BANKING
Nationwide customers unable to send or receive money
Nationwide customers are experiencing delays to money transfers, the building society has said. Nationwide said there is no need to resend transactions, adding that direct debits and standing orders are working as normal, and that people can continue to use their cards to pay in shops and withdraw money from ATMs. "We are working hard to resolve the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused,” a spokesman said.
Four-day week attracts workers to Atom Bank
Since Atom Bank introduced a four-day week for staff with no loss of pay the online lender has seen a 500% rise in applications for job vacancies. Surveys of staff at Atom have found that employees feel less stressed while no evidence of a negative impact on customer service or operations has been detected in the two months since the digital bank introduced the policy.
PRIVATE EQUITY
SoftBank to borrow $4bn from Apollo-led group
Japanese investment giant Softbank is borrowing nearly $4bn from a group led by private equity giant Apollo Global Management. The loan will be secured by SoftBank's $40bn Vision Fund 2 and is expected to be funded by the end of the year.
INTERNATIONAL
NatWest pleads guilty to US charges over spoofing Treasury markets
NatWest’s trading business has agreed to pay US authorities almost $35m after admitting to wire and securities fraud in the United States. NatWest Markets admitted that traders participated in schemes to manipulate the country’s Treasury markets over a decade. The guilty plea relates to manipulative trading, known as spoofing, between January 2008 and May 2014, and again in 2018 when two NatWest traders in Singapore breached a non-prosecution agreement reached by NatWest in 2017.
ING quits French retail banking market
ING is set to quit the French retail banking business as part of a strategic overhaul, the Dutch financial services company said on Tuesday, in a move that could affect 460 employees. ING said it will continue to operate its wholesale banking business in France and had ambitions to become the “go-to bank for sustainable finance.”
AVIATION
BAE teams up with Eve in flying taxi move
BAE Systems plans to develop flying taxis in a joint venture with Eve, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft maker that was spun out of Embraer, the Brazilian regional jet specialist. BAE said it would look to engineer military and security versions of Eve’s flying taxis.
Airbus and Boeing call for 5G delay
Airbus and Boeing have lobbied the Biden administration calling for a delay in turning on 5G mobile networks over fears they could affect US aircraft safety. The rollout that is due to start in early January.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Schroders buys stake in Greencoat for £358m
Schroders has acquired a 75% stake in Greencoat Capital, one of Europe’s largest renewable infrastructure managers, for £358m. The deal reflects the importance of net zero and clients wanting more sustainable assets.
Hiscox names new group chief financial officer
Insurer Hiscox has announced Paul Cooper as its new group chief financial officer. A qualified chartered accountant, Cooper is currently the interim group chief financial officer of M&G.
HEALTHCARE
GlaxoSmithKline’s HIV jab approved by US regulators
The US Food and Drug Administration has become the first regulator to approve GlaxoSmithKline’s long-acting injectable medicine to prevent HIV. Apretude is made by ViiV Healthcare, an HIV joint venture majority owned by GSK, and also backed by Pfizer and Shionogi.
LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
Chancellor announces £1bn support fund for businesses
Rishi Sunak has launched a £1bn fund to support businesses left struggling after Government scientists urged the public to scale back their Christmas plans. Grants of up to £6,000 will be offered to hospitality and leisure businesses following a wave of cancellations in the wake of the Government’s Plan B restrictions. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of the trade body UK Hospitality, welcomed the help, but said many individual businesses would still not be able to survive what is likely to be a bleak January. Additionally, the travel industry is dismayed at being left out of the scheme with Karen Dee, head of the Airport Operators Association, saying the Chancellor repeatedly “overlooks our sector when he announces sector-specific support measures."
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
UK legal services rack up £5.6bn surplus
A report from TheCityUK reveals that the UK’s legal services sector generated a trade surplus of £5.6bn over the past year, while the UK’s largest 100 law firms enjoyed revenue growth of 4% in 2021 to £28.8bn. The report says TheCityUK’s legal services group, which is chaired by former Herbert Smith Freehills senior partner James Palmer, has been “building and maintaining strong relationships with senior government, regulatory and industry stakeholders to maintain the competitiveness of the sector.”
REAL ESTATE
Stamp duty receipts soar in 2021
Figures published yesterday by HMRC show Britain’s booming market in second homes has boosted Treasury coffers by £11.44bn so far this year. The figure marks the highest amount collected in the first 11 months of a year since 2017. Some £1.21bn in stamp duty revenue was raised in November. This is less than in October, when £1.32bn was collected, but 22% higher than pre-pandemic levels in November 2019. HMRC estimates that in the financial year 2021-22 there will be 974,310 residential property sales, making it the busiest year in a decade.
RETAIL
Kapur leaves Frasers after three months
Anouska Kapur has stepped down from the board of Frasers Group with immediate effect after three months as a non-executive director. In a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange, the group said Kapur was leaving “to avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with a third-party professional services firm”. The company later said that the departure showed its “commitment to good corporate governance”.
ECONOMY
UK public borrowing fell in November
Data from the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday showed that public borrowing fell to £17.4bn in November as the end of the furlough scheme helped reduce spending. This is down £4.9bn compared with the previous year but is higher than the £16bn predicted by economists. The sharp rise in RPI inflation in recent months led to an increase in debt interest costs to £4.5bn in November, up from £4.1bn last November.
OTHER
Dorsey claims Bitcoin will replace the US dollar
During an exchange with rapper Cardi B on Twitter, Jack Dorsey claimed on Tuesday that Bitcoin will replace the US dollar. The former Twitter boss also argued that “web3” technology would not deliver the decentralised networks many users are hoping for.