Azure Global : 12/19/13

Thursday 19 December 2013

Pay to perk up in 2014 as economy recovers-CBI

(Reuters) - More British firms expect wages to rise in line with inflation next year than at any time since the 2008-2009 recession, a survey conducted by a leading organisation of employers showed on Tuesday.The Confederation of British Industry CBI.L said 42 percent of firms believed salaries would grow in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI), the highest proportion since 2009.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in November that wage increases in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI.L) were likely to come between mid-2014 and the end of 2016.The RPI usually gives a higher inflation figure than CPI - it was at 2.6 percent in the 12 months to October - and is generally used as a basis for private-sector pay deals, although wages have lagged behind in recent years.

"Pay, as we see today, is returning with growth," said Neil Carberry, director for employment at the CBI. Employers remain cautious about pay increases: 39 percent of firms said they planned a pay increase below RPI and only seven percent would raise pay by more than the index.The CBI said companies expecting pay freezes next year fell to a four-year low of 8 percent, down from 16 percent in 2012. In 2009, more than half of firms planned pay freezes as they grappled with the recession.

The report showed 51 percent of companies expected to create jobs over the coming year and only 12 percent thought they would cut the size of their workforce. Jobs for permanent staff also grew more quickly, with a net increase of 18 percent against a rise of 14 percent in temporary positions.

(Reporting by Freya Berry; editing by William Schomberg, Larry King)

Azure Global’s vision is to be widely recognized as a reputed firm of financial business advisors, achieving real growth for ambitious companies and to become the first choice for F&A outsourcing for accountancy practices and businesses alike and if u want to Setup ur business in United Kingdom then its not difficult in this modern age for more info visit our site Azure Global and join us also On Facebook

House prices in 2014 'to rise by 8%'

Rics says all areas of the country will see house prices increase, but transaction levels remain well below levels seen in 2006

The British housing market is ending the year strongly with mortgage lending rising by 30% in November, according to industry figures, with total borrowing for the year set to exceed expectations.

The value of home loans advanced to borrowers reached £17bn last month, up nearly a third on last year and putting the total value of home loans on track to hit £170bn in 2013, said the Council for Mortgage Lending.

The CML's chief economist, Bob Pannell, said coming restrictions on mortgage selling will keep a lid on lending next year, but estate agents were bullish about the prospects for 2014. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors [Rics] said this week it expects demand to continue to outstrip supply, and the imbalance – driven by a lack of new housing – would lead to an 8% rise in prices next year.

Lending has been bolstered by the Bank of England's Funding for Lending scheme, which made more money available to banks and building societies to provide mortgages, and the second part of the government's Help to Buy programme, which offers a taxpayer-backed guarantee on 95% loans.

Pannell said gross lending, which does not take into account repayments, was set to reach £170bn in 2013 – higher than the group's forecast of £156bn but "a far cry" from the £363bn advanced in 2007 when the housing market was at its peak.

Retailers push up discounts in last-minute Christmas sales

High Street chains including M&S, Gap and Debenhams cut prices by up to 75% in battle for shoppers' wallets

Retailers have increased their discounts this week, with nearly three-quarters holding sales or promotions in a last-ditch attempt to attract shoppers.

The average discounts rose to 46% compared with 42% last week and 44% in the same week last year, according to the accountancy firm PwC. Of the 100 high-street retailers it monitors, 72% were advertising sales or promotions of some kind.

Marks & Spencer this week introduced 30% reductions on its knitwear as well as beauty items, nightwear and Per Una clothing. It has launched such pre-Christmas deals before, but this year's event will increase speculation that the retailer is failing to turn around it poor performance in its clothing division, a key part of chief executive Marc Bolland's plan.

Gap extended its discounts to up to 60% from 50% earlier in the week as the clothing chains do battle with hi-tech gadgets, such as tablet computers, for a share of shoppers' Christmas budgets.

Among others, Debenhams has a half-price sale on, Austin Reed is offering up to 60% off some clothing and House of Fraser has cut prices by as much as 75%. Argos has launched a half-price toy sale.

Mild winter weather and a general squeeze on disposable incomes is making trading particularly difficult for fashion stores despite more positive news on the economy.

Mark Hudson, head of the retail and consumer team at PwC, said: "As we all get ready for that frantic last weekend of shopping before the big day, it appears that despite much more positive economic news, the level of discounting seems broadly in line with last year, proving that promotions are still a key weapon to drive footfall."

He said he expected to see further sale activity this weekend. People are expected to spend £12bn on last-minute shopping from Friday to Monday night, but the late run into Christmas means that sales may well be lost. With quarterly rent day for retailers due on Christmas Eve, it is feared that at least some struggling retailers may not make it into the new year.

EU ministers seal banking agreement on eve of Brussels summit

Finance ministers say they have reached deal after lengthy negotiations on how to deal with failing banks in the eurozone

EU finance ministers announced late on Wednesday night that they had reached agreement on a new system for dealing with eurozone banks, under intense pressure to seal the accord on their new flagship policy in advance of a two-day Brussels summit opening on Thursday.

EU officials announced a "crucial breakthrough" on a fiscal backstop for rescuing or winding up failing banks in the Eurozone at 3am on Wednesday. But the details were inconclusive from the meeting of the Eurozone countries and were still being haggled over by all 28 EU finance ministers in Brussels 18 hours later.

All the signs were that Germany had prevailed in its reluctance to assent to any pooled liability for the eurozone banking sector under the new regime of eurozone supervision known as the banking union.

The key issues were: who pays to wind up or recapitalise a failing eurozone bank, and who decides when a bank should be closed down.

EU officials said the breakthrough meant a "common" or pooled eurozone backstop would be available for dealing with troubled banks. The common backstop would not be available until 2025 at the earliest and would consist of a €55bn (£46bn) pot of money raised by the banks themselves via a levy over the decade from 2015.

In the meantime, Germany conceded that the eurozone's €500bn bailout fund, the European stability mechanism, could be used as a last resort for rescuing failed banks if governments did not have enough money.

Earlier the agreement had looked fragile, hedged with conditions and caveats, and was attacked as inadequate by the European Central Bank, whose credibility is at stake as the new supervisor of most of the eurozone banking sector under the new regime.

EU leaders need to agree on the banking wind-up arrangements, known as the single resolution mechanism and the single resolution fund, at their summit on Thursday and Friday if the deadlines for getting the new system operational are to be met. Two weeks of late-night meetings in Brussels and Berlin have pushed issues to the brink.

There will be big problems with getting the deals agreed with the European parliament, and with national ratifications of a new treaty between participating governments on the funding of banking resolution.

The French-led group of southern countries, the European commission and the ECB opposed this.

"It's a choice between a banking union that's not perfect, or nothing," said a senior EU official.

In the transitional decade, from 2015, the issue is what happens in a banking crisis. On German insistence, there will be no European response except as a last resort; nor will there be any escape from adding to national debt burdens to fund a bailout.

The governments concerned would also be able to ask to tap the ESM in an emergency, but according to existing restrictive rules. This was the main German concession.

HMRC 'lost nerve' over big tax avoiders, say MPs

Report highlights how Treasury is owed £35bn in missing tax payments and says HMRC pursued small firms, not global giants

British officials have "lost their nerve" in tackling tax avoidance by global corporations and have presided over a £35bn tax gap as they pursue easy prey such as small businesses and individuals, a committee of MPs says.

In a report that highlighted how the Treasury is owed missing tax payments of £35bn, the public accounts committee added that HM Revenue and Customs has left the state with another multibillion pound shortfall by failing to gather £2.6bn of an expected windfall from Swiss banks.

The findings follow a series of damning reports into HMRC by the committee which have addressed its failings over taking on tax-avoiding corporations such as Google, Starbucks, Vodafone and Amazon.

On Wednesday Vodafone, one of Britain's leading multinationals, made a rare gesture of tax transparency by breaking down its payments on a country-by-country basis.

The company revealed that it paid "little or no corporation tax" in the UK but its direct tax payments – including business rates and national insurance – had dropped by nearly 20% to £275m last year.

Last year HMRC, led by chief executive Lin Homer, promised to launch an unprecedented campaign to increase tax collection, particularly from large corporations.

But in a report released on Thursday the planned income from the Swiss accounts were written into Chancellor George Osborne's budget estimates in last year's autumn statement and said it was "astonished" at HMRC's failure to account for the shortfall.

HMRC brought in £475.6bn in revenue for the government in 2012-13, an increase of £1.4bn over the previous year.

But in real terms, after inflation was taken into account, tax income fell last year, compared to 2011-12, while the "tax gap" – between the amount owed to the Exchequer and the amount collected – grew by £1bn to £35bn in 2011/12.

The shortfall was widely seen as an embarrassment for the coalition at a time when it wanted to be seen as clamping down on wealthy firms and individuals.

Margaret Hodge, the chair of the committee, said that HMRC had not clearly demonstrated it was on the side of the majority of taxpayers and had failed in its ambition to crack down on tax avoidance.

"The tax gap as defined by HMRC did not shrink, but in 2011/12 grew to £35bn. Yet that measure does not capture all the tax government should be collecting. For instance, this figure does not include all the tax revenue lost to aggressive tax avoidance schemes.

"HMRC holds back from using the full range of sanctions at its disposal. It pursues tax owed by the smaller businesses but seems to lose its nerve when it comes to mounting prosecutions against multinational corporations.

"It predicted that it would collect £3.12bn unpaid tax from UK holders of Swiss bank accounts and this figure was built into budget estimates, but in 2013-14 it has so far secured just £440m. We were astonished that HMRC could not give any reasons for such a shortfall."

The report said HMRC needed to show that it was dealing "robustly" with individuals and companies who deliberately mislead it. It noted that just one individual out of 16 identified targets on the so-called Lagarde list of Swiss account holders with potential UK tax liabilities had been successfully prosecuted.

The lack of prosecutions against multinational corporations seemed at odds with HMRC's stance on pursuing tax debt from small- and medium-sized businesses in the UK, the committee noted.

In a reference to widespread criticism of tax arrangements at Amazon and Google, the committee pointed out that tax officials have yet to test how existing tax law impacts on global internet-based companies.

The findings were rejected by HMRC, which accused the committee of "selective and misleading use of figures", particularly when calcuating the tax gap. A spokesman said MPs had highlighted the increase in money which had not been collected instead of calculating a percentage of uncollected tax, which has actually gone down.

"HMRC seeks to collect the tax that is due from all taxpayers, so that everyone pays their fair share in accordance with the tax laws passed by parliament.

"We have secured more than £50bn of additional tax from our compliance work since 2010, including £23bn from large businesses," he said.

Meanwhile, Vodafone revealed that its direct contribution to the UK from taxation dropped 18.6% to £275m in the year 2012-2013 from £338m a year before. The figure includes corporation tax as well as business rates, employers' national insurance and many other items.

Vodafone said it paid "little or no corporation tax" in Britain because its profits in the UK were relatively small at less than £300m and were dwarfed by capital spending of more than £1bn on its UK network and interest costs in excess of £600m paid to British banks.

The company set out the tax it paid in 27 countries compared with a year earlier in unusual detail for a British company. Its biggest direct tax bill was in Turkey, where it paid £454m. Vodafone said it wanted to be open about the tax it paid after it was attacked over its contribution in the UK.

The company said: "As the UK government wants more investment in UK infrastructure and jobs, it allows all businesses to claim relief for the cost of assets used in the business against their profits when determining their corporation tax bills.

"The government also provides relief to all businesses for the cost of interest on their debts to UK banks and financial institutions. Vodafone is no different to any other UK business."

Bank of England switches to plastic pound notes with Churchill fiver

Introduction of polymer £5 note in 2016 and Jane Austen £10 note in 2017 will end 320 years of paper money

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has formally announced that Britain will switch to using plastic banknotes in 2016, ending 320 years of paper money.

After a public consultation in which 87% of the 13,000 respondents backed the new-style currency, the Bank said it would introduce "polymer" notes, as it prefers to call them, in two years' time, starting with the new £5 note featuring Winston Churchill in 2016 and the Jane Austen £10 a year later.

Speaking at a press conference in the Bank's Threadneedle Street headquarters, Carney said: "Our polymer notes will combine the best of progress and tradition. They will be more secure from counterfeiting and more resistant to damage while celebrating the history and tradition that is important both to the Bank and the nation as a whole."

The move follows Carney's native Canada, where plastic notes are being rolled out, and Australia, where they have been in circulation for more than two decades.

Carney launched a public consultation on polymer banknotes, seen as cleaner and more durable, shortly after arriving at the Bank this summer. However, the Bank's notes division has been considering plastic money for several years.

Bank officials have been touring shopping centres and business groups around the country with prototype notes to canvas public opinion.

The Bank has promoted its polymer notes, featuring a see-through window and other new security features, as less threadbare and tougher to counterfeit.

It has sought to quell concerns about the environmental impact of printing on plastic by suggesting they can last up to two-and-a-half times longer than the cotton-paper notes in circulation at the moment. The durability will also compensate for the higher production costs and save an estimated £100m, the Bank claims.

Its laboratory tests showed polymer banknotes only begin to shrink and melt at 120C, so they would fare better in washing machines but could be damaged by a hot iron.

Carney has also announced that the Bank will follow new procedures when selecting the historical characters to appear on future notes, to avoid the furore it faced earlier this year, when the announcement of the Churchill £5 note appeared to suggest that no women – other than the Queen – would feature on any denomination.

A new advisory committee, with a majority of independent members, will now suggest a theme – such as scientific achievement – and the public will be invited to suggest specific figures for inclusion. However, the governor will retain the final decision over which person is featured.

"These changes will ensure that the characters on our banknotes are fully representative of the history and diversity of this great nation, while having the necessary public respect and legitimacy."

The move is the latest in a long line of changes for banknotes, first issued in return for deposits by the Bank when it was first established in 1694 to raise money for William III's war against France.

Colour £5 notes replaced white ones in the 1950s; the first portrayal of a monarch came in 1960, when the Queen appeared on a new £1 note; and the introduction of historical figures such as William Shakespeare started in the 1970s.

As part of the preparation for this latest change, banknote officials have already been working with retailers and the operators of vending machines and cashpoints.

Link, which runs the UK cash machine network, said its machines would need new cassettes to hold the plastic notes, because they will be smaller, and not because of the change in material.

The 15% reduction in size for Churchill notes compared with the current Elizabeth Fry fiver brings English notes into line with sizes in other countries. But they will remain larger than existing euro notes and the different denominations of sterling will retain tiered sizes to help blind people differentiate between them.

The Bank concedes no note is counterfeit-proof but says copying the new polymer notes will be slower and more expensive.