meet his demands that they show increases in his net worth and signed off on lofty valuations for assets despite appraisals to the contrary.
Trump, who attended the first three days of the non-jury trial last week in Manhattan, didn’t return to court to see his former chief financial officer testify.
Weisselberg left a New York City jail six months ago after serving 100 days for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in extras that came with his Trump Organization job, including a Manhattan apartment, school tuition for his grandchildren and luxury cars for him and his wife.
Weisselberg testified Tuesday that what he’s been through in the last few years has “taken its toll” on him and his family.
During sworn pretrial questioning in May, Weisselberg, 76, testified that he was having trouble sleeping, started seeing a therapist and was taking a generic form of Valium as he tried to “reacclimate myself back to society.”
Trump, in his deposition in April, said his former longtime lieutenant was liked and respected, and “now, he’s gone through hell and back.”
“What’s happened to him is very sad,” Trump said.
In a pretrial ruling last month, Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump, Weisselberg and other defendants committed years of fraud by exaggerating the value of Trump’s assets and net worth on his financial statements.
As punishment, Engoron ordered that a court-appointed receiver take control of some Trump companies, putting the future oversight of Trump Tower and other marquee properties in doubt. An appeals court on Friday blocked enforcement of that aspect of Engoron’s ruling, at least for now.
The civil trial concerns allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Weisselberg’s association with Trump’s family dated to 1973, when he answered a newspaper ad for a staff accountant for Trump’s real estate-developer father, Fred. Weisselberg started working for Donald Trump in 1986 and eventually made $1.14 million a year in salary and bonuses.
According to a severance agreement he signed the day before going to jail, Weisselberg is due to be paid $2 million over two years. That sum is close to the amount of back taxes, penalties and interest he was required to pay as part of his plea agreement.
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Government Cancels Bid For Appointing Asset Valuer For IDBI Bank, Fresh RFP To Be Issued
A fresh Request For Proposal would be invited soon after a review of some of the bid criteria to enable better interest from bidders.
The government on Tuesday cancelled the bid process for the appointment of an asset valuer for strategic sale-bound IDBI Bank Ltd. on low bidder interest.
A fresh Request For Proposal would be invited soon after a review of some of the bid criteria to enable better interest from bidders.
"It has been decided with the approval of the competent authority to cancel the present RFP and to issue a fresh RFP for selection of an asset valuer for strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank," DIPAM said in a corrigendum.
"We had only a single bid. A fresh RFP will be issued soon after we review some of the criteria to enable better interest from bidders," a government official said.
The government, along with Life Insurance Corp., is selling nearly 61% stake in IDBI Bank and in January received multiple Expressions of Interest for the same.
Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey had last week said the IDBI Bank strategic sale transaction is "on course" but the transaction would not be completed in the current fiscal.
"We practically don't think that before March we can conclude it (IDBI Bank stake sale)," Pandey had said.
As part of the strategic sale process, on Sept. 1, DIPAM invited bids for appointing an asset valuer and the last date for submission of bids was Oct. 9. The deadline was later extended till Oct. 30.
The asset valuer was mandated to identify intangibles not on the IDBI Bank balance sheet, like brand name, branch network and value them.
The terms of reference for asset valuers included describing and listing of all the properties and assets, including intangibles such as trademark(s), title to property rights being valued, as provided by the bank.
Valuation of intangibles were required to be indicated separately.
The DIPAM had earlier said the bank has 120 properties in the top seven cities. These include 68 properties in Mumbai, 20 in Pune, nine in Chennai and seven in Ahmedabad. Besides, it has six properties in Kolkata and five each in Delhi and Hyderabad.
The asset properties in the seven cities account for 94% of the total written down value (after accounting for depreciation) of fixed assets of IDBI Bank.
The government and LIC together hold 94.72% stake in IDBI Bank.
Pursuant to the strategic sale transaction, the government will own 15% stake and LIC 19% shareholding in IDBI Bank, taking their total holding to 34%. | Banking & Finance |
Sen. Josh Hawley plans to introduce legislation that would set an 18% cap on credit card interest rates, according to a report.
“Americans are being crushed under the weight of record credit card debt,” the Missouri Republican told the news site RealClearPolitics.
The Missouri senator said it was time for the government to serve “working people” just as it came to the aid of faltering banks earlier this year, including Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank of New York.
“The government was quick to bail out the banks just this spring, but has ignored working people struggling to get ahead,” Hawley told RealClearPolitics.
Hawley said that capping credit card rates was a “fair” and “common-sense” way to give “the working class a chance.”
The annual percentage rate (APR) is the amount of interest credit cardholders pay annually.
APR is determined by the credit card issuer, which examines a customer’s credit score.
In the United States, banks and credit unions issue credit cards.
Chase, American Express, Citigroup, Capital One, and Bank of America are among the largest issuers of credit cards in the country.
The Post has sought comment from the American Bankers Association, the lobby representing the nation’s lenders.
Hawley’s proposal closely mirrors those which have been proposed by progressive lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
In 2019, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders introduced the Loan Shark Prevention Act which sought to cap credit card APR at 15%.
The bill never made it to the floor.
In comments to RealClearPolitics, Hawley pushed back on criticism that his proposal was to the left of those proposed by Democrats, including President Joe Biden.
“We have a long history in this country of statutes, at the state and a federal level, that prevent what we used to call usury – an old-fashioned word for ripping off working people, and we need to get back to it,” Hawley said.
The senator took aim at credit card issuers, telling RealClearPolitics: “We know what they’re doing.”
“They’re out there actively encouraging and finding new ways to get consumers indebted — they hike rates, and they can make a killing on it,” Hawley said.
“Who does this hurt? Working people.”
Last week, Equifax, the credit agency, reported that low- and middle-income Americans who are struggling under the burden of sky-high inflation are defaulting on their credit cards and car loans.
This year, credit card delinquencies have hit 3.8%, while 3.6% have defaulted on their car loans, according to a study by Moody’s.
Both figures are the highest in more than 10 years. | Interest Rates |
Government documents that were abruptly deleted after appearing online with announcements of new transport projects were just giving “examples” of what savings from the scrapping of HS2’s northern leg could be spent on, a minister has claimed.
The documents detailed an extra £100m of funding for a mass transit “underground” project in Bristol. Mention of plans to invest £36bn in projects around the north and Midlands, including reopening Transport North East’s Leamside line, were also removed from the government’s website.
“We gave some examples to people about the sorts of things – and we know these things are priorities locally – the sorts of things that that money could be spent on, and to bring it to life for people,” the transport secretary, Mark Harper, told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire on Sunday.
The deletions on Wednesday night included removing an entire page where the government pledged to “revolutionise mass transit in Bristol’. It appeared to have been replaced with a broader pledge to give the west of England combined authority £100m, which it could spend on various projects in the region.
Asked if Bristol was going to get a new mass transit system, Harper said: “My department published a document which set out very clearly what we are going to spend the £36bn on what we are saving from cancelling the second phase of HS2.
“The money that was promised for Bristol is for £100m extra for the elected mayor of the west of England combined authority and that is money that he will have available to spend on his projects including on a mass transit system... some of those things are already being delivered.”
The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, described the deleted plans as “fantasy promises” by the government.
“They can’t hide from the fact that they released a document that looked like it had been scribbled in crayon by advisers that had never left London,” she said on Twitter.
Questioned on Sky News, Harper said ministers would “develop the business case” for restoring the Leamside line, despite the documents last week saying it would be reopened.
“We’ve made a big commitment to the north-east elected mayor for a significant amount of money, £1.8bn, and it will be for them to decide how they spend that money,” he told Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips show. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
If America is seeing a significant uptick in the number of grumpy old men – and women – one reason might well be the big shortfall during 2022 between inflation and their Social Security payments.
According to the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League, between this 2022’s rabid increase in the cost of living and the inflation adjustment given to Social Security recipients, there was a 46% gap between 2022’s historic inflation and the monthly benefit checks received by 70 million Americans.
For help strategizing your retirement in difficult times, consider matching with a vetted financial advisor for free.
Here’s how the math works out:
Last January, Social Security recipients received a 5.9% cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA), which upped the average benefit check from, $1,564 in 2021 to $1,656.30 for 2022, and an increase of $92.30.
In June, the reported rate of inflation compared with June 2021 hit a shocking high for the year of 9.8%. The year started with a rate of 8.2% in January and finally dipped to 7.1% in November.
The 5.9% inflation adjustment fell short of actual inflation every month by 46% on average, the league reported, leaving the average Social Security benefit short by more than $42 per month and more than $508 for the year.
“While Social Security recipients are looking forward to an 8.7% increase in Social Security benefits in January, inflation in 2022 has taken a toll on retiree budgets,” according to a statement from the league. “Many retirees have been forced to spend through savings far more quickly than planned and those without savings have turned to food pantries and low-income assistance programs in higher numbers.”
The annual inflation rate for 2021 – as measured by the headline-grabbing Consumer Price Index – was 7%. However, the adjustment for Social Security benefits is calculated based on the change between the third quarters of the similar Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). In the third quarter of 2021, CPI-W increased by 5.9%. But by the end of the fourth quarter that rate had jumped to 7.4%, leaving seniors short before 2022 had even begun.
Federal government agencies are forecasting that 2022 will end with an annual inflation rate between 7% and 8.01% when the final numbers for the year are announced on Jan. 12, according to the data research firm Knoema. In August, the consensus from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) was that the CPI inflation rate will decline from 7.5% in 2022 to 3.2% in 2023 and to 2.5% in 2024.
Recent surveys from The Senior Citizens League reported that 33% of the senior citizens surveyed applied for food stamps or visited a food pantry this year, compared with 22% last year, and that 17% applied for assistance with heating costs, compared with 10% last year.
Now in January 2023, the average monthly benefit amount has increased by about $140, increasing the average check to nearly $1,800.
“While Social Security recipients are looking forward to an 8.7% increase in Social Security benefits in January, inflation in 2022 has taken a toll on retiree budgets,” the group’s statement reads. “Many retirees have been forced to spend through savings far more quickly than planned and those without savings have turned to food pantries and low-income assistance programs in higher numbers.”
Bottom Line
Despite an 8.7% increase in Social Security payments in 2023, seniors are still contending with a big shortfall from 2022, amid inflation and their Social Security payments. The Senior Citizens League reported that between 2022’s increase in the cost of living and the inflation adjustment given to Social Security recipients there was a 46% gap between 2022’s historic inflation and the monthly benefit checks received by 70 million Americans.
Tips for Retirement Planning
Saving is important but most people aren’t likely to stow away enough to last all of their golden years. Likewise, Social Security can help but it isn’t likely to sustain your current lifestyle. Instead, you will likely need your savings to grow through investments. For help with this, consider working with a financial advisor. 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 interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
Taxes can take a big chunk out of your retirement income, depending on where you live. To find out if you should relocate after you hang up your hat, check our story on the best states to retire for taxes.
Photo credit: © iStock.com/Brothers91
The post Why Are Retirees Feeling Pinched? Social Security Fell This Much Short Last Year appeared first on SmartAsset Blog. | Inflation |
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NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Bankman-Fried authorized the illegal use of FTX customers’ funds and assets to plug financial gaps at an affiliated hedge fund from the exchange’s earliest days, FTX’s co-founder Gary Wang told a New York jury on Friday, as prosecutors pressed their case that Bankman-Fried was the mastermind behind one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history.
Eventually, the losses at the hedge fund, Alameda Research, became so large that there was no way to hide them any longer, Wang said in his second day of testimony.
“FTX was not fine,” Wang said, referring to the now-infamous tweet that Bankman-Fried wrote only a few days before the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried, 31, stole billions of dollars from investors and customers in order to fund a lavish lifestyle in The Bahamas and buy the influence of politicians, celebrities and the public.
READ MORE: FTX founder Bankman-Fried charged with paying $40M bribe to Chinese officials
Wang was FTX’s chief technology officer and is part of what has been referred to as the “inner circle” of FTX executives who have agreed to testify against Bankman-Fried in exchange for leniency in their own criminal cases. He is expected to finish his testimony Tuesday. Wang has pleaded guilty to wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud as part of his agreement with prosecutors.
Prosecutors hope to have Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda and Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend, take the stand Tuesday.
Wang and Bankman-Fried started Alameda in 2017, then founded FTX in 2019.
Wang told the jury that, at the direction of Bankman-Fried, he inserted code into FTX’s operations that would give Alameda Research the ability to make nearly unlimited withdrawals from FTX and have a line of credit up to $65 billion. Alameda was given these privileges initially because the hedge fund was the primary market maker for FTX’s customers in the exchange’s early days.
Sam Bankman-Fried listens as Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos questions Gary Wang during Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, New York, Oct. 6, 2023, in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
Alameda took advantage of its unlimited withdrawal capabilities and lines of credit from the start, Wang said, in the forms of cryptocurrencies as well as dollars. Initially it was only a few million dollars but grew over the years.
“It withdrew more funds than it had on exchange,” Wang said adding that the money that it withdrew “was money from (FTX) customers.”
The relationship was effectively a two-way street, where the exchange could help out the hedge fund and vice versa as FTX quickly grew between 2019 and 2022. At one point, when a loophole in FTX’s software was exploited to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in paper losses on a particular cryptocurrency, Wang said Bankman-Fried ordered that loss to be moved onto Alameda’s balance sheet because FTX’s financial condition was more visible to the public while Alameda’s balance sheet was not.
Alameda’s deep financial ties to FTX were in contrast to Bankman-Fried’s public statements that the hedge fund was “no different” from any other FTX customer.
The losses at Alameda reached as much as $14 billion in the months leading up to the exchange’s bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried and Wang discussed solutions to the problems at Alameda in the summer of 2022, including shutting down the hedge fund, but by then it was too late.
“(Alameda) had no way of repaying this,” Wang testified.
FTX filed for bankruptcy Nov. 11. Wang testified that, within hours of FTX filing for bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried ordered him to send the bulk of FTX’s remaining assets to the securities regulators in The Bahamas instead of to the U.S. authorities handling the bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried said the Bahamian regulators “seemed more friendly to him, and they seemed more likely to let him stay in control of the company compared to the U.S.,” Wang testified.
Following this exchange, Wang contacted the FBI on Nov. 17, saying he knew what he had done was wrong and he wanted to avoid a long prison sentence for his crimes.
In opening statements this week, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers claimed that Wang and other FTX lieutenants failed to do their jobs, including setting up appropriate financial hedges that would have protected FTX from last year’s crash in crypto prices. They said Bankman-Fried believed he was managing a liquidity crisis caused by cryptocurrency values that collapsed by over 70% and criticism from one of his biggest competitors that caused a run on his companies by customers seeking to recover their deposits.
In their cross examination of Wang on Friday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers tried to downplay any special relationship between Alameda and FTX, saying it was not unusual for market-making entities such as Alameda to have losses or borrow funds from an exchange.
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ZestMoney, a buy now pay later startup whose ability to underwrite small ticket loans to first-time internet customers attracted many high-profile investors including Goldman Sachs, is shutting down following unsuccessful efforts to find a buyer.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup — which also identified PayU, Quona, Zip, Omidyar Network and Ribbit Capital among its backers — employed about 150 people and had raised over $130 million in its eight years journey.
The startup’s new leadership, which informed the employees about the decision to shut down Tuesday, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The startup will fully wind down by end of the month, the leadership said.
The move follows ZestMoney founders quitting the startup in May this year after acquisition talks with fintech giant PhonePe didn’t materialize. The founding team handed over the firm to three new leaders, who raised a few million dollars from existing investors and attempted to find new path for the company.
They engaged with many investors and fintech giants in recent months to explore deals, people familiar with the matter said.
ZestMoney, once valued at $445 million, drew backing of high-profile investors thanks to its ability to underwrite small ticket loans to first-time internet customers.
ZestMoney is among a handful of Indian startups that used alternative data points to help build credit profiles on consumers, making them eligible to make their first online purchases.
India’s low credit card penetration has left a majority of the population without traditional credit scores, which banks rely on to evaluate creditworthiness before issuing loans. Furthermore, small loans do not yield significant returns for banks, disincentivizing them from issuing such financial products. In response, ZestMoney, alongside other emerging startups like Axio and LazyPay, has attempted to carve out a niche in a market traditionally dominated by financial giant Bajaj Finance.
Tuesday’s news is the second blow for Omidyar Network this week. Omidyar-backed Doubtnut — which had raised over $50 million and once received a $150 million acquisition deal — agreed to sell for $10 million, TechCrunch reported Monday. | India Business & Economics |
With near record numbers of homeless families in temporary accommodation in England, the BBC has spoken to children and parents about being moved from place to place.
Koby Anderson is very tired - so tired that he sometimes sleeps at school "in the head teacher's office", says his mother Lily.
For six months, the six-year-old has been living in the same bedroom as his mum and one-year-old brother Isiah, who wakes during the night "a lot", says Koby.
The family is crammed into a one-bedroom flat in Bristol, having been made homeless in September. It has been provided by the council and they cannot bring their own furniture because they could be moved on any minute.
"I enjoyed the other house that we lived in, but this one is a squeeze and a squash," says Koby. "I do miss my bunk bed. Under my bed is a wooden bit where I keep all of the things that are special to me. Hundreds of cards, in my special box. I didn't think it was safe enough to bring them here."
'No-fault' eviction
Lily says her son refuses sleepover invitations at his friend's house as he is scared the family will lose their accommodation. "He had a nightmare the other night because he thought he was going to be on the streets. I've obviously told him that's never going to happen but he said 'in my dream I was in a sleeping bag, you were next to me and we were sleeping on the streets'.
"He's had night terrors, bed-wetting. He's been referred to the mental health team. It's had a massive impact."
The family's story is not uncommon. They were initially made homeless as a result of a "no-fault" eviction, because their landlord decided to sell. In its 2019 manifesto, the government promised to ban these types of evictions, but has not yet done this.
Lily, a part-time nurse, failed to find an alternative property because rents had soared. In any case, says Lily, the fact her salary is topped up by universal credit means "letting agents don't give me a look-in, they want couples". With 19,000 households on Bristol's social housing waiting list, temporary accommodation was the only option.
They spent the first eight weeks in two Travelodge hotels, without access to cooking facilities, living off takeaways or the generosity of friends. "We had to check out every week," says the 29-year-old. "We'd take all the suitcases to the car, and Koby would be screaming and crying because he didn't want to go to school, as he didn't know where we were going to end up."
Lily would spend the day waiting to hear from the council about where they would be sent - often back to the same hotel. Their current property, in a block of 12 flats all housing homeless families, is an improvement on hotel living, but is certainly not a permanent home.
The latest official figures show, at the end of September, almost 100,000 households in England were in temporary accommodation, a near record level.
The figure, from Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, includes more than 125,000 children, thousands of whom live in hotels, bed and breakfasts or other unsuitable properties. Similar figures for Scotland show more than 9,000 children in temporary accommodation, a record high.
'Intentionally homeless'
For many homeless families, temporary accommodation can be anything but.
In Thamesmead, south-east London, seven-year-old Pyper and her mum, Tammy Ebsworth, have been in temporary accommodation for six years after a relationship breakdown left them homeless. They now face more upheaval, even though Tammy is eight months' pregnant.
When the 28-year-old told her local authority their property would be too small when her baby was born, they offered her a bigger place, 60 miles away in Colchester. She turned it down and was told that, consequently, she had made herself "intentionally homeless". They were ordered to leave the property by 14 February and are only still there because Tammy is appealing against the decision.
"If I moved all the way out to Colchester, who's going to look after my daughter when I go into labour?" asks Tammy. "No-one's going to be able to come down and see me. It's too far. I'd need to change hospitals, change doctors, change her school. We're not going to know anyone, I don't know how to get anywhere."
As Tammy talks, Pyper crouches down next to her, drawing and doing maths questions. Dealing with the prospect of moving has been a "nightmare", says Tammy. "She won't be able to see her dad, her nan on a weekend like she does now. She hasn't been sleeping. She's quite a handful at the moment."
"It makes me sad because I will miss this house, miss my family, miss my friends, everything." says Pyper as she doodles a sad face on a piece of paper. "I don't want to go."
Research by homelessness charity Shelter last year suggested homeless children often have to change schools many times or lose more than a month's schooling entirely. Others have fewer than 48 hours' notice that they must move.
In next Wednesday's Budget, the charity wants the government to increase housing benefit, frozen since 2020 while rents have risen by 7.5% nationally.
"If that doesn't happen, it's inevitable that this government is going to preside over a significant increase in homelessness," says Polly Neate, Shelter's chief executive.
The government says housing benefit levels were increased "significantly and beyond inflation" during the pandemic, "benefitting over one million households by an average of more than £600 over the year", while "tens of thousands of homes for social rent" are being built.
On a recent morning, Koby ran out of his block of flats and, seeing it had snowed overnight, made a small snowball that he fired at his mother and brother before laughing heartily - a typical six-year-old yearning for a place to call home. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
It raised concerns with the quality of the food being served at the hotel, saying that some families from Afghanistan had to shun the meat because it “stinks” and that there were no fresh vegetables on offer.
Following a visit to the Hampton by Hilton near Exeter airport, councillors also discovered issues with arranging doctors’ appointments and the provision of critical medicines for the asylum seekers.
The majority of the 170 refugees at the hotel arrived in Devon following the UK’s military exit from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The report from East Devon District Council claims some children are going hungry due to the “inadequate and culturally inappropriate” food being provided at the hotel.
It condemned the “careless and inappropriate manner” in which the asylum seekers are being treated.
Aynsley Jones, manager of the nearby Cranbrook Community Hub, said the food on offer at the hotel was substandard, and raised additional concerns about medical care and transport.
Ms Jones said that almost one in three of the children “do not eat the food provided at the hotel” and that there had been two confirmed cases of malnutrition so far.
She added that there were no individual cooking facilities or fridges, which impacted the storage of medication and baby milk, and that almost one in five of the children had severe trauma that could not be “adequately supported” due to a lack of funds.
A further one in five of the children are believed to have undiagnosed special educational needs.
“There was no chaperone on the school bus even with some children being as young as four years old,” said Ms Jones.
Stephen Farmer, headteacher of Cranbrook Education Campus, which is attended by 48 children from the asylum hotel, said the children are arriving at school hungry and that staff were providing extra meals to them.
Cllr Kevin Blakey, who visited the hotel along with Cllr Jess Bailey and Cllr Kim Bloxham, added: “There was a lack of variety and no provision of fresh vegetables or salads to ensure a healthy and balanced diet.
“Meat is an issue. The small amount served sat in a bland sauce that some of the residents disliked, the remaining residents could not eat it because their faiths do not permit the consumption of red meats.
“They will not eat the chicken because, according to all those that we spoke to, the meat stinks and they do not believe it is safe or good to eat.
“While there are certainly cultural issues with food at the hotel, we understand that the children are eating all types of foods at the Cranbrook Education Campus, which seems to confirm the problem with the quality of the food being shipped in by the current contractor at the hotel.”
Ms Bailey added: “I am ashamed of the way the Conservative Government is treating people seeking asylum in the hotel.
“The Home Office is fully aware of the problems – which shockingly includes children going hungry – yet are not fixing the problems. I think people would be horrified if they knew what was actually happening on their own doorstep.”
The council has called on the Home Office to provide “adequate feeding and safeguarding of the asylum seekers”.
The responsibility for the asylum seekers and the contracted food services lies with the Home Office, not the hotel’s management. The Hampton by Hilton in question is run on a franchise basis, and not centrally by the Hilton hotel group.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “Asylum seekers in receipt of catered accommodation are provided with three meals a day along with snacks and water, and a weekly allowance where eligible.
“The food provided in asylum hotels, including portion size, meets NHS Eatwell standards and responds to all culture and dietary requirements.
“Where concerns are raised about any aspect of the service delivered in a hotel we work with the provider to ensure these concerns are addressed.”
i has contacted Hilton for comment. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Taylor Swift was apparently the rare celebrity to ask if FTX dealt in "unregistered securities."
But her team agreed to a tour sponsorship with FTX, The New York Times reported.
The deal fell through after Sam Bankman-Fried backed out, The Times reported.
Back when FTX was pursuing A-list celebrity associations, the pop megastar Taylor Swift had been shrewd to inquire if the crypto exchange was dealing in "unregistered securities," a class action lawyer said earlier this year.
The relationship between Swift and the now-collapsed FTX may have been a little more nuanced, even if it didn't ultimately pan out, according to a new report.
Swift's team had agreed to a tour sponsorship arrangement with FTX, and had even signed on it, The New York Times reports. But the crypto exchange's founder Sam Bankman-Fried withdrew in a "last-minute reversal," which "frustrated and disappointed" the Swift camp, The Times reported, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.
A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.
Swift would not endorse FTX, and the proposed arrangement had been "narrowed down to a tour sponsorship deal," a source familiar with the discussions told Insider. "That's why the deal was never finalized," the source said.
"FTX wanted Taylor to endorse them by doing commercials, interviews and promotional events on their behalf like other celebrities were doing at that time, but she would not agree to endorse FTX," the source said.
The class action lawyer Adam Moskowitz had suggested on an April episode of the crypto podcast "The Scoop" that Swift had been the rare celebrity to ask pertinent questions about FTX.
Moskowitz, who represents FTX customers, has targeted celebrities in litigation alleging that they promoted the crypto exchange without being transparent about being paid to advertise it, according to court filings.
"In our discovery, Taylor Swift actually asked them, can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?" Moskowitz said on the episode.
Moskowitz did not immediately respond to Insider's emailed request for comment on Thursday morning.
Swift and FTX had contemplated a $100 million sponsorship deal, the FT reported in December. But even then, the conversations were around a potential sponsorship, and not a deal for Swift to actually endorse FTX, the FT reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.
Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York over the collapse of FTX, is awaiting trial scheduled to take place in October.
Read the original article on Business Insider | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
HuffPost UK has been told that the decision has caused “meltdown” among members of the shadow cabinet, with some even threatening to resign unless the policy is ditched.
Under the cap, parents are not able to claim child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme yesterday, the Labour leader was asked if he would scrap it if he wins the next election.
He replied: “We are not changing that policy.”
That is despite the fact that Starmer tweeted in 2020 that he wanted to scrap the “inhuman” measure.
And just last month, shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth described the two-child cap as “heinous”.
It is understood Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves do not want to commit Labour to spending the estimated £1.8 billion it would cost to reverse the cap.
In a thinly-veiled swipe at the pair, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell tweeted: “It’s pretty clear that we now need an honest and fundamental discussion in the Labour Party about child poverty, its causes and the impact of the policies introduced by the Tories, including the 2 child limit, because it’s obvious some in the party don’t fully appreciate its impact.”
Labour MP Mick Whitley tweeted: “The two-child cap is causing misery for thousands of young people in Birkenhead. This is the wrong call.”
A Labour source said: “They’re in meltdown over this. There’s a lot of anger among MPs and some frontbenchers have threatened to resign.”
But one shadow cabinet member said: “It’s possible to both be critical of the two-child policy but also say we can’t make spending commitments. We have to be fiscally disciplined.”
A source close to Starmer told HuffPost UK: “You can think it’s a heinous policy but also accept that there is absolutely no money and unless there is £2 billion sloshing around, we can’t reverse it
“Members of the shadow cabinet who are unhappy should be setting out from their budget how we’re going to fund it.”
The source added: “I don’t think for a second Keir’s changed his mind on the benefit cap, but there is no money and we have to be honest with people about this.” | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Italy Exits Moody’s Junk Danger Zone In Big Win For Meloni
The change in outlook removes a sword of Damocles that has constantly overshadowed Meloni and her one-year-old coalition.
(Bloomberg) -- Italy is no longer in danger of a cut to junk at Moody’s Investors Service, which raised its rating outlook to 'stable' in a huge win for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The country’s assessment was kept at Baa3, the lowest investment grade, but the company removed the threat of a downgrade after more than 15 months with a negative view instituted just before the populist premier won power.
The decision “reflects a stabilization of prospects for the country’s economic strength, the health of its banking sector and the government’s debt dynamics,” Moody’s said in a statement on Friday. “Medium-term cyclical economic prospects continue to be supported by the implementation of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and risks to energy supplies have abated.”
The change in outlook removes a sword of Damocles that has constantly overshadowed Meloni and her one-year-old coalition. It offers the premier a pay-off for her gamble in September to deliver on promises to voters with a loosened fiscal stance despite an intensified focus on the public finances by Moody’s.
Her budget then sent the spread between bonds of Italy and Germany — a key measure of risk in the region — to 210 basis points for the first time since January. The gauge was at 177 on Friday.
Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said the change in outlook at Moody’s filled him with “great satisfaction.”
“This confirms that even among many difficulties, we are doing the right things for Italy’s future,” he said in a statement to reporters.
Moody’s baseline is that the general government fiscal deficit will total 4.4% of GDP in 2024. The rating agency forecasts debt-to-GDP will total 140.3% in 2023, down from 141.7% in 2022 but about 6 percentage points higher than it was before the pandemic.
Series of Assessments
The company’s scheduled update was the last in a series of such big assessments on Italy this year — and the most precarious, given its proximity to junk. Rivals have markedly more upbeat views, with both Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings reaffirming stable investment-grade assessments one step higher.
The reprieve now buys time for the prime minister as she contends with a shaky economy, spending demands for voters and a fractious governing coalition.
While Italy barely escaped a recession in the third quarter, prospects there may at least be improving.
The economy isn’t expected to shrink through 2025 and should benefit significantly from European Union Recovery Fund spending in that time, according to European Commission forecasts released last week.
Even so, that outlook also showed a less rosy outlook for the public finances than the government’s already loosened stance.
The Commission sees the deficit narrowing to 4.3% in 2025 — a wider outcome than the 3.6% projected by Meloni’s officials. It also sees debt as a percentage of output rising above 140% in the next two years.
Given that Moody’s has specified public finances as an area of concern, such a profile is likely to keep the rating company watching Italy closely.
The prospect that the shortfall will still be noticeably above 3% two years from now could also prove a point of contention with the EU. Its regime limiting deficits to that ceiling will kick in again as of January.
Finance ministers have yet to agree on a framework to interpret that rule, and may discuss the matter in coming days.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Europe Business & Economics |
Rishi Sunak says legal migration to the UK is "too high" but has refused to put a precise figure on acceptable levels of people coming to the UK.
The prime minister told the BBC he was "considering a range of options" to bring down legal migration.
He has been facing pressure to deliver on a 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment to bring down levels of net migration.
New figures on net migration to the UK are expected in the coming weeks.
In an interview conducted with the BBC's Chris Mason at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Mr Sunak refused to be drawn on the specifics of the government's plan on legal migration.
Asked if he would stop some international students bringing dependents with them when they come to study in the UK, Mr Sunak said he wouldn't "speculate".
"What I would say is we're considering a range of options to help tackle numbers of legal migration and to bring those numbers down - and we'll talk more about that in the future," he said.
In the year to June 2022, numbers exceeded 500,000, and new figures out in the coming weeks could be as high as one million.
"The numbers are too high, and we want to bring them down," Mr Sunak said, adding that figures were higher in 2022 due to Ukrainian refugees coming to the UK, something he said the country should be "proud of".
Pushed on what an "acceptable level" would be in terms of legal migration numbers, Mr Sunak said it would "depend on how the economy's doing at any particular time and the circumstances we're facing".
"So I don't want to put a precise number on it. What I can tell you is the numbers are high and we do want to bring them down," he said, insisting that tackling illegal migration was his priority.
The Conservatives pledged to bring down overall numbers of migrants coming to the UK in their 2019 manifesto, at which time migration levels were at 226,000.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been calling for lower immigration, and suggested more British people should be trained to do jobs commonly done by overseas workers, such as lorry driving and fruit picking.
But Mr Sunak has taken a less hard-line approach, and has said more seasonal fruit pickers will be allowed to come to the UK if required.
Earlier this week, the prime minister used his visit to a Council of Europe meeting in Iceland to call for greater cooperation between the UK and EU on illegal migration.
Following the summit, Downing Street said the UK and the EU had agreed to work together to tackle cross-border crime and people smuggling. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Sunak Vows Tax Cuts Ahead After Meeting UK Inflation Pledge
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his UK government can begin to cut taxes after hitting a goal to halve inflation this year, suggesting economic plans to be unveiled this week by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will contain fiscal giveaways.
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his UK government can begin to cut taxes after hitting a goal to halve inflation this year, suggesting economic plans to be unveiled this week by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will contain fiscal giveaways.
The British premier began the year making five promises to voters, foremost among them a goal to halve the rate of rising prices, which stood at 10.5% last December. Last week, official statistics showed inflation falling to 4.6% in October from 6.7% a month earlier.
Now that inflation is halved “we can begin the next phase and turn our attention to cutting tax,” Sunak said on Monday in a speech in north London. “We will do this in a serious, responsible way, based on fiscal rules to deliver sound money.”
Sunak’s promise that “we can and we will cut taxes” two days before Hunt is due to deliver his Autumn Statement laying out tax and spending changes is likely to go down well with his restless Conservative Party. Tory Members of Parliament have been ratcheting up the pressure on the two men to reduce the tax burden on the economy after overseeing its rise to the highest level since World War II. Sunak said reductions will be made “carefully” and “sustainably.”
Nevertheless, Hunt has little room to cut taxes, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Economics, which estimates the chancellor will have just £11 billion ($13.7 billion) to spare against his key fiscal rule, which requires debt to fall as a share of gross domestic product in the fifth year of the forecast. While that would be up from a “wafer-thin” £6.5 billion in March, it’s still low by historic standards.
Sunak attacked spending £28 billion of green plans outlined by the opposition Labour Party, which has enjoyed a double-digit polling lead throughout his tenure. He compared the potential effect with the market chaos unleashed by his Tory predecessor Liz Truss’s huge program of unfunded tax cuts.
“Blowing tens of billions of pounds on unfunded spending is just as dangerous as tens of billions on unfunded tax cuts,” Sunak said, without naming Truss or her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng. “There’s no way if you’re borrowing £28 billion more that you can cut people’s taxes.”
The government believes it can turn its attention to growth-enhancing tax cuts, such as business reforms, as part of a broader long-term strategy that draws a clear line with what the Tories describe as the interventionism of Labour’s “securonomics” economic plan.
There has been mounting speculation about cuts to inheritance tax and national insurance as a way recovering some of the Tories’ 20 point polling deficit to Labour before the election expected next year.
In his speech, Sunak stressed the Tories’ economic differences with Labour. He said the choice is between state-directed approach to growth, and using the private sector.
“The Labour party are so wrong to think the economy is about government,” he said. “I’m not saying the government has no role. When a crisis hits, governments must intervene, just as we did with furlough. But our opponents are profoundly wrong. You can’t permanently have bigger government. The bar to intervene in people’s lives should be high.”
Sunak said the Tories will take five long-term decisions to build the economy:
- Reducing debt
- Cutting tax and rewarding hard work by reforming welfare
- Building domestic sustainable energy
- Backing British business
- Delivering working class education
(Updates with further Sunak comment starting in fourth paragraph.)
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
In the oversubscribed IPO of Mamaearth, Peak XV Partners has found its fourth 10x or greater return within the six months since separating from the Sequoia family.
The venture fund is sitting on an 10x return on its investment in Mamaearth, according to an analysis of its IPO documents by TechCrunch. Mamaearth is Peak XV’s 20th IPO in India and Southeast Asia, a figure that notably surpasses the IPO count of other venture firms in the regions by a substantial margin.
Peak XV has offloaded its remaining shares in Zomato, according to a person familiar with the matter, capping a 10x-plus return journey with the food delivery startup that began a decade ago.
The firm’s full-exit and offloading of shares last week hasn’t been previously reported. Zomato didn’t respond to a request for comment. Shares of Zomato jumped 10% Friday afternoon after the Gurugram-based firm reported a surprise profit for the second quarter.
Peak XV also recently made a 12x-plus return on K12 Techno Services, a startup it originally backed about a decade ago, when the private equity firm Kedaara Capital invested in the edtech firm, according to the person familiar with the matter and corporate filings. Peak XV still maintains some holding in the startup, according to the filings.
Peak XV declined to comment.
The returns are a boost to the firm, which with a capital pool of $2.5 billion oversees a substantially larger capital volume than any other venture capital firm focused on India and Southeast Asia. The fund has made over 400 investments and its portfolio includes more than 50 unicorns and overall about 40 companies that have an overall annual revenue of more than $100 million.
In the post-Sequoia world, Peak XV has accelerated its deal-making even as the broader private markets remain fairly sluggish. Its executives told a gathering of its portfolio founders in August that they maintain the optimism about the region and now feel a greater freedom to adopt a more aggressive approach.
Peak XV, which has made a dozen deals since June, has also recently marked up its estimated value of four of its six funds, according to a disclosure by University of California Regents, an LP in Peak XV funds.
Merely days after Sequoia US and the India and SEA arm announced their separation, Peak XV also executed sale of its shares in Go Colors, nearly two years after the firm went public. It made a 15x-plus return on Go Colors, according to an analysis. It also recently sold shares in security firm Quick Heal and overall made profits on its investment, though TechCrunch couldn’t determine the firm’s overall gains.
Peak XV is now also looking to expand its focus on Australia and do deals in the U.S. Peak XV’s recent early-stage Surge cohort featured two Australian startups. Neil Shen, the head of Sequoia China, previously took charge of assessing a majority of the Australian deals, according to a different source familiar with the matter. Sequoia China also parted ways with the broader Sequoia family in June of this year. | India Business & Economics |
UPI: Zooming Merchant Payments Bring MDR Back On The Discussion Table
An MDR is the fee that a merchant is charged for accepting credit card and debit card payments from customers.
The noise around the rise of Unified Payments Interface has brought the discussions on merchant discount regime back on the table. While a ‘no MDR on UPI’ regime has helped the system grow, its absence has also pained those bearing the associated costs.
"There are no pitfalls of free UPI but the ecosystem is developing. For how long can the government or banks compensate for MDR?" said Mihir Gandhi, partner, payments transformation at PwC India.
The latest monthly data for September shows that the shift from cash to cashless payments has been pivoted by UPI like never before, with the number of transactions crossing 10 billion for the second straight month.
The pinnacle came on the back of a rise in person-to-merchant transactions, which grew faster than person-to-person transactions on a year-on-year basis in the first six months of this calendar year, according to the Worldline India Digital Payments Report.
While merchant payments are still relatively lower value than person-to-person transactions, the pace of volume growth has been significantly higher in 2023.
In absolute terms, the volume of P2M transactions stood at 2,915 crore between January-June, up 119% YoY. The value stood at Rs 19.18 lakh crore, up 72% from the same period last year.
However, the volume of P2P transactions witnessed only a 22% YoY increase to 2,275 crore, and the value grew to Rs 63.99 lakh crore, up 41% from a year ago.
Some of this growth in P2M transactions can be attributed to zero transaction fees imposed on merchants, according to the report.
Another reason could be increased acceptance by merchants, both from in-store and online as they now see UPI as a secure way of payment, according to Sunil Rongala, senior vice president, head of strategy, innovation and analytics at Worldline India.
However, Mandar Agashe, founder and vice chairman of Sarvatra Technologies, said that the P2M transactions are on the rise due to more use cases.
“You can pay your bills, OTT subscriptions, IPOs, and any recurring payments via UPI. It has become so convenient that P2M is naturally bound to grow," he said.
Story Of MDR
An MDR is the fee that a merchant is charged for accepting credit card and debit card payments from customers. This fee is charged by the issuer bank.
In August 2022, the RBI released a discussion paper on regulating various payment system-related charges, including imposition of MDR on UPI transactions. The central bank questioned that if UPI transactions were to be charged, should it be determined by the regulator or market forces.
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, RuPay debit cards and UPI payments don’t attract an MDR.
In January, the Union Cabinet also approved Rs 2,600 crore worth of incentives for promotion of RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions, particularly P2M. Through this scheme, the government was incentivising companies working in a zero-MDR regime.
"There are no direct costs for the government other than the subsidy it now provides to promote digital transactions (and keep the MDR at zero). The total subsidy in FY23 translated to ~7 bps of UPI (P2M) transactions," according to a Bernstein note dated Oct. 3.
Free UPI, But For How Long?
With the UPI ecosystem developing, investments and rising costs—especially for technology—come as naturals.
An MDR on UPI is needed not just because P2M transactions are rising, but it is a general need of the ecosystem where payments need to be compensated, according to Gandhi of PwC India.
"If banks and fintechs are investing so much, someone has to bear the cost. If everything is free, how will it work?" he said.
"The point is that an imposition of MDR will take care of the costs as it will delegate them. People won't stop using UPI as it's very sticky. Since it has now picked up, it is about bringing it to a level where there are more innovations. The government is also compensating these costs from the taxpayer's money," Gandhi said.
A 'nominal' MDR, if imposed on UPI, will not be a reflection of profit but covering running costs for payments business like infra, people and even risk, according to Rongala of Wordline India.
"Increased merchant acceptance is driving all this. The government and the RBI need to take a considered decision as every company can't make losses, they need to be sustainable. If fintechs make profits, it goes back into innovation. So, we need a middle ground on this," he said.
However, the Bernstein note rules out the burden of costs incurred and said that MDR will remain zero for UPI transactions.
"The rationale being that most of the stakeholders have already seen immense benefits (reduced costs or incremental revenue opportunities) that more than compensate the costs that they incur towards facilitating UPI transactions," it said.
A significant beneficiary of this rise in UPI transactions would be banks, that would benefit from lower ATM transactions and help with potential savings that can fund UPI payments, Bernstein analysts said.
While debit card-based ATM transaction volume are about 30% below their peak witnessed in 2019, the per capita withdrawals have also seen a decline from more than seven transactions per card to 4.8 during the same period, the note said.
This also means that banks are saving both on capital and operating expenditure related to ATM transactions, it said.
Even if P2M transactions make 100% of UPI, the derived benefits of a zero MDR regime—such as increase in tax pays, more cash with banks, etc.—justify the costs incurred in a way, according to Deepak Abbot, co-founder, Indiagold.
"And look at the lowering of ATM and currency printing cost—it is substantial enough to fund the entire opex of NPCI," he said. "Maybe at some point an MDR would be there for bigger or organised merchants but right now, there is no merit in changing things as digital transactions are growing and authorities too, want to keep things going." | India Business & Economics |
Rishi Sunak is taking a more realist line on the climate than his predecessors
Rishi Sunak’s government appears to be jettisoning much of its green agenda. Whitehall has just announced that the UK’s carbon trading scheme is to issue more allowances than expected. While this may seem like a boring technocratic detail, it has had profound consequences. Since April, the price of UK carbon emissions has fallen around 40% relative to Europe.
Britain’s emissions are currently ruled over by the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, which was launched in 2021 following Brexit. It is a standard cap-and-trade scheme that puts a price on the emission of carbon, with this price effectively controlled by the Government issuance of allowances. The extra allowances issued recently would allow an extra 53.5 million tonnes of carbon to be issued between 2024 and 2027, or about half a year’s worth of the UK’s total emissions.
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At the same time as the Government moved to lower the price significantly on carbon emissions, the Prime Minister has made a trip to Scotland where he’s announced plans for more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. Sunak said that the Government aims to “max out” energy opportunities in the region.
This U-turn has partly come about thanks to the surprise victory achieved by the Conservatives in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, widely seen to have come about because of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s imposition of Ulez charges on motorists. But this is not the only force driving the Tories.
Behind the scenes, the green agenda has been taking a beating for some time. At the end of June the CEO of Blackrock, Larry Fink, announced that the firm would no longer be using the term “ESG”. Blackrock is not just the world’s largest asset management firm, but also a pioneer in the widespread use of the ESG framework. While Fink claimed that the firm was dropping the term because it had become politicised, it is an open secret in finance that ESG investing has turned out to be a farce and has not delivered the returns that advocates promised.
The energy shortages caused by the war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia have been a splash of cold water in the face of policymakers. Prior to the war, Europeans could aim to build out large amounts of renewable capacity in their energy grids, safe in the knowledge that Russian piped gas was constantly looming in the background to fill the inevitable gaps this strategy created. Now, with energy prices high and Europe’s industry under threat of deindustrialisation, policymakers are having to face the potential costs of green policies pursued in lieu of cheap Russian gas.
Does this mean we’ve seen the last of green? Hardly. It’s more likely that we see the issue become sharply politicised, with pro-greeners and anti-greeners digging in to defend their policies. Indeed, Labour is already chastising the Tories for backtracking on their green commitments.
There is every chance that the green debate will plug the gap in the political market left by Brexit, with those who waved EU flags seven years ago doubling down on their commitment to climate policies and those who waved Union Jacks highlighting the costs of high energy prices. This would be a godsend to the Conservative Party, which has found it hard to shore up support as the political momentum generated by Brexit has fallen away. Resorting to fighting pitched political battles in order to determine what the country should do with its energy strategy might be depressing, but that’s the position the Conservatives find themselves in. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Sam Bankman-Fried, also known by the initials SBF, has tumbled from crypto king to courtroom defendant.
The trial of the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange is due to start on Tuesday 3 October.
The fraud charges against him - which he denies - stem from the November 2022 collapse of his now-bankrupt business.
But how did the 31-year-old go from such astronomic financial heights to facing a legal fight for freedom?
Bankman-Fried grew up in California's wealthy San Francisco Bay area, where he attended a $56,000-a-year school.
Both his parents were professors at the prestigious Stanford Law School.
He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he lived in a group house called Epsilon Theta, which promotes itself as an alcohol-free community "known for liking beanbags, board games, puzzles, and rubber ducks".
He once told an FTX podcast he did not apply himself in classes and did not know what to do with his life for most of college.
Bankman-Fried graduated in 2014 with a major in physics and a minor in maths.
Bankman-Fried didn't lose the values of Epsilon Theta after graduation, if what he has told journalists is to be believed.
He pushed back against claims of drug and alcohol use at FTX, telling the New York Times' DealBook Summit there were no "wild parties" at the company.
"When we had parties, we played board games and, you know, 20% of people would have three-quarters of a beer each or something like that. And you know, the rest of us would not drink anything," he said.
He is also known for being a vegan - and has stuck to his principles in jail despite not being provided with vegan meals, according to his lawyers.
They said he was "literally subsisting" on bread, water and peanut butter in the run-up to his trial.
His veganism is linked to a history of animal rights activism - which in turn is bound up with the effective altruism movement.
While studying, he was reportedly considering a career in animal welfare, having organised a protest against factory farming in his first year of college.
But he met with Will MacAskill, one of the movement's leaders, who told him he could make more of an impact by finding a career that paid well, and then donating money to charity.
This is known as "earning to give" and it's one of the central pillars of effective altruism, a movement that seeks to do good by using resources effectively.
When Bankman-Fried took a job at quantitative trading firm Jane Street after graduating, he said he donated about half of his salary to charities, including animal welfare organisations.
He talked about plans to eventually donate most of the money made in his lifetime, with a focus on "long-termism" or safeguarding the future of humanity.
Read more:
The rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
Does SBF's arrest mean crypto is fundamentally unsound?
The start of the crypto king
After three years at Jane Street, Bankman-Fried quit with his eye on taking more risks to make more money.
He landed on crypto as the best way of getting rich quickly.
It started with Bitcoin. He realised it was selling for more in Asia than it was in the US - and figured if he could buy it in one place and sell it in another he could turn an easy profit.
"I got involved in crypto without any idea what crypto was," he told Forbes. "It just seemed like there was a lot of good trading to do."
In 2017 he co-founded cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research, bringing in other recruits from the effective altruism community and reportedly donating half of the company's profits to charity.
At its peak, the company was moving $25m in Bitcoin each day.
Two years later, he founded FTX, an exchange which allowed users to buy and sell buy cryptocurrencies, and moved to Hong Kong.
From Hong Kong, operations moved to the tax haven of the Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried bought a multimillion-dollar waterfront penthouse.
The luxury property, overlooking an area used for filming the scene where Daniel Craig famously emerged from the water as James Bond in Casino Royale, was also used as a home office for Bankman-Fried and up to nine of his FTX devotees.
In 2021, Forbes described him as "the richest twentysomething in the world" with a net worth of $22.5bn, putting him at 32 on The Forbes 400 rich list.
Bankman-Fried had an on-again, off-again relationship with Caroline Ellison, having met her while working at Jane Street.
He persuaded her to join Alameda Research. As a fellow effective altruist, she was also attracted by the prospect of earning money to give to charity.
The pair lived together in the Bahamas penthouse.
Ellison, who became Alameda's co-chief executive in 2021 and assumed full control last year, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
She appeared to have been unhappy at Alameda long before its collapse.
In July, the New York Times published an article citing her personal writings from early 2022, in which she described feeling "unhappy and overwhelmed" at work and "hurt/rejected" by a breakup with Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried was jailed for allegedly sharing the writings with the reporter, with a judge saying it likely amounted to witness tampering.
Bankman-Fried was the second-largest individual donor to Joe Biden in the 2020 election cycle.
He was also among the largest donors to Democratic candidates and causes ahead of the November 2022 midterm elections.
Prosecutors said he used $100m in stolen FTX deposits to fund those donations, which he hoped would spur the passage of crypto-friendly legislation.
He was initially charged with conspiring to break US campaign finance laws, but this charge was dropped after The Bahamas said it was not part of its agreement to extradite him.
However, a judge has said the political donations can still be discussed at the trial because they are "intertwined
inextricably" with the fraud charges.
Bankman-Fried faces seven charges of fraud and conspiracy stemming from the collapse of FTX.
Prosecutors have accused him of looting billions of dollars in funds from FTX customers to plug losses at Alameda, buy luxury real estate and donate to political campaigns.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges while acknowledging risk management failures.
The trial in Manhattan is expected to last up to six weeks. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
What Is UPI ATM? Card-less Cash Withdrawal ATM Unveiled At Global Fintech Fest
The first UPI-ATM was unveiled in Mumbai during the Global Fintech Festival 2023
UPI ATM: On Tuesday, September 5 - Hitachi Payment Services, announced the launch of the country’s first-ever UPI ATM as a White Label ATM (WLA) in association with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), offering secure card-less cash withdrawals.
The showcase of this newly launched Hitachi Money Spot UPI ATM was done at the Global Fintech Fest 2023 in the presence of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Dilip Asbe, CEO and MD, of NPCI.
The UPI-only ATM significantly enhances customer security by eliminating the need for physical cards. Hitachi payment solutions 'The Hitachi Money Spot UPI ATM' will provide customers with a unified and secure user experience while offering them the convenience of card-less cash withdrawals.
The Global Fintech Fest (GFF) is a large fintech conference organized by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the Payments Council of India (PCI), and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC).
What Is UPI ATM And How Does It Work?
The UPI ATM will allow any bank account holder to withdraw cash using UPI app. Anyone with a registered UPI app will be eligible for UPI ATM transactions.
During its showcase at the Global Fintech Fest, Ravisutanjani Kumar an avid FinTech enthusiast shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) showcasing the UPI ATM and how to make a cash withdrawal using UPI
How To Withdraw Cash From UPI ATM?
Here are the steps one needs to follow to withdraw money from the UPI-ATM machine.
Step 1) Click on 'UPI Cardless Cash' displayed on the screen.
Step 2) Select the amount you want to withdraw from the following denominations shown on the screen - 100, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000.
Step 3) A QR code for the chosen amount will appear on the screen.
Step 4) Scan the QR code using any UPI app on your mobile device.
Step 5) Input your UPI PIN to authorise the UPI cash withdrawal transaction.
Step 6) The UPI app will display a confirmation message and the ATM machine will dispense the requested amount of cash.
Step 7: Collect the cash.
UPI ATM - A Game Changer?
The video shared by Ravisutanjani Kumar soon went viral and many known personalities from the business and political world hailed this new innovation. From Anand Mahindra to Piyush Goyal, the UPI ATM as been labelled as "the future of the fintech industry."
This UPI ATM was apparently unveiled at the Global Fintech Fest 2023 in Mumbai on September 5. The speed at which India is digitising financial services & making them consumer-centric as opposed to corporate-centric (Alarm bell for credit card companies?) is simply dazzling.⦠pic.twitter.com/krBXhbc9Qh— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 7, 2023
Global Fintech Fest 2023
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das announced on Wednesday four new features on the Unified Payments Interface.
Addressing fintech founders and other employees at the Global Fintech Fest, Das announced the launch of credit lines on UPI, UPI Lite X, Tap and Pay, and conversational payments.
Hitachi And NPCI On UPI ATM
Here's what Sumil Vikamsey, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer – Cash Business, Hitachi Payment Services, said during the launch of the Hitachi Money Spot UPI ATM at the Global FinTech fest.
“As India’s leading end-to-end payments and commerce solutions provider, we are happy to launch an industry-first offering in the White Label ATM space with Hitachi Money Spot UPI ATM. This novel offering empowers any bank customer to experience the convenience of QR-based UPI cash withdrawals. UPI has been the fastest growing payment mode in the country and accounts for more than 50% of digital transaction volumes. The Hitachi Money Spot UPI ATM is a testament to Hitachi Payment Services’ technological capabilities and commitment towards making innovative banking services accessible to citizens across the country.”
NPCI in association with whom this UPI ATM was launched said,
"We are delighted to empower customers with this innovative and customer-friendly enhancement for ATM transactions. The launch of the ‘UPI ATM,' will mark a significant milestone in banking services by seamlessly integrating the convenience and security of UPI into traditional ATMs. This innovative concept is designed to provide quick access to cash even in the remote areas of India without the need for a physical card." | India Business & Economics |
Scotland's target for cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions has been missed after a bounce back following the pandemic.
Total emissions were 49.9% lower in 2021 than in 1990 but the target for the year was a 51.1% cut.
It is the eighth time in 12 years that the legally binding target has been missed.
The Scottish government said it was disappointed but that it was "not far behind" where it should be.
Domestic transport was still the biggest source of emissions and was responsible for 26.2% of the total.
Emissions in 2020 had dropped sharply because lockdown measures shut large sections of our economy and we were able to travel much less.
While the figure for transport saw a jump of more than 10%, emissions from cars were still 17.5% lower than 2019, the year before the pandemic.
Domestic aviation remained the same as 2020 but was half the levels of 2019, although this still accounted for just a fraction of total transport emissions.
Agriculture narrowly overtook business as the second largest source of emissions.
The figures are calculated using seven different greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and methane.
Emissions from the energy sector, business and international aviation and shipping have all fallen.
The energy supply sector saw another significant drop in emissions of around 9.2% which mean that since 1990 - the baseline year - they fell 77.6%.
The figures attribute the latest fall to a drop in the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation.
While power from renewables fell sharply because there was less wind, the contribution from nuclear grew but the figures do not reflect the closure of Hunterston B nuclear power station in January 2022.
The Scottish government insisted the target had been missed "narrowly" by just 1.2 percentage points and did not reflect the policies introduced under its updated climate change plan in March 2021.
It said that while the change will be driven by government it cannot happen without the contributions of individuals, communities and businesses.
Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan added: "As the real life impacts of climate change become increasingly clear, we must go further and faster, and we will be introducing a draft of our new climate change plan later this year, which will contain even greater ambition while steering our emissions reduction pathway out to 2040."
The total emissions for 2021 were the equivalent of 41.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
A growth area was in waste incineration which contributed 19% of the total emissions from electricity generation.
That is expected to rise further in future years as more "energy from waste" plants begin operating.
Residential emissions also grew by about 7% from 2020 to 2021 because colder winter temperatures at the start of the year meant we were burning more fuel to heat our homes.
The Stop Climate Chaos Coalition has called for "bold new action" to drive down emissions in the worst polluting areas like transport.
It describes 2020's figures as a "hollow success" as a result of the pandemic lockdowns.
Chairman Mike Robinson added: "Every missed target means more effort is required the following year, making it harder to meet our crucial goals."
Scottish Labour's net zero spokesperson Sarah Boyak accused the SNP of "empty rhetoric and broken promises".
Liam Kerr, of the Scottish Conservatives, said it was "particularly galling" that the emissions target was missing in the year the COP26 climate summit was in Glasgow. | Energy & Natural Resources |
- Walmart is cutting its Walmart+ membership fee in half for Americans who receive food stamps or other government assistance.
- The retailer is trying to grow its membership base and has noticed more price sensitivity among shoppers.
- Amazon has a similar discounted price for Prime.
Walmart is reducing the cost of its subscription service for Americans who receive food stamps and some other types of government assistance, as it pushes to grow the program and notices more price sensitivity among shoppers.
The nation's largest retailer said Thursday that it will cut the price of Walmart+ in half for those low-income households. Starting July 20, customers who are eligible for qualifying government aid can pay $49 a year or $6.47 on a monthly basis for Walmart+. That compares to the typical price of $98 a year or $12.95 if members pay monthly.
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For Walmart, the move could help capture and retain the swath of shoppers who may be quicker to skip or cancel services with recurring fees or turn to another retailer like a dollar store. Walmart has not disclosed total Walmart+ subscribers, but said about a quarter of its members get government assistance. It declined to say how that compares to the rest of its customer base.
On Walmart's most recent earnings call in May, CEO Doug McMillon said customers are feeling the burden of higher grocery bills. He called persistent inflation, especially for food, "one of the key factors creating uncertainty for us in the back half of the year."
Many families struggling to afford groceries are also receiving less generous Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps, after pandemic-related emergency funding ended earlier this year.
Walmart's discounted price could put Walmart+ within reach of more shoppers — if they are willing to pay the fee. More than 41 million Americans received funding for food through the SNAP in 2022, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. That number does not include people who receive another type of government aid who may qualify for the discount. Most of the types of aid on the list, such as Medicaid and the National School Lunch Program, help families with children or those who are food insecure.
Walmart launched Walmart+ in 2020 to hook shoppers and increase the likelihood of them spending more on its website and in stores. It's similar to Amazon Prime, and follows the playbook of membership-based warehouses, such as Costco and Walmart-owned Sam's Club
Members of Walmart+ get free shipping, fuel discounts, access to streaming service Paramount+ and unlimited deliveries of online orders of $35 or more from the store to their doorstep.
The program appears to have gained some traction, but Walmart is still looking for ways to increase its uptake as it lags behind Prime. Its membership count is about 12 million, according to estimates by market researcher Consumer Intelligence Research Partners based on quarterly consumer surveys and industry research.
Some others peg the count higher. In a recent estimate, Morgan Stanley said Walmart+ has reached approximately 21.5 million members, or roughly 17% of household penetration in the U.S.
Either figure, however, makes up only a small fraction of Amazon Prime's estimated 170 million memberships in the U.S., according to CIRP.
Amazon has a similar discounted fee for low-income households that qualify for government assistance and sign up for Prime. It charges $6.99 per month, instead of the full $14.99 per month. The lower fee started in 2017.
Along with the Walmart+ discounted price, Walmart said it has made it easier for families receiving food aid to shop online. It said it now accepts SNAP online in all 50 states. Customers who qualify for SNAP can add their benefits card to Walmart's app or website, so they can buy groceries online or use curbside pickup.
Amazon accepts SNAP in every state but Alaska.
For Walmart, expanding the subscriber base of Walmart+ comes with other benefits. Not only do monthly and annual fees provide a stream of revenue, but the program allows the retailer to better understand customers' preferences and purchases.
It can use those insights to support its analytics tool, Walmart Luminate, which it sells to clients or support its growing advertising business, Walmart Connect. | Consumer & Retail |
HCLTech Plans To Sell 49% Stake In Joint Venture To Partner State Street
U.S.-based State Street and HCLTech had tied up in 2012 to provide business operations services.
HCL Technologies Ltd. is in talks with State Street Corp. to sell its entire 49% equity stake in joint venture State Street HCL Services for $170 million or around Rs 1,417 crore.
"The equity divestment is being discussed pursuant to the call option intended to be exercised by State Street in accordance with the agreement," the company said in an exchange filing on Monday.
The deal is expected to be completed by the second quarter of the calendar year 2024. The consideration includes amounts for the transfer of shares and other components.
U.S.-based State Street and the Indian IT major had tied up in 2012 to provide business operations services. HCLTech unit HCL Investments U.K. is the partner.
"This integration is a natural evolution of our successful relationship with HCLTech, which remains a strategic technology partner," Mostapha Tahiri, executive vice president and incoming Chief Operating Officer of State Street, said.
Shares of HCLTech closed 0.20% higher at Rs 68,865.12 on the BSE ahead of the announcement on Monday, compared to a 2.05% advance in the benchmark Sensex. | Asia Business & Economics |
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LONDON — Liz Truss struck firmly to her guns in a defiant speech Monday as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister defended her chaotic economic legacy.
Addressing the Institute for Government think tank, Truss blamed the media, the opposition Labour Party, and economic orthodoxy for her downfall during her 49 days in office.
And she argued that the “reaction” from the “political and economic establishment” to her policies was the reason they failed.
Pressed in the Q&A on the claim she “crashed the economy,” Truss shot back: “I do want to challenge this phrase ‘crashed the economy.’
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“The fact is that since I left office both mortgage rates and gilt rates have gone higher than they were at the time of the mini-budget. So I do think you are repeating a line to take from the Labour Party when you say that.”
Truss’ mini-budget — officially billed as the “Plan for Growth” — aimed to slash taxes and cut regulations. But the debt-funded plan was not scrutinized by Westminster’s independent public spending watchdog, and a market rout followed its unveiling.
Most of its measures were undone weeks later, and Truss argued Monday she was “effectively forced into a policy reversal” before her ideas could work.
‘Fatten the pig on market day’
In the closest Truss came to a concession, the former PM said the mini-budget may have been rolled out too quickly.
“Some people said we were in too much of a rush, and it is certainly true that I didn’t just try to fatten the pig on market day — I tried to rear the pig and slaughter it as well,” she said. “I confess to that.”
However, Truss largely blamed what she has dubbed the “anti-growth coalition” for undermining her plan.
“The anti-growth coalition is now a powerful force, comprising the economic and political elite, corporatist part of the media, and even a section of the Conservative parliamentary party,” she argued, as she said her libertarian economic ideas were “simply … not fashionable on the London dinner party circuit.”
She urged the Tory party, now led by her successor Rishi Sunak, not to be “scared” of climate activists, “anti-capitalists and the … woke diversity brigade.”
Truss’ political opponents were quick to pounce on her re-emergence, nearly a year on from the mini-budget.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Liz Truss giving a speech on economic growth is like an arsonist giving a talk on fire safety.”
Sunak’s spokesperson was pressed Monday on whether the prime minister had tuned in. “No,” came the reply. “He was being prime minister, having meetings.” | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
A 445% Price Jump Makes Tomatoes More Pricey Than Gasoline in India
Indian tomato prices are soaring due to adverse weather, triggering a wave of social media memes comparing the cost of the essential ingredient with anything from petrol to political influence.
(Bloomberg) -- Indian tomato prices are soaring due to adverse weather, triggering a wave of social media memes comparing the cost of the essential ingredient with anything from petrol to political influence.
Heavy rains in some growing areas and hotter-than normal temperatures last month hit output of the crop, causing a fivefold increase in prices this year. Tomatoes usually become expensive in the lean production months of June and July, but the impact this year has been exaggerated.
Monsoon Finally Arrives in India After Longest Delay Since 2019
Tomatoes and onions are so emotive in the world’s most-populous nation that a surge in prices can trigger protests. Indeed some ruling political parties in India lost elections because they couldn’t control the price of onions, which along with tomatoes are an essential element of mainstay dishes. High food prices could also hobble the central bank’s efforts to drive economic growth and keep inflation under control.
Social media in India is abuzz with tomato-related memes. One shows tomatoes racing ahead of petrol and diesel, while another says get a free iPhone with every kilogram of tomatoes. In a reference to a key opposition leader and other lawmakers joining the ruling alliance in Maharashtra — India’s wealthiest state led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party — a YouTube video joked that buying politicians was cheaper than purchasing tomatoes.
Modi Alliance Boosted by Rivals’ Split in India’s Richest State
The retail price of tomatoes in New Delhi on Thursday was 120 rupees ($1.45) a kilogram, compared with 22 rupees at the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the food ministry. By contrast, petrol was selling for around 96 rupees a liter in the capital.
Food inflation in India probably increased to 4% year-on-year in June from 3.3% in May, Bloomberg Economist Abhishek Gupta said in a report. This estimate is based on sharp gains in prices of tomatoes, pulses and rice, according to available daily price data.
The price surge is even fueling crime. A farmer in the southern state of Karnataka reported the theft of 150,000 rupees of tomatoes, according to the Hindustan Times.
Tomato prices typically rise during June-July and then again in October-November due to lean production seasons in major growing areas, said Rohit Kumar Singh, the top bureaucrat at the consumers affairs department of the food ministry.
“We call it seasonality in commodity prices,” he said. “The prices will start declining when harvesting begins from August.”
Southern and western states, which account for almost 60% of the country’s total tomato production, send their surplus crop to other markets in India depending on the season.
As the federal government searches for a long-term solution, it’s seeking ideas from the public to develop cost-effective technologies and ensure tomatoes are available at affordable prices.
--With assistance from Gina Turner and Vrishti Beniwal.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | India Business & Economics |
America’s gross national debt hit an eye-watering $33 trillion for the first time in September — mere months after eclipsing the $32 trillion mark earlier in the year.
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In the current fiscal year through August, the Treasury has shelled out $807.84 billion in interest on its debt securities, while the Department of Defense’s budget for military programs totaled just $695.44 billion in the same period.
This is particularly alarming when you consider how much of the federal budget goes into defense, with the U.S. outspending every other country.
The last few years have been expensive
A deficit is what happens when the government spends more money in a fiscal year than it brings in through taxes — and the last few years have been expensive for the U.S.
Several large bills with hefty price tags have been approved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the American Rescue Plan Act, which cost $1.9 trillion.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the debt ceiling package that was signed into law this summer to prevent a national default could result in a $1.5 trillion decrease to the deficit over the next decade. However, the Committee for a Responsible Budget (CRFB), a nonprofit that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues, says savings could fall to $1 trillion depending on “side deals” that fall outside the agreement.
“Getting the debt under control will require taking a serious look at health care, Social Security and the tax code,” CRFB president Maya MacGuineas said in a news release.
Much of the borrowing in the past couple of years happened while interest rates were historically low, but now that they’re not, with prices still climbing, the cost of this debt will be amplified.
Nearly $2 billion is spent every day just in interest on the national debt, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
And when the government owes a lot, it makes it harder for corporations to borrow money.
“The federal debt squeezes out other debts in the economy,” Phillip Braun, clinical professor of finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, told Moneywise last year.
“There's only so much money in the economy. And so with the government borrowing such large amounts, there's only so much that people are willing to lend overall in the economy, so it pushes out other types of borrowing.”
The government could have refinanced its debt while interest rates were low, but it didn’t.
“Which means the borrowing costs today and into the future are unnecessarily higher because of that,” Braun said.
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So who owns America’s national debt?
There are different kinds of national debt. Think about it like having a credit card, a mortgage and a car payment — all represent debt, but are different.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury manages the national debt by splitting it into two different types: debt that one government agency owes to another and debt that is held by the public.
Intragovernmental debt accounts for about $6.8 trillion of the national debt, according to the CRFB.
The much bigger piece of the debt is held by the public. Right now, that’s about $26.2 trillion.
Foreign governments, as well as banks and private investors, state and local governments and the Federal Reserve, own most of this debt, and it’s held in Treasury securities, bills and bonds.
Foreign governments and private investors are one of the biggest holders of the public debt, owning around $8 trillion.
About 50% of this debt is held by private and public domestic entities, while the Federal Reserve Bank holds roughly 20%. But there is good news when it comes to the debt the Federal Reserve owns.
“The Federal Reserve owns a lot of government debt,” Braun said. “The Treasury does pay interest payments to the Federal Reserve, but then the Federal Reserve turns around and gives it back to the Treasury — that alleviates some of the issues.”
A warning sign
Ultimately, rising interest rates will only exacerbate the national debt, making it harder for the government to respond to a slowing economy.
“As we have seen with recent growth in inflation and interest rates, the cost of debt can mount suddenly and rapidly,” Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said in a statement.
“With more than $10 trillion of interest costs over the next decade, this compounding fiscal cycle will only continue to do damage to our kids and grandkids.”
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. | Inflation |
U.S. SEC Crackdown Could Be Bad News For This Indian Crypto Firm
Among the tokens classified as an unregistered security in both lawsuits is Polygon’s MATIC.
Two of the world’s largest crypto exchanges are in the regulatory bull’s eye in the United States of America.
Both Binance and Coinbase, in effect, stand accused of operating unregistered stock exchanges, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against the exchanges. The lawsuits allege that these exchanges facilitated trading in tokens which resemble financial securities and hence violated the law.
Among the tokens classified as an unregistered security in both lawsuits is Polygon’s MATIC token. Founded in Mumbai in 2017, Polygon operates a blockchain that is meant to help scale up activity on Ethereum—an older blockchain.
At its peak in December 2021, Polygon’s Matic token held a market capitalisation of over $20.5 billion. Since then, sentiment has cooled but Matic still commands a market capitalisation of over $7 billion.
If the SEC wins its lawsuits against the exchanges and Polygon is classified as a security in the United States, it could have wide-ranging implications for both the company and the crypto ecosystem at large. Polygon declined to comment on the SEC's allegations and their possible impact.
The primary concern is shrinking liquidity for crypto assets. US adults have among the highest individual exposure to crypto assets and losing that market would be painful, an executive who formerly worked with Ethereum and Polygon, said on conditions of anonymity. About 17% of all US adults have invested in, traded, or use one or more crypto assets, according to an April survey by Pew Research Center.
If other countries follow’s the SEC’s regulatory approach, the problems could get even deeper, the executive said. Other tokens identified as unregistered securities by the SEC include: SOL (Solana blockchain), Flow (Flow blockchain), ADA (Cardano blockchain), FIL (Filecoin network), among others.
“Coinbase has never registered with the SEC as a broker, national securities exchange, or clearing agency, thus evading the disclosure regime that Congress has established for our securities markets.”US S.E.C. vs. Coinbase, Inc. and Coinbase Global, Inc.
“Defendants [Binance] have engaged in multiple unregistered offers and sales of crypto asset securities and other investment schemes.”US S.E.C vs. Changpeng Zhao, Binance Holdings Limited, BAM Trading Services, BAM Management US Holdings
"Regulatory activity in the U.S. is bound to impact the sector globally," Sharat Chandra, co-founder of India Blockchain Forum said.
Given the pre-eminence of U.S. financial markets enjoy globally, the country's approach on regulation will undoubtably spillover to others, an executive at an Indian crypto exchange said, also speaking on conditions of anonymity.
The regulatory impact may be limited to one country for now but pressure on big players in the sector will reduce liquidity for the entire market, this person said.
Liquidity on Binance had already reduced sharply in the two-three weeks preceding the lawsuit, the founder of a second crypto exchange told BQ Prime, also on the condition of anonymity.
The SEC's actions are way too late and it's hard to understand their agenda, the founder of a third crypto exchange said. Since the assets classified as securities have been around for at least 3-4 years, classifying them as securities now does little to help, this person said.
A Precedent Forms
Cities like Dubai have emerged as a haven of sorts of crypto enterprises after regulators in other countries—including India have clamped down on the sector.
Dubai has a looser regulatory regime and people often get opinions from lawyers saying that 'x' token is not a security and hence can be a crypto token, the founder of the second crypto exchange mentioned earlier told BQ Prime While lawyers were okay giving those opinions since there was no precedent, now one might emerge and make things trickier in Dubai or other friendly jurisdictions as well, this person added.
At the core of the SEC's lawsuit though is an argument that crypto assets are nothing financial instruments that help you invest in the work of others in expectation of a profit—much like equity shares. While the lawsuit against Binance lists many other violations including mishandling of customer funds and active avoidance of regulation, the lawsuit against Coinbase is more focused on the security or token debate.
Coinbase has decided to push back against the SEC's allegations.
"Instead of publishing a clear rule book, the SEC has taken a regulation by enforcement approach that is harming America. So if we need to avail ourselves of the courts to get clarity, so be it," Brian Armstrong, the firm's CEO, wrote in a Tuesday tweet regarding the lawsuit.
For now, the lawsuits will be centre of mind for all involved in the crypto ecosystem as their outcome could very well determine whether crypto is an asset class of its own or was simply masquerading as one. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Popular stock trading app Webull has acquired Mexican investment platform Flink, giving it an entry into the Mexico market.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Although Webull has China roots, it is based in the United States and rivals Robinhood in the country as a low-commission online trading platform that also offers cash management. It recently moved its global headquarters from New York to St. Petersburg, Florida.
Founded in 2017, Mexico City-based Flink has raised $70 million in funding, including a $57 million Series B that was announced in August of 2021. Backers include Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, ALLVP, Clocktower and Mantis Venture Capital (founded by The Chainsmokers). The startup gives Mexican consumers a way to invest in fractional shares of U.S.-listed companies without commissions.
As part of the transaction, Webull is also picking up Mexican brokerage Vifaru Casa de Bolsa, which Flink agreed to purchase in May 2022.
At the time of Flink’s last raise, CEO and co-founder Sergio Jiménez Amozurrutia told TechCrunch it felt unfair that in his country of more than 120 million people, only a tiny fraction of the population had the ability to invest in the capital markets.
Flink launched its app in 2018 with a wallet service, a digital and physical global debit card backed by Mastercard and in 2020, it began offering the ability to buy and sell fractional shares from 30 pesos, without commissions, for NYSE-listed stocks. As of August 2021, it had 1.6 million users. It is not known how many it has today.
In a written statement, Ruben Guerrero, Webull’s head of Latin America, described the Mexican market as one with “a young and vibrant population that has a strong and untapped demand for technology-based wealth building solutions.”
He added: “We believe the early success of Flink is proof of this demand, and that Webull’s approach of using technology to provide low-cost access to global markets for investors in all economies is a perfect fit for Mexico. We anticipate building on Flink’s success by offering its customers a broader set of investment products, user-friendly technology, and world-class support.”
Flink’s customers will continue to have access to trading U.S. stocks over the Flink platform. In coming months, Webull plans to integrate its own technology into the platform and launch local Mexican investment and cash management products.
The Webull trading platform launched in the United States in 2018 through a subsidiary of Webull that is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member. Today, it has over 8 million opened accounts globally. With the addition of Mexico, Webull now operates in nine markets, including the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Japan, and the U.K.
Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up for The Interchange here. | Latin America Economy |
By Emma-Victoria Farr, Amy-Jo Crowley and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - French bank Credit Agricole and Austria's BAWAG Group are set to submit binding bids for Barclays' German consumer finance unit this week, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The banks are vying for the German business alongside private equity firm bidders Warburg Pincus and Centerbridge in the second stage of the process, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Binding bids are due this week with final bidder selection later this month, the sources said. The hope is to sign a deal this year, one of the sources said, while cautioning that the timeline could slip.
Barclays, Credit Agricole, BAWAG and Warburg Pincus declined to comment. Centerbridge did not immediately return requests for comment. Barclays has for years been cutting back its retail businesses in Europe and the German unit is one of the last remaining assets following exits from Italy and France.
This sale was prompted by a shift to more conservative spending habits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The consumer finance arm, formerly known as Barclaycard, has around 700 employees and started operating in Germany in 1991.
The unit, which started preparing for a sale earlier this year, offers flexible lending loans and also payment cards to around 2.5 million clients.
The Hamburg-based Barclays unit reported a loan book, or assets, of 4 billion pounds ($4.89 billion) at the end of June.Bidders need to have an existing banking license to go ahead with the transaction, Reuters reported earlier this year.
The sale in Germany is separate to Barclays payments review, which involves exploring the sale of a stake in the unit that processes payments for UK merchants.
($1 = 0.8187 pounds)
(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, Amy-Jo Crowley and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro; Additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; editing by Anousha Sakoui and David Evans) | Europe Business & Economics |
HUL To Marico Steer Shoppers To Buy Bigger Packs With Eye On Margin
The 12-month rolling sales of Rs 20 packs rose, while that of Rs 5 packs fell in August, according to Kantar.
Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is pushing its Rs 20 detergent packs as it flexes its pricing power in a bid to maximise revenue.
The company is ramping up availability of 160 gm pouches of Surf Excel priced at Rs 20, according to at least five general trade distributors in different parts of the country that BQ Prime spoke with.
These packs, which offer better margin, are being repeatedly preferred over Rs 10 offerings, one of the distributors with told BQ Prime, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of business concerns.
HUL is not alone. The approach is followed by peers like Marico Ltd.
For its Nihar Shanti Amla hair oil, the consumer goods company has been focusing on the Rs 20 stockkeeping unit over Rs 10. Parle Products Pvt. is also trying to upsell consumers to a more expensive Rs 20 Parle G pack, while PepsiCo India (Holdings) Pvt. is doing the same with Lays potato chips.
The 12-month rolling sales or moving annual total of Rs 20 packs rose 5% in August as compared with 3% growth in the same month last year, according to data shared by Kantar Worldpanel.
The strategy will work in the long run as consumers will be more focused on wringing better value out of their money. However, it can eat into the market share in the near term, analysts said.
HUL's strategy may prove costly in the near-term as Rohit Surfactants Pvt. and Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd. have turned aggressive with their Rs 10 SKUs, according to Nitin Gupta, senior research analyst at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.
"P&G is pushing its Rs 10 SKU with a 60 gm offering, while Rohit Surfactants is pushing a Rs 10 SKU in a bulk pack, via a scheme where the consumer gets one pack free for every purchase of five packs," Gupta said.
While demand for larger SKUs after the Covid-19 pandemic has been resilient, the low-unit packs are still the dominant route to consumers.
For instance, the growth of Rs 5 pack has decelerated, but it remains a popular price point, generating about 32% of all food category volume, according to Kantar.
The Rs 10 pack grew 6% on a MAT basis in August. This price point is more popular among non-food categories, generating close to 22% of volume.
"While the Rs 20 pack has seen a steady growth over the last couple of years, it has not been as popular as Rs 5 or Rs 10 yet," K Ramakrishnan, managing director-South Asia at Kantar Worldpanel, said.
HUL and Nestle India Ltd. are aggressively pushing bridge packs—that were launched to ensure affordability of everything from soaps to biscuits—with inflation sustaining longer than expected. These bridge packs, or packs that are priced between the low-unit packs and large packs, are gaining pace with higher sales push, according to companies. However, these packs are a way for companies to protect margin rather than increase volume.
"The Rs 20 pack might not be a big volume churner as the other two low-unit packs of Rs 5 and Rs 10," Ramakrishnan said. "It often plays the role of that bridge pack between the price points and the grammage packs."
Therefore, companies need to tread cautiously when it comes to their highest selling low-unit packs or the Rs 20 pack. The Rs 5, Rs 10 and the Rs 20 price point packs contribute 35% of the FMCG volume. Over the past few years, the mix has remained the same, according to Kantar Worldpanel. | Consumer & Retail |
Are you holding onto a Visa gift card and thinking about transforming it into cold, hard cash? Well, you’re in the right place! We’re here to make this process as easy as pie. Buckle up for a fun and educational ride as we explore various ways to convert your Visa gift card into sweet, sweet moolah.
Table of Contents
- How to Convert Gift Cards for Cash
- How to Get Cash from a Gift Card
- How to Get Money Off Your Gift Card (Instead of Using It)
- How to Transfer Money from Gift Card to Bank Account
- How to Get Free Gift Cards
- Can You Get Money from Selling Your Gift Cards?
- Can You Take Money Off a Gift Card?
- Conclusion on How to Convert Gift Cards to Cash
How to Convert Gift Cards for Cash
Visa gift cards are like little treasures for savvy shoppers. They open doors to exciting discounts and offers at your favorite stores. Who doesn’t want to save a bit of cash while shopping, right?
These gift cards are usually doled out during promotions, enticing shoppers with incentives. But sometimes, you might wonder, can I turn this virtual money into actual cash? Well, here’s the good news – you can!
Gift cards don’t have to remain locked in as shopping credit. We’re about to explore the many avenues to convert your Visa gift card into liquid cash. But why would you want to do this in the first place? There are plenty of reasons.
For instance, gift cards, though great, can be a bit restrictive. You can’t stroll up to an ATM and withdraw cash with them. So, let’s dive into the fun part: discovering the best ways to transform your gift card into actual cash!
How to Get Cash from a Gift Card
Gift cards seem to pop up on every special occasion – birthdays, holidays, and more. They’re like the go-to gift when you’re not entirely sure what to give. But what happens when you don’t get the right one? Don’t worry; you can get cash instead. It’s perfectly legal and quite straightforward.
How to Get Money Off Your Gift Card (Instead of Using It)
Here’s the game plan:
- Check the Balance: First things first, you need to know how much money is left on your gift card.
- Gift Card Exchange Kiosk: Head over to a gift card exchange kiosk with your card. Follow the on-screen instructions, double-check everything, and hit that accept button. Take the receipt to the cashier, and voila, you’ve got cash in hand. It’s kind of like using a CoinStar machine.
- Other Options: If you’re not near a kiosk, there are alternatives. You can sell your gift card, buy a sought-after product with it, then sell that product. You can also use your gift card to purchase money orders, or trade it for something else. These methods offer various paths to cash conversion.
How to Transfer Money from Gift Card to Bank Account
- Use the Visa Gift Card to Pay Your Bills: This is a brilliant way to access cash-equivalent value. Services like Plastiq let you pay significant bills like your mortgage or car payment with your gift card.
- Sell the Gift Cards: The most common option is selling your Visa gift cards. There are websites like MyGiftCards+, Prepaid2Cash, Giftcard Zen, and Cardpool that buy gift cards for cash. You might get a slightly lower value, but it’s a decent deal.
- Buy Money Orders: Some stores, including Walmart, allow you to purchase money orders with your Visa gift cards. Deposit them into your bank account and use the cash as you please.
- Gift Card Exchange Kiosk: These are physical machines found in grocery stores where you can trade your gift card for another one or cash. Be prepared for a fee, though.
- Emergency Disposal Options: If all else fails, you have a couple of last-ditch options. You can send money through services like PayPal, though there’s a fee involved. Or explore mobile payment solutions, where you can pay yourself with your gift card for a fee. Be cautious with this one, as there might be tax implications.
- Give Out the Visa Gift Card as a Gift: When you’re in need of a present for a special occasion, consider gifting your Visa gift card. It’s just as good as cash, and it’s a convenient and flexible option.
- Jour Cards Store: This online payment and games e-shop offers a unique solution for exchanging Visa gift cards for cash. You’ll receive 80% of the card’s value, with the remainder covering the service. The process takes around 24 to 72 hours.
- Buying Products to Resell: This method allows you not only to get cash but also to make extra money. You can take advantage of great deals using your Visa gift card, buy products, and then resell them for a profit.
- Add the Gift Card to Your Venmo Wallet: Link your Visa gift card to your Venmo wallet and use the funds for online purchases or transfer them to your bank account for easy cash access.
- Try a Pawn Shop: Pawn shops are a quick fix when you need cash. They’ll evaluate your gift card and offer you a deal. While the value might not be the highest, it’s an instant solution.
- Sell Them at GiftCardBin: GiftCardBin is a retailer that buys gift cards, offering you around 70% of your gift card’s value. Find a partner store or locate one online.
How to Get Free Gift Cards
If you’re interested in acquiring Visa gift cards for free, consider these options:
- Opinion Output: Sign up through the provided link and get $10 for free.
- Swagbucks: Use the link to join and get $5 free.
- Drop App: Link your credit and debit accounts and earn $5 free with our link. It’s a breeze to get this free money!
Once you’ve got these gift cards, we’ve just shown you how to turn them into actual cash.
Can You Get Money from Selling Your Gift Cards?
Absolutely! You can start by offering your gift card to friends and family. If that doesn’t work, many websites like Prepaid2Cash or MyGiftCardPlus will gladly buy them. Always make sure the site is legitimate to avoid scams or losing your gift card.
And don’t forget to check the card’s expiration date before selling it. You wouldn’t want to sell a card that’s no longer valid, so list it a few weeks before it expires.
Can You Take Money Off a Gift Card?
Not exactly, as you can’t stroll up to an ATM with a gift card and withdraw cash directly. Gift cards have their limitations, but we’ve shown you numerous ways to convert their value into cash. The best method is usually to sell the card for a slight discount.
Conclusion on How to Convert Gift Cards to Cash
In the end, you might have a Visa gift card, and the last thing you want to do is go shopping with it. Instead, you want it to turn into real cash for other expenses. We hope this guide has provided you with various methods to achieve just that.
Feel free to share your thoughts or reach out if you have any questions. We’re here to help! 💵💳 | Personal Finance & Financial Education |
Steaks and cheese are being fitted with security tags and coffee replaced with dummy jars, as supermarkets battle to curb a rise in shoplifting.
Some stores are also limiting the number of items on shelves in an attempt to reduce theft.
It comes as data analysed by the BBC showed shoplifting offences had now returned to pre-pandemic levels as the cost of living rises.
Retailers say they are spending heavily on anti-crime measures.
In March, police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland recorded nearly 33,000 incidents of shoplifting according to data analysed by the BBC.
That is a significant 30.9% increase compared with March last year.
The BBC has contacted all the main supermarkets in the UK to ask whether they have put in place extra security measures.
Some, including Waitrose, were unable to comment on matters of security. Others insisted the measures are not being taken nationwide, but have been implemented at individual stores facing high rates of theft.
Photos circulating on social media have shown the range of anti-shoplifting measures being taken at different supermarkets.
One user posted a picture of steaks enclosed in security devices at a Co-op store. "They're packaging steaks like they're gold bars," they wrote.
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Another user posted a picture of "dummy" coffee jars on a shelf at Co-op, with customers told to ask at the counter if they want to buy the real thing.
"Cost of living reaching new heights, my local Co-op is now a grocery show room," she wrote.
A Co-op spokesperson told the BBC that these are not nationwide policies at their stores.
They added: "Protecting the safety of our colleagues is a priority and we know shoplifting can be a flashpoint for violence against shop workers so whilst this is not a nationwide policy, a decision to implement product security measures at a local level can be made, if a store is experiencing a particular issue."
Separately, pictures have emerged of shelves at M&S with only three steaks on them.
Writing on Twitter, one user, Lorraine King, said she was "shocked" at the sight of the near-empty shelves. She said a worker told her the move was deliberate, as otherwise "thieves clear the shelves in one swoop and do a runner".
A M&S spokesperson told the BBC that the company does not have a policy to restrict the number of products on sale.
"If an individual store has a problem with theft, then it may introduce their own measures," the spokesperson said. "However we would always ensure our products are on display for our customers to buy."
Meanwhile, cheese at an Aldi store has been fitted with security tags.
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An Aldi spokesperson insisted it was a localised store issue and not a nationwide policy.
Recently Sainsbury's faced a backlash after introducing barriers at some of its self-checkout tills, which force shoppers to scan their receipts before being allowed to leave.
The supermarket believes this will deter thieves.
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One social media user said the gates were "because they don't trust people who use the self-service tills".
A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "This is just one of a range of security measures. It is used in a small number of our stores at our self-service checkout areas."
According to police data, certain regions saw even more pronounced spikes in shoplifting in March.
Gwent Police - responsible for overseeing Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen in Wales - reported the sharpest rise, with instances of shoplifting surging to 961 between January and March, up from 552 in the same period last year.
Meanwhile forces in Northumbria, Staffordshire and Hampshire saw shoplifting rates soar by more than 50%.
It comes as food prices are rising at the fastest rate in nearly 45 years.
Grocery prices increased by 19.1% in the year to April, which was down slightly from March but still close to record highs. Staples like sugar, milk and pasta were all up sharply, according to the latest official figures.
This isn't the first time that supermarkets have stepped up security measures during the cost of living crisis.
Last year, photos of security-tagged Lurpack were shared widely on Twitter, as the price of the butter brand soared.
Tom Ironside, director of business and regulations at the British Retail Consortium, said: "Shoplifting cost retailers almost £1bn in 2021/22, money that would be better used to reduce prices and invest in a better customer experience.
"To tackle this issue, retailers are spending hundreds of millions on security staff, CCTV, security tags, and other anti-crime measures."
Are you affected by issues covered in this story? 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: | Consumer & Retail |
Adani-Hindenburg Case: SEBI Faces Contempt Plea For Delaying Investigation
In spite of the August 14 deadline set by the Supreme Court, the market regulator is yet to submit its report.
For violating the court-mandated timeline to complete the probe in the Adani Group-Hindenburg Research matter, an application has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking to initiate contempt proceedings against the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
The plea states that the market regulator was supposed to furnish its report to the top court by Aug 14., but it has failed to do so.
The plea also seeks an explanation from SEBI for not complying with the court-mandated timeline.
A direction must be issued to the regulator for submitting the report without any further delays, the plea says.
The Story So Far
After Hindenburg Research's report and Adani Group's counter in January, four public interest petitions were filed before the apex court. The PILs had broadly asked for directions regarding allegations against the Adani Group.
On March 2, the Supreme Court directed SEBI to look into any disclosure breaches and possible price manipulation of Adani stock in violation of existing laws.
The regulator was directed to submit its report within two months, but in April, SEBI made submissions before the apex court asking for six months to conclude its investigation.
The court, however, had granted time only till Aug. 14.
Since the markets regulator required more time to complete the investigation, it filed an application before the court on Aug. 14 asking for 15 additional days.
As per SEBI's last status report which was submitted to the court on Aug 25, the regulator had wrapped up its investigation in 22 of the 24 matters.
The Supreme Court had also set up an independent committee headed by Justice (retired) Abhay Manohar Sapre. Other members of the committee included OP Bhat, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilekani, Somashekhar Sundaresan, and retired Justice JP Devadhar.
The committee had submitted its report before the top court in May, wherein it stated that a conclusion with regards to a regulatory failure by SEBI could not be ascertained at the time. | India Business & Economics |
Government Keeps Interest Rates On Small Saving Schemes Mostly Unchanged In Q3
Interest rate on 5-year recurring deposits has been hiked 20 bps to 6.7%, while all other small saving rates were kept unchanged
The government has kept interest rates on small saving schemes mostly unchanged from the July–September quarter, with the exception of 5-year recurring deposits that were increased by 20 basis points from 6.5% to 6.7%.
The two- and three-time-year deposits will continue to yield an interest rate of 7% in the October-December quarter of FY24. Whereas, 5-year-time deposits will yield 7.5% interest rates, according to a notification issued on Friday by the Department of Economic Affairs.
The interest rate offered on the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme stands at 8.2%. The Monthly Income Account Scheme offers an interest rate of 7.4%.
National savings certificates, similar to the previous quarter, will offer 7.7% interest, and the Kisan Vikas Patra savings certificate scheme will offer 7.5%. It will also continue to have a maturity period of 115 months.
The rates of the popular Public Provident Fund and Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme were also kept unchanged at 7.1% and 8%, respectively.
The third-quarter Interest rates released on Friday, would be applicable from Oct.1 till Dec. 31. | Interest Rates |
Baroda BNP Paribas' Small Cap Fund Collects Over Rs 1,100 Crore
This is the seventh NFO by Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India since the formation of the merged entity in March 2022.
Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund on Thursday said it has collected Rs 1,103 crore during the new fund offering (NFO) of its small-cap fund.
Baroda BNP Paribas Small Cap Fund, an open-ended equity scheme that predominantly invests in small-cap stocks, opened on Oct. 6 and closed on Oct. 20. The fund has re-opened for subscriptions on Nov. 1, the company said in a statement..
This is the seventh NFO by Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India since the formation of the merged entity in March 2022.
"The NFO has received wide participation from many investors and distribution partners across cities and towns. Small Cap Fund is a growing category, even though the existing category AUM is relatively modest at Rs 1.98 lakh crore," Suresh Soni, CEO of Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India, said.
Baroda BNP Paribas Small Cap Fund invests more than 65% of net assets into small-cap companies. | India Business & Economics |
JK Lakshmi Cement Shares Hit Three-Month High After Q2 Profit Jump
The company's consolidated net profit rose 43% year-on-year to Rs 45 crore in the quarter, according to its exchange filing.
Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd. hit a three month high on Friday after its profit jumped in the second quarter.
The company's consolidated net profit rose 43% year-on-year to Rs 45 crore in the quarter, according to its exchange filing.
The board approved capacity expansion of the existing grinding unit at Surat by putting up an additional grinding unit of 13.50 lakh metric tonnes, per annum. The expansion will require an investment of Rs 225 crore and will be added over a period of two years.
JK Lakshmi Cement Q2 FY24 Highlights (Consolidated, YoY)
Revenue up 14.6% at Rs 1,574.5 crore.
Ebitda up 32.5% at Rs 217.3 crore.
Margin at 13.8% vs 11.9%.
Reported profit up 43% at Rs 45 crore.
Shares of the company rose as much as 6.78%, the most since July 3, before paring gains to trade 5.53% higher at 9:54 a.m. This compares to a 0.59% advance in the NSE Nifty 50.
The stock has fallen 12.79% on a year-to-date basis. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 47 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 64.7.
Of the 20 analysts tracking the company, 15 maintain a 'buy' rating, three recommend a 'hold,' and two suggest a 'sell,' according to Bloomberg data. The average 12-month consensus price target implies an upside of 5.1%. | India Business & Economics |
Stronger tax receipts from an economy that has so far avoided recession meant the UK’s budget deficit stood at £4.3bn last month – the fifth highest for a July since modern records began in 1993 but £1.7bn below the estimate from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
In the first four months of the 2023-24 financial year, the government borrowed £56.6bn to cover the difference between its tax revenues and its spending. The running total was £13.7bn more than in the equivalent four-month period of 2022-23 but £11.3bn lower than the £68bn forecast by the OBR.
But with rising interest rates increasing the cost of servicing the government’s debt, Hunt appeared to rule out the sort of giveaway package demanded by some Conservative MPs.
“As inflation slows, it’s vital that we don’t alter our course and continue to act responsibly with the public finances,” Hunt said. “Only by sticking to our plan will we halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt.”
The Treasury thinks changes to growth, inflation and interest rates put pressure on the public finances and insists it will not be deterred from its focus to get debt – which now stands at just under £2.6tn – falling over the medium term.
Analysts said the outlook for the public finances remained poor and that rising debt interest payments would make it hard for government to meet its fiscal rules – which include reducing debt as a share of national output (gross domestic product) in five years’ time. At the spring budget the OBR said the debt rule would be met by only a slender margin of £6.5bn.
Ruth Gregory, a UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “July’s public finances figures continued the recent run of better-than-expected news on the fiscal position. But with interest rates still rising and a mild recession on its way, we continue to think the chancellor will struggle to unveil a large package of permanent tax cuts in the autumn statement while still adhering to his fiscal rules.”
Gregory said she expected growth to be weaker in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 tax years than the OBR was anticipating, with knock-on effects on tax revenues. Higher interest rates would add around £18bn to the OBR’s forecast for debt interest spending by 2027/28, she added.
Martin Beck, the chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said: “The period since the OBR’s last forecast has seen market expectations for interest rates rise markedly out to the end of the OBR’s forecast horizon.
“Combined with the little leeway in meeting the fiscal rules forecast in the spring budget, this raises the odds that the official forecaster will deem the government in breach of its fiscal rules based on current policy in the next fiscal event later this year. The chancellor would likely respond by pencilling in further post-election spending cuts on top of fiscal plans that already look challenging.” | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
This summer has been defined by two crises: the continuing, painful cost of living crisis afflicting millions in our country and the climate crisis, which is playing out in horrifying ways across the world. The Conservative party is saying we can’t tackle both these crises together – and is, in fact, tackling neither. The Conservatives are wrong. Tackling both these crises goes hand in hand. That’s what Labour’s green prosperity plan will do – cutting energy bills, creating good jobs, delivering energy security and providing climate leadership for our country.
To listen to the Conservatives, you might think the status quo is serving us well. It isn’t. Putin’s strangulation of international fossil fuel markets has sent energy bills soaring, plunged countries like ours into the deepest cost of living crisis in memory and stoked inflation to further pile the pain on to families and businesses. The UK has been the worst affected country in western Europe. We have been so exposed because 13 years of failed Conservative energy policy has left us so dependent on fossil fuel markets.
The Conservatives’ failure is made worse by the fact that there is a clear answer staring us in the face: clean, cheap, low-carbon power, made in Britain. Over the last decade, the costs of solar energy have fallen 89% and wind energy has dropped by 60%. As a result, renewables are significantly cheaper than fossil fuels – last summer they were nine times cheaper. That’s why the Tories’ nonsensical ban on onshore wind in England, in place since 2015, means energy bills are now £180 higher for every family in the country, because that onshore wind has been substituted by expensive gas.
The fact that a managed transition away from fossil fuels is also crucial to tackling the climate crisis means we can cut costs for families while also taking the urgent action we need to drive to net zero. For the scientists at the UN, who have warned this week that the “era of global boiling” has arrived, and the economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility, who say delaying action by a decade doubles its costs, acting now is the economic, rational and blindingly obvious choice.
That’s why the centrepiece of Labour’s mission on climate and energy is to provide all of our power from zero carbon sources by 2030. It will cut bills by £93bn over the coming years – or an average of £400 a year for every household in the country. The Tory plan to stay on fossil fuels as long as possible is a recipe for higher bills, energy insecurity and deepening climate disaster. Why would we possibly choose this path?
It is not just in energy where taking action will lower costs. The lifetime costs of an electric car are already lower than those of a petrol or diesel vehicle. And by 2027, the forecasts are that the upfront cost of an electric car will be lower than the fossil fuel equivalent. So it’s right to stick with the 2030 phase-out date for new petrol and diesel cars – for the environment and for lowering costs.
Of course, in some areas, unleashing the benefits of moving away from fossil fuels does require investment. As we make the transition to cleaner, cheaper alternatives, the vital principle is that individuals or sectors should not be left to bear the transition costs on their own. This is one of the purposes of our green prosperity plan, the investment ramping up to £28bn a year in the second half of the parliament.
Take energy efficiency. We do need to invest. Instead of leaving families to waste money on cold, draughty homes, as the Conservatives have, our warm homes plan will bring up to a good standard the 19m homes that need it. This is as close to a policy no-brainer as you can get; cutting energy bills for families across the country, creating thousands of good jobs for construction workers and electricians, tackling fuel poverty and providing climate leadership.
A Labour government will act to make the transition work to the benefit of all, in particular lower- and middle-income families. We will not leave workers on their own either, but will protect them through this period of change.
This is where the Conservatives’ negligence is most acute. They won’t invest to make this transition work for working people, in areas such as energy efficiency or helping to fund a car scrappage scheme in London, and they are content to sit on the sidelines as investment in green industries pours into the US and Europe.
But there is no solution to the cost of living crisis without improving the number of well-paid, good jobs in our economy. That’s why our national wealth fund will invest in boosting our ports, automotive and steel industries and GB Energy, our publicly owned energy-generation company will drive jobs in the UK.
While Labour focuses on lower bills and good jobs, the Tories have decided to double down on their disastrous mistakes – lurching desperately towards a culture war on climate, seeking to upend the climate consensus of the last 15 years. This will not work; as poll after poll reiterates, the vast majority of the British people, in towns and cities across the country, are united in their desire for action on the climate crisis and action on the cost of living.
The stakes at the next election could not be higher. Together, Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and I have spent three years painstakingly devising an ambitious plan to tackle the climate and cost of living crisis that is equal to the scale of the twin crises we face. It will mean lower bills, more jobs, energy security and climate leadership once again. That is what we will offer at the next general election.
Ed Miliband is shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Great Yarmouth MP Sir Brandon Lewis is set to earn a quarter of a million pounds a year from his new job advising a company partly owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
The Conservative will receive the money for working just 416 hours a year - or one day a week - as a senior adviser for investment firm LetterOne.
The figures have emerged in an update to the MP’s register of interest.
It is the latest in a string of lucrative roles the politician has taken in recent months.
Sir Brandon has a total of seven jobs, earning him almost £500,000 and making him one of the highest -paid MPs.
His LetterOne role has already proved controversial because of the involvement of Russians placed on the UK’s sanctions list following the invasion of Ukraine.
Keir Cozens, who is standing against Sir Brandon for Labour at the next election, said: "It boils down to this: Can we really trust a man who has spent the last year lining his own pockets to the tune of £400,000 to be on our side?
"My priorities are clear – no second jobs outside parliament, no distractions, just full-time commitment to Great Yarmouth.
"At the next election voters will have a very simple choice: real change with a full-time Labour MP fully focused on you, or more of the same with a part-time Tory MP happy to sell off his hours to the highest bidder."
Sir Brandon's seven paid and unpaid jobs include his role as an MP, for which he receives £86,584.
He earns £150,000 from three other positions. In total, he receives £486,584. In comparison, prime minister Rishi Sunak has a salary of £167,391.
Sir Brandon's Yarmouth constituency includes some of the region's most deprived areas. In March, figures showed the town had around 2,000 people aged 16 and over who were unemployed – a rate of 4.8pc.
Letter One was founded by billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven who were placed on the UK’s sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Letter One has restructured itself to comply with sanctions, the businessmen still own 49pc of the shares.
This is not the first time Sir Brandon's ties to Russian oligarchs have raised eyebrows, with some high-profile donors bankrolling him in recent years.
He received almost £50,000 from Russian oligarchs between 2014 and 2022.
There is no suggestion of impropriety relating to the donations.
Sir Brandon recently said that he considered tackling the issue of people being 'debanked' as one of his key priorities.
He claimed that Tory activists have struggled to get mortgages because banks consider them ‘politically exposed persons’ (PEPs) and said that addressing this would be one of his key priorities if he could get any Bill through parliament.
Sir Brandon has declined to expand on his comments and has not clarified if the volunteers he referred to were people who help out in his constituency, for example, canvassing and delivering leaflets, or if he meant some of his high-profile donors. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Since Friend.tech opened its invite-only beta test 11 days ago, the decentralized social-focused app has quickly attracted a lot of users, even catching the attention of big name crypto influencers, NBA players and OnlyFans creators. But can it convert all the early hype to meaningful, lasting traction?
The app, built on Coinbase’s layer-2 blockchain Base, allows users to tokenize their likeness by selling “shares” of themselves to their followers, who then become shareholders and can message the users directly. The app was quickly picked up and popularized by “Crypto Twitter” personalities like Frank DeGods and gainzy222, trading influencer RookieXBT, and NBA player Grayson Allen, to name a few.
Since its launch, Friend.tech has seen total volume of 33,596 ether, or about $55.5 million, across 1.29 million transactions, according to Dune analytics data from Michael Silberling, a data analyst at OP Labs. (Disclosure: Silberling is a sibling of Amanda Silberling, a TechCrunch reporter.)
In the past 24 hours, the platform has brought in $1.42 million in fees and $709,839 in revenue, making it the third-largest fee and revenue generator in the entirety of crypto during that time frame, only trailing the Ethereum blockchain itself and staking service Lido, according to DefiLlama data. The platform charges a total of 10% in fees per transaction, with 5% going to Friend.tech and the other 5% going to the account holder.
But despite the app’s significant early traction, many people are skeptical about its viability due to its lack of a privacy policy, the requirement to deposit ether upon signing up, a reportedly laggy interface, and an unclear roadmap. While the app does allow those profiting from the shares to cash out, there’s little clarity on the security measures in place, the liquidity structure and other aspects of its operations.
Friend.tech is also arguably a newer take of a slightly more controversial attempt by BitClout (later rebranded to DeSo). A crypto social network that let people buy and sell tokens based on people’s reputations, DeSo launched in 2021 to much hype. But traction eventually fizzled, and the app got into legal trouble for preloading users onto its platform without their permission. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Ivanka Trump will have to testify in a business fraud case against her father and brothers, a New York judge ruled.
She had previously sought not to take the stand, arguing that she had moved out of the city and had stepped away from the Trump Organization.
But Judge Arthur Engoron said she still maintains ties to Trump businesses and real estate in New York.
He has already ruled that Donald Trump inflated the value of his properties to secure favourable loans.
The trial focuses on six other claims made in the lawsuit, including falsification of business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy.
The defendants deny the allegations.
Prosecutors have argued that Ms Trump has important information to share about the case.
In his ruling on Friday, Judge Engoron sided with the prosecutors, writing: "Ms Trump has clearly availed herself of the privilege of doing business in New York."
He cited documents showing that she still had ownership or management ties to some businesses in New York, and that she still owns Manhattan apartments.
Ms Trump's lawyers argued that she had no legal basis to testify, as she had stepped down from the Trump Organization in 2017 and has since moved to Florida.
Meanwhile, state lawyers argued that Ms Trump was a key participant in some of the events being examined by the case.
Judge Engoron said her testimony will not be scheduled before 1 November to give her lawyers time to appeal the ruling.
Earlier this year, Ms Trump was dismissed as a defendant in the civil fraud case by a New York appeals court, who ruled that accusations against her are barred under the state's statute of limitations.
The civil fraud case was brought against the former president by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is a Democrat.
Ms James is seeking $250m (£205m) in penalties and severe restrictions for Mr Trump's businesses.
Mr Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 election, has dismissed the case as politically motivated and a "sham".
It is expected that he and his sons will take the stand in the case at some point. | Banking & Finance |
- Summary
- Central bank shocks market with 750 bps hike to 25%
- Economic programme, investor trips abroad to follow
- Erdogan's unorthodoxy sparked decade-long foreign exodus
- Signs of lasting turnaround have caught investor's eye
ANKARA/LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Turkey's latest massive interest rate hike has caught the attention of long-sceptical foreign investors who say they could return to Turkish assets if authorities continue to demonstrate that a return to orthodox monetary policy is underway.
The lira rallied as much as 7% on Thursday after the central bank shocked the market by lifting its key rate by 750 basis points to 25% - three times the size of the expected move.
Turkey's top officials say that they plan to take two more vital steps to reverse a years-long exodus of foreign investment as well: they will publish a comprehensive economic programme next month that will reduce uncertainties; and they will begin holding meetings with investors abroad.
Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek will kick off the investor roadshow on Sept. 19 at Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York, Reuters reported on Friday.
Though the tide may be shifting, persuading investors will not be easy: Foreigners had all but abandoned Turkey over the last five years of President Tayyip Erdogan's unorthodox and often erratic policies, which included slashing interest rates in the face of soaring inflation.
Yet five foreign investors told Reuters that this week's rate hike signalled a new independence among policymakers who are serious about addressing unrelenting pressure on the currency and reining in inflation expectations.
"It feels like they are correcting the mistakes they made with their first rate hike decisions," said Viktor Szabo, portfolio manager at abrdn in London. "And it is a sign that the pressure continued on the currency."
Ola El-Shawarby, deputy portfolio manager for Emerging Markets Equity Strategy at Van Eck, said: "We have some exposure and we are getting more comfortable with the overall picture so we are getting more constructive."
"The more proof we get of the return to orthodoxy the more likely we are to revisit these investments," she said.
ERDOGAN QUESTION
Faced with badly depleted FX reserves and other economic strains, Erdogan, fresh from winning re-election in May, appointed Simsek and picked as central bank governor former Wall Street banker Hafize Gaye Erkan - the first woman to run the central bank - to turn things around.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz told bankers that next month's "medium-term programme" will detail a transition to increased economic and financial predictability and include three-year macro forecasts. The investor roadshow will also accelerate, he added.
Simsek has stressed his team has political support for its plan, which should see inflation begin to cool around May of next year.
Erdogan, who has fired four central bank chiefs in four years, has said little about the rate hikes.
"They will have to raise policy rates further in this cycle to have a lasting effect on international investors," said Blaise Antin, head of EM sovereign research at asset manager TCW in Los Angeles.
"The question is whether they have Erdogan's green light to keep going."
The central bank said on Thursday it will hike rates more as needed and JPMorgan predicted they will hit 35% by year-end.
TENTATIVE STEPS
With inflation seen rising to near 60% by the end of the year from almost 48% last month, the rate hikes partly narrow the gap.
Though Turkey's international bonds are widely held and form part of key indexes, the country has struggled to lure foreign investors back into its domestic bond markets after a series of lira crises and de facto capital controls.
Foreigners hold less than 1% of Turkish bonds, down from 10% in 2019 and 20% in 2015, official data shows. Over the last three months, bonds saw only $110.5 million in cumulative foreign inflows, while stocks saw a rush of $1.7 billion.
Turkish stock, Eurobond and CDS markets are more attractive targets this year and next, especially after the rate hike, investors and officials say. New investments from Gulf states have helped to buy time and refresh FX reserves.
"Ultimately for investors the end rate matters - but it is more that the central bank is ready to act when needed," said Kaan Nazli, portfolio manager at asset manager Neuberger Berman in London. "But seeing that change is a positive thing."
Aside from the combined 1,650 basis points in monetary tightening since June, there are other signs of lasting change. Authorities have raised taxes to limit budget deficits, cooled domestic demand, begun rolling back a costly depreciation-protected deposit scheme, and raised FX reserves by $20 billion to head off any possible current account deficit crisis.
In an interview with newspaper Yeni Safak, Simsek said Turkey held huge promise for foreign investors as long as "we follow rules-based policies in line with world norms."
After meetings in New York and at the United Nations - which Erdogan is also expected to attend - Simsek listed plans for trips to London and an International Monetary Fund event in Morocco, as well as other meetings in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong by the end of the year.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul and Marc Jones and Jorgelina do Rosario in London; Writing by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Hugh Lawson
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Middle East Business & Economics |
We are, according to a number of recent commentators, in a golden age of grift. Pyramid schemes are on the rise. Scammers are raking it in like never before. Shameless promotion of nonsensical cryptocurrency, NFT, and “Web3” projects is impossible to avoid. Social media is awash with fake news, and legacy media is mired in a legitimacy crisis of its own making. Scientific and academic research can’t be trusted uncritically due to the influence of partisan and ideological forces from both the left and the right. There is a pervasive sense, especially among young people, that everything is a scam, everything is bullshit.
In their recent book, Nobody’s Fool, psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris employ the tools and insights of their field to help us navigate a world rife with deception. They contend that “all successful deceptions exploit features of human thinking and reasoning that normally serve us well.” The first half of the book introduces four cognitive habits that leave us susceptible to deception. The term habits is perhaps misleading to laypeople. The authors are pointing to innate cognitive processes, such as our ability to focus intently, make predictions, and think heuristically, that allow us to process information efficiently.
These processes are not foolproof. Our capacity for focus is limited, our intuitions sometimes rooted in faulty assumptions, and our heuristic thinking at times simply lazy. While intensely focusing on one thing, we may miss something else crucial or obvious. The authors previously demonstrated this phenomenon in an experiment involving the unexpected appearance of a man in a gorilla suit that went viral online, which served as the foundation of their previous book on selective attention. They now draw on similar social science research to show how faulty expectations, assumptions, and mental shortcuts are exploited by those who would trick or mislead us.
Though the authors don’t offer an exhaustive compendium of scams, the book is nonetheless most compelling when pairing research with illustrative stories of fraud and deception. Simons and Chabris offer a quick survey of classic Ponzi schemes, as well as more contemporary frauds, including Theranos, the Fyre Festival, cryptocurrency scams, and more. They describe fabrication and forgery in journalism, academia, scientific research, and the artworld, as well as various deceptions perpetrated by unscrupulous advertisers, propagandists, online scammers, and more.
The second half of the book examines “hooks,” or features of newly encountered information, that can “snag our interest and bias us toward accepting claims without checking them.” For example, false or misleading claims are less likely to arouse suspicion when they conform to our expectations. On the other hand, bold or surprising claims attract attention regardless of merit precisely because they defy expectations. (Writers such as Malcolm Gladwell have built whole careers from this kind of sensationalist sleight of hand.) In other words, bad actors play on our bias toward familiarity and attraction to exaggeration to gain our trust and attention, respectively. Similarly, the human tendency to conflate precision or detail of information with its veracity can be used to fool us (i.e., a detailed alibi is often more believable but not necessarily anymore true.) And so on and so forth—the authors describe many permutations of these hooks.
To avoid being deceived, Simons and Chabris advise us to pay more attention to our cognitive habits and attempts to exploit them. Mind your biases and blind spots. Question your assumptions. Learn to recognize the telltale signs of forgery, fakery, and other deceptions. Perform “blunder checks” on your own thinking. They offer cursory lessons in logical reasoning and best scientific practices to help spot claims built on faulty arguments or flawed evidence, as well as analytical tools for evaluating claims, such as a “possibility grid” for identifying missing information that calls to mind the “Rumsfeld Matrix” inspired by Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous “unknown unknowns” comment.
In short, they encourage readers to: “Accept less, check more.” Trust, but verify.
Such advice is sound, if rather obvious, but places the onus of mitigating and avoiding fraud and deception entirely on the individual. In a society in which grift is not just rampant but normalized, such a purely therapeutic approach feels insufficient for dealing with a widespread social ill.
In the United States especially, grifting is part of the national character and ethos. Forget, for a moment, trying to avoid running afoul of scams. When everything feels like a scam, how does one avoid complicity?
Jia Tolentino makes this point in her essay “The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams,” from the 2019 collection, Trick Mirror. Her catalogue of scams includes not just what she calls “the really obvious ones”—the kind of classic frauds and scams that concern Simons and Chabris—but also the “world of borderline or inadvertent or near-invisible scamming.” Her critique of scammer culture indicts far more than just your bog-standard conman. She also points to the bankers, lenders, and financial regulators who created the subprime mortgage crisis that precipitated the 2007-2008 financial crisis, as well as the lobbyists, politicians and regulators responsible for the taxpayer-funded bank bailouts that followed in its wake, of whom few faced meaningful consequences. She implicates Silicon Valley and big tech “disruptors,” with their perverse and deceptive business practices, as well as our own embrace of hustle culture as promoted by online influencers. She points to the criminal and deceptive deeds of the Trump campaign and administration, the proliferation and dissemination of fake news, and the entire system of neoliberal capitalism in which we all must make lives for ourselves by tooth and by nail, or by grift if need be. “It would be better, of course, to do things morally. But who these days has the ability or the time?” Tolentino muses. She is reformulating, more or less, the old refrain that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
Many will quibble with some of Tolentino’s points, political biases, and blinders. She is highly partisan, spending pages excoriating Trump without making specific mention of the role Democrats played in the bailouts and the neoliberal consensus she decries, the kind of subtle bias that reflects her natural allegiances as a part of liberal media. I myself note the absence of any mention of cryptocurrency, of which she would have been familiar given her 2018 appearance on the Reply All podcast for an episode on lost Bitcoin. The curious omission of perhaps the most obvious of “the obvious frauds” of recent years invites conjecture (and let me be clear, it’s only conjecture) on possible involvement in the crypto space, especially given how a writer famous for her confessional style also omitted that her family operated a predatory recruitment agency in the Philippines whose exploitative practices smuggling teachers into the United States bordered on human trafficking by some accounts. But this sort of hypocrisy does and would only underscore her general point that, if everything and all of society is a scam, we are all by definition complicit. Might as well get yours!
The ways in which we are complicit in our own deception, sometimes through motivated self-delusion, is mostly absent from Nobody’s Fool. Somewhere in their habits and hooks, Simons and Chabris should have made more of the external forces that drive both our thinking and our behavior. They can come off as naïve or even obtuse on the matter. The book is full of references to people who “should have known better.” For example, they chastise experienced financial investors for being duped by Bernie Madoff. This ignores evidence suggesting many investors in Madoff Securities knew the operation was fraudulent and provided hundreds of millions of dollars in liquidity, as necessary, to keep the scheme afloat. Some of these purported “victims” profited more than Madoff. The problem wasn’t that they didn’t know better. They appear to have known exactly what was going on and wanted their cut.
Press them hard enough, and many crypto investors will admit crypto is a scam. I witnessed this a number of times while writing and reporting on the space. Maybe crypto is a scam, they concede, but everything is a scam. In the parlance of crypto world, the “stonk” market is also just a pyramid scheme funneling money returns from “noobs” to longtime “hodlers.” Setting aside that stock represents a legally enforceable claim of ownership over real companies whereas crypto is nothing more than digital credit on a distributed ledger, there is a kernel of truth to this nihilistic cynicism.
The Federal Reserve has been manipulating markets via quantitative easing and financial sector bailouts for years and is now attempting to engineer a recession to drive down employment and rising wages. Such interventions in the economy, carried out largely undemocratically, in a time of rising living costs, deepening economic inequality, and diminishing expectations for the average person certainly gives, at the very least, the appearance that financial markets and the whole economy are rigged.
In such an economic environment, crypto can seem like the ticket out. Where else can you 10X or 100X your money in the course of a few years? Sure, it’s a scam. Many investors will lose money, but some do score big. Simons and Chabris would warn such investors away from returns that seem too good to be true. For example, they cite unrealistic returns promised by BitConnect, one of the many crypto lenders exposed as a Ponzi scheme, as a hallmark of fraud. Such advice fundamentally misunderstands crypto world. Sketchy returns are not a flashing red light to stay away but rather a sign to get in quick while you still can. When the inevitable crash comes, the only thing separating scammer from victim is whether they bought or sold at the top. Every one of them wanted in on the grift. What these people need isn’t tips on avoiding scams but rather a lesson in moral virtue or, better yet, restrictions on and repercussions for taking part.
But Simons and Chabris explicity warn against such interventions. Too much emphasis on preventing fraud and deception, they claim, risks introducing inefficiencies that stymie “commerce, growth, and progress.” Such efforts might set off “an upward spiral of regulation.” In a segment on doping in sports, Simons and Chabris write: “But there have always been and probably will always be ways of avoiding any regulation. A constant cycle of new rules and new evasions is an inevitable consequence of the economic incentives for successful cheating. But the fact that scam are constantly evolving doesn’t mean you have to be a victim.”
In other words, fend for yourself.
Nobody’s Fool, which is essentially yet another entry in the bourgeoning self-help genre, exemplifies what psychologist Ole Jacob Madsen calls “the therapeutic turn,” or the intrusion of popular psychology into more and more areas of public life. It is no coincidence that the therapeutic turn coincides with the neoliberal turn. Psychology, as Madsen argues in The Therapeutic Turn: How psychology altered Western culture, tends to offer only individualistic solutions to societal problems. (Similar and related arguments have been put forward by Barbara Ehrenreich, Christopher Lasch, and a number of other theorists, but the critique is particularly searing coming from one of the profession’s own.) This is certainly the case with Nobody’s Fool, which is almost entirely devoid of structural or contextual analysis, as works of this type are wont to do. Madsen warns: “If psychology loses sight of the structural level beyond the individual psyche and simply fails to recognise how its own practice is influenced by and influences current societal processes, it is at risk of becoming a social institution with a clear ideological bias that conceals the ailment’s cause, prevents social changes and, in the worst case, produces more suffering and indirectly increases the incidence of psychological ailments in the population.”
If behavioral psychology offers the appearance of scientific legitimacy to neoliberal governance, the reproducibility crisis in the social sciences, and especially psychology, in which several studies revealed that more than half of published findings could not be replicated, should invite skepticism. To their credit, Simons and Chabris cite several cases of academic fraud in academia and scientific research, including those in their field, and even make passing mention of “the perverse incentives that lead to shoddy science.” They specifically take issue with the concept of “priming,” which is the process by which exposure to stimulus supposedly influences subsequent responses to future stimulus. Prominent figures in the field promoted and popularized studies concluding that even subtle stimulus can have an outsized effect on future behavior, though these conclusions were later shown to be flawed and unfounded. However, Simons and Chabris suggest that such problems have been addressed over the past decade and that the “excess of misleading, unsupported, and sometimes fraudulent claims” made within the field are mostly a thing of the past.
Others disagree. In his 2021 book, The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills, journalist Jesse Singal dissects pseudoscience surrounding widely popularized psychology concepts, not just priming, but also “grit,” implicit bias, and the supposed power of positive thinking. The book provides a more detailed—and damning—account of the ways in which social science researchers trying to further their careers engage in P-value hacking and other data manipulation in order to find statistically significant relationships where none exists. Moreover, whereas Simons and Chabris offer only a better understanding of “habits and hooks” for helping individuals identify such deception, Singal joins other critics in arguing that addressing pervasive social ills requires action of both individuals and, especially, institutions.
Critiquing a book for not being that which it never set out to be is arguably unfair. Simons and Chabris explicitly state that they do not offer a “sociology of deceit.” They are not sociologists, journalists, or social critics. They are, again, psychologists. Unfortunately, there is only so much narrowly focused behavioral psychology can tell us about the world, even a world so intently and increasingly focused on the self, the individual—a world the discipline played a heavy hand in forging and legitimizing. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Did you survive the budget cuts from the last debt ceiling fight?
President Joe Biden called them "draconian," while Republicans praised the deal's "historic reductions in spending."
But both parties conned us, as my new video explains.
What they call "cuts" were just a reduction in their planned spending increase. Instead of raising spending by 7.8 percent, they increased it by "only" 3.9 percent. Only politicians get to call an increase a cut.
Biden praised the deal, saying, "We're cutting spending and bringing the deficits down at the same time!"
But they didn't.
Now they're using tricks to spend even more.
"Call it an emergency—done," says Cato Institute budget specialist Romina Boccia. "Spend the money on whatever you want."
Boccia reports how the Senate is moving to increase spending beyond the agreed-upon caps simply by calling it "emergency" spending.
"They gave $296 million to NASA for 'emergency infrastructure.' What's 'emergency infrastructure?'" I ask.
"That's not really a thing," she replies. "It's just a way to plus up the NASA budget…a huge slush fund."
"How do they justify this?"
"They don't even try!" Boccia complains. "Unfortunately, Congress has complete discretion over what it calls 'emergency.'"
This trick isn't new. Under President Barack Obama, $150 million for fisheries got added by calling it "emergency funding."
"I don't think that's an emergency," says Boccia. "It's not sudden; it's not urgent."
In the current budget, even useless agencies that should be eliminated, like the Education Department, get more money. It will now spend 300 percent more than it spent 10 years ago.
"By the end of this decade, spending will be about $10 trillion," says Boccia. "Who will be willing to lend that money to the U.S. government?"
Good question.
Recently, Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government debt.
"The rating agencies and investors are catching on that the federal budget is highly unsustainable," she points out.
It sure is. Politicians have voted to spend much more money than the government will ever have.
On the other hand, so far, nothing terrible has happened.
"The fact that it hasn't happened yet does not mean that it will not happen," says Boccia. "The math does not work out."
The biggest reasons are Social Security and Medicare.
But when anyone proposes cuts, my fellow old people scream, "Government deducted money for Social Security and Medicare from my paychecks for years. I'm just getting my money back!"
They don't realize that because we now live longer, most of us will get triple what we paid in.
But of course, we old people are the biggest voting bloc.
"Asking members of Congress running for office to reform old age entitlement programs is a bit like asking an astronaut in space to turn off his oxygen supply," says Boccia.
So she and the Cato Institute propose a solution: Congress should create an independent commission to do the cutting. That way politicians can say, "Don't blame me, the commission made the cuts!"
That worked once with military bases.
The military actually wanted to close some bases. But selfish members of Congress fought any closure in their states.
"In the middle of a war, you don't close a base like Groton," declared Sen. Joe Lieberman (D–Conn).
"Circumstances at our base are unique," claimed Sen. John Thune (R–S.D.).
By ignoring the self-serving politicians, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission got 350 bases closed.
"It was quite successful until Congress turned it off," says Boccia.
Since Congress won't cut, and Biden definitely won't, an independent commission may be our only hope.
We need to do something before our debt explodes, mauling our future.
COPYRIGHT 2023 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. | Inflation |
- Binance France's president David Princay dismissed U.S. regulatory action just days before French prosecutors accused the exchange of money laundering.
- French prosecutors paid a "visit" to the exchange and later alleged that they were being investigated for aggravated money laundering and the unauthorized operation of a digital asset exchange.
- Princay compared the U.S. actions to a "car crash" and dismissed the looming SEC and CFTC charges as the flapping of a butterfly's wings.
PARIS — Days before French police visited Binance's Paris office, the crypto exchange's top French executive dismissed concerns about U.S. regulatory charges impacting Binance's other operations, comparing them to the flapping of a butterfly's wings.
French prosecutors have opened a probe into "aggravated money-laundering" by the crypto exchange, Le Monde reported Friday, adding in a statement that the company was also being probed over operating an unauthorized exchange.
Just days before the raid, CNBC asked Binance France president David Prinçay if he was concerned about charges from the top two U.S. financial regulators against the exchange.
"I don't care what happened in the U.S.," Prinçay retorted, speaking at the Proof of Talk summit in Paris. "We are in Europe, with a French regulator, a European regulator."
Prinçay insisted that Binance.US assets were separated from the international exchange, an assertion also made by the exchange's legal team. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged Binance last week with 13 securities charges, disagrees, arguing that Binance user funds are at "significant risk" of flight due to founder Changpeng Zhao's alleged ownership of an interlocking set of Binance-related companies.
Binance France's chief called the U.S. allegations of commingling a "car crash."
"The only concerns I have right now is that we look too much at the car crash and not to drive," Prinçay said.
Binance's founder, Changpeng Zhao, dismissed the police statement and reporting as "FUD," claiming it was a "surprise on-site" inspection that was "the norm."
"We will not comment on the specifics of law enforcement or regulatory investigations except to say that information about our users is held securely and only provided to government officials upon receipt of documented appropriate justification," the exchange said in another statement.
Prinçay did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the police visit.
Binance faces over a dozen charges from the SEC and a similar slate of allegations from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A reported Department of Justice probe is also ongoing into the exchange, according to an SEC complaint. | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
Almost two-thirds (64pc) of 16 to 24-year-olds have bought goods online because of a recommendation from an influencer or celebrity, according to a survey by An Post.
Almost half (43pc) of 25 to 34-year-olds said they have made purchases on the basis of influencer recommendations.
Female shoppers are twice as likely to be prompted to purchase via social media.
In its first ever eCommerce Index, An Post found that 16 to 24-year-olds spend the most online out of any age group, and are twice as likely to have an ongoing subscription to an online retailer.
More than a fifth (21pc) of 16 to 24-year-olds say they spend more than €100 per online order.
The survey also found that almost a third (29pc) of the online orders from Irish businesses come from the UK, with Irish shoppers making up half of the orders.
The majority of Irish SMEs’ online sales are in Ireland (50pc), while 25pc are to Northern Ireland and the remaining 25pc of sales are to the UK and other European countries.
Almost all of the more than 1,500 adults surveyed (94pc) said they had shopped online recently.
Clothing and footwear, beauty and books and media were the top categories for online purchases over the last three months.
Over-65s buy more books, media and music, while females buy more clothing, footwear and apparel. Almost a quarter (24pc) of Irish adults also sell items online.
“eCommerce is not just a trend; it is a fundamental shift that has reshaped the way we live, work, and do business,” said Garrett Bridgeman, managing director of An Post Commerce.
“In this fast-paced digital world, and particularly since the pandemic, eCommerce has emerged as a driving force behind economic growth and job creation.”
He said the idea of “phygital” shopping – a combination of physical and digital retail – is becoming more important, for example, where customers are able to order out of stock items in store for home delivery. | Consumer & Retail |
Delegates at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai formally adopted a loss and damage fund Thursday to transfer finances to countries hit hardest by the climate crisis.
The details had already been agreed earlier this month at a pre-COP session, when it was decided that the World Bank would host the fund. Several countries objected to the bank managing the money, in part because of its strong US connections. All parties ultimately agreed on the condition that the World Bank’s oversight of the fund would be temporary.
“We have delivered history today — the first time a decision has been adopted on day 1 of any COP,” COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber said.
The decision received no objections and delegates gave a standing ovation at the strike of the gavel. The development comes after years of wrangling over who should pay for climate impacts.
Several countries pledged money to the damage fund after it was established on Thursday, according to a news release from COP28.
The COP28 host country, the United Arab Emirates, pledged $100 million, as did Germany.
The UK announced £60million, part of which will be used for “other arrangements,” according to the release, while the US committed $17.5 million to the fund and Japan contributed $10 million. | Middle East Business & Economics |
PBOC Vows To Prevent Excessive Currency Movements As Yuan Slides
China’s central bank pledged to avoid excessive movements in the yuan as the currency slides toward its weakest level since 2007.
(Bloomberg) -- China’s central bank pledged to avoid excessive movements in the yuan as the currency slides toward its weakest level since 2007.
The People’s Bank of China also said it will “step up macroeconomic policy adjustment,” while largely reaffirming its policy stance, according to its quarterly monetary policy report published Thursday.
The central bank said it will resolutely prevent “over-adjustment” in the yuan, which it said has yet to deviate from its fundamentals. The PBOC has experiences and ample policy tools to safeguard a stable foreign exchange market, it said.
The central bank has taken stronger steps recently to bolster the currency by setting the daily reference rate at a higher level than markets expect. Chinese authorities also told state-owned banks to step up intervention in the currency market this week and are studying other ways to prop up the yuan, according to people familiar with the matter.
The PBOC reiterated it will implement a targeted and forceful monetary policy, and make use of various tools to ensure liquidity remains reasonably ample. It also said it will optimize property policies when appropriate.
Raymond Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said the comments suggested more monetary easing may be on the cards following this week’s unexpected interest rate cut.
“We believe more rate actions or reserve requirement ratio cuts will be taken,” he said. There could also be more support measures for the property industry, he said.
The central bank highlighted challenges to the economy, including households’ weak income outlook, insufficient private investment confidence and growing pressure on local government finances.
It vowed to make credit growth more stable and sustainable, and to adjust property policies when appropriate. Echoing recent comments from the statistics bureau, the PBOC said China is not in deflation, and consumer price inflation will likely rebound starting from August.
The PBOC’s rate cut this week, the biggest since 2020, came shortly before official data showed economic activity slumped more than expected in July. The widening interest-rate gap between the US and China has weighed on the currency.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Asia Business & Economics |
Sir Keir Starmer is to warn that the UK will face "huge constraints" on public spending if his party win the next General Election.
On Monday, he will say anyone expecting an incoming Labour government "to quickly turn on the spending taps is going to be disappointed".
Growing the economy is set to be a battleground for both Labour and the Conservatives at the next election.
The Conservatives claim Labour's borrowing plan would raise taxes.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, has made economic growth one of his key pledges.
The cost of living in the UK has put the economy at the centre of political debate as inflation and high interest rates put pressure on household budgets.
The UK has not slipped into recession but there have been concerns over weak growth.
The Bank of England's governor, Andrew Bailey, said last week that productivity rates in the UK "concern me a lot".
In a speech to economists and think-tanks later on Monday, Sir Keir will say economic growth "will have to become Labour's obsession if we are to turn around the economy".
But he will argue that decisions taken from the government and previous Conservative administrations for the past 13 years "will constrain what a future Labour government can do".
"The comparison between 2010 and today is instructive," the Labour leader will say.
"Now, debt and interest rates are much higher. Britain's standing is diminished. Growth is stagnant and public services are on their knees."
"Taxes are higher than at any time since the war, none of which was true in 2010. Never before has a British government asked its people to pay so much, for so little."
His comments will come after his party denied claims it could further water down its flagship green prosperity plan.
A senior source had suggested to the BBC that the level of investment previously promised - of £28bn a year - might never be reached.
In June Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, watered the pledge down. Senior source in the Labour leader's office said the decision was made because of the state of the public finances.
However, a Conservative spokesman said Labour's policy "presents a major risk" to the British economy at a time when the cost of borrowing is "so high".
Richard Holden, the Conservative party chairman, said: "The largest 'constraint' to growing the economy would be Labour's £28bn a year borrowing plan - which independent economists warn would see inflation, interest rates and people's taxes rise".
As well as focusing on growth, Sir Keir will outline his plans which include changing "restrictive planning laws and get Britain building again" and creating a "proper industrial strategy drawn up with business".
He will also declare Labour would secure "a new deal to make work pay with increased mental health support, fully-funded plan to cut NHS waiting lists, an end to zero hour contracts, no more fire and rehire, and a real living wage".
The government has announce it will increase the minimum wage by more than a pound to £11.44 next April, but the government's forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), has said living standards are also not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027-28.
Sir Keir will say that the current parliament is "on track to be the first in modern history where living standards in this country have actually contracted".
Most recent official figures show the economy failed to grow between July and September, after a succession of interest rate rises that have increased borrowing costs.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced several tax cuts in his autumn statement.
One policy move included making permanent a tax break which allows businesses to deduct the full cost of investing in machinery and equipment from their tax bill.
But the decisions will not prevent taxes staying at their highest level on record and economic growth is forecast to be sluggish.
Sir Keir will also say in his speech that "it's not the case that 'any growth' will do".
"No, we can't be agnostic about the sort of growth we pursue, anymore. The growth we need must better serve working people. And must raise living standards in every community," he will argue. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Kaynes Technology Q2 Results Review - Strong Order Book, Semicon Foray Provide Hefty Prospects: Systematix
High multiple is due to Its planned foray into emerging businesses which provides vast growth opportunities in coming years.
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.
Systematix Research Report
Kaynes Technology India Ltd. Q2 (revenue/profit after tax up 32%/54% YoY) missed consensus estimates by 10-15%. Weak margin was due to supply of prototype products to newly added customers.
Despite weak H1, management sounded confident to achieve Rs 17-18 billion revenue (H1 Rs 6.6 billion) and 15%+ Ebitda margin (H1 13.5%) in FY24.
Strong order book position (Rs 34.6 billion, 3.1 times FY23 revenue), addition of large global customers and foray in semiconductors provide vast potential of Kaynes for a decade.
We retain our FY25 earnings estimates and expect 34%/33%/40% compound annual growth rate in revenue/Ebitda/profit after tax over FY23-25E (FY20-23: 45%/60%/116%), driven by all the verticals, with stable Ebitda margin (~15%) and healthy 26% return on invested capital.
Operating cash flow/Ebitda is aimed at 50%. While we remain constructive on robust prospects of Kaynes, after 140% returns in last six months and at 72 times FY25E price/earning on current market price, we downgrade our rating to 'Hold' with a revised target price of Rs 2,573 (earlier Rs 2,251), based on 80 times FY25E P/E.
High multiple is due to Its planned foray into emerging businesses (semiconductor assembly and testing, printed circuit board manufacturing) which provides vast growth opportunities in coming years.
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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. | India Business & Economics |
Ransomware attack on China's biggest bank disrupts Treasury market trades, reports say
A financial services business of China's biggest bank says it was it by a ransomware attack that reportedly disrupted trading in the U.S. Treasury market
BEIJING -- A financial services business of China’s biggest bank says it was it by a ransomware attack that reportedly disrupted trading in the U.S. Treasury market.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services handles trades and other services for financial institutions. A statement on its website seen Friday said the ransomware attack this week disrupted some of its systems but that it had disconnected parts of the affected systems to limit the impact from the attack.
The company, which is based in New York, said it was investigating and had reported the problem to law enforcement.
All Treasury trades executed Wednesday and repo financing trades on Thursday were cleared, it said. It said ICBC’s banking, email and other systems were not affected.
The company gave no further details but reports said the attack was by LockBit, a Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate that does not target former Soviet countries. It is one of the most efficient ransomware variants around, according to the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. Active since September 2019, it has attacked thousands of organizations. | Asia Business & Economics |
The Girl Scouts won’t sell Raspberry Rally cookies this year — the popular treat that caused such a frenzy upon its debut last year that a $6 box was being resold for hundreds of dollars — and will jack up prices on its other favorites.
The beloved cookies, which young girls across America will begin hawking from January to April, will go up to $6 from $5 in some states including New York and Massachusetts.
However, the Raspberry Rally, a sister cookie to the Thin Mint, will be put on “pause this season to prioritize supplying our classic varieties,” Girl Scouts of the USA announced on Thursday.
“Last year, Raspberry Rally cookies were introduced as part of a pilot online-only sales strategy,” the organization said. “This was a fun and new way to teach girls omnichannel business skills and expand our cookie portfolio by introducing an exciting new flavor profile to the Girl Scout Cookie Program.
At least one New York chapter, the Girl Scouts Heart of Hudson, is among the troops implementing the $1 increase when selling begins on Feb. 1, 2024.
The chapter’s interim CEO Helen Wronski said the increase was necessary “in order to combat rising production and material costs.”
Specialty varieties like S’mores and Toffee-Tastic were already priced at $6, and will reportedly remain at that price.
“We expect our neighboring councils to announce similar increases in the coming weeks and months,” she added.
The Raspberry Rally were made available online online on Feb. 27, 2023, and sold out within hours.
The $5 boxes of the raspberry-filled treat was being sold on the secondary market on sites like eBay for as much as $199.97 despite the Girl Scouts marking all cookie packages as “not for resale.”
Another listing on e-bay is selling a 34-box cases of Raspberry Rally cookies for $350 — despite the fact that the lot expired on Sept. 12, 2023. | Consumer & Retail |
Councils across England spent more than ever tackling homelessness in 2022, official data released last week showed. BBC News has been to Hastings in East Sussex where hundreds of families are in temporary accommodation - a situation the local council says could push it into bankruptcy.
The Grumpy Café may not sound like the friendliest place to grab a coffee but inside the large, warm meeting place in the centre of Hastings, the atmosphere is anything but crotchety.
"My children call me the grumpy cook, and I thought, 'I like that,'" says owner Barry Ashley.
The not-for-profit café is busy most mornings, as locals pop in for coffee and cake, or a more substantial cooked breakfast. The money made is used to help locals with ever-increasing needs, particularly homelessness.
Every evening Mr Ashley, 60, cooks meals for families in temporary accommodation who don't have cooking facilities in their rooms: "It breaks my heart to see the conditions they're living in. It's really heartbreaking."
It is an issue close to his heart as half of the Grumpy Cook's eight staff are in temporary accommodation - a home provided by a local authority, often in the private rented sector, supposedly for a short period, but often for years.
Sharing a bed
Barista Keira Boorman has been living in a one-bed flat since her 19-month-old daughter was born, and it's a squeeze: "She can't have her own bed because there's not enough room. She spreads herself across the bed, moving constantly. I don't get much sleep."
The 19-year-old became homeless after she was no longer able to live with her mother. Despite working at the Grumpy Cook, she has little hope of finding a place to call her own.
"Most two-bed flats are around £950 a month and making that is nearly impossible as someone who doesn't have a silly amount of savings or earnings." she says.
"I don't have a guarantor either. They'll give me a viewing, but then pass it [the flat] on to to someone else."
Bankruptcy looming
It's a familiar tale throughout Hastings, a fading seaside resort, among the poorest towns in England.
More than 500 local families cannot afford a home and are in need of temporary accommodation, a situation that could push Hastings Borough Council into bankruptcy. This small district council will spend £5.6m housing them this financial year, a quarter of its entire budget.
House prices have almost doubled in Hastings over the past decade, one of the largest increases in England. At the same time, private rents have soared and the Local Housing Allowance, the maximum amount of housing benefit tenants can receive, has been frozen by ministers since 2020.
"We didn't have a single two-bedroom flat advertised at local housing allowance rates last year," says Chris Hancock, director of housing at Hastings Borough Council. "There is a strong risk this could bankrupt the council. We cannot make our budget stack up if we continue to have to spend this amount of money on temporary accommodation."
The council is spending £11m buying properties to use as temporary accommodation, reducing its need to pay the ever-rising costs private providers are able to charge. Adding to the problem are the 900 properties available for short-term let, on sites such as Airbnb.
There is a bitter irony to the situation Hastings finds itself in. A decade ago, London councils were moving their homeless families to the town, as accommodation there was both available and affordable.
Figures released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last week show councils in England spent a record amount of money last year tackling homelessness.
It shows at least £2.4bn was spent tackling the problem in 2022/23. More than £1.7bn of that was used to pay for temporary accommodation.
The data also revealed:
- Overall spending on homelessness increased by 10.5% since 2021/22
- For those council areas that reported data for both this year and last, costs have increased in 192 of 232 areas
- The biggest increase was in Liverpool, where the cost of tackling homelessness increased by 341% in one year, to £17.2m
- Costs in Warrington increased by 210% while in councils Wolverhampton and Darlington saw their costs double
Back in the kitchen of the Grumpy Cook café, Nicola Skinner is helping Barry Ashley cook sausage and mash. The 33-year-old, her partner and their four children were made homeless in April when her landlord decided to sell the property.
The family consider themselves lucky, as the temporary accommodation they've been placed in allows their children to stay at the same schools. However, Ms Skinner knows the council could move them on at any point and fears they won't find anywhere affordable to rent.
"A few of them [letting agents] want incomes of 30 times the monthly rent, which is impossible to reach in Hastings," he says. "Our town is too poor to reach the prices they're trying to charge." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Republicans are looking to cut funding for the free digital tax filing system currently being developed by the Internal Revenue Service to instead offset the $14 billion emergency request for military aid for Israel’s war in Gaza.
After House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared that Republicans insisted on cutting the budget to pay for the Israel war funding bill, the House Rules Committee released legislation on Monday that includes $14 billion in cuts to the IRS. That $14 billion will come out of the $67 billion that remains in additional IRS funding included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The boost to IRS funding in the Inflation Reduction Act sought to aid the agency’s efforts to police tax evasion by the wealthy and update and upgrade the IRS’s internal and public-facing systems and software.
In addition to targeting the free digital filing program, the GOP offsets would cut funding at the IRS for enforcement, operations support, policymaking and internal investigations. The only sections of the IRS funding spared from proposed cuts are assistance for taxpayers and modernization of internal business systems.
Tax preparation companies including TurboTax, Intuit and H&R Block have long opposed the creation of a free digital tax filing system by the IRS, spending tens of millions of dollars on lobbying efforts. The government and the companies came to an agreement in 2002 for the government to not pursue a free online filing system and, in turn, the tax preparers would offer their services free to filers who make less than $73,000 per year. That agreement is set to expire in 2025, based on an amendment issued last March.
Even though the tax preparation companies had entered into an agreement with the IRS to provide free tax filing services, a 2019 investigation by ProPublica found that the companies routinely pushed those who should be paying nothing into paying for their services. A Government Accountability Office report found that 70% of Americans were eligible for free digital tax preparation help under the agreement but that only 3% actually used it.
The IRS promotes its free digital tax filing system as part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to reduce administrative burdens by making it easier for Americans to access and interact with the government.
The GOP bill to cut the IRS funding provided in the Inflation Reduction Act is likely dead on arrival in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, and on President Joe Biden’s desk.
As Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CNN, “Obviously, a pay-for like that makes it much harder to pass.” | Personal Finance & Financial Education |
Nigerian communications platform-as-a-service startup Termii has raised $3.65 million in new financing, bringing its total funding to date to slightly $5 million. According to CEO Gbolade Emmanuel, in a chat with TechCrunch, the funds are not needed for operational activities but rather to power the company’s expansion initiatives: developing and promoting existing and new products in new markets with a priority to Francophone African countries (starting with the Ivory Coast), and not North Africa as earlier planned.
Nigeria’s Termii to scale customer engagement business with new investment
Emmanuel and Ayomide Awe launched Termii in 2019 after the founders recognized the need for African businesses to have exceptional communication channels. The startup’s API-based communication infrastructure allows businesses, particularly fintechs, to engage customers via different channels, including SMS, voice messaging, mobile tokens, alerts, and a two-way support system.
In 2021 when the customer engagement platform banked $1.4 million in seed funding, it served more than 500 fintechs (they make up 89% of its customer base), including Chipper, Paystack, Moniepoint, Piggyvest, among others and over 1,000 businesses and developers used its APIs. Now, over 10,000 businesses rely on the startup’s API and no-code campaign dashboard for terminating SMS and voice messages monthly, according to CEO Emmanuel. He added that Termii’s annual recurring revenue consequently increased 30x, and message transactions on its platform grew from a million to 400 million within this timeframe.
Termii plans to expand its product offering beyond regular messaging services to include calls and OTP (one-time password) generation to increase transaction numbers. Its newly launched mobile app TermiiGo which the company claims to be “Africa’s first cross-company mobile virtual solution will be the main engine behind that growth.
“So far, we have been successful in serving customers with pure messaging solutions; however, we realized that the demand for customers grew beyond messaging,” said the chief executive officer of TermiiGo’s capabilities. “Most of our financial services customers required one-time verification systems to valid user transactions and identity; hence we introduced this across SMS, calls, emails, and WhatsApp, giving them multiple options and better delivery rates.”
TermiiGo, which employs a B2B2C model, embodies features similar to several apps like Google Authenticator, Twilio’s Authy and WhatsApp, such as direct-to-mobile notifications, SMS messaging and time-based OTPs for social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and other networks that utilize 2FA options. Additionally, TermiiGo mobile application provides local and international calling for enterprise businesses and global eSIM activation, which leverages the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model across Africa.
On the eSIM feature, Emmanuel explains that African businesses can offer their employees and users the ability to own eSIM cards or branded sim cards with unlimited voice calls and texts. It also allows remote working and customer support services with data to work without switching sims when they travel across cities in Africa and the U.S., for example.
“We plan to support more countries in the future, like countries in the U.K. We plan to launch all these services in phases and have seen growing interest in this product from big tech and financial service providers and small enterprise businesses,” Emmanuel narrated on the eSIM feature. “We would be launching physically first in Nigeria at our conference this June and also in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and the U.S. After which we would explore other locations. However, other features on our app would be open for use across multiple African countries.”
Pan-African early-stage investor Ventures Platform led this financing round with participation from New York-based fund FinTech Collective and Launch Africa Ventures. Other backers in the round include Nama Ventures, Aidi Ventures, Ralicap Ventures, Now Venture Partners, Vastly Valuable Ventures, NOA Capital, Assembly Investors, Probability Ventures, Adamantium Fund, MyAsia VC and Uncovered Fund. Angel investors such as the Afropreneur Angel Group, Aubrey Hruby, partner at Tofino Capital and Eamon Jubbawy of Onifido also participated.
“Termii stood out to us as a game-changer in the A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging space. Their platform fills a crucial gap by providing seamless integration of telecom services, solving the high message failure rates and complex setup requirements experienced by businesses across the continent,” Dotun Olowoporoku, the general partner at Ventures Platform, said on why his firm backed the four-year-old customer engagement platform.
Meanwhile, Samantha Wulfson of FinTech Collective said in her firm’s conversations with African businesses, “Termii’s solution was cited as the fundamental piece of their infrastructure powering day-to-day business operations, ensuring the delivery of OTPs and transaction-related messages with a higher degree of certainty than ever before, and is still only scratching the surface of their vision as a communication layer.” | Africa Business & Economics |
At first, Anand thought it was just a glitch. He’d read a few tweets saying that withdrawals from FTX—then the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world—had been suspended. But these things had happened before in the crypto market, he said, “when they do server maintenance or something like that … so I didn’t take it very seriously.” The next morning, he woke up to find Twitter had gone wild. #FTX was trending. He tried logging in to the website, but couldn’t access his account to withdraw his funds.Anand, who asked to use a pseudonym to speak about his private finances, lives in South India and works as a crypto research analyst. By the time FTX collapsed, he’d been investing in tokens for around five years. After reading headlines about the price of bitcoin jumping from $500 to $8,000 in just a year, he bought in. “I invested a little bit of money, and overnight it had risen by 200 percent. That was my first ever trade,” he says. From 2020 on, Anand had done most of his trading on FTX. By November 2022, he had more than 90 percent of his funds invested on the platform, around $13,000. The company’s sudden collapse that month took him entirely by surprise. “I have been in crypto since 2017, and I have never seen something like this, where the entire exchange goes bankrupt and the users lose their money,” he says. “I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.”The next day, Anand had to come to terms with the fact that his money was probably gone. “It was unbelievable. All my financial calculations went out of the window. I was in a very bad place for a couple of months after that. A lot of my friends were also using FTX,” he says. “What I did wasn’t supposed to be risky. If I had kept my money in a shady exchange, and it had gone bust, I would be at fault. But FTX was among the top two exchanges.”FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is scheduled to go on trial on October 2, charged with fraud and conspiracy. The US Department of Justice alleges that Bankman-Fried, known by his initials, SBF, used FTX customer funds to fund risky crypto trading by an associated firm, Alameda Research. When, in early November 2022, there was a run on the exchange sparked by concerns about the links between the two companies, FTX couldn’t cover the redemptions and folded, leaving hundreds of thousands of clients out of pocket, with their investments locked up in the bankrupt exchange.The crypto world’s eyes in the coming month are likely to be trained on the New York courtroom, and lurid accounts of polyamorous relationships, political donations, and celebrity endorsements. But the impacts of FTX’s collapse stretch a long way from the US East Coast, and FTX’s Bahamian headquarters. The company actively pursued customers and partnerships in emerging markets, signing up people like Anand, who won’t be represented in the courtroom and who are unlikely to recoup their losses.Even before FTX’s collapse, the crypto “winter” that preceded it, and the bust of 2018, investing in cryptocurrencies was widely seen as a form of gambling in much of the global north. But in parts of Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, crypto had other uses, which look a lot more like those its early evangelists used to pitch.In countries like Nigeria, Argentina, and Lebanon, where the exchange rate was prone to wild fluctuations and the money in your bank account could drop in value overnight, crypto could be a store of value in a parallel financial system. It could’ve been safer to keep your money in a stablecoin, a crypto token pegged to the value of a hard currency, than in nairas, pesos, or pounds. FTX, like other exchanges, often paid interest on customers’ deposits too, meaning accounts could effectively be used like a bank. For others, using crypto was a way to avoid high charges on money transfer services, meaning they could send and receive money from relatives overseas. They could also be used as a way for entrepreneurs to trade more easily with overseas suppliers and customers, without having to deal with foreign exchange brokers or payment gateways that may not support local currencies.In emerging markets, people are often “facing a problem that feels impenetrable,” says Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, a financial inclusion nonprofit. “In some instances, they’re afraid of the banks, because they’re government run … There’s not a fear of blockchain. It’s seen as an opportunity to do things differently. They’re willing to take that chance.”That meant crypto—and FTX—had become embedded in people’s everyday transactions and in payment gateways for ecommerce. “Suppose you are selling a T-shirt and you are integrating a payment gateway like PayPal,” explains Sidharth Sogani, CEO of Crebaco, a cryptocurrency research company. “The buyer is sending bitcoin for the T-shirts, but you want that money in USD, and the transaction should happen quickly. So that payment gateway [before FTX’s collapse] used to accept money in bitcoin from the consumer, send it to FTX, convert it to USD, and give you the payment in USD in your bank account in a matter of 30 seconds … When FTX collapsed, that payment gateway, which had funds in FTX as a buffer, also lost all that money.”As a result, when FTX went down, the impact rippled out through a much broader ecosystem of payments companies, customers, and partners. “FTX had the investments and roots to support the existing crypto ecosystem,” Sogani says. “About 100 companies must have collapsed just because of FTX.”Of course, not everyone who traded did so to overcome some structural defect in the local financial system. The number-goes-up culture of crypto boosterism found its mark all over the world. Middle-income countries—or societies where rapid economic growth created bubbles of wealth for one generation, but left the next facing mounting bills and dwindling prospects of leapfrogging their parents’ incomes—seem to have been fertile ground. It helped that some of those places also had regulators that hadn’t yet caught up with the pace of change in the industry, or consumers that weren’t being apprised of the risks. But even in places with reasonably advanced protections, the global nature of FTX’s business meant it could still bring in clients while operating outside of local regulations.In Indonesia, where crypto adoption has been picking up speed in recent years, trading volumes on FTX reached 106.5 billion rupiah (almost $7 million) in the first 10 months of 2022, according to Tirta Karma Senjaya, head of development at the Commodity Futures Trading Bureau of the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (CoFTRA), an Indonesian crypto regulator. According to the regulator, there are nearly 18 million crypto asset investors in the country. After the run on the FTX tokens began, the regulator “took steps to advise crypto traders already registered with CoFTRA to stop trading FTX tokens,” Senjaya says, adding that the supervisory regime has been strengthened since last year.But FTX wasn’t regulated in Indonesia. “Our rules are very good regarding customer protection,” says Teguh Kurniawan Harmanda, head of ethics at the Indonesian Crypto Asset Traders Association. “FTX operated outside of Indonesian jurisdiction, outside Indonesian rules.”That people trusted FTX despite its outsider status wasn’t surprising, because the exchange seemed to be stable. It was infrastructure, one of the biggest companies in crypto, with a massive global user base and a founder who was being portrayed in the international press as a genius billionaire. People in the tech sector who might have otherwise been more cautious fell for the company’s image. One startup founder and investor in Indonesia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says he first got into cryptocurrencies after reading a paper that Bankman-Fried had coauthored. “I was more interested in the technology,” he says. “The crypto ecosystem was something rapidly changing, and it provided an environment where people could launch a product, a company, really fast.”“Then it collapsed,” he says, “and the money was gone.” He lost almost 1 billion rupiah, around $65,000, in the FTX bankruptcy. “It hurt, but what actually hurt the most [was] that I’d already recommended [FTX] to at least two of my friends.” They lost hundreds of millions of rupiah. “The moral burden was very, very high.” | Crypto Trading & Speculation |
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