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The chairman and chief executive of one of the world’s biggest banks says he is “committed to the UK”, despite recent political and economic turmoil.

Brian Moynihan, of Bank of America, also told Sky News that he is not concerned about the prospect of an increase in corporation tax, adding: “We don’t live or die by our tax rate.”

Mr Moynihan said of the UK’s recent political turbulence: “We don’t get too wound-up about [elections].

“It’s always something in the moment, but it’s a population’s job to elect officials and our job to manage our company given those elections.

“I think the UK is one of the leading economies and leading countries in the world and is a bastion of stability in general sense.

“And we’ve got to go through a midterm election in the US, we’ve got to get to the other side of that, and then stability can settle in.

“So we always say our company’s been around for 230-plus years, we’ve been through a lot of elections, and our job is just to manage through them.”

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Bank of America is the second-largest bank in America with a market capitalisation of nearly $300bn (making it roughly 10 times bigger than Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest, and more than three times bigger than HSBC).

It has about 5,000 employees in the UK, mainly in London but also Chester and Bromley.

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Sky’s Ed Conway: The economic challenges facing Sunak

Mr Moynihan – one of the longest-serving Wall Street chief executives – has been leading Bank of America since 2010 over which time the share price has returned 175%.

He addressed the very difficult economic challenge that the new UK prime minister faces, but was not too upset at the prospect of the UK corporation tax rate rising instead of falling, as had been planned by Rishi Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss.

“I think governments have to get a balance between taxation of corporations, individuals and what they spend the money on – and that’s a long-term problem for all governments,” he said.

“People shouldn’t be bidding for people’s business on tax rates, because ultimately, that leads to things which get a little out of skew.

“So I think the key is to have a consistent rate where people can invest across long periods of time, that’s fair to the companies and fair to the people they employ and fair to the business they generate, and tax revenues they generate, and then also fair to the citizens, so the governments can do what they need to do.

“I think those things settle over time, they go up and they go down.

“And you know, we don’t live or die by our tax rate, we live or die by having great customers doing great things with them – generate a lot of revenue, keep expenses in check, generate a lot of pre-tax income, and then we’ll figure out what the taxing authorities do.”

Corporation tax in the United States is 21% (with some surcharges depending state), which was lowered by president Donald Trump from 35% in 2018.

President Joe Biden has suggested it should rise again to 28%.

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The UK corporation tax rate is currently 19% and due to rise to 25% by April 2023 – a rise that Ms Truss planned to cancel, but now looks set to remain in place.

Mr Moynihan was sober about the global economic outlook, saying: “Our economists, and most economists around the world predict recessions in various economies over the next 12 to 18 months.”

That said, he felt the US economy was looking resilient.

“The US economy at the end of the day, it’s a consumer-driven economy.

“We see our consumers even for the first three weeks of October, they’re now spending still 9%-plus over what they spent last year, which is one-and-a-half times to two times the rate they’re spending pre pandemic.

“And so that’s a good thing.

“Now, ahead of them, you know, we’ve got the Fed raising rates and slowing down the economy.

“At the end of day, [US consumers] have good credit statistics and have the ability to borrow, so that’s good news.”

Read more:
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Mr Moynihan was brought in to lead Bank of America after the financial crisis, and is always on the lookout for the next potential issue for his company and his industry, particularly following the UK’s recent issue with certain pension funds having too much exposure to Liability Driven Investments (LDI’s).

“We always look for, if you think about the Princess and the Pea analogy, under all those mattresses, you’re always looking for that pea to figure out where the risk is and where the risk gets bottled up.

“And you saw some that come out when you had a particularly strong movement in gilts, in the bonds in the UK.

“But the market now loves stability…and you’re seeing it settle back down given the circumstances over the last few weeks. But yeah, that was interesting. We looked around and said: Where else could this infect the economy?

“But the good news is the banking systems across the world are in pretty good shape.”

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FCA considering compensation scheme over car finance scandal – raising hopes of payouts for motorists

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FCA considering compensation scheme over car finance scandal - raising hopes of payouts for motorists

Thousands of motorists who bought cars on finance before 2021 could be set for payouts as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said it will consult on a compensation scheme.

In a statement released on Sunday, the FCA said its review of the past use of motor finance “has shown that many firms were not complying with the law or our disclosure rules that were in force when they sold loans to consumers”.

“Where consumers have lost out, they should be appropriately compensated in an orderly, consistent and efficient way,” the statement continued.

Read more: How to tell if you’ve been mis-sold car finance

The FCA said it estimates the cost of any scheme, including compensation and administrative costs, to be no lower than £9bn – adding that a total cost of £13.5bn is “more plausible”.

It is unclear how many people could be eligible for a pay-out. The authority estimates most individuals will probably receive less than £950 in compensation.

The consultation will be published by early October and any scheme will be finalised in time for people to start receiving compensation next year.

What motorists should do next

The FCA says you may be affected if you bought a car under a finance scheme, including hire purchase agreements, before 28 January 2021.

Anyone who has already complained does not need to do anything.

The authority added: “Consumers concerned that they were not told about commission, and who think they may have paid too much for the finance, should complain now.”

Its website advises drivers to complain to their finance provider first.

If you’re unhappy with the response, you can then contact the Financial Ombudsman.

The FCA has said any compensation scheme will be easy to participate in, without drivers needing to use a claims management company or law firm.

It has warned motorists that doing so could end up costing you 30% of any compensation in fees.

The announcement comes after the Supreme Court ruled on a separate, but similar, case on Friday.

The court overturned a ruling that would have meant millions of motorists could have been due compensation over “secret” commission payments made to car dealers as part of finance arrangements.

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Car finance scandal explained

The FCA’s case concerns discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs) – a practice banned in 2021.

Under these arrangements, brokers and dealers increased the amount of interest they earned without telling buyers and received more commission for it. This is said to have then incentivised sellers to maximise interest rates.

In light of the Supreme Court’s judgment, any compensation scheme could also cover non-discretionary commission arrangements, the FCA has said. These arrangements are ones where the buyer’s interest rate did not impact the dealer’s commission.

This is because part of the court’s ruling “makes clear that non-disclosure of other facts relating to the commission can make the relationship [between a salesperson and buyer] unfair,” it said.

It was previously estimated that about 40% of car finance deals included DCAs while 99% involved a commission payment to a broker.

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Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, said: “It is clear that some firms have broken the law and our rules. It’s fair for their customers to be compensated.

“We also want to ensure that the market, relied on by millions each year, can continue to work well and consumers can get a fair deal.”

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ICG takes off with £200m deal for Exeter and Bournemouth airports

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ICG takes off with £200m deal for Exeter and Bournemouth airports

The London-listed investment group ICG is closing in on a £200m deal to buy three of Britain’s biggest regional airports.

Sky News has learnt that ICG is expected to sign a formal agreement to buy Bournemouth, Exeter and Norwich airports later this month.

The trio of sites collectively serve just over 2 million passengers annually.

ICG is buying the airports from Rigby Group, a privately owned conglomerate which has interests in the hotels, software and technology sectors.

Exeter acted as the hub for Flybe, the regional carrier which collapsed in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The deal will come amid a frenzy of activity involving Britain’s major airports as infrastructure investors seek to exploit a recovery in their valuations.

AviAlliance, which is owned by the Canadian pension fund PSP Investments, agreed to buy the parent company of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports for £1.55bn last year.

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London City Airport’s shareholder base has just been shaken up with a deal which saw Australia’s Macquarie take a large stake.

French investor Ardian has increased its investment in Heathrow Airport as the UK’s biggest aviation hub proposes an expansion that will cost tens of billions of pounds.

ICG and Rigby Group declined to comment .

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Tech companies are racing to make their products smaller – and much, much thinner

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Tech companies are racing to make their products smaller - and much, much thinner

Some of the world’s leading tech companies are betting big on very small innovations.

Last week, Samsung released its Galaxy Z Fold 7 which – when open – has a thickness of just 4.2mm, one of the slimmest folding phones ever to hit the market.

And Honor, a spin-off from Chinese smartphone company Huawei, will soon ship its latest foldable – the slimmest in the world. Its new Honor Magic V5 model is only 8.8mm thick when folded, and a mere 4.1mm when open.

Apple is also expected to release a foldable in the second half of next year, according to a note by analysts at JPMorgan published this week.

The race to miniaturise technology is speeding up, the ultimate prize being the next evolution in consumer devices.

Whether it be wearable devices, such as smartglasses, watches, rings or foldables – there is enormous market potential for any manufacturer that can make its products small enough.

Despite being thinner than its predecessor, Honor claims its Magic V5 also offers significant improvements to battery life, processing power, and camera capabilities.

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Hope Cao, a product expert at Honor told Sky News the progress was “due largely to our silicon carbon battery technology”. These batteries are a next-generation breakthrough that offers higher energy density compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, and are becoming more common in consumer devices.

Pic: Honor
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The Magic V5. Pic: Honor

Honor also told Sky News it had used its own AI model “to precisely test and find the optimum design, which was both the slimmest, as well as, the most durable.”

However, research and development into miniaturisation goes well beyond just folding phones.

A company that’s been at the forefront of developing augmented reality (AR) glasses, Xreal, was one of the first to release a viable pair to the consumer market.

Xreal’s Ralph Jodice told Sky News “one of our biggest engineering challenges is shrinking powerful augmented reality technology into a form factor that looks and feels like everyday sunglasses”.

Xreal’s specs can display images on the lenses like something out of a sci-fi movie – allowing the wearer to connect most USB-C compatible devices such as phones, laptops and handheld consoles to an IMAX-sized screen anywhere they go.

Pic: Xreal
Image:
Pic: Xreal

Experts at The Metaverse Society suggest prices of these wearable devices could be lowered by shifting the burden of computing from the headset to a mobile phone or computer, whose battery and processor would power the glasses via a cable.

However, despite the daunting challenge, companies are doubling down on research and making leaps in the area.

Social media giant Meta is also vying for dominance in the miniature market.

Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are shown off at the annual British Educational Training and Technology conference. Pic: PA
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Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are shown off at the annual British Educational Training and Technology conference. Pic: PA

Meta’s Ray-Ban sunglasses (to which they recently added an Oakley range), cannot project images on the lenses like the pair from Xreal – instead they can capture photos, footage and sound. When connected to a smartphone they can even use your phone’s 5G connection to ask Meta’s AI what you’re looking at, and ask how to save a particular type of houseplant for example.

Gareth Sutcliffe, a tech and media analyst at Enders Analysis, tells Sky News wearables “are a green field opportunity for Meta and Google” to capture a market of “hundreds of millions of users if these devices sell at similar rates to mobile phones”.

Li-Chen Miller, Meta’s vice president of product and wearables, recently said: “You’d be hard-pressed to find a more interesting engineering problem in the company than the one that’s at the intersection of these two dynamics, building glasses [with onboard technology] that people are comfortable wearing on their faces for extended periods of time … and willing to wear them around friends, family, and others nearby.”

Mr Sutcliffe points out that “Meta’s R&D spend on wearables looks extraordinary in the context of limited sales now, but should the category explode in popularity, it will be seen as a great strategic bet.”

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s long-term aim is to combine the abilities of both Xreal and the Ray-Bans into a fully functioning pair of smartglasses, capable of capturing content, as well as display graphics onscreen.

However, despite recently showcasing a prototype model, the company was at pains to point out that it was still far from ready for the consumer market.

This race is a marathon not a sprint – or as Sutcliffe tells Sky News “a decade-long slog” – but 17 years after the release of the first iPhone, people are beginning to wonder what will replace it – and it could well be a pair of glasses.

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