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Big Firms Forced To Reveal Gender Pay Gap

Written By Unknown on Senin, 09 Maret 2015 | 23.33

Thousands of large companies will be forced to share details of the difference between what they pay their male and female workers.

The Government has agreed to implement the Liberal Democrat measure despite years of Tory opposition to it.

The move will mean companies employing more than 250 people will be required to publish the gap between average pay for their male and female workers.

More than 10 million people across the UK are currently working at firms covered by the legislation.

The current approach, which is voluntary, has seen only five out of around 7,000 large companies publish their gender pay gap.

The new measure, which will come into force within 12 months, could result in fines of up to £5,000 for firms that do not reveal the details.

Equalities Minister Jo Swinson said she was "delighted" her party won the "argument in Government".

She said the move "will force companies to ask themselves difficult questions about how they are valuing the contribution of women in their workforce and act to address problems".

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "These measures will shine a light on a company's policy so that women can rightly challenge their employer where they are not being properly valued and rewarded."

The legislation will be debated in the Lords on Wednesday, with the Government tabling an amendment to the Small Business Bill.

A Government spokesman said: "Under this Government the gender pay gap is the lowest ever and has virtually been eliminated for those working full time under 40.

"However the pay gap persists, so we think it's time to move forward, so we can create the conditions to ensure that there is equality in workplaces across the country."

Shadow equalities minister Gloria De Piero said: "This is fantastic news for women but why have they waited so long?

"The reality is that it's only when the Government realised they would be defeated on this issue by Labour in the House of Lords that they saw the need to act."

The move comes as the head of the UN agency promoting equality for women said not a single country has reached gender parity.

UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka made the comments 20 years after a groundbreaking conference in Beijing where 189 nations adopted a blueprint to achieve equality for women.

Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka said that although progress had been made since Beijing, there are still fewer than 20 female heads of state and government.

She said the number of female politicians increased from 11% to just 22% in the past 20 years.

Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka also said "the sheer scale of the use of rape that we've seen post-Beijing", especially in conflict situations, "tells us that the women's bodies are viewed not as something to respect, but as something that men have the right to control and to abuse."


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WPP Annual Profits Hit £1.5bn For First Time

The world's leading advertising agency, WPP, has announced a headline annual profit of more than £1.5bn for the first time but warned of uncertainties ahead.

The company - led by its founder Sir Martin Sorrell - credited growth in Britain and North America particularly for its performance and said it had enjoyed a strong start to 2015.

Its headline profit before tax for 2014 came in at £1.51bn - a rise of 3.7%.

Statutory pre-tax profits of £1.452bn were hit by the strength of sterling to the tune of £121m. 

Reported revenue rose 4.6% to £11.53bn.

The British group, owner of the JWT and Ogilvy & Mather agencies, said that while it had seen growth in every major world region with income from the travel and airline and entertainment sectors particularly high, the outlook for clients remained uncertain.

Its results statement warned of five 'grey swans' including a "litany of woes" in the Middle East and slowdowns for the economies of China and Russia.

One of its concerns was the UK's looming General Election.

It said: "The increasingly uncertain result of the United Kingdom's General Election may crimp the strong United Kingdom economic recovery, which equals or even exceeds the United States strength, albeit relatively.

"If the Conservatives win outright (unlikely?) or lead a coalition or even form a minority government, there will be a Referendum on the EU in 2016 or 2017, which will cause significant uncertainty.

"If Labour wins outright (also unlikely?), or leads a coalition (more likely with the SNP?) or forms a minority government, it will win partly on a "bashing business" manifesto, which may resonate at the ballot box.

"All seems a case of "Morton's Fork". Either way, the United Kingdom economy may slip into the political cycle again, with austerity in the early part of the five year cycle to deal with the continuing Budget deficit and better times around the next election in five years' time (or earlier?) - just like the current Chancellor has done so brilliantly for the Coalition, in their first term."

In an interview with Sky News, Sir Martin also expressed support for HSBC - a group client - as the bank continues to handle historic allegations of tax avoidance and evasion at its Swiss private banking arm.

He said: "You do have a chief executive and indeed a chairman who have been inthose positions in the recent past and of course they have changed the nature of the bank.

"There has been change and there will obviously, as a result of this, be further change and I think they have to weather the storm and implement the strategy they have outlined in recent years .. and I think they will win through in the end."


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Ex-City Minister Pressures Bank On QE 'Abuse'

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The City Minister during the last financial crisis has stoked growing pressure on the Bank of England amid an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into a series of emergency schemes used to stave off the collapse of Britain's banking system.

Sky News can disclose that Lord Myners, who served during the latter stages of the last Labour Government, tabled a written question in the House of Lords last week to ask ministers "whether any allegations or evidence of market abuse have been brought to their attention in connection with the operation of the asset purchase scheme used to implement quantitative easing [QE])".

The £375bn QE programme, which was launched by the Bank of England in 2009 in an attempt to stimulate the crisis-hit UK economy, works by using electronically created money to buy financial assets such as Government bonds.

Lord Myners urged ministers to disclose whether the central bank had investigated its own role in the administration of the asset purchase scheme, after it emerged that the Bank of England had referred itself to the SFO in relation to liquidity auctions conducted during the financial crisis.

The questions from the former City Minister come amid intense scrutiny of the Bank of England's actions during the financial emergency which began with the run on Northern Rock in 2007.

Mark Carney, the current Governor, has promised to deliver greater accountability during his five-year term at the helm.

Last week, it said: "Following the confirmation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that it is investigating material referred to it by the Bank of England, the Bank can now confirm that it commissioned Lord Grabiner QC to conduct an independent inquiry into liquidity auctions during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008.

"Following the conclusion of that initial inquiry, the BoE referred the matter to the SFO on 20 November 2014.

"Given the SFO investigation is ongoing, it is not appropriate for the Bank to provide any additional comment on the matter at this time."

City sources pointed out on Monday that the Financial Conduct Authority had identified and pursued one trader's attempt to manipulate gilt prices during the QE programme.

In March last year, Mark Stevenson, a bond trader, was fined nearly £663,000 and banned after being found guilty of deliberately inflating the value of his gilt holding.

The FCA said its investigation "found this was the action of one trader on one day, and there is no evidence of collusion with traders in other banks".

At the time, the Bank of England said it condemned "all forms of market manipulation".  

"This process demonstrates the benefits of the Bank working in close co-operation with the FCA."

In July 2013, Paul Fisher, an executive director at the Bank, said it had not identified any other cases of abuse relating to QE.

The Bank of England referred to Lord Myners' questions by saying: "If the Bank is contacted by a government department to assist with a response to a Parliamentary Question, the Bank would respond via the appropriate channel – the government department, and not via the media."

The disclosure of Lord Myners' intervention comes as the European Central Bank launches its own 60bn Euros-a-month programme of bond purchases.


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Treasury Makes Another £500m From Lloyds Shares

The taxpayer's stake in Lloyds Banking Group has been reduced further following a new share sale.

The Treasury said it had offloaded another 1% of its shareholding in the in state-rescued lender, raising another £500m.

The action mirrored last month's sale - part of a six-month plan announced by Chancellor George Osborne in December last year to raise funds for the public purse and accelerate Lloyds' return to private hands.

The latest move meant the Government's stake fell from 24% to just under 23% following its £20bn bailout in 2008, which landed a 39% holding for the public purse.

A series of share sales since has raised £8.5bn.

Mr Osborne said: "I am delighted that we've raised a further £500m for the taxpayer through the trading plan.

"These sales are part of our plan to return Lloyds to the private sector and get taxpayers' money back.

"The proceeds will be used to reduce the national debt."

The shares were sold above the average price that the previous Labour government had paid for them, which was 73.6 pence.

The bank confirmed last month a quadrupling of annual profits.

The Treasury was to net £130m from its stake as the bank's performance allowed it to pay a dividend again.


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Tungsten Banking Arm Unveils Deposits Drive

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

An electronic invoicing group headed by a prominent City financier will on Monday announce that it is to start taking deposits as it aims to become a leading challenger bank for corporate clients.

Sky News understands that Tungsten Corporation, which is headed by Edi Truell, the former chief executive of private equity group Duke Street Capital, will say that it is to offer annual interest of 1.5% on 35-day sterling deposits, rising to 1.8% for funds left with its Tungsten Bank arm for a year.

The deposit base will be used by Tungsten Bank to provide additional invoice financing as Mr Truell seeks to build the group into a business capable of processing as much as $1trn of invoices each year.

Invoice financing enables companies to maximise their cashflow by taking discounted early payment, an issue which has acquired significant political resonance amid a string of controversial announcements by blue-chip corporate names about the extension of supplier payment terms.

The benefit to big users of such services - Tungsten's clients include Aviva, Apple, GlaxoSmithKline and Nestle - is the potential for vast procurement cost-savings.

Tungsten Network says its customers include well over half of Fortune 500 companies, in addition to UK and US government bodies.

Mr Truell, who floated Tungsten on London's junior AIM stock market two years ago, believes the market is among several areas of the financial services industry which are ripe for a fresh approach.

He has said previously that Tungsten wants to disrupt financial markets which neglect the needs of businesses.

Last week, the group announced that it had secured a deal with the asset management giant Insight Investment Management to help finance the business.

A number of other so-called challenger banks are attempting to impose their own version of disruption on the provision of services to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).

Shawbrook Bank, whose board members include the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir George Mathewson, is close to confirming plans for a public flotation.

The launch of its deposit-taking operations comes after a difficult few weeks for Tungsten, which has seen its share price fall sharply and an increase in short-selling activity in the company's stock.

Mr Truell, nevertheless, has major ambitions for Tungsten, recently telling The Times: "We'd like to process $1 trillion worth of invoices a year. We'd like to provide finance of $100bn a year. And we'd like to save our clients $10bn a year."

A new wave of banks has been launched following a concerted push prompted by ministers to lower barriers for entry amid continued complaints about the treatment of SMEs by the largest high street lenders.

Tungsten declined to comment ahead of Monday's announcement.


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Apple Watch Price And Key Dates To Be Revealed

Apple Watch Price And Key Dates To Be Revealed

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Apple is to give the lowdown on its new watch later - the company's first new product for five years.

Announced in September, technology fans will get a more detailed look at what it can do, how the apps work - and crucially the price and release date.

The watch can deliver a small 'tap' alert to the user's wrist, and as well as email, call and text functions, Apple says it will deliver news, health functions and other notifications in a bite-sized way.

It comes in two sizes - 38 mm and 42 mm - and the display is navigated and zoomed using a rotating digital crown on the side of the device.

'Smartwatches', such as The Pebble Watch and the Samsung Gear, have been around for a while and were one of the buzz products as the recent Mobile World Congress.

1/11

  1. Gallery: Apple Watch: What It's Up Against

    The Samsung Gear is one of the rivals to the Apple Watch. Features include a camera and a super AMOLED screen, and you can also use it to control your TV

The Samsung Gear can hook up to 17 phones and tablets and there are more than 200 third-party apps available. Basic models start from around £160

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LG's Urbane LTE watch includes GPS and is also 4G. Importantly, like the Samsung Gear S, it can make its own calls and messages without needing an accompanying smartphone

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Chinese company Huawei showed of its own watch at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress (MWC). It runs on Android Wear, a version of Google's Android operating system

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Like many smartwatches, the Huawei watch includes a heart rate monitor. It comes with a quad core 1.2Ghz processor - there is no word on a release date or price yet

]]>
Apple Watch Price And Key Dates To Be Revealed

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Apple is to give the lowdown on its new watch later - the company's first new product for five years.

Announced in September, technology fans will get a more detailed look at what it can do, how the apps work - and crucially the price and release date.

The watch can deliver a small 'tap' alert to the user's wrist, and as well as email, call and text functions, Apple says it will deliver news, health functions and other notifications in a bite-sized way.

It comes in two sizes - 38 mm and 42 mm - and the display is navigated and zoomed using a rotating digital crown on the side of the device.

'Smartwatches', such as The Pebble Watch and the Samsung Gear, have been around for a while and were one of the buzz products as the recent Mobile World Congress.

1/11

  1. Gallery: Apple Watch: What It's Up Against

    The Samsung Gear is one of the rivals to the Apple Watch. Features include a camera and a super AMOLED screen, and you can also use it to control your TV

The Samsung Gear can hook up to 17 phones and tablets and there are more than 200 third-party apps available. Basic models start from around £160

]]>

LG's Urbane LTE watch includes GPS and is also 4G. Importantly, like the Samsung Gear S, it can make its own calls and messages without needing an accompanying smartphone

]]>

Chinese company Huawei showed of its own watch at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress (MWC). It runs on Android Wear, a version of Google's Android operating system

]]>

Like many smartwatches, the Huawei watch includes a heart rate monitor. It comes with a quad core 1.2Ghz processor - there is no word on a release date or price yet

]]>

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Defence Cuts Could Put 30,000 Jobs At Risk

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Britain's Army could shrink to its smallest size in more than 250 years the UK has been warned.

A report published by the think tank Royal United Services Institute predicts the UK defence budget will fall to 1.95% of GDP - below the NATO minimum of 2%.

It warned that up to 30,000 service personnel could go - with the Army likely to bear the heaviest cuts - leaving the armed forces with a combined strength of just 115,000 by the end of the decade.

In a worst case scenario the Ministry of Defence (MoD) might face a 10% cut over the next four years and would need an additional £3bn added to its budget after 2016 to remain at the same level of spending.

Further increases would then be needed to keep pace with the growth of the economy.

The report's author Professor Malcolm Chalmers states: "By 2019/20 an extension of the commitment to the NATO target would require the MoD to be provided with an additional £5.9bn in annual spending, compared with current plans."

None of the major parties has guaranteed defence spending and the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond wouldn't commit on the issue when pressed in an interview at the weekend. UKIP is the only party to suggest it will protect defence.

The US Army Chief of Staff recently warned Britain against making further cuts and Barack Obama has also spoken about the matter to David Cameron in private.

On Thursday MPs will debate defence spending in the House of Commons. It is becoming an increasingly important issue amongst backbench Conservative MPs who don't understand why the International Development budget is ring-fenced.

Under the last security review in 2010 the Army reduced in size from 102,000 personnel to 82,000; the smallest since the Napoleonic wars.

Major equipment was also scrapped and not replaced, including the country's aircraft carriers and maritime patrol aircraft.

Those decisions have been exposed in recent months with the threat from Islamic State and growing aggression from Russia.

The paper's optimistic scenario envisages defence receiving an extra £4bn per annum from 2019/20, but recognises that would result in severe cuts for other departments or increased taxation.

The report states: "Even on the optimistic scenario, numbers of service personnel could fall from 145,000 to 130,000 by the end of the decade. Under the pessimistic scenario, they could fall to 115,000."

It also warns than ships, fighter jets and armoured vehicles could be affected.

The report concludes: "In either scenario, the result will be a remarkably sharp reduction in the footprint of defence in UK society over a decade.

"Even in the optimistic scenario, defence's share of GDP will have fallen by a third, from 2.6% of GDP in 2010 to around 1.75% by 2019; and the MoD workforce (service and civilian) will have fallen by around 30% , from 265,740 to 184,000 by 2019."


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Court Fee Increases Of Up To 600% In Force

A leading business lobby group has slammed as "astonishing" fee increases of up to 600% for bringing a money claim case to court.

The Government confirmed in January that the fee for issuing a civil claim worth more than £10,000 would be increased to 5% of the sum claimed, with a maximum fee set at £10,000.

The move, which came into force on Monday, followed a consultation that prompted criticism from senior legal figures, as well as the business community.

Concerns included the possible loss of legal business to competitors abroad and the risk that higher fees would limit justice to those with financial means.

Under the rules, fees on a claim worth £200,000 have been raised by £8,725.

The previous maximum charge for claims over £300,000 was £1,920 but the new requirements herald an increase of £8,080 or 421%.

Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "We remain concerned that a lot of companies in supply chains could be dissuaded from using the courts to resolve long running late payment disputes.

"At a time when the situation seems to be getting worse not better, restricting access to one potential remedy is not encouraging."

The Government, which stopped short of raising the cost of getting a divorce and other fee reforms, said the vast majority of cases would not be affected by the introduction of the enhanced charge.

It added that the money raised would go towards improving court services at a time when national budgets are squeezed.

Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said: "Access to justice is a fundamental principle of our legal system and this is not threatened.

"90% of the claims will be unaffected by these changes and waivers will also be available for those who cannot afford to pay.

"Our courts play a critical role and it is important that they are properly funded.

"It is only fair that businesses and individuals who can afford to pay and are fighting legal battles should contribute more in fees to ease the burden on hardworking taxpayers.

"Court fees are a small fraction of the overall cost of litigation and Britain's reputation for having the best justice system in the world remains intact."


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HSBC Tax Scandal: Argentina Wants $3.5bn

Argentina has stepped up its tax evasion row with HSBC by demanding it repatriates $3.5bn (£2.32bn) of cash allegedly moved to its Swiss private bank.

The country's tax authorities issued the request weeks after the Central Bank of Argentina temporarily suspended HSBC Bank Argentina's operations of transferring money and assets abroad for a period of 30 days.

That action followed Argentina's decision last year to charge HSBC with aiding more than 4,000 clients to evade taxes by shifting assets offshore.

HSBC Argentina denied the claim - insisting it respected Argentine law.

A statement released by the bank said: "HSBC has been cooperating fully with Argentine regulators, including AFIP (the tax authority) and the judiciary, since allegations were first made public last year, and we will continue to do so."

At a news conference in London, the country's top tax official Ricardo Echegaray said Argentina was prepared to take criminal action on the allegations, which date back as afar as 2006.

He also confirmed officials had been approached for information by British authorities, which have been accused of largely failing to act on evidence of evasion,  with just a single individual prosecuted by HM Revenue & Customs.

The cash repatriation demand was issued as the bank's group chief executive Stuart Gulliver, the former head of its private banking division Chris Meares and current non-executive director Rona Fairhead prepared to give evidence to MPs.

The Public Accounts Committee is expected to press for answers on accountability while Mrs Fairhead, who also chairs the BBC Trust, is likely to face questions on her previous roles at HSBC.

While Mr Gulliver has already apologised for past practices at the Swiss arm, he and chairman Douglas Flint told the Treasury Select Committee last month they had completed a series of reforms to help restore trust and confidence.


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Hastings Owners Accelerate Towards £1bn Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The owners of Hastings, one of the UK's biggest motor insurance providers, are turning the ignition key on plans for a sale or stock market listing just 18 months after taking control.

Sky News has learnt that Hastings will this week kick off a 'beauty parade' of investment banks with the intention of appointing advisers to consider the company's options during the coming months.

Although a deal is unlikely to take place until later in the year, it would nevertheless represent a rapid exit for the merchant banking arm of Goldman Sachs, which acquired just under 50% of Hastings in October 2013.

Insiders said that the insurer, which was valued at approximately £700m by its last deal, was expected to seek a valuation "significantly closer" to £1bn in a future transaction.

Just under half of Hastings is owned by the company's founders, with the balance held by management, including Gary Hoffman, the chief executive, and employees.

Under Mr Hoffman's leadership, Hastings has seen rapid growth, reporting that customer numbers had reached 1.65m by the end of September last year, up from 1.35m 12 months earlier.

The company also announced increases in net revenue and market share, with adjusted pre-tax profit in the year to date up by 18%.

A stock market listing is expected to be the default choice for Hastings' management and shareholders, although recent takeover activity in other areas of the insurance sector will mean that they also remain open to an outright sale.

During the last deal, Goldman invested £150m in return for just under 50% of Hastings' equity, with Neil Utley, its chairman, crystallising a fortune worth tens of millions of pounds from the sale of part of his stake.

Hastings also raised approximately £420m from a bond sale at the same time.

Based in Bexhill, East Sussex, Hastings employs more than 1500 people, over 80% of whom are understood to be shareholders in the company.

Mr Hoffman led the turnaround of Northern Rock during its period in Government ownership following the run on the mortgage lender in the autumn of 2007, which heralded Britain's banking crisis.

He then spent two years as chief executive of NBNK Investments, a vehicle set up to acquire retail banking assets, but which was rebuffed in favour of the Co-operative Group in the contest to buy 632 branches from Lloyds Banking Group.

That deal collapsed amid a financial crisis at the Co-operative Bank, leading to the branches being rebranded as TSB and listed on the stock market.

A Hastings spokesman declined to comment on Monday.


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