Friday 16 September 2016

Business Today


MPs have launched an enquiry into corporate governance, focusing on executive pay, worker representation in the boardroom and the lack of women in senior positions. The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (BIS) has recently held inquiries into Sports Direct and BHS. The Prime Minister has also pledged to overhaul the way that businesses are run. The enquiry will look at the factors which have led to a steep rise in executive pay over the past 30 years in comparison with the salaries of more junior employees. They also want to hear about what barriers are preventing women achieving senior executive positions.



Britain's top share index fell on Friday, setting it up for a second straight week of losses, as the heavyweight banking sector dropped after U.S. regulators fined Deutsche Bank more than expected for miss-selling mortgage-backed bonds. Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and Barclays were down between 2.2 percent and 4 percent, making them the top three fallers on the FTSE 100. Traders cited read across from a slump in Deutsche Bank, which fell nearly 8 percent.


Eight British overseas territories and crown dependencies, including Jersey, the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, could face EU economic sanctions after Brussels identified them as having low or no corporation tax. Experts have published a scorecard showing red flag warnings set against a list of the 81 countries that may attract companies or individuals seeking to avoid or evade European taxes. The scorecard will be discussed among member states before a shortlist of countries is selected for further screening and whittled down to a definitive EU list of tax and secrecy havens, to be published at the end of next year.


More than a third of UK finance professionals working at a company with a bonus scheme believe the payouts are 'undeserved', according to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). The global poll of 6,500 financial decision-makers found that 62 per cent of UK professionals felt unjustified bonuses fuelled resentment among colleagues, with the level reaching 97 per cent among workers in the North East. The CIMA said that the findings suggest that Britain's bonus culture is in urgent need of a re-think and that bonuses are a trust issue as much as a financial issue.


Teresa May has been accused of backing down on security concerns about Chinese involvement in nuclear power and failing to drive a better deal for taxpayers in the Hinkley Point C deal. May’s surprise decision to review planned nuclear power station had been regarded as marking a break with George Osborne’s enthusiastic courtship of China and as a display of willingness to take on big business. But after the Chinese ambassador publicly raised concerns about future trading relationships if Britain pulled the plug on the deal, May gave the go-ahead.

US asks Deutsche Bank for $14bn to settle mortgage investigation


 The US Department of Justice is asking Deutsche Bank to pay $14bn (£10.6bn) to settle an investigation into mortgage-backed securities. The bank has said that it 'has no intention to settle these potential civil claims anywhere near the figure cited'. The claim against Deutsche, which is likely to be the subject of negotiations for several months, was much bigger than expected. The fine has emerged at a difficult time for Deutsche Bank. Its most recent results revealed a 20% fall in second quarter revenues and a 67% drop in profits.

 Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/16/rbs-shares-fall-on-shockwaves-from-potential-14bn-deutsche-fine/

Cyber security awareness growing within business sector, research shows


 According to Marsh's UK Cyber Risk Survey Report 2016, businesses are developing an improved awareness of cyber security risks with 83.8% of respondents claiming to have a basic-to-complete understanding of the potential threats posed to their business. 29% of respondents claim to have bought, or to be in the process of buying, cyber insurance cover. However, more than 35.4% did not know how much an attack on their systems would cost them. Just over 40% of organisations claim to have suffered a cyber attack in the past 12 months, while 15.4% said they had insufficient knowledge to confirm or deny they had been victim to hackers during this period.


Twitter's new features for businesses will make delivering customer service via the online social media platform much easier. Businesses can enable a feature via that dashboard which displays the words 'provides support' when users search for their username or mention them in a tweet. Companies will also be able to add business hours to their profiles and those with direct messaging enabled will have a more prominent Message button.

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