BoE plans to ease capital rules on banks in latest loosening of post-2008 controls

The Bank of England is easing capital rules for high street banks for the first time in a decade, marking the latest attempt to loosen regulations designed to protect the UK economy in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.The central bank has announced it will lower capital requirements related to risk-weighted assets by one percentage point to about 13%, reducing the amount lenders must hold in reserve.Capital requirements act as a financial cushion against risky lending and investments on bank balance sheets.The Bank’s move, which is due to come into force in 2027, is designed to make it easier to lend to households and businesses. However, there are no explicit rules on how banks use the extra funding, meaning bosses could use the cash to pay shareholders if so inclined

‘The Chinese will not pause’: Volvo and Polestar bosses urge EU to stick to 2035 petrol car ban

As the battle lines harden amid Germany’s intensifying pressure on the European Commission to scrap the 2035 ban on production of new petrol and diesel cars, two Swedish car companies, Volvo and Polestar, are leading the campaign to persuade Brussels to stick to the date.They argue such a move is a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks in the German car industry, adding that it will not just prolong take up of electric vehicles but inadvertently hand the advantage to China.“Pausing 2035 is just a bad, bad idea. I have no other words for that,” says German-born Michael Lohscheller, the chief executive of Polestar, Europe’s only all-electric car manufacturer.“If Europe doesn’t take the lead in this transformation, be rest assured, other countries will do it for us

Report detailing risks to UK gas security was not one to bury on budget day | Nils Pratley

Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of British Gas-owning Centrica, tells an eye-popping tale from his early career in the North Sea offshore industry. During a routine underwater inspection in the 1990s, an unexploded bomb from the second world war was discovered close to the pipeline carrying oil ashore from the large Nelson field.Happily, the danger was dealt with. The point of the story is only that risks to critical pieces of infrastructure can come from unexpected sources. Stuff can happen

People living along polluted Thames file legal complaint to force water firm to act

Communities across south-east England are filing the first coordinated legal complaints that sewage pollution by Thames Water negatively affects their lives.Thames Water failed to complete upgrades to 98 treatment plants and pumping stations which have the worst records for sewage pollution into the environment, despite a promise to invest in them over the last five years.People in 13 areas including Hackney, Oxford, Richmond upon Thames and Wokingham are sending statutory nuisance complaints to their local authorities demanding accountability from Thames Water and urgent action.At several sites it is not just raw sewage from storm overflows that causes pollution but also the quality of treated effluent coming from Thames Water facilities, which presents a direct threat to public health, the campaigners say.At Thames’s Newbury sewage treatment plant, raw effluent discharges into the River Kennet, a protected chalk stream

Zipcar, world’s biggest car-sharing company, to close UK operation

The world’s biggest car-sharing company, Zipcar, has said it will close its UK operation, removing access to its shared fleet across London at the end of this year.The company, owned by the US car rental group Avis Budget, said it would suspend new bookings through its app after 31 December, pending the outcome of a consultation on possible redundancies. The UK operating company had 71 staff last year, according to its latest accounts.The closure will be a blow to advocates of carsharing as a more sustainable form of personal transport, as well as to some car clubs that relied on Zipcar to share private vehicles.James Taylor, Zipcar UK’s general manager, wrote in an email to customers: “We are proposing to cease the UK operations of Zipcar and have today started formal consultation with our UK employees

OBR chair quits after inquiry into early release of budget document

The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility has resigned after a damning internal inquiry into the leak that threw Rachel Reeves’s budget into chaos described it as the “worst failure” in the institution’s history.The departure of Richard Hughes, who said he took “full responsibility” for the watchdog’s failure to handle sensitive information, dragged the rolling recriminations over the budget into a fifth day.Keir Starmer had notably failed to express confidence in the senior economist, while criticising the OBR for the “serious error” that he said was a breach of market-sensitive information and a “massive discourtesy” to parliament.While ministers hope the resignation will draw a line under tensions with the OBR, the chancellor remains under pressure, with critics seeking to draw a contrast between Hughes’s decision to quit and Reeves’s defiance over her handling of the budget.Opposition leaders have accused the chancellor of misleading the public by claiming there was a hole in the public finances to justify tax rises, a charge that the government has denied