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Monday newspaper round-up: Wind farms, interest rates, FCA

(Sharecast News) - More than 20 leading social scientists have warned the UK's biggest investment companies and pension funds that allowing US-style executive pay packages could "create a significant risk of higher inequality" and "much worse lower levels of happiness, health and wellbeing across society". The academics said they had decided to speak out as an increasing number of British business leaders and the London Stock Exchange have argued for much higher pay awards to improve the UK's competitiveness. - Guardian The UK's "expensive, cramped and ageing" housing stock fares poorly compared with other advanced countries, analysis by a thinktank suggests. Households are paying more than other countries - but getting less in return, the Resolution Foundation said. - Guardian

Wind farm owners are being investigated by the energy watchdog for alleged market manipulation after they were accused of overcharging consumers by £100m. Ofgem is to examine claims that renewable energy companies artificially inflated compensation payments given to them for switching off their turbines on windy days when the grid did not need extra capacity. - Telegraph

The Bank of England will slash interest rates to 3pc by the end of next year in a boost for millions of mortgage borrowers as inflation drops sharply, senior economists at KPMG have said. Inflation is set to fall below the Bank's 2pc target in the coming months as energy bills tumble. - Telegraph

The Financial Conduct Authority hired a chief internal auditor who does not have audit qualifications after advertising the role for only five working days, leading to claims that the recruitment process had been rigged in favour of an internal candidate. The appointment of Robin Jones, who has spent more than two decades working at the City regulator, has been greeted with surprise and anger in the internal audit profession. - The Times

The owner of Ryman and Robert Dyas has joined other British retailers in calling for a clampdown on a tax loophole exploited by Chinese retail giants such as Temu and Shein. Theo Paphitis, who also owns the lingerie seller Boux Avenue, said there was a "big slug" of companies avoiding customs bills in the UK by shipping individual orders directly from countries such as China. "Worse than that, the companies benefiting from it are not British companies," the former Dragons' Den TV show panellist said. "The government is not plugging loopholes. It's becoming absolutely clear that the emperor has no clothes on." - The Times

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(Sharecast News) - California's home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims. All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 - more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for "total losses". - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - An increasingly complex tax system is burdening the government and businesses with hundreds of millions of pounds more in administration costs, Whitehall's spending watchdog has warned. The report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also said "poor levels of service" meant some taxpayers and their representatives were "finding it more difficult to deal with their tax matters and are losing trust in HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC]". - Guardian

Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

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