Friday newspaper round-up: Tax evasion, M&S, BoE

The richest 0.01% of households, involving those with more than £31m assets, evade paying 30% of their taxes on average, according to an academic study of tax evasion based on data revealed in the Panama Papers and the leaks concerning the HSBC Swiss private bank. Economists, who matched people named in the leaks with public wealth records, found that “the probability to hide assets rises very sharply with wealth”. The paper found that the super-rich evaded more than 10 times as much of their due taxes as the wider population, which on average evaded 2%. – Guardian

Marks & Spencer has pledged to raise £25m for mental health, heart and cancer charities, and halve food waste across its operations by 2025, as it steps up its ethical commitments under its new chief executive, Steve Rowe.Rowe, who took charge of M&S just over a year ago, said the fashion, food and homewares retailer was also “determined to play a leading role” in social change by supporting community projects in 10 cities, including Rochdale, Glasgow, Liverpool and Middlesbrough. – Guardian

Theresa May has pledged to work with the Square Mile to forge a good deal for the financial services community during the Brexit negotiations if she is re-elected as Prime Minister. In an interview ahead of next Thursday’s general election, Mrs May said she wanted to work with major banks and other City firms to ensure that “we can maintain the City as the important presence that it is not just in relation to the UK but in relation to capital markets and financial services internationally.” – Telegraph

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein criticised the United States' decision to withdraw from the Paris climate deal in his first message on Twitter since joining the platform six years ago. Today's decision is a setback for the environment and for the US's leadership position in the world," Blankfein said, adding the hashtag "ParisAgreement." - Telegraph

Britain may be back in the European Union in little more than five years if the common market radically reinvents itself, George Soros, the billionaire financier who once beat the Bank of England, has speculated. he EU is “dysfunctional” and faces an existential crisis of which Brexit is a symptom. It will either perish or “transform itself into an organisation that other countries like Britain would want to join”, he said. If the EU is willing to reinvent itself “the two sides may want to be reunited even before the divorce is completed”. At the heart of the crisis in Brussels is the tension between the eurozone and other EU members, several of whom never intend to join the single currency, Mr Soros, 86, argued. The goal of creating “an ever closer union . . . needs to be abandoned”. – The Times

The Bank of England’s failure to keep a lid on inflation may end up leaving it not just red-faced but with an administrative headache as staff stage their first strike on record at the Threadneedle Street headquarters. Members of the Unite union working in the Bank’s reception, maintenance and facilities operations are being balloted on whether to walk out over their sub-inflation pay awards. – The Times