Monday newspaper round-up: Starling Bank, US debt, airline tickets

(Sharecast News) - The UK government is being pressed to wipe billions from the energy costs facing households and heavy industry by reforming the high taxes levied on electricity bills. These policy levies mean the UK pays some of the highest energy bills in the world, and are simultaneously disadvantaging British industry and stifling the efforts of households to transition to lower-carbon heating systems, according to industry trade groups. - Guardian Starling Bank has handed its staff an almost fivefold increase in bonus pay despite an embarrassing regulatory fine and losses on government-backed Covid loans that the digital lender has blamed on its own weak controls. The digital-only challenger bank paid out £24.6m in bonuses for the 2024-25 financial year, compared with £5.3m a year earlier. - Guardian

Rachel Reeves's tax raid on farmers will cost the Treasury almost £2bn, analysis has found, despite Treasury claims that it could boost the public purse by as much as £1.8bn. Inheritance tax reforms due to come into force next April will cause family businesses to slash investment and jobs and lead to a slowdown in the economy, according to independent consultants at CBI Economics. - Telegraph

The US will never default on its debts, Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary has claimed, as he sought to downplay growing concerns over the state of the country's public finances. Scott Bessent told CBS news on Sunday that the US was "on the warning track" but insisted it would not run out of cash despite approaching the so-called debt ceiling - the legal limit that the US government is permitted to borrow. - Telegraph

The cryptocurrency market has moved closer to shedding its Wild West image after one of Britain's biggest online trading firms set out plans to allow retail clients to deal directly in digital assets. IG Group said it would become the first UK-listed company to enable retail investors in Britain to buy and sell individual tokens including bitcoin and ethereum when it starts a new service this week. - The Times

Airline ticket prices will come down as the cost of jet fuel falls, according to the boss of an airline industry body. Kerosene has been falling in price as the cost of crude comes down. Willie Walsh, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), told Bloomberg: "It's typically our single biggest cost so it would help to offset any weakening demand if we were to witness a slowdown. It also tends to have an impact on pricing. There's almost a direct correlation between the price of oil and the price of airline tickets." - The Times