Keeping up with the news can be tricky. Even the most eagle-eyed observer can miss a vital news story. We think being up-to-date on economic developments is key to the success of your startup.
Every Wednesday we provide the top 10 key bits of business news from the past week
Santander warns that the UK banking sector is unstable
Santander has warned that UK’s vote to leave the EU marked the end of an era of stability for the UK banking sector as bank face the prospect of record low interest rates and wider economic volatility.
Nathan Bostock, chief executive of Santander’s UK operations, said. “The UK referendum on EU membership on June 23 2016 marked the end of a period of relative stability for the UK banking sector’.
UK jobless total falls to 1.64 million
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that UK unemployment total fell by 52,000 to 1.64 million between April and June. The UK’s unemployment rate remained at 4.9%.
The ONS figures also showed the number of people on the claimant count in July, the first month since the Brexit vote, was down 8,600 from June.
Fuel prices push up UK inflation rate to 0.6%
According to the Office for National Statistics rising fuel prices helped to push the UK’s inflation rate higher last month. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to 0.6% in July from 0.5% in June.The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation rose to 1.9% in July from 1.6% in June.
Accountants face tougher penalties for tax avoidance
Accountants or advisers who help people bend the rules to gain a tax advantage face tougher fines under new penalties proposed by the Treasury. A fine of up to 100% of the tax that was avoided has been suggested in the new rules, published for consultation. The rules in the consultation document also make it simpler to enforce penalties when avoidance schemes are defeated.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Ellison said “These tough new sanctions will make would-be enablers think twice and in turn reduce the number of schemes on the market’.
Cisco to cut up to 14,000 jobs
Cisco Systems, the largest networking equipment company in the world, is reportedly set to lay off around 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 per cent of its global workforce.
The massive lay off that would range between 9,000 to 14,000 employees worldwide is a possible consequence of the company’s transition from its hardware roots to a software-centre company.
World’s biggest banks plotting mass departure from London
Big investment banks with their European headquarters in London will start the process of moving jobs from the UK within weeks of the government triggering Brexit.
Dismayed by the lack of a clear plan to protect the UK’s status as a global financial hub, executives are planning for the worst that they will lose the right to sell services freely around the European Union from the City.
Banks want to start quickly in order to have new or expanded offices set up in Europe before the end of the two-year Brexit negotiation period.
Biggest year-on-year house price rise since 2014
Official data revealed the annual increase in house prices climbed to 8.7% in June from 8.5% in May.
UK exports grow faster than global rivals for first time since 2006
The UK’s exports have grown at a world-beating pace for the first time in nearly a decade, according to official figures, as businesses rapidly increased the share of goods they sold outside of the European Union.
The success of British firms in repositioning to markets further afield has helped boost overall export growth above the global rate of expansion for the first time since 2006, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Ford’s self-driving car ‘coming in 2021’
Ford has said it will mass-produce a fully autonomous self-driving car without a steering wheel by 2021. Ford said it would double its investment in its research centre in the city, as well as making sizable investments in technology companies in the autonomy industry.
It said this was most likely as part of an Uber-like ride-sharing service – but one that doesn’t require a human driver.
The bold ambition was outlined by the company’s president, Mark Fields, at an event in Palo Alto, California.
Construction is in recession as UK economy weakens
Britain’s building sector is officially in recession as housebuilding and infrastructure output both fell in the second quarter of the year.
Overall the construction sector shrank by 0.7pc in the three months to the end of June, following on from the 1.1pc fall in the first quarter of the year.
