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UK lenders expect record rise in access to unsecured loans By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - British lenders are expecting a record increase in the availability of unsecured credit to households over the next three months as the country's economy bounces back from its lockdown slump, a Bank of England survey showed on Thursday. Lenders also expect to increase the availability of new mortgages - although demand was forecast to fall - while the supply of lending to businesses was seen unchanged. The figures come from a quarterly survey of British banks and building societies conducted from June 1 to June 18 and add to signs of a rapid...

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‘We’ll test our powers to the limit’, says UK financial watchdog on scams By Reuters

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog said on Thursday it will become more assertive to get onto the front foot in weeding out bad firms and tackling "an epidemic" of online scams. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has come under heavy criticism for its botched handling of London Capital & Finance, the investment fund whose collapse is forcing the government to use taxpayer money to compensate thousands of investors. Former finance ministry official Nikhil Rathi, who became chief executive last year, has already revamped his top team. The watchdog will spend 120 million...

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BoE might need to withdraw some stimulus “fairly soon” – Saunders By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England interest rate-setter Michael Saunders said on Thursday the central bank might need to withdraw some of its huge stimulus programme "fairly soon" if the country's economy continues to recover strongly from its COVID crash. "In my view, if activity and inflation indicators remain in line with recent trends and downside risks to growth and inflation do not rise significantly (and these conditions are important), then it may become appropriate fairly soon to withdraw some of the current monetary stimulus," he said in a speech. ...

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British fintech Revolut raises $800 million – Sky News By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - British-based digital banking app Revolut has raised around $800 million in a funding round led by Softbank's Vision Fund and Tiger Global Management, Sky News reported on Thursday. The fundraising values the fast-growing company at around $33 billion, Sky News reported, making it one of Europe's most valuable financial technology firms. Revolut did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ...

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Mall operator Hammerson plans to stop giving rent concessions as business picks up By Reuters

(Reuters) -Mall operator Hammerson Plc (LON:HMSO) said on Thursday it would stop granting future rent concessions to tenants, as business activity picks up with further easing of coronavirus-related restrictions in the UK. The announcement comes days after commercial landlord British Land also said it did not expect to grant further rent concessions, following the British government's decision last month to extend a ban on commercial evictions until March 2022. A lobby group British Retail Consortium recently told Reuters that a major worry for the industry was rent defaults by tenants who are trading well...

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Former BP CEO Hayward launches green energy SPAC By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Former BP (LON:BP) Plc Chief Executive Tony Hayward will lead the listing of a $175 million shell company aimed at investing in green energy projects in Europe, a bank working on the deal said on Thursday. The Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), named Energy Transition Partners, will list in Amsterdam and focus on investments in companies involved in efforts to decarbonise the world's energy mix, the bank said. Hayward will be chief executive of the firm. SPACs are shell companies that raise funds through an initial public offering to take a...

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Rights groups urge Japan to stop real estate project in Myanmar By Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - Human rights groups on Thursday called for Japan to cancel a real estate project involving Myanmar's defence ministry, saying the project is linked to the military, which has waged a deadly crackdown since the February 1 coup. Japan's private firms and a state entity are engaged in a multi-million dollar hotel and office development on land owned by Myanmar's defence ministry, Reuters reported earlier. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/15/japan-stop-real-estate-project-myanmar Japan failed to assess the risk associated with doing business in Myanmar. "We strongly condemn the fact that Japan's public funds...

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Asian shares advance as China data better than feared By Reuters

By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares advanced on Thursday as economic data from China was largely more resilient than expected, and as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said tapering of its massive stimulus was still a way off. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.4%, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising 1.0%. Mainland Chinese shares were little changed with CSI300 index almost flat. China's second-quarter economic growth fell just short of forecasts on an annual basis, with GDP growth slowing to 7.9% from a year earlier from a record...

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Virus jitters keep dollar aloft By Reuters

By Tom Westbrook SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Spiking coronavirus cases kept the dollar supported in Asia on Thursday and it clawed back a little of a drop which had followed insistence from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell that he isn't in a hurry to withdraw policy support. The dollar was up about half a percent on the New Zealand dollar by midday in Tokyo, up about 0.3% on the Australian dollar and British pound and up roughly 0.1% against the euro. Cities from Seoul to Sydney are under lockdown as the infectious Delta variant sweeps the globe....

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UK-based cybersecurity firm Avast in merger talks with NortonLifeLock By Reuters

(Reuters) -UK-based cybersecurity firm Avast Plc said on Wednesday it was in advanced talks over a merger with peer NortonLifeLock Inc. If the deal goes through, it will be a cash-and-share offer, Avast said. The company, however, added there was no certainty a deal will be agreed. NortonLifeLock confirmed late on Wednesday that it was in discussion with Avast regarding a possible combination, without providing further details. Avast makes free and premium security software for desktop and mobile devices under the Avast and AVG brands. It has a market capitalization of 5.20 billion pounds ($7.21 billion),...

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