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Coronavirus live updates: Coca-Cola takes a hit, proposed testing plan could cost $100 billion

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.

Global cases: More than 2.5 million

Global deaths: At least 171,810

US cases: More than 788,900

US deaths: At least 42,485

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

3: 19 pm: Senate strikes deal for relief package

Senate Republicans and Democrats reached a deal for an additional $484 billion in coronavirus relief, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The bill still has to undergo a vote, which could come within the hour.

Here’s what’s in the bill:

$310 billion total for the Paycheck Protection Program, with $250 billion unrestricted and $60 billion set aside for smaller institutions

$50 billion for Economic Injury Disaster Loan program loans and $10 billion for EIDL grants

$75 billion for hospitals

$25 billion for testing, $11 billion of which will be distributed to states

$2.1 billion for Small Business Administration administrative expenses

“I welcome this bipartisan agreement and hope the Senate will quickly pass it once members have reviewed the final text,” McConnell said in a statement, criticizing Democrats for resisting the passage of additional small business funding earlier this month “in a search for partisan ‘leverage’ that never materialized.” —Jacob Pramuk, Sara Salinas

3: 04 pm: FDA greenlights first coronavirus test with at-home sample collection

2: 57 pm: Oil settles below $12 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate crude futures for June delivery dropped 43% to settle at $11.57 per barrel. Earlier it fell more than 60% to trade under $7 per barrel. The May contract settled at $10.01 per barrel. On Monday it fell below zero for the first time in history. However, as contracts approach expiration, trading volume is typically thin. —Pippa Stevens, Yun Li

2: 50 pm: Senate nears deal for $484 billion relief package for small business, hospitals, testing

Senate Republicans and Democrats are closing in on a roughly $484 billion coronavirus relief package for small businesses, hospitals and testing, people familiar with the matter tell CNBC.

The Senate could vote on a deal as soon as 4 p.m. ET, and the House could approve it as early as Thursday. Here’s how much the bill would allocate for the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and hospitals and coronavirus testing. —Lauren Hirch, Yelena Dzhanova

2: 23 pm: Howard Schultz urges government to save small restaurants with a financial ‘bridge to a vaccine’

Howard Schultz said additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program is not adequate to help small restaurants survive the coronavirus pandemic.

“What’s needed is not another version of PPP. Again, good intent but it’s the wrong medicine,” the billionaire former Starbucks CEO said on “Squawk Box.”

Rather, Schultz said he believes the government needs to create a robust program to serve as a “bridge to a vaccine.” The price tag may be around $1 trillion, he said. “It’s large. I understand it.”

But he argued the cost of the program will be “much, much less” than the cost of more than 100,000 small restaurants potentially closing for good due to the coronavirus crisis. —Kevin Stankiewicz

2: 17 pm: Apple and Google CEOs should be held responsible for protecting coronavirus tracking data, says GOP Sen. Hawley

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai should hold themselves personally responsible for protecting data collected through their efforts to trace the spread of Covid-19, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote in a letter to the CEOs on Tuesday.

“If you seek to assure the public, make your stake in this project personal,” wrote Hawley, a prominent tech critic. “Make a commitment that you and other executives will be personally liable if you stop protecting privacy, such as by granting advertising companies access to the interface once the pandemic is over.”

Apple and Google announced earlier this month that they have teamed up in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. The companies will release tools allowing public health authorities to create apps that will notify users who opt-in if they have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. The system, known as contact tracing, will use Bluetooth connections in phones. —Lauren Feiner

2: 03 pm: American Express launches ‘Stand for Small’ coalition to support small businesses impacted by coronavirus

A new coalition, “Stand for Small,” from American Express and over 40 partner companies aims to provide small business owners support through various offers, tools and expertise, as they navigate the effects of the coronavirus.

The coalition includes Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM. CNBC Select reviews how Stand for Small can help your business and shares the benefits of having a small business credit card. —Alexandria White

1: 58 pm: Small businesses may have had info exposed on SBA relief portal

1: 37 pm: Netherlands extends ban on major public events until Sept. 1

The Netherlands extended by three months a ban on major public events, including professional sports and music festivals, until Sept. 1.

At the same time, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said an “encouraging” slowing of the spread of the coronavirus would enable elementary schools and day-care centres to reopen in May.

Rutte said the limited easing of restrictive measures was necessary to prevent a strong resurgence of Covid-19. —Reuters

1: 24 pm: New York AG opens inquiry into Charter Communications’ Covid-19 response after hundreds reportedly catch virus

1: 15 pm: ‘Reopen the economy’ — Barry Sternlicht worries about ‘financial suicide’ from closures

The threat of destroying the U.S. economy must be weighed against the diminishing health risks from the coronavirus, real estate mogul Barry Sternlicht told CNBC.

“I actually think we have to reopen the economy. We have to do it ZIP code by ZIP code,” said Sternlicht, whose $60 billion Starwood Capital Group has interests in luxury hotels and malls among its many businesses. “We have to get going. The cost is too great. The government can’t carry a $23 trillion economy.”

Sternlicht’s call to action comes as more states run by Republican governors are announcing plans to reopen parts of their economies as new daily virus cases in the U.S. continue to slow. —Matthew J. Belvedere

1: 03 pm: As mortgage bailout balloons amid coronavirus outbreak, servicers finally get some relief

For weeks, the mortgage industry has been crying for help from being left on the hook to pay for much of the government’s mortgage bailout. Now, they’re getting some relief.

More than 3 million borrowers have taken advantage of the mortgage forbearance program, which allows those with government-backed loans to delay up to a year’s worth of monthly mortgage payments if they have been hurt financially by the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

Borrowers would have to make those payments at a later date, or over time. Mortgage servicers, however, the companies that collect the payments, were required to advance that money to bondholders for up to a year.

Now, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has reduced that requirement to 4 months.

“The four-month servicer advance obligation limit for loans in forbearance provides stability and clarity to the $5 trillion Enterprise-backed housing finance market,” said FHFA Director Mark Calabria. “Mortgage servicers can now plan for exactly how long they will need to advance principal and interest payments on loans for which borrowers have not made their monthly payment.” —Diana Olick

12: 42 pm: UK to test potential coronavirus vaccine on people this week

Dr. Sonia Macieiewski (R) and Dr. Nita Patel, Director of Antibody discovery and Vaccine development, look at a sample of a respiratory virus at Novavax labs in Rockville, Maryland on March 20, 2020, one of the labs developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, COVID-19.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Britain’s health minister said Tuesday that the country will test a potential vaccine for the coronavirus on people later this week.

A vaccine developed by researchers at Oxford University will be tested on people on Thursday, Health Minister Matt Hancock said in a daily news briefing.

“In normal times, reaching this stage would take years, and I’m very proud of the work taken so far,” he said.

Hancock said he would make £20 million ($24.5 million) available to the scientists at Oxford, as well as an additional £22.5 million in funding for researchers at Imperial College London.

“Nothing about this process is certain,” he said. “Vaccine development is a process of trial and error and trial again.” That’s the nature of how vaccines are developed.” —Ryan Browne

12: 24 pm: New York state’s unemployment system ‘collapsed’ following a surge in claims, Gov. Cuomo says

New York state Department of Labor office in Brooklyn, New York on April 14, 2020.

John Nacion | NurPhoto | Getty Images

New York’s unemployment website “collapsed” following a record surge in claims after the state shuttered nonessential businesses to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

The state now has 1,000 people working online and through its phone system to process the high volume of unemployment claims, Cuomo told reporters.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “One thousand people just to take the incoming unemployment calls. That’s how high the volume is and they still can’t keep up with the volume.”

The state has paid about $2.2 billion in unemployment insurance benefits to 1.1 million New Yorkers since the Covid-19 outbreak began, according to state data. There’s still a backlog of 4,305 phone applications, but that’s down from 275,000 before April 8, the state said. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Correction: This item was revised to delete an incorrect reference about where Cuomo spoke.

12: 13 pm: Italy set to ease coronavirus lockdown beginning May 4

An ambulance is seen in the coliseum area, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, on April 21, 2020 in Rome, Italy.

Antonio Masiello | Getty Images

Italy is likely to start easing its coronavirus lockdown from May 4, though the long-awaited rollback will be cautious and calculated, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday.

The country has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 24,100 people dying since the contagion emerged there in February.

Looking to contain the spread, the government introduced sweeping curbs in March, telling Italians to stay at home and shutting schools, businesses and industries nationwide.

The restrictions have put a major strain on the euro zone’s third largest economy, but with the number of new cases gradually slowing, Conte said he would unveil by the weekend government plans to loosen the shutdown.

“I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately. We start tomorrow morning. … But such a decision would be irresponsible,” Conte wrote in a Facebook post.

He promised “a serious, scientific plan” that would include a “rethinking of modes of transport” to enable workers to travel in safety, new business rules and measures to check whether the loosening was leading to an uptick in infections.

“It is reasonable to expect that we will apply it from May 4,” he said, adding that a rushed, disorganized exit strategy would make a mockery of the sacrifices Italians had accepted. —Reuters

12: 01 pm: Dow plunges 600 points, bringing two-day losses to nearly 1,200 points

11: 57 am: Trump and Johnson agree on importance of coordinated response to coronavirus

U.S President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed on the need for a coordinated international response to the coronavirus pandemic, including through the G-7, Downing Street said in a statement.

The pair also discussed trade during a telephone conversation.

“The leaders committed to continue working together to strengthen our bilateral relationship, including by signing a free trade agreement as soon as possible,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Britain left the European Union earlier this year and a deal with the United States is a key priority for Johnson’s administration. Johnson is recovering at his country residence after he was hospitalized with Covid-19. His foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is standing in for him while he recovers. —Reuters

11: 49 am: New York Gov. Cuomo says he will discuss coronavirus testing with Trump at White House meeting

Fire Department of New York medical staff attend to an elderly person experiencing difficulty breathing outside of an apartment building on April 20, 2020, in New York City.

David Dee Delgado | Getty Images

11: 34 am: Coronavirus cases are likely 10 to 20 times higher in US than reported, former FDA chief Gottlieb says

The actual number of coronavirus cases in the United States is likely significantly higher — as much 10 or even 20 times higher — than the tally of Covid-19 infections currently being reported, a former top federal health official said.

“There’s certainly under-diagnosis going on,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb said during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

As of Tuesday, there were more than 787,900 coronavirus cases officially diagnosed in the U.S., with at least 42,364 deaths from the virus.

The actual number of cases “probably is 10 times as many,” said Gottlieb, a former Trump administration commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and a CNBC contributor.

“We’re probably diagnosing 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 infections, and that’s what some of the reliable analyses are now showing,” he said.

If Gottlieb is correct, that would mean about 8 million to 15.75 million Americans have contracted the coronavirus, or 2.4% to 4.8% of the U.S. population. —Dan Mangan

11: 17 am: NYC builds strategic medical reserve: ‘We can’t depend on the federal government’

Mayor Bill de Blasio greets healthcare workers and conducts a press conference at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, New York, April 10, 2020.

EuropaNewswire | Gado | Getty Images

New York City is building its own strategic reserve of medical equipment for the coronavirus pandemic, including surgical gowns, test kits and ventilators because “we can’t depend on the federal government,” Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

“It is a very sobering, telling moment when I have to sit here before you and say that New York City needs its own strategic reserve because we can’t depend on the federal government at this point,” he said at a news briefing. “It’s sobering as all hell. I mean it’s just not something I’m happy to tell you, but it is really, really clear.”

The New York City Economic Development Corp. will coordinate with health-care leaders in the city to build the reserve, de Blasio said. He said the stockpile will be filled with locally produced face shields, surgical gowns, test kits and ventilators. The city will also buy equipment from elsewhere as needed. —Will Feuer, Noah Higgins-Dunn, Jasmine Kim

11: 13 am: Led by US, global auto sales expected to plummet 22% in 2020

The coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll on the global auto industry as plants remain shuttered and consumers remain sheltered at home.

IHS Markit lowered its global auto sales forecast, saying it expects global vehicle sales to decline 22% this year to 70.3 million units, led by a 26.6% fall in the U.S. to 12.5 million units, compared to a year ago.

Domestic sales would be the lowest since the 11.6 million cars and trucks sold in 2010 as the industry emerged from the Great Recession. It’s also a steeper drop than IHS Markit’s forecast in March of a 12% decline in global sales for 2020.

—Michael Wayland

10: 42 am: Cramer says, ‘We’ve got to try something’ as Georgia, other states begin to reopen

States like Georgia should experiment with reopening their economies from their coronavirus shutdowns in order to save small businesses, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said, calling it “the biggest story there is.”

“I’m in the camp that just says. ‘We’ve got to try something.’ We have to. And if that makes me into a right-wing lunatic, then so be it,” Cramer said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

The closure of businesses around the country, designed to curb the spread of the virus, has led to a record rise in unemployment, with over 22 million Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits in the past four weeks. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday that several types of businesses, including hair salons and gyms, would be allowed to open at the end of the week. Other states with GOP governors, including Ohio, Tennessee and Florida, are also planning partial reopening in the coming weeks.

Cramer said the Georgia plan seemed sensible and that the state’s medical system seemed to be prepared if cases did spike after an attempt to reopen. —Jesse Pound

10: 33 am: Here are the largest public companies taking payroll loans meant for small businesses

Hundreds of millions of dollars of in Paycheck Protection Program emergency funding has been claimed by large, publicly traded companies, new research published by Morgan Stanley shows.

In fact, the U.S. government has allocated at least $243.4 million of the total $349 billion to publicly traded companies, the firm said. The PPP was designed to help the nation’s smallest, mom-and-pop shops keep employees on payroll and prevent mass layoffs across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But the research shows that several of the companies that have received aid have market values well in excess of $100 million, including DMC Global ($405 million), Wave Life Sciences ($286 million) and Fiesta Restaurant Group ($189 million). Fiesta, which employs more than 10,000 people (per its last reported annual number), received a PPP loan of $10 million, per Morgan Stanley research. —Thomas Franck

10: 27 am: Hair dye, cookie dough, canned meat — what people in the US and Europe are buying in lockdown

Hero Images | Hero Images | Getty Images

Lockdown life looks very different depending on where you are in the world.

When widespread restrictions were imposed globally in response to the coronavirus pandemic last month, people started stockpiling goods. Psychologists told CNBC that people were panic buying to feel more in control of their emotional states.

Now, instead of hoarding toilet paper and pasta, consumers’ buying habits have changed: Sales of goods like brewer’s yeast, beauty products and egg substitutes are going through the roof — but new data reveals that different nations have very diverse habits. Read this story link to see what types of products people are buying based on where they live. —Lucy Handley

10: 15 am: Georgia got lifting restrictions backward, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says

As states across the U.S. weigh lifting coronavirus restrictions and reopening the economy, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont told CNBC that Georgia is reopening the wrong businesses first.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday that the state will reopen businesses on Friday, starting with gyms, barbershops, fitness centers, bowling alleys, and other retail locations.

“I think the things that come later are the things that Georgia opened up first, which surprised me, those things that have very close personal contact,” Lamont said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” —Will Feuer

10: 09 am: March home sales drop 8.5% as sellers take properties off the market

Sales of existing homes fell a wider-than-expected 8.5% in March from a month earlier to an annualized pace of 5.27 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index.

These sales figures are based on closings that represent contracts signed mostly in late January and February, before the coronavirus shut down so much of the economy.

“We saw the stock market correction in late February,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. “The first half of March held on reasonably well, but it was the second half of March where we saw a measurable decline in sales activity.” Yun indicated sales could fall as much as 30% to 40% in the coming months. —Diana Olick

9: 58 am: Coronavirus deepens political fragmentation in Italy as anti-EU sentiment rises

Political fragmentation is intensifying in Italy as the coronavirus pandemic gives new ammunition to anti-establishment parties and challenges its European membership.

Italy has the highest death toll from the Covid-19 outbreak in Europe and has desperately lobbied its partners in the region for financial support to deal with the impact of the health crisis. However, northern European nations have been reluctant to give the Italian government everything it wants — which in turn has fueled a toxic debate back in Rome.

“It is a debate to a large extent detached from reality,” Wolfango Piccoli, co-president at risk advisory Teneo, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe. —Silvia Amaro

9: 49 am: Recovering from coronavirus, PM Johnson to talk to Trump, Queen

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street for PMQs at the House of Commons on 25 March, 2020 in London, England.

Wiktor Szymanowicz | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak to President Donald Trump on Tuesday and meet Queen Elizabeth later this week, his spokesman said, adding that the British leader is still not “formally doing government work.”

Johnson is recovering at his country residence after he was hospitalized with Covid-19. His foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is standing in for him while he recovers.

“Yesterday he sent a message of condolence to (Canadian Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau after the very sad loss of life in the shooting in Canada,” the spokesman told reporters, referring to the shooting rampage in Nova Scotia. “Later today … he will be speaking to President Trump.”

Later this week, the prime minister is expected to have an audience with Queen Elizabeth, the spokesman said, adding that it would be the first such meeting in three weeks. —Reuters

9: 40 am: McDonald’s giving away meals to health-care workers and first responders

Epics | Hulton Archive | Getty Images

McDonald’s will give health-care workers, police officers, firefighters and paramedics free meals between Wednesday and May 5.

The “Thank You Meal” will feature a choice of sandwiches, drinks and a side of small fries or hash brown. A work badge or uniform is all that is needed to receive the free meal. Some McDonald’s franchisees have already been giving away meals during the crisis. —Amelia Lucas

9: 34 am: Dow tumbles more than 500 points for a second day amid relentless oil drop

U.S. stocks fell sharply once again as oil prices continued their unprecedented wipeout.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 510 points, or more than 2%. The S&P 500 dropped 1.7% while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.1%. (Get the latest market news here.)

Traders were focused on the strange happenings with oil futures once again, which raised concern about deep losses for the energy industry hitting the U.S. economy even further. On Monday, the May contract for oil futures expiring Tuesday fell to zero and then went to an actual negative price, meaning producers would pay for someone to take the oil off their hands. The bizarre move has to do with the fact that because of the coronavirus shutdowns, big buyers of oil like refineries don’t need any more oil because their tanks are nearly filled. —Fred Imbert, Yun Li

9: 26 am: Hackers targeted Britain’s virus furlough scheme just hours after it went live

Within minutes of the U.K. government’s furlough scheme going live, it was targeted by opportunistic hackers impersonating the country’s tax collection agency.

Hundreds of phishing emails landed in people’s inboxes inviting them to click on a link that takes them to what looks like an HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) furlough claim website.

“This is a scam,” an HMRC spokesperson told CNBC via email. “The website associated with the scam is in the process of being taken down. Fraudsters are taking advantage of the package of measures announced by the Government to support people and businesses affected by coronavirus.”

The phishing campaign was spotted by cybersecurity firm Mimecast. Researchers at the firm said they detected 840 phishing emails within hours of the furlough scheme going live. —Sam Shead

9: 16 am: Map of US coronavirus hot spots, as of Monday

9: 12 am: US car rental company Hertz to lay off 10,000 staff on coronavirus hit

Car rental company Hertz said on Monday it plans to lay off 10,000 employees across its North America operations to cut costs amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hertz had about 38,000 employees as of Dec. 31, of which 29,000 were at its U.S. operations.

The company, which counts billionaire investor Carl Icahn as its largest shareholder, will incur employee termination costs of about $30 million, it said in a regulatory filing. —Reuters

9: 04 am: US Treasury releases $2.9 billion in airline support, finalizes payroll agreements

The U.S. Treasury Department said it has disbursed $2.9 billion in initial payroll assistance to 54 smaller passenger carrier and two major passenger airlines, while it finalized grant agreements with six major airlines.

The Treasury is initially giving major airlines 50% of funds awarded and releasing the rest in a series of payments. In total, Treasury is awarding U.S. passenger airlines $25 billion in funds earmarked for payroll costs. Major airlines must repay 30% of the funds in low-interest loans and grant Treasury warrants equal to 10% of the loan amount, while airlines receiving $100 million or less do not need to repay any funds or issue warrants to the government.

Treasury said Monday it had finalized grant agreements with Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines.

Air carriers have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and seen U.S. travel demand fall by 95%. —Reuters

8: 58 am: Two-thirds of voters back vote-by-mail in November

An election workers sorts vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary at King County Elections in Renton, Washington on March 10, 2020.

Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images

A majority of voters favor nationwide reform of election rules that would allow all eligible voters to cast their ballots by mail, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds. And nearly 10% more say that, while the rules should not be permanently changed, all voters should be able to mail in their ballots this November because of concerns that the coronavirus may still be a major public health threat this fall.

The survey shows that 58% of voters support allowing voting by mail generally, while 39% do not support it. —NBC News

8: 51 am: Lord & Taylor explores bankruptcy as stores remain shut in coronavirus pandemic

Lord & Taylor is exploring filing for bankruptcy protection after it was forced to temporarily shut all of its 38 U.S. department stores in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, people familiar with the matter said Monday.

It is one of several options that the retailer and its advisers are exploring, which also include trying to negotiate relief from creditors and finding additional financing, some of the sources said, adding that no final decisions have been made.

The sources requested anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. Lord & Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. —Reuters

8: 48 am: Schumer says he believes small business bill will pass today, with ‘agreement on just about every issue’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a press conference at Corona Plaza in Queens on April 14, 2020 in New York City.

Scott Heins | Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he believes the Senate will pass an additional relief bill for small businesses later Tuesday

Schumer, D-N.Y., told CNN he spoke “well past midnight” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and “came to an agreement on just about every issue.”

The government has been under pressure to replenish a fund allocated to small businesses as part of a Paycheck Protection Program program created by the $2.2 trillion relief bill President Donald Trump signed late last month. The program offers forgivable loans to companies that agree to maintain payroll. Its funds, which totaled $349 billion, ran out last week putting pressure on businesses that had been holding onto employees in hopes of obtaining the loan.

“Staff were up all night, writing. There’s still a few more I’s to dot and T’s to cross, but we have a deal. And I believe we’ll pass it today,” Schumer said. —Lauren Hirsch, Yelena Dzhanova

7: 48 am: Oil drops 18%, May contract still in negative territory

7: 30 am: Lululemon apologizes after staffer offends with ‘bat fried rice’ T-shirt

Canadian exercise apparel brand Lululemon issued statements apologizing for, and distancing itself from, a T-shirt design promoted by one of its art directors that triggered outrage and accusations of racism.

The hashtag “Lululemon insults China” was viewed 204 million times on China’s Weibo platform by Tuesday afternoon local time, with some commentators demanding a boycott of the brand. The furor started Sunday, with an Instagram link posted by the Lululemon official, Trevor Fleming, that promoted the sale of a T-shirt on the website of California artist Jess Sluder, under the name “bat fried rice.”

The long-sleeved T-shirt, bearing an image of a pair of chopsticks with bat wings on the front and a Chinese takeout box with bat wings on the back, riled critics who said the two were trying to stir anti-Asian sentiment during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We acted immediately, and the person involved is no longer an employee of Lululemon,” the firm said in an Instagram response to a customer on Tuesday, without identifying the individual.

It called the image and the post inappropriate and inexcusable, and apologized that one of its employees had been affiliated with promoting the offensive T-shirt. —Reuters

Correction: This entry was corrected to reflect that Lululemon is a Canadian company.

7: 06 am: Rockefeller Foundation plan would test 30 million per week and cost up to $100 billion

Dr. Natalia Echeverri, (R) uses a swab to gather a sample from the nose of Silvia Stagg, who said she is homeless, to test her for COVID-19 on April 17, 2020 in Miami, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

7: 00 am: Coca-Cola says April demand weakened, volume off 25% so far this month

Coca-Cola said in its first-quarter earnings report that the closure of movie theaters, restaurants and stadiums is hurting its business, with a significant impact expected on its second-quarter results.

The beverage company’s global volumes have plunged 25% since the start of April.

“The ultimate impact on the second quarter and full-year 2020 is unknown at this time, as it will depend heavily on the duration of social distancing and shelter-in-place mandates, as well as the substance and pace of macroeconomic recovery,” the company said in a statement. “However, the impact to the second quarter will be material.” —Amelia Lucas

6: 20 am: WHO says virus likely to have come from animals, not a lab

5: 40 am: Singapore extends ‘circuit breaker’ measures until June 1

A food outlet in Singapore placed markers on selected tables to separate diners as authorities implement stricter social-distancing measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Suhaimi Abdullah | Getty Images

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said partial lockdown measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus will be extended by four weeks to June 1.

Some of those measures, which the Singaporean leader calls a “circuit breaker,” involve shutting schools and most workplaces temporarily. Those measures, which were implemented two weeks ago, were supposed to end on May 4.

The announcement after the country’s Ministry of Health said another 1,111 cases of the coronavirus disease have been reported, according to its preliminary count, taking its total number of cases to 9,125 since the outbreak began. The government sometimes releases an update before confirming the cases later in the day. — Yen Nee Lee

5: 20 am: Spain’s daily death rate rises slightly

A coronavirus patient is lifted into an Ambuiberica ambulance by her son and emergency technician Marisa Arguello de Paula during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Llodio, Spain, April 19, 2020.

Vincent West | Reuters

Spain’s daily death toll has risen slightly from Monday, with 430 additional deaths reported in the last 24 hours, up from 399 deaths reported the previous day.

The Spanish health ministry said Tuesday the total number of fatalities had risen to 21,282, up 430 from 20,852 a day earlier. The total number of confirmed cases stands at 204,178. —Holly Ellyatt

Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Spain’s daily death rate rises slightly; Singapore extends ‘circuit breaker’ measures until June 1

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businessliveme · 5 years ago

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The One Job in Banking Robots Can’t Take

(Bloomberg) — When HSBC thwarted a $500 million central-bank heist, sophisticated computer software didn’t raise the alarm. The funds flowed undetected from Angola’s reserves to a dormant company’s account in London. It was a teller at a suburban bank branch who became suspicious, declined a request to transfer $2 million, and triggered a review that uncovered the scam, according to one account of the episode.

That was two years ago, and the finance industry’s battle to stop the illicit transfer of as much as $2 trillion a year around the globe hasn’t become any easier. At least a half-dozen lenders in Europe have found themselves at the center of fresh allegations of dirty money schemes in the past year. The wave of scandals—at Denmark’s Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, and others—is undermining confidence in the industry well beyond the individual institutions involved.

Financial-services executives have had little choice but to significantly step up regulatory efforts; more than 1 in 10 now spend in excess of 10% of their annual budgets on compliance, according to financial adviser Duff & Phelps.

Banks are eager to find ways to bring that spending down—management, employees, and shareholders never want to spend on what are effectively internal cops. Today there’s a sense that growth may be peaking. About two-thirds of institutions considered systemically important on a global level, a leading indicator for the industry, expect the size of their compliance teams to remain unchanged or shrink, according to a Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence report. The largest companies want to adapt their teams to grow or scale back as necessary, the report said.

That’s led to buzz that banks are deploying artificial intelligence to replace surveillance staff. HSBC last year started using AI to screen transactions, and the two biggest Nordic banks have said they’re replacing compliance staff with algorithms. Online banking startups such as Revolut Ltd., which rely on computerized efficiency to compete with established lenders, are finding compliance a challenge they need to address.

So far, machines are confined to simple know-your-customer (KYC) applications and are far from ready to replace humans, says Tom Kirchmaier, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance. He’s not optimistic that a major advance is afoot, either. “There’s a lot of talk but no action,” he says.

Take ING Groep NV, which last year paid €775 million ($869 million) to settle an investigation by a Dutch prosecutor into alleged money laundering and other corrupt practices. Even though the bank uses machine learning to filter out false alerts on potential bad actors, the lender has had to ramp up the number of individuals handling KYC procedures.

It’s tripled compliance personnel in the Netherlands over eight years; staff dedicated to KYC account for 5% of total employees.

Banks and tech companies need to overcome a number of obstacles for AI to succeed in tackling money laundering. For starters, they need better customer data, which is often neither current nor consistent, especially when a bank spans multiple jurisdictions. Enhancing the quality and frequency of data gathering is a crucial first step.

Banks are also constrained in their ability to detect bad behavior, with or without computers, because competitors and national law enforcement agencies won’t share data. Across Europe, for example, regulation and enforcement are split along national borders. Lenders would benefit from a common European anti-money-laundering regulator, data sharing among banks, and a more open dialogue with bank supervisors, Citigroup Inc. analysts wrote in a note to clients in June.

When banks do share information, it’s often unhelpful. They tend to over-report suspicious activity to the relevant agencies to shed responsibility, but enforcement authorities typically don’t provide their findings to the financial companies. What’s more, banks, wanting to shield bigger clients from unnecessary scrutiny, often under-report activity they should be flagging, according to the LSE’s Kirchmaier. That leads to potentially suspicious transactions being classified as normal. The algorithms learn to replicate those types of decisions.

In short, the historical dataset available to train the machines is misleading, complicating their ability to learn detection.

Criminals, by contrast, are constantly adapting their ways, finding new routes for their cash when existing ones are blocked off. Catching tomorrow’s money launderers requires anticipating where they’ll move next. Will they trade gold or crypto assets? When parameters change even slightly, AI struggles to stay ahead of the criminals.

Trust in financial services after the 2008 crisis is taking a very long time to rebuild. Banks are wary that they risk teaching machines to stereotype customers based on where they come from or where they do business. “Ethical concerns associated with AI are rightfully restraining banks’ full embrace of machine learning,” says Alexon Bell, chief product officer at Quantexa, a London-based data analytics company that counts HSBC among its customers.

Regulators, frustrated with the slow speed of change, have encouraged banks to deploy more technology. In December the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, jointly with the Federal Reserve and other U.S. agencies, called on banks to try new approaches to meet anti-money-laundering requirements, including AI, and have offered leniency if the tools uncover deficiencies in existing systems.

One thing seems clear: Compliance spending at banks may be shifting away from employing humans to adopting new software. But for now, those living and breathing internal cops are here to stay.

The post The One Job in Banking Robots Can’t Take appeared first on Businessliveme.com.

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robertawilliams · 6 years ago

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How would Brexit affect finance for SMEs?

Guardian Small Business Network

EU referendum panel

How would Brexit affect finance for SMEs?

Finance is a key issue for small business in the UK. Our expert panel looks at how it might be affected by the EU referendum

Tue 5 Apr 2016 Last modified on Wed 20 Sep 2017

If Britain leaves the EU there will be less credit available and borrowers may have to pay a higher price for it Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

In this new series, an expert panel is answering questions sent in by readers about how the EU referendum could affect their business. This week ourpanellists take on a question from Peter Shawyer, commercial director at an electronic manufacturing SME Texcel Technology:

One issue that has previously constrained our business is finance. After leaving the EU would financing – from banks, investors or funds – be more restricted or more open?

If you have a question about the impact of the EU referendum, you can submit it here. We will select a question each week for the panel.

Daniel Gros Photograph: Gleamlight

Daniel Gros

Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies. He serves as adviser to the European Parliament and is a member of the advisory scientific committee of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and the Euro 50 Group of eminent economists

Finance to SMEs – and households – is usually provided by local retail banks. Funds, be it pension funds or hedge funds, do not engage in this type of business because they do not have the necessary local knowledge and the individual loans are too small for them. In this sense there is no reason why leaving the EU would have a material impact on the availability of finance for SMEs.

The EU has some special programmes for SME financing, which would of course no longer be available if the UK leaves the EU. But these programmes, operated via the European Investment Bank (EIB), have not had a large impact on SME lending and the UK government could use the increased financial leeway it would have by cashing in on its EIB capital to institute similar schemes.

Part of the UK’s retail banking system is owned by EU banks. This investment would of course have a different legal status after Brexit, but presumably the change in legal status would not have a direct impact on retail operations, such as lending to SMEs.

However, leaving the EU might have a longer term impact on the availability of financing stemming from the large external, current account deficit the UK has been running for quite some time now. Being a member of the EU makes the UK more creditworthy as can be seen from a recent report by a major credit ratings agency. UK borrowers might therefore have to pay a somewhat higher price for credit and the availability of external financing for the entire UK economy might be reduced, which would translate in a reduced availability of credit for SMEs as well. Most observers agree that the problem is manageable, but a slight negative impact might be unavoidable in the long run.

Sebastian Dullien Photograph: Jakob Lessin

Sebastian Dullien

Senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international economics at HTW Berlin, University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on European integration, international macroeconomics, and financial market regulation

In the short term, a British decision to leave the European Union would create huge uncertainties in financial markets which would translate into more restrictive financing conditions and less availability of funds for small and medium sized enterprises. With a national current account deficit of almost 5% of GDP, Britain depends on foreign investors. Brexit would create huge uncertainties about the future relationship with the EU, so it is very likely that these investors will demand a risk premium, which would be passed on as higher interest rates to SMEs.

In the long term, the outcome depends on which future relationship Britain negotiates with the EU. The most likely result is that the British financial and banking markets become less integrated with that of the EU.

One proclaimed aim of leaving the EU is to re-gain national sovereignty. Setting national rules for the banking industry is incompatible with a single market for financial services. Thus, a British EU exit would make it more difficult for continental banks and investment funds to provide finance to British small and medium sized companies as they would have to follow different rules and regulations and use additional licensing requirements. The result would be less competition and less availability of funds for British SMEs.

However, there might be counteracting domestic forces. In principle, it is possible that the British government would reduce banking regulations which might lead to lower funding costs. After the financial crisis of 2008/9 and the huge fiscal costs related to bank rescues, Britain’s Independent Commission on Banking headed by John Vickers actually proposed stricter rules than were later passed in the EU. It is not clear why the UK government should change course in this area after a Brexit. British retail banking has in the past been repeatedly criticised for extracting excessive fees and interest rates also from small business. If competition in banking dwindles with an exit from the EU, banks might just as well continue to overcharge SMEs even if regulatory rules are relaxed.

Swati Dhingra Photograph: Federico Protano

Swati Dhingra

Assistant professor at the department of economics at the London School of Economics and co-author of

One of the four basic freedoms of the EU is free movement of capital, which enables firms to invest in other European companies and to raise money in EU member countries. But the option of raising capital abroad is typically beyond the capacity of most SMEs, who instead rely on banks and government bodies for external finance.

Survey data suggests that European banks have had a limited impact on the terms of bank lending to SMEs, which also have limited ability to tender proposals for funding from the European Commission. So the direct channels for SME financing from the EU are less important, and the question is whether Brexit will impact other avenues for access to finance.

The vast majority of SMEs in the UK export to the EU, and this trend is unlikely to change because selling to distant markets is even more challenging for SMEs. Even if Brexit immediately gives way to a Norway-style trade deal, small business owners will face greater costs when trading with the EU. Currently, SMEs benefit from EU directives, such as the late payment directive, which are important for day-to-day financing. These factors would reduce profitability and make borrowing more difficult for small businesses.

A bigger issue is that economic uncertainty is likely to increase in the run-up to the referendum and in the event of a Brexit. We already saw this with the sterling volatility following Boris Johnson’s announcement supporting Brexit. Greater uncertainty in economic conditions typically hits SMEs harder, as they are perceived to be higher risk. This is what happened during the financial crisis, when banks shifted their lending away from SMEs and towards larger businesses.

While UK SMEs are less reliant on EU funding right now, this could change as the EU scales up its financing programmes. The European Investment Bank plans to lend ₤100m to SMEs in the UK. If this funding dries up after Brexit, domestic sources such as the British Business Bank would need to find the funds to make up for these shortfalls.

Sjoerd Douma Photograph: Leiden University

Sjoerd Douma

Professor of international and EU tax law at Leiden university

Free movement of capital is a cornerstone of the EU’s internal market. Article 63 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU) states that “all restrictions on the movement of capital between member states and between member states and third countries shall be prohibited”. While the text of this provision seems clear, in practice Europe’s capital markets are still fragmented along national lines.

This is exactly why EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill has launched the initiative for a Capital Markets Union (CMU). According to this action plan, the European Commission will remove the barriers which stand between investors’ money and investment opportunities and overcome the obstacles which prevent businesses from reaching investors. If the UK is no longera part of the EU, these measures will not apply to capital movements between the EU and the UK, subject to article 63 TFEU. This will relatively weaken the position of UK businesses to obtain financing from within the EU as compared to EU businesses.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) estimates that by March 2016, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) triggered around €76bn (£61bn) of investment in Europe. If the UK left the EU, access to this fund for financing purposes would be difficult if not impossible.

Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox.

Topics

Source

https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/apr/05/how-would-brexit-affect-finance-for-smes

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beautifulnutpeace-blog · 6 years ago

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Statistics and Management for Business BSc UCL London s Global University

Statistics and Management for Business BSc

This programme, run jointly with the UCL School of Management, combines a thorough training in statistics with modules in the broad area of business studies. It aims to provide a combination of management and quantitative skills useful for a career in business, management, commerce or industry.

Key Information

Programme starts

Entry requirements

IB Diploma

UK applicants qualifications

For entry requirements with other UK qualifications accepted by UCL, choose your qualification from the list below:

Equivalent qualification

BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (RQF - teaching from 2016) with Distinction, Distinction, Distinction to include Distinction in Engineering Principles and Calculus to Solve Engineering Problems.

Pass in Access to HE Diploma, with a minimum of 28 credits awarded with Distinction in the Level 3 units, the remainder of the Level 3 units awarded with Merit.

D2,D3,D3 in three Cambridge Pre-U Principal Subjects. Mathematics at D2 required. Further Mathematics is preferred. If you are studying both subjects then D2 can be in either subject.

A1,A,A at Advanced Highers (or A1,A at Advanced Higher and A,A,A at Higher), including A1 in Mathematics at Advanced Higher.

Successful completion of the WBQ Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate plus 2 GCE A-Levels at grades A*AA, including A* in Mathematics. Further Mathematics is preferred. If you are studying both subjects then A* can be in either subject.

International applications

In addition to A level and International Baccalaureate, UCL considers a wide range of international qualifications for entry to its undergraduate degree programmes.

Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates

UCL Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates (UPCs) are intensive one-year foundation courses for international students of high academic potential who are aiming to gain access to undergraduate degree programmes at UCL and other top UK universities.

Typical UPC students will be high achievers in a 12-year school system which does not meet the standard required for direct entry to UCL.

For more information see: www.ucl.ac.uk/upc.

English language requirements

If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency. Information about the evidence required, acceptable qualifications and test providers can be found on our English language requirements page.

The English language level for this programme is: Good

A variety of English language programmes are offered at the UCL Centre for Languages & International Education.

Degree benefits

The department offers a friendly and supportive atmosphere, where small-group teaching and personal attention are available for all students.

Teaching is enhanced by the varied research interests of our academic staff; from the foundations of the subject to applications of statistics in science, medicine, industry, economics and finance.

https://www.the-essays.com/apa-style-essay is accredited by the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) enabling you to be granted Graduate Statistician (GradStat) status if you achieve second-class honours or above and choose at least 50% of your year two and three modules in statistics.

Our graduates are highly sought after in such areas as finance, commerce, industry, research, education and government, while many go on to successfully complete a Master’s or PhD programme.

Accreditation

This programme is accredited by the Royal Statistical Society. On application to the Royal Statistical Society, graduates are awarded Graduate Statistician (GradStat) status, providing formal recognition of a member's statistical qualifications, subject to achieving second class honours or above, and at least 50% of your year two and three modules are in statistics. Please note: current accreditation extends until 2017/18. We are applying to retain it for eligible students who enrol from 2018/19 onwards.

Degree structure

In each year of your degree you will take a number of individual modules, normally valued at 15 or 30 credits, adding up to a total of 120 credits for the year. Modules are assessed in the academic year in which they are taken. The balance of compulsory and optional modules varies from programme to programme and year to year. A 30-credit module is considered equivalent to 15 credits in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

This is a joint degree programme taught by UCL Statistical Science and the UCL School of Management.

You will take roughly half your modules in statistics and mathematics; the other half will consist of modules in management, accountancy, finance and (optionally) economics. While the first and second years provide a solid foundation in statistics, mathematics and management, a wide range of options is available in the third year, allowing you to give more weight to either the statistics or the business component.

An indicative guide to the structure of this programme, year by year.

Core or compulsory module(s)

Communication and Behaviour in Organisations Information Management for Business Intelligence Introduction to Practical Statistics Introduction to Probability and Statistics Further Probability and Statistics Mathematics for Students of Economics, Statistics and Related Disciplines I Mathematics for Students of Economics, Statistics and Related Disciplines II Understanding Management

Optional modules

All first year modules are compulsory.

Core or compulsory module(s)

Accounting for Business Business in a Competitive Environment Linear Models and the Analysis of Variance Mathematics for Students of Economics, Statistics and Related Disciplines III Probability and Inference

Plus Managerial Accounting for Decision Making and/or Mastering Entrepreneurship

Optional modules

You will select between 0.5 and 1.0 credits from a wide range of optional modules. Options may include:

Business in the Digital Age Computing for Practical Statistics Innovation Management International Business Introduction To Applied Probability Introduction to Marketing Law for Managers Organisational Change Social Statistics

Core or compulsory module(s)

Strategic Project Management Strategic Human Resource Management

Optional modules

You will select 3.0 credits from a wide range of optional modules.

Your learning

We employ a variety of teaching methods which includes lectures, small-group tutorials, problem classes and computer workshops and e-learning. Lecturers have regular 'office hours' during which you are welcome to come and ask questions about the programme material.

Assessment

Most modules are examined at the end of the academic year in which they are taken using a combination of end-of-year examinations and in-course assessment. Prizes may be awarded to the most outstanding students in the first, second and third year.

Further Information

Detailed course descriptions are available on the department website: Statistics and Management for Business BSc.

Together with subject-specific knowledge, the programme is designed to equip you with skills valued by employers including: advanced numeracy and quantitative skills, analytical and problem-solving skills, and computing skills. You will also develop your research skills, communication skills and word processing skills through statistical project work.

The demand for graduates with training in statistical science is now a permanent feature in both advanced and developing countries for jobs in finance, commerce, industry, research, education and government. Graduates from this department are well-represented in all these fields, in this country and overseas, and recent graduates have continued to be successful in obtaining a wide variety of jobs.

Popular career choices of previous graduates include the financial sector, training in the actuarial or accountancy professions and jobs in industry and commerce. Postgraduate study, for example in advanced statistics, medical statistics, actuarial science, finance or economics, provides further options.

Destinations

First career destinations of recent graduates (2013-2015) of this programme at UCL include:

Full-time student, MA in Statistics at the University of Oxford

Full-time student, MSc in Risk Management at Imperial College London

Audit Associate, KPMG and studying ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant), The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW)

Private Banker, Citi Bank

Full-time student, MSc in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at LSE (The London School of Economics and Political Science)

Data taken from the 'Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education' survey undertaken by HESA looking at the destinations of UK and EU students in the 2013-2015 graduating cohorts six months after graduation.

UCL is commited to helping you get the best start after graduation. Read more about how UCL Careers and UCL Innovation and Enterprise can help you find employment or learn about entrepreneurship.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

The fees indicated are for undergraduate entry in the 2018/19 academic year. The UK/EU fees shown are for the first year of the programme at UCL only. Fees for future years may be subject to an inflationary increase. The Overseas fees shown are the fees that will be charged to 2018/19 entrants for each year of study on the programme, unless otherwise indicated below.

UK/EU students £9,250 (2018/19) Overseas students £23,390 (2018/19)

Overseas fees for the 2019/20 academic year are expected to be available in July 2018. Undergraduate UK/EU fees are capped by the UK Government and are expected to be available in October 2018. Full details of UCL's tuition fees, tuition fee policy and potential increases to fees can be found on the UCL Students website.

Various funding options are available, including student loans, scholarships and bursaries. UK students whose household income falls below a certain level may also be eligible for a non-repayable bursary or for certain scholarships. Please see the Fees and funding pages for more details.

The department offers an undergraduate scholarship, the EJ Gumbel Scholarship.

Departmental scholarships

The scholarships listed below are for 2018 entry. Funding opportunities for students applying for 2019 entry will be published when they are available.

The Scholarships and Funding website lists scholarships and funding schemes available to UCL students. These may be open to all students, or restricted to specific nationalities, regions or academic department.

Application and next steps

Your application

When we receive your application we will consider your academic record, your predicted grades, your personal statement and your reference. Your application should demonstrate high academic ability, particularly in mathematics, an informed interest in all the components of your chosen degree programme and good communication skills. Attendance at an open day may be required; in special cases, candidates may be interviewed.

How to apply

Application for admission should be made through UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). Applicants currently at school or college will be provided with advice on the process; however, applicants who have left school or who are based outside the United Kingdom may obtain information directly from UCAS.

Application deadline: 15 January 2019

We will decide whether to invite you to an applicant open day on the basis of our assessment of your application. Your visit will include an opportunity to meet staff and current undergraduates, a tour of UCL, a taster lecture and introductory talks about the department and degree programmes.

For further information on UCL's selection process see: Selection of students.

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energysolutions · 7 years ago

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News story: Government appoints new members to Competition and Markets Authority Panel has been published on Energy Solutions News

New Post has been published on http://www.energybrokers.co.uk/news/beis/news-story-government-appoints-new-members-to-competition-and-markets-authority-panel

News story: Government appoints new members to Competition and Markets Authority Panel

The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. The non-ministerial department has responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries, as well as enforcing competition and consumer law.

Members are appointed to the CMA panel for up to 8 years. In this role they will join independent groups to make decisions on markets and mergers issues on behalf of the CMA.

They are appointed through open competition for their experience, ability and diversity of skills in competition economics, law, finance, business and consumer issues.

Margot James, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility, said:

The Competition and Markets Authority is absolutely vital in ensuring that the British economy remains a level playing field for everyone.

I want to congratulate these new members on their appointment, and I look forward to working alongside them to create a fair and balanced business environment.

Notes to editors

The new panel members appointed by the Secretary of State are:

Humphrey Battcock

Humphrey has been with Advent International, one of the world’s leading private equity firms, since 1994; he recently stepped down from its 5-man global Executive Committee and chair of the European Investment Advisory Committee. His appointment as a panel member commences in April 2018.

Gareth Davies

Since 2011 Gareth has been an independent consultant on telecoms and postal regulation. He was previously Director of Competition Policy at OFCOM between 2004 and 2011. His appointment as a panel member commences in April 2018.

Richard Feasey

Richard has been a lecturer and consultant since 2013. He previously was Director of Group Public Policy at Vodafone Group PLC between March 2001 and July 2013. His appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Anne Fletcher

Anne has held a number of senior legal and compliance roles including Group General Counsel for BT plc and Compliance Director for Royal Mail. She has extensive UK and international legal, governance, risk and compliance experience. Anne has been a Member of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Office of the Public Guardian since 2015. Her appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Roland Green

Roland has been the Senior Director of Policy and Deputy General Counsel at the CMA from 2014 to 2017 and was the Senior Legal Adviser to the Competition Commission from 2010. From 1986 to 2010 he worked as a public lawyer advising various government departments, having previously practised as a solicitor with Linklaters and Russell-Cooke. His appointment as a panel member commences in July 2018.

Susan Hankey

Susan was a partner in the competition team of law firm CMS Cameron McKenna from 1998 to 2015, and worked in the Brussels office of Cameron Markby Hewitt from 1992 to 1995. Her appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Ulrike Hotopp

Ulrike is director at LIVE Economics ltd, an independent economic consultancy. She has been Honorary Professor at the University of Kent since 2014. Ulrike is also Advisory Board Member at the Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management (SBM) since 2014. Her appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Sheila McClelland

Sheila has been the Chair of Consumer Council for Northern Ireland (NI) from April 2015 to present and an Interim Director for the Council for Curriculum Examination and Assessment (CCEA) from May 2015 to present. She has also been a NI Committee Member for the Heritage Lottery Fund from April 2015 to present. Her appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Stuart McIntosh

Stuart is currently a Member of the Competition Decisions Committee at the Financial Conduct Authority (since 2015) and a Member of the Competition and Enforcement Decisions Committee at the Payment Systems Regulator (also since 2015). He is also a Member of the Regulatory Decisions Committee at the FCA (since 2016) and a Member of the Enforcement Decisions Panel at OFGEM (since 2016). He is a Member of the Advisory Board of ManSat (since 2015). His appointment as a panel member will commence in October 2017.

Paul Muysert

Paul is currently at the Competition Economists Group, London, where he is a Senior Adviser. He was previously with OFCOM between 2014 and 2015 and Charles River Associates between 2011 and 2014. His appointment as a panel member will commence in April 2018.

Jeremy Newman

Jeremy has a number of ongoing appointments including: Chair of The Workforce Development Trust (previously known as Skills for Health and Justice), non-executive board member of the Crown Prosecution Service, lead non-executive and Deputy Chair of the Government Legal Department. His appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Keith Richards

Keith has been qualified as a barrister for over 30 years and is an arbitrator and accredited mediator. He has been Chair of the Disabled Person Transport Advisory Committee since 2014, Chair of the CAA consumer panel since 2012, and Chair of the Renewable Energy Consumer Codes Non-Compliance panel since 2016. He has also been a Member of the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee since 2014, and a Non-Executive Director at ECPAT UK since 2010. His appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

John Thanassoulis

John is the Professor of Financial Economics at Warwick Business School (WBS), University Of Warwick, and prior to his joining the CMA panel was the Associate Dean for Executive Education at WBS. John is also a CEPR Research Fellow. Between 2012 and 2013 John was Non-Executive Director of Oxford Investment Partners (OXIP). Between 2004 and 2013 John was a Tenured University Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford and he was the Heyman-Moritz Official Student (Fellow) of Economics at Christ Church. His appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Mark Thatcher

Mark is currently the Professor of Comparative and International Politics, in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and he has held this position since 2008. He has researched and published on competition and regulation in the UK, the EU and European countries. His appointment as a panel member commences in April 2018.

David Thomas

David has an MA in Economics and is a chartered accountant. In September 2016 he retired as a UK partner in KPMG where he founded and led its global economics and regulation practice. Prior to joining KPMG in 2006, he was Director of Competition and Regulatory Finance at Ofcom and from 1984 to 2003 was with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has 33 years of experience in the communications sector, the last 10 of which have focused on providing regulatory advice in numerous countries and acting as an independent expert in regulatory and commercial disputes on both quantum and liability. Since retiring from KPMG he continues to consult to a range of clients outside the UK. His appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

Claire Whyley

Claire is a professional researcher and policy analyst, focusing on consumer behaviour and decision-making, consumer protection and consumer-focused regulation. Claire holds a number of non-executive roles including the Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Panel, the Advertising Advisory Committee, the Finance and Leasing Association Lending Code Board, the H7 Consumer Challenge Panel, the Office of Rail and Road Consumer Expert Panel and the Board of the Money Advice Trust. She was previously Senior Research Fellow at the Personal Finance Research Centre, Head of Research and Policy at the Welsh Consumer Council and Deputy Director of Policy at the National Consumer Council. Her appointment as a panel member commences in October 2017.

#BEIS

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workreveal-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Cuts to public financial aid making it harder than ever to get a college degree

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/cuts-to-public-financial-aid-making-it-harder-than-ever-to-get-a-college-degree/

Cuts to public financial aid making it harder than ever to get a college degree

He echoed that warning in comments accompanying HSBC’s worse-than-expected outcomes the day before this, pointing to “uncertainties dealing with the United Kingdom and the European as they input Brexit negotiations”.

HSBC will put in force its contingency plan – to move 1,000 roles from London to Paris – “step by step over the next years” but American, Swiss and Jap funding banks won’t have as a great deal time due to the manner they’re dependent. Many rely on their operations in London to carrier their Ecu clients and are making ready to open substitute offices and observe to neighbourhood regulators for brand new banking licences to ensure they can keep presenting finance to major clients after the UK leaves the unmarried marketplace.

All firms need to make a few variations to the way they operate, regardless of the length of any transition period, but Metropolis sources stated the volume to which enterprise leaves the UK will depend upon what deal Theresa May’s authorities strikes.

Flint said there had been the popularity of a want for a transition period. “If one of the approaches of warding off damage is making sure a proper implementation section that must be in anyone’s interest”.

“The factor of no return is probably 9 to one year away,” said one senior student investment banker in London. “The handiest aspect we might recognise via public then is whether an implementation segment is viable. However, I’m very sceptical they can deliver on it [in time], so we can move past the factor of no go back.”

public

A record using accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers for a pan-Eu lobby organisation has warned that some banks can not wait for long. It says: “Readability will handiest emerge on the negotiation outcomes at some stage in the negotiation length following article 50 notification, with reality best at its end, so those banks want to start implementation earlier than having certainty over the eventual Brexit final results.”

Such warnings are being exceeded to the authorities by way of some of the top financiers, lots of whom agree with the Metropolis’s early attention on task losses has obscured the greater essential venture of persuading Europe that it faces doubtlessly catastrophic dangers of its own if London’s position as an economic centre is damaged.

“The big question of what being out of doors the single market [for financial regulation] without a doubt way is still unresolved,” said Sir Howard Davies, the chairman of Royal Financial institution of Scotland and a former deputy governor of the Bank of Britain. “How ways, even if you’re outdoor the single marketplace, are you able to retain equivalence … or do you appear as a third use; all of that … tedious kind of detail … continues to be to play for.

“The extent to which we get equivalence will depend upon the volume to which we will bring home the argument that now not agreeing on an inexpensive diploma of equivalence among London and the rest of the European is without a doubt going to be disruptive to Europe’s capital markets and damage the capacity of Eu businesses to elevate budget. That’s in which the contemporary battleground is.”

Bankers are expecting that the talks will begin badly. They worry that off-coloration feedback by using ministers together with Boris Johnson are inflicting particular offence in the Eu and provoke belligerent rhetoric over the size of any “divorce settlement” – a particular reason for concern within the run-up to triggering article 50.

Davies, who spends a part of his time as a professor at the Sciences Po university in Paris, stated: “There surely is a risk of a disorderly Brexit if it will become politically very ugly. I’m barely nerve-racking approximately the fact that what I hear after I move over to the alternative facet of the Channel is all they are specialising in is the size of the [settlement] bill, and that appears to me no longer especially nicely understood within the debate right here.

“If it becomes very acrimonious you in no way recognise how the outcomes go with the flow. Human beings Might also start to make decisions which are economically irrational, and what you need is for each facet to say, ‘Appearance, we will have our rhetoric but what genuinely makes feel for both aspects?’ My worry is irrationality, and irrationality generated using a mismatch of expectancies, while the technique starts of evolved.”

Although most business leaders have welcomed May also’s recent speech promising to try to cosy a generous unfastened exchange agreement with the EU, many continue to be sceptical that it may be carried out in the face of such rancour and competing interests.

Instead, they worry a “crash landing” that leaves most effective Global Trade Enterprise rules in place.

In an interview rapidly before May additionally’s speech, Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI, advised: “We had been truly clean, and I stay apparently fresh that an exit into WTO [rules] on the stroke of nighttime without the proper planning and guidance in place would be very severe for the UK financial system. We assume an abrupt in a single day flow into WTO [rules] have to be excluded. It isn’t always an ideological argument; it’s far a practical one.”

“while the high minister starts to say ‘no deal is better than a horrific deal’ this is deeply stressful,” stated one investment banker.

Across the United States, proud dad and mum are looking their children, mortarboards firmly connected to their heads, stride onto a degree to gather their university diplomas.

Commencement is the praise – eventually – for an investment which could cost an average of everywhere from $36,000 to $one hundred forty-four,000 and depart the student and their households are struggling with debt that might take decades to pay down. That’s mainly proper if the newly minted graduate has a difficult time locating work or finally ends up in a poorly paid however nonetheless beneficial discipline, along with coaching or social paintings.

students

But the one’s students selecting up their diplomas are the lucky ones. Others are thinking how and whether they’ll ever control to do so, given the way that country authorities organisations are slashing assist for better schooling, both at once or in a roundabout way.

Superficially, at least, it appears as if the outlook for the instructions of 2017, 2018 and their successors is improving barely. The yearly Grapevine survey carried out by the Middle for the Observe of schooling Coverage at Illinois kingdom university and the country higher education Officials (SHEEO) located that forty-one out of 48 states said increases in funding for higher training (ranging from 1.1% to 32.1%) in 2015 over 2014, at the same time as universal investment rose 4.1%. A student loan is also an option. College and university admission fees are tough for some kids, so they can’t opt in for best schools with college or university or campus college school names.

American families are still selecting up miles extra proportion of the fee of the tuition bill at public faculties and schools than they used to. These institutions, the cheapest option for plenty, now educate approximately 70% of all students who pass on to a few form of post-secondary education. While the economic crisis hit in 2008, an ordinary pupil could anticipate footing the bill for about 35.eight% of the value of a university schooling; the Grapevine Look at notes. Nowadays, it’s 46.5% – and that’s the lowest level we’ve seen given that 2011. That’s why cut to public financial aid making it harder than ever to get a college degree. Student finance is too much too! And here comes college loans for students or student loans for college.

At one country after any other, budget issues or finances disputes have left better schooling stuck within the crosshairs. And it’s the students who can least afford to pay or three times as lots what it expenses to attend a public organisation in their state to attend a non-public university who’ve the most at stake. A few households Can also have a look at the disputes and shrug, announcing they’ll ensure their kids practice out of state, where budget wrangles aren’t a trouble – despite the fact that that, too, will pressure up call for places in public faculties in states in which higher training isn’t (yet) below as a good deal financial strain, inevitably squeezing out a few in-country students who will find themselves with few other alternatives. Others gained have the economic resources to go out of the country, an awful lot less the luxurious of deliberating attending a private university, regardless of presents or scholarships easing some of the manners.

The poster child for what could well grow to be a worsening crisis is Chicago nation University, a one hundred fifty-year-antique organization on the south facet of Chicago that caters to a typical college students: older individuals, seeking to go back to high school and accumulate a university diploma, many of them having left to have a toddler. Haunted by the latest records of financial mismanagement, with no endowment funded through wealthy and thankful alumni over the generations, it becomes a precarious economic function even earlier than the Illinois university stopped funding all of the kingdom’s fifty-seven public schools and network faculties.

college

The scholars who attend the one’s institutions – lots of them from center-elegance and working-elegance families, and contributors of minority businesses who depend upon state want-based presents to wait for Illinois public colleges – are the sufferers of a dispute among the kingdom’s Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, and the Democratic-managed legislature. The two aspects can’t agree on a budget, and without one the state can’t release finances to other entities, together with colleges. For Chicago kingdom, that has intended doing without 30% of its $105m annual budget because of last July.

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universallycrownpirate · 8 years ago

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Carsten Kengeter (* 31. März 1967 in Heilbronn) ist ein deutscher Manager. Er ist Vorstandsvorsitzender der Deutsche Börse AG.

Seine Berufstätigkeit begann er 1992 im Kreditderivate-Handel bei Barclays de Zoete Wedd Ltd. in London. Von 1997 bis 2008 war er Managing Director und Partner bei Goldman Sachs. Er war dort sowohl Co-Head der Securities Division für Asien (ex Japan) als auch Co-Head European Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities. 2008 wechselte er als Co-Head Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities zur UBS, wo er von 2009 bis 2012 Mitglied des Group Executive Board sowie Chairman und CEO der UBS Investment Bank war. Seit 2013 ist Kengeter Gastprofessor im Department of Finance an der London School of Economics and Political Science.

Seit April 2015 ist Kengeter Vorstandsmitglied der Deutsche Börse AG, seit April 2015 Vorstandsvorsitzender. Er gehört den Führungsgremien mehrerer internationaler Organisationen an, etwa der China Europe International Exchange AG und der b-to-v Partner AG. Darüber hinaus ist er Chairman of the Supervisory Board der Circuitus Capital LLP, Director der FNZ Group Ltd. sowie Mitglied des Beirats der Financial Markets Group, des Systemic Risk Centre der London School of Economics and Political Science und Mitglied des Fixed Income Currencies Commodities Markets Standards Board.

Im Februar 2017 wurden Ermittlungen der Staatsanwaltschaft Frankfurt am Main wegen Insiderhandels gegen Kengeter bekannt. Dabei geht es um den Kauf von 60.000 Aktien im Wert von insgesamt 4,5 Millionen Euro, die Kengeter zwei Monate vor der Ankündigung der geplanten Fusion mit der Londoner Börse gekauft hatte. Der Aufsichtsratschef Joachim Faber stellte sich hinter Kengeter und bezeichnete die Vorwürfe als haltlos.

Die Deutsche Börse AG ist eine deutsche Aktiengesellschaft mit Sitz in Frankfurt am Main. Kerngeschäft ist die Entwicklung und der Betrieb von Handelsplattformen, Teilnehmernetzwerken und Abwicklungssystemen für Börsen. Sie ist zudem Träger der öffentlich-rechtlichen Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse und mit ihren eigenen Aktien selbst im DAX gelistet.

London Stock Exchange Group (2016)

Am 23. Februar 2016 kündigte die Deutsche Börse an, einen „Zusammenschluss unter Gleichen“ mit der London Stock Exchange Group zu planen. Die Aktionäre der London Stock Exchange Group erhalten für jede Aktie 0,4421 Aktien der neuen fusionierten Gesellschaft, während die Aktionäre der Deutschen Börse ihre Aktien eins zu eins tauschen können. Am Ende sollen die Aktionäre der Deutschen Börse 54,4 % der Anteile an der neuen Gesellschaft halten, die Aktionäre der London Stock Exchange die restlichen 45,6 %.

Von dem Zusammenschluss versprechen sich beide Unternehmen Kosteneinsparungen in Höhe von 450 Millionen Euro (354 Millionen Pfund Sterling) jährlich, was etwa 20 Prozent der aktuellen Gesamtbetriebskosten beider Unternehmen zusammengenommen entspräche. Beide Börsen meldeten die geplante Fusion am 25. August 2016 bei der EU-Kommission an.

Gründung 1992 Sitz Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland Leitung Carsten Kengeter, Vorstandsvorsitzender Joachim Faber, Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender

Mitarbeiter 5.283 (31. Dez. 2015) Umsatz 2.367 Mio. Euro (2015) Branche Börsen Website deutsche-boerse.com

Die Gruppe Deutsche Börse beschäftigt an 22 Standorten in weltweit 16 Ländern mehr als 4500 Mitarbeiter. Sie betreibt die Handelsplätze Xetra und Börse Frankfurt im Kassamarkt-Geschäftsbereich Deutsche Börse Cash Market und mit Eurex eine der größten Terminbörsen der Welt.

Außerdem ist das Unternehmen seit 2002 Alleineigentümer des internationalen Wertpapierabwicklers Clearstream zur Abwicklung, Verwaltung und Verwahrung von Wertpapieren.

Die Entwicklung und Bereitstellung technischer Dienste wie Softwareentwicklung, Bereitstellung und Betrieb von Computern und Netzwerken, Bereitstellung und Betrieb des Teilnehmernetzwerks übernimmt die Deutsche Börse IT.

Im Segment Market Data + Services stellt die Deutsche Börse Wertpapierkurse in Echtzeit sowie Informationsprodukte wie Aktienindizes und Referenzdaten (Stamm- und Termindaten zu Wertpapieren) zur Verfügung.

Zum 31. Dezember 2012 wurden an der Börse Frankfurt über 990.000 Finanzinstrumente gehandelt.

Die Deutsche Börse übernahm im November 2009 den US-Finanznachrichtendienst Need to Know News. Need to Know News ist hundertprozentige Tochtergesellschaft des Unternehmens Market News International Inc. (MNI), dieses wurde im Juli 2016 von der Deutsche Börse AG an Hale Global veräußert.

Im Juli 2015 kauft die Deutsche Börse die Devisenplattform 360T für 725 Millionen Euro und erwarb außerdem alle Anteile (100 %) des Gemeinschaftsunternehmens STOXX AG für einen Kaufpreis von CHF 650 Mio. von der SIX Group.