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Virgin Media O2 set to axe 2,000 jobs JESS JONES
ALISON ROSE TO STAY AS NATWEST CHIEF DESPITE ADMITTING FARAGE LEAK – BUT SAYS SHE DIDN’T DISCUSS PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH THE BEEB CITY A.M. REPORTERS DAME ALISON Rose will stay as Natwest chief executive despite a bombshell admission last night that she was the unwitting source of a BBC story into Nigel Farage’s finances. The BBC reported a senior source had told them that Farage had fallen below the wealth limit required to be a customer of private bank Coutts, after he had claimed that he had been ‘debanked’ by the Natwest-owned lender due to his political views. However, that proved to be false, with a subject access request revealing Farage’s
politics had been behind the decision. The error saw the BBC apologise to Farage, and last night Rose confirmed that she had spoken to a reporter at a corporate dinner. “I confirmed that Mr Farage was a Coutts customer and that he had been offered a Natwest bank account. Alongside this, I repeated what Mr Farage had already stated, that the bank saw this as a commercial decision. I would like to emphasise that in responding to Mr Jack’s questions I did not reveal any personal financial information about Mr Farage. “In response to a general question about eligibility criteria required to bank
with Coutts and Natwest I said that guidance on both was publicly available on their websites. In doing so, I recognise that I left Mr Jack with the impression that the decision to close Mr Farage’s accounts was solely a commercial one,” she said. Natwest chairman Howard Davies said in an accompanying statement that whilst Rose’s “regrettable error of judgment” would factor into pay and bonus decisions, the “outstanding leader” would remain in the top job. Davies is set to step down by mid-2024, meaning a sudden Rose departure would have left the bank with a leadership
vacuum at the top. The Financial Conduct Authority last night said it had “raised concerns” with Natwest and Coutts over the raft of allegations and welcomed the announcement of an independent review commissioned by Natwest into the episode. Nigel Farage last night called for Rose, Davies and Coutts’s chief executive Peter Flavel to all be given the heave. Natwest remains 38.6 per cent owned by the taxpayer, likely plunging the Treasury into a political row over the leak and Natwest’s decision to maintain Rose as the bank’s CEO.
NATWEST HAD TO MAKE A CALL AND IT MAKES SENSE TO STICK BY ROSE - FOR NOW PAGE 2
VIRGIN MEDIA O2 yesterday revealed plans to slash 2,000 jobs by the end of the year. The cuts, which include around 800 previously reported job reductions, will affect over 12 per cent of the company’s current workforce. Virgin Media O2 is still battling £20.2bn of debt and seeking £350m of annual cost savings following its £31bn merger two years ago. A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said the company was “currently consulting on proposals to simplify our operating model to better deliver for customers, which will see a reduction in some roles this year”. “There’s no way of dressing this up,” said Paolo Pescatore, independent media analyst at PP Foresight. “It is not good news for UK plc and we can expect to see further cost cutting measures across the industry.” Rival telecoms giant BT earlier this year announced that it will axe thousands of jobs, aiming to reduce its total workforce from 130,000 to between 90,000 and 75,000 by the end of the decade. As telecoms firms struggle to generate revenue, “margins continue to be squeezed due to rollout of next generation of networks, and people are reluctant to spend more on connectivity,” Pescatore said.
UK taxpayers to hand over £150bn to Bank of England to cover QE losses JACK BARNETT UK TAXPAYERS will have to foot a £150bn bill to cover cumulative losses on the Bank of England’s (BoE) bond buying scheme over the coming decade, a new projection has claimed. The Treasury is forecast to inject
hundreds of billions of pounds into the central bank’s balance sheet to make up for a shortfall in its quantitative easing (QE) programme. According to a quarterly report by the Bank on its asset purchase facility – the vehicle it uses to hoover up UK debt on financial markets – losses from bond
purchases are poised to balloon by the early 2030s. After the 2008 financial crisis, the BoE started purchasing UK government and corporate debt from
financial institutions in an effort to stimulate the economy by pushing down yields. Under the arrangement, the Bank channels any profits made back to the Treasury,
while the taxpayer foots the bill for losses. The looming £150bn bill will amplify pressure on the UK’s already stretched public finances. Experts at Fitch warned the UK will now have the highest debt interest burden in the rich world for the first time since records began.
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