Monday newspaper round-up: HSBC, CGT, Asda
HSBC is recruiting hundreds of bankers to serve rich clients in the UK as it looks to head off growing competition from British rivals and take a larger slice of the wealth management market. Europe’s biggest bank is hoping to fortify the UK arm of its wealth and private banking operations by bulking up its team of relationship managers, who offer bespoke services and advice to rich clients in exchange for lucrative fees. – Guardian
The UK is missing out on billions of pounds of revenue each year from small retail businesses that exploit weaknesses in government systems to evade paying tax, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO), which monitors tax and spending by the government, said the trail of tax debts left by small retailers was widespread and increasing every year. – Guardian
Rachel Reeves has been urged to start charging capital gains tax on second homes and businesses after their owners die. Scrapping relief that wipes out capital gains tax charges on death would simultaneously drive economic growth and raise £2bn a year for the Treasury as the Chancellor scrambles to fill a £22bn budget black hole, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). – Telegraph
Almost 2m self-employed workers face a pensions crisis unless they urgently start to save more, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. Just 500,000 self-employed people earning more than £10,000 a year are paying into a pension at all, according to the IFS, with 1.8m failing to do so. It represents a collapse in savings rates over the past 25 years. Back in 1998, almost two-thirds of the self-employed saved into a pension. – Telegraph
Britain’s third largest supermarket chain has launched one of the biggest workplace saving schemes in the UK for its 150,000 retail workers. Asda has partnered with Wagestream, the financial benefits company, to offer its workers a 4.7 per cent AER (annual equivalent rate) workplace savings account, which is protected under the Financial Services compensation Scheme. – The Times