Business

Companies that provide guidance for those with money problems are to be banned from receiving referral fees from debt solution providers. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the new rules for debt packagers, which are regulated providers of advice, would save consumers money in “unnecessary fees” and improve guidance for those struggling. There have been

Twitter’s head of trust and safety has resigned from the social media company, according to a report. Ella Irwin told Reuters news agency she had resigned, not long after Fortune reported her internal Slack account appeared to have been deactivated. Ms Irwin oversaw content moderation – a controversial subject for a company that has been

Ai-Da is an accomplished artist who has shown her designs at the Venice Biennale and addressed the House of Lords about the future of the creative industries. She is also a robot. One that can talk, answer complex questions, paint, and create art currently on display at the London Design Biennale. She’s too lifelike to

Ian King hears from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who says the government will do whatever it takes to bring down inflation, even if that means a recession. He also speaks to Nick Harding, the chief executive of consumer lender Fluro as analysis by PwC shows total household debt in the UK has exceeded 2 trillion pounds

Britain’s largest building society has made some mortgages more expensive as the Bank of England’s interest rate is now expected to rise higher than previously thought. Nationwide has said interest rates on new fixed-rate mortgages will rise 0.45 percentage points. It follows moves by lenders such as Halifax, Santander and Atom Bank who also upped

Cineworld is to exit bankruptcy in July, the world’s second largest cinema operator announced on Thursday. The British chain, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, filed for bankruptcy in the US last year as it was weighed down by expansive debt and reported weak audience numbers as it emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Microsoft will on Wednesday lodge a formal appeal against British regulators’ decision to block its $75bn takeover of Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty maker. Sky News understands that the technology behemoth will file its complaint with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) within hours, sparking the next phase of its fight to secure one of

The government believes it has secured a commitment from Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata to build a new gigafactory in the UK, Sky News has been told. Senior Whitehall sources believe the Indian industrial giant has chosen the UK over Spain as the site for its giant new battery factory. The news is due to

Britain is no longer expected to suffer a recession this year, nor will it have the weakest economic growth in the group of seven leading industrialised economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today. Unveiling a dramatic upgrade to its outlook for Britain, the Fund, which previously predicted Britain would face the worst 2023 of

Ireland is set to become the first country in the world to put health warnings on alcohol products. Dublin’s health minister Stephen Donnelly signed new regulations on Monday, which will warn drinkers about the health risks of drinking alcohol, as well as the calorie count of the product. However, the labels will not be mandatory

Meta is expected to face a record fine later over its transfer of Facebook’s European user data to US servers, according to reports. Reuters news agency cited two anonymous sources familiar with the matter as saying that the penalty from EU regulators will be higher than the previous record – a €746m (£647m) fine for

The energy price cap is set to remain more than £1,000 higher than the average bill before the COVID pandemic, according to a closely-watched forecast. Ahead of the industry regulator’s determination on the price cap level due next week, energy research specialist Cornwall Insight said it saw the cap for a typical household at the

The Chinese owner of Stemcor, the historic British steel trader, is exploring a sale less than a year after it last changed hands. Sky News has learnt that Stemcor, which was founded by the father of Dame Margaret Hodge, the veteran Labour MP, has been the subject of discussions about a fresh change of ownership

The UK will benefit from almost £20bn of extra private investment from Japan, Downing Street has said, as Rishi Sunak visits the nation for the G7 summit. The prime minister will personally thank a Japanese minister for the country’s support of the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Earlier this

The troubled online estate agent Purplebricks has revealed a sale of the business to rival Strike, for the token sum of just £1. Purplebricks Group, which put itself up for sale in February after a series of profit warnings, said it had entered a conditional agreement to transfer its business to Strike that would include

Ian King’s speaking to Andrew Opie at the British Retail Consortium about today’s summit looking at food inflation and supply issues. Chris Gray, Director at ManpowerGroup UK, reacts to rising unemployment figures, Jaeger Glucina, the managing director of AI company Luminance, talks about law-focused Artificial Intelligence; and there’s analysis of the headlines from The Times’

WhatsApp users will soon be able to lock and hide conversations, thanks to a new feature. Chat Lock will remove a chat thread from the app’s regular onscreen inbox and place it into a new folder that can only be opened by a password or biometric, such as facial recognition or a fingerprint. Calling it

For all its seaside delights, Margate in Kent is one of the most deprived parts of the UK. Amid the cost of living crisis, many families are struggling to make ends meet. Falling ill can become a headlong plunge into poverty – as Kyra Lloyd, a 25-year-old shop assistant, discovered when she began experiencing agonising

The governor of the Bank of England has told Sky News he expects inflation to fall “rapidly” in just weeks – but warned two thirds of the pain from interest rate rises is yet to come. Andrew Bailey made the comments after interest rates were increased for a record-breaking 12th successive time, lifting the cost

Google has announced its first folding smartphone, with a market-leading starting price of £1,749. That puts the Pixel Fold well ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4, the world’s most expensive foldable handset, which comes in at £1,649. Like its competitor, Google‘s effort has a familiar smartphone form factor when closed but opens up into