General Motors Fined $35m For Recall Delay

The US government has fined General Motors the maximum $35m (£21m) for delayed recalls of vehicles with faulty ignition switches.

Thirteen people died in crashes linked to the problem, the company says, but lawsuits put the actual death toll at 53. 

GM has admitted it knew about the problem for more than a decade.

But it did not recall the vehicles until this year, even though car-makers are supposed to report safety defects within five days of discovery.

A deadly Chevy Cobalt crash in 2006 could be linked to the faulty switch

The Justice Department is investigating GM's delayed recall of 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other cars.

The Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also looking into the scandal.

But that agency has itself been criticised for failing to act on reports it received in 2007 and 2010 about the faulty switches.

The defective part was prone to turning off, causing the engine to shut down and disabling the air bags.

A grieving mother watches GM's boss testify at Capitol Hill in April

The Detroit-based firm first spotted the problem during pre-production in 2001.

However, it was not until February 2014 that it instigated a recall.

GM engineers held meetings about the issue in 2005, but decided against a fix because it would take too long and cost too much money.

The switch plunger lacked pressure to stop it accidentally turning off

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a news conference on Friday: "Literally silence can kill.

"GM did not act and did not alert us in a timely manner. What GM did was break the law." 

The fine amounts to less than a day's revenue for the car-maker, which made $37.4bn (£22.2bn) in the first quarter.

Mr Foxx is urging Congress to pass legislation that would raise the fine against GM to $300m (£178m).

As part of its agreement with the US government, GM has also acceded to government oversight on safety issues.

In a statement confirming the agreement, GM chief executive Mary Barra said: "GM's ultimate goal is to create an exemplary process and produce the safest cars for our customers - they deserve no less."

She appeared before Congress in April and offered her "sincere apologies" for the scandal.

On Thursday, General Motors said it had issued five more recalls, covering about 2.7 million vehicles in the US, mostly for tail lamp malfunctions.

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Co-Op Vote On 'Slimmed-Down' Restructure

The future of the struggling Co-op group is to be decided today as radical reforms are voted on at its annual general meeting.

Former City minister Lord Myners has proposed a major shake-up of the 150-year-old business which reported losses of £2.5bn for 2013.

But Lord Myners fears that traditionalists within the organisation are "still stuck in denial" about its problems and will not support the plans.

These include sweeping away the existing 20-strong board of representatives from the co-operative movement, who currently include an engineer, a plasterer and a retired deputy head teacher.

He wants to replace this with a slimmed-down "plc and beyond" structure staffed by professionally-trained directors.

Lord Myners has said the Co-op is 'not fit for purpose'

The former Marks & Spencer chairman was appointed a director of the Co-operative Group in December but has announced he is to leave following this weekend's vote.

He has said it was apparent to him from the first time he attended a board meeting that not one of its members had the ability to address the complex issues faced by a group burdened with £1.4bn of debt.

Lord Myners believes that the Co-op will survive but faces the prospect of having to sell assets such as its £1bn funeral care business, in order to meet the demands of its lending banks, if it does not adopt reform.

Resistance to the changes saw chief executive Euan Sutherland leave the group earlier this year saying it was ungovernable.

This weekend's ballot will be decided by representatives of its independent societies and affiliated organisations - who hold 22% of the vote - and others voting on behalf of its regional membership boards making up the remaining 78%.

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Dixons And Carphone Warehouse Merger Agreed

Dixons Carphone Eyes The World Of Future Tech

Updated: 11:53am UK, Thursday 15 May 2014

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

It all sounds pretty retro.

The new company to be formed by the merger of Dixons and Carphone Warehouse will be called Dixons Carphone - very 1980s.

And one of its businesses is PC World - which feels slightly more recent, but is still about as dated as an episode of Friends.

But the £3.7bn merger could be the future of how we buy technology in the UK.

And it's all about internet-enabled toasters.

Let me explain.

For some time now, technologists have been prophesying the "internet of things".

This is the quasi-nirvana whereby physical objects in the real world - including toasters, but also cars, thermostats, washing machines, front doors - all become part of the network of networks that is the internet.

These devices all talk to each other, machine-to-machine, and are all controllable digitally - from the web, your smartphone or Google Glass. (The Sonos home music player, built into ceilings but controlled from your smartphone, is an existing example of this.)

According to research firm Gartner, 26 billion "things" will join the internet by 2016.

Tom Coates' house is what the internet of things looks like in the real world. A British designer working in San Francisco, he has installed sensors around his home - and given his house a Twitter account, @houseofcoates.

Weighing scales, light switches and thermostat all chip in, resulting in tweets like: "Tom just weighed himself. I'm going to leave it up to him to tell you if it's good news though."

The house is a playful first step towards an internet of things. It's easy to imagine where to goes next: lawn sprinklers which turn on if the house detects it has been days without rainfall, toasters that start toasting when your morning alarm goes off, lights that turn off when you're not in the room - or the weighing scales to go online and order healthier food if Mr Coates' weight increased too much. Then beyond.

Mr Coates is an early adopter. Recently he wrote: "For me the most important change is the move from Internet of Things concept cars and interaction design experiments, to a new world where the things we're building are simply, cleanly useful."

He cites Nest - the smart thermostat and alarm maker recently bought by Google - as an example of this.

At tech show CES this year, Samsung also showed off smart fridges and washing machines.

And this is where Dixons Carphone comes in. After all, you need somewhere to buy all this gear.

Carphone Warehouse has long excelled at reinventing itself with each wave of mobile technology, from carphones through mobiles, smartphones, tablets and the wearables to come.

The next stage is the integration of these mobile devices with the household - the territory of Currys and PC World.

The new company will be able to offer not just standalone products, but integrated, personalised systems.

It might help with some of the more complex installations in your house.

Rather than catching up with new consumer tech habits, Dixons Carphone is looking to get ahead of them.

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Dixons Carphone Merger Is Boardroom Challenge

Dixons Carphone Eyes The World Of Future Tech

Updated: 11:53am UK, Thursday 15 May 2014

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

It all sounds pretty retro.

The new company to be formed by the merger of Dixons and Carphone Warehouse will be called Dixons Carphone - very 1980s.

And one of its businesses is PC World - which feels slightly more recent, but is still about as dated as an episode of Friends.

But the £3.7bn merger could be the future of how we buy technology in the UK.

And it's all about internet-enabled toasters.

Let me explain.

For some time now, technologists have been prophesying the "internet of things".

This is the quasi-nirvana whereby physical objects in the real world - including toasters, but also cars, thermostats, washing machines, front doors - all become part of the network of networks that is the internet.

These devices all talk to each other, machine-to-machine, and are all controllable digitally - from the web, your smartphone or Google Glass. (The Sonos home music player, built into ceilings but controlled from your smartphone, is an existing example of this.)

According to research firm Gartner, 26 billion "things" will join the internet by 2016.

Tom Coates' house is what the internet of things looks like in the real world. A British designer working in San Francisco, he has installed sensors around his home - and given his house a Twitter account, @houseofcoates.

Weighing scales, light switches and thermostat all chip in, resulting in tweets like: "Tom just weighed himself. I'm going to leave it up to him to tell you if it's good news though."

The house is a playful first step towards an internet of things. It's easy to imagine where to goes next: lawn sprinklers which turn on if the house detects it has been days without rainfall, toasters that start toasting when your morning alarm goes off, lights that turn off when you're not in the room - or the weighing scales to go online and order healthier food if Mr Coates' weight increased too much. Then beyond.

Mr Coates is an early adopter. Recently he wrote: "For me the most important change is the move from Internet of Things concept cars and interaction design experiments, to a new world where the things we're building are simply, cleanly useful."

He cites Nest - the smart thermostat and alarm maker recently bought by Google - as an example of this.

At tech show CES this year, Samsung also showed off smart fridges and washing machines.

And this is where Dixons Carphone comes in. After all, you need somewhere to buy all this gear.

Carphone Warehouse has long excelled at reinventing itself with each wave of mobile technology, from carphones through mobiles, smartphones, tablets and the wearables to come.

The next stage is the integration of these mobile devices with the household - the territory of Currys and PC World.

The new company will be able to offer not just standalone products, but integrated, personalised systems.

It might help with some of the more complex installations in your house.

Rather than catching up with new consumer tech habits, Dixons Carphone is looking to get ahead of them.

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Banks Warn Regulator On 'Illegal' Bonus Rules

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

New rules that would force bankers to wait more than a decade to get their hands on bonuses would breach "the principle of natural justice" and leave lenders exposed to costly legal challenges, a trade body has warned.

In a document obtained by Sky News, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) argued that plans to apply clawback provisions retrospectively would be illegal in Brazil, France, Germany and Mexico, countries in which UK-based lenders such as HSBC have a substantial presence.

The BoE's proposals would force banks to reclaim variable compensation from senior employees for up to six years after it has been handed over and spent.

Critics argue that they would amount to the toughest regime in the world for governing bank pay and would go well beyond the remit recommended by last year's Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, the BBA said.

The PRA already has the power to force firms to cancel unvested bonuses through a system known as malus.

The body's submission to the BoE's Prudential Regulation Authority, which has been consulting on clawback since March, added that even in the UK, where they would not technically be illegal, they would still be subject to challenge.

"Whilst [it] may be legally possible the actual ability to enforce clawback will be dependent on the decision of a court to enforce clawback clauses in employment contracts.

"For instance it could be argued that such repayment provisions are unenforceable on legal grounds because they are a 'penalty clause'; and/or a restraint on trade; and/or counter to the doctrine on forfeiture," the BBA said.

The BBA said that courts may not be willing to enforce the new rules where an employee had only been "tenuously involved" in wrongdoing, or where the reclamation of bonuses was the result of a broader failure of risk management at a bank.

In such cases, it added, the costs of legal challenges could exceed the value of the bonuses which banks were attempting to claw back.

"For this reason we think a de minimis amount should be established, probably by the firm but subject to the PRA's agreement, below which clawback should not be sought," the BBA said.

The UK also risked exacerbating the perception of an "unlevel playing field" between British banks and their international counterparts, increasing the likelihood that star performers would defect.

"Claw-back and indeed malus are not practices that are prevalent in many markets and there is little prospect of other regulators in, say, Asia adopting claw-back provisions" the document said.

To reduce disparities, the regulator should amend its plans to start the 'clawback clock' ticking at the point at which bonuses are awarded, rather than the point at which they vest.

Some lenders have five-year deferral periods for variable pay, meaning that under the new rules recipients would not be sure that the money could not be taken from them for eleven years.

The BoE consultation process closed earlier this week, and will lead to the publication of  during the next few months.

Both the BBA and the BoE declined to comment.

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Interest Rate To Remain Low For 'Some Time'

Affordability Gap: Figures In Detail

Updated: 11:45pm UK, Tuesday 13 May 2014

The 10 most affordable and least affordable areas to buy a property in England and Wales.

They are listed by their affordability gap - the ratio between average house prices and average earnings of locals in each area.

The first figure is the average house price in that area, the next is the average local earnings, and the third is the affordability gap - calculated by dividing the first figure by the second...

Top Ten    

Kensington and Chelsea £935,000 £42,957  21.8  

Westminster £748,500   £38,355  19.5  

Camden £595,000   £37,372  15.9  

Hammersmith and Fulham £550,000 £34,778  15.8

Islington £450,100 £34,876  12.9 

Elmbridge £444,500 £36,161  12.3 

Wandsworth £450,000   £36,618  12.3 

Richmond upon Thames £475,000   £38,860  12.2 

Hackney £378,500   £31,023  12.2 

Brent £340,000  £27,950  12.2 

Bottom Ten   

Wigan £105,000   £25,589  4.1

Neath Port Talbot £93,750   £23,462  4.0

Stoke-on-Trent £88,000   £22,620  3.9

Merthyr Tydfil £86,000   £22,396  3.8   

Rhondda, Cynon, Taff £93,000   £24,872  3.7

Pendle £85,000   £22,932  3.7

Barrow-in-Furness £92,500   £27,794  3.3

Blaenau Gwent £70,000   £21,034  3.3

Copeland £115,000   £35,105  3.3

Burnley £71,500   £24,612  2.9 

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Property Boom Leaves Many Unable To Buy

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

The proportion of English and Welsh homes selling for over £1m has more than doubled during the Great Recession, in the latest evidence of the property market boom.

In London a record 7% of all home sales listed by the Land Registry in the year to March were for £1m or more - a sharp increase from the 3% level when Britain slid into recession in 2008.

Overall, the number of homes sold for £1m or more over the past year has surpassed 10,000 for the first time - with just over 11,000 £1m sales in the year to March.

This compares to around 9,000 at the peak of the pre-crisis boom.

Sky News analysis has also uncovered the affordability gap between different local authorities has reached unprecedented levels, driven up by a combination of high house prices and falling real wages.

Darker areas show the higher house price to earnings ratios in England

The numbers come as the Bank of England prepares to deliver its quarterly Inflation Report, at which it is expected to signal growing consternation about the property boom.

With the economy recovering faster than many had expected and house prices pushing ever higher, the Bank is widely expected to lift interest rates within a year - and may add further checks on housing market lending as early as next month.

Across the country as a whole, some 1.4% of homes sold in the past year went for £1m or over, another record, and more than double the 0.7% at the beginning of 2008.

Analysts said even these Land Registry figures may understate the extent of the £1m-plus property market, since they exclude many properties bought through corporate vehicles.

The vast majority of these sales - 7,692 of the 11,341 properties sold for £1m or over in England and Wales over the past year - were in London.

However, because wages have not kept pace with rising house prices, the capacity of families to afford bricks and mortar has diminished.

Although one closely-watched measure of housing affordability - house prices vs earnings - remains below its pre-crisis peak, it has risen to unprecedented levels in London.

In Kensington & Chelsea, average property prices hit 22 times the average earnings of local residents last year - a doubling in the past decade.

They are also at 20 times earnings in Westminster, and 12 times earnings in inner London as a whole.

By contrast, prices in Burnley remain 2.9 times the average earnings in the local area, down sharply from the 4 times earnings peak reached in 2007.

The statistics, which are derived from Land Registry and Office for National Statistics data, illustrate the scale of differences in house price performance throughout the country.

Although London boroughs dominate the top of the unaffordability rankings, there are exceptions.

For some tenants, the prospect of buying a property is ever less likely

Elmbridge in Surrey is Britain's sixth most unaffordable district, with prices 12.3 times local earnings.

Sitting at ninth and tenth in the rankings are Hackney and Brent, where although absolute prices are lower than many other parts of the capital, local earnings are also comparatively lower.

The upshot is that for many of those renting in such areas, the prospect of buying a property is becoming ever less likely.

The most affordable homes are primarily in Wales and in northern parts of England.

The figures underline the suspicion among economists that although ever less affordable house prices pose a serious social threat, they are not yet widespread enough to prompt a broad-based economic crisis in the UK.

The Bank has warned that, left unchecked, this could yet be a risk.

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British GSK Executive Accused Of China Bribery

A British executive of GlaxoSmithKline's China unit has been accused of bribery.

Chinese investigators claim Mark Reilly ordered his salespeople to bribe doctors and hospital officials to use the company's products.

A statement released by police in the central city of Changsha said that resulted in "illegal revenue" of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Mr Reilly and two Chinese executives have also been accused of bribing government officials in Beijing and Shanghai.

More follows...

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City Star Woodford To Meet Pfizer Boss Read

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The City's most prominent fund manager will meet the boss of Pfizer this week for talks about the US pharmaceuticals giant's proposed £63bn takeover of AstraZeneca.

Sky News has learnt that Neil Woodford, an influential figure in the Square Mile, is to meet Ian Read, Pfizer's chief executive, just days after expressing scepticism about the potential deal.

Mr Woodford, who launched his investment management business this month after leaving Invesco Perpetual, may prove to be a key figure in Pfizer's battle to win control of AstraZeneca despite managing only a small stake in the British-based drug-maker.

"A cashing-out exercise is no use to me - there isn't another AstraZeneca out there," he said last week.

He also questioned the legitimacy of Pfizer's pledge to base at least 20% of a merged group's research and development staff in the UK.

Mr Woodford said that and other commitments were "not set in stone" or legally-binding, an assertion contradicted on Monday by Pfizer, whose best-known products include Viagra.

On Tuesday, Mr Read will appear before MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, when he is likely to face hostile questioning about the motivation for his interest in AstraZeneca.

Anders Borg, Sweden's finance minister, told Sky News on Monday that Pfizer's track record with major takeovers was a cause for concern.

"Our experience is rather bad when it comes to Pfizer," he said.

"AstraZeneca has been a well-functioning alliance between the UK and Sweden, it is a major exporter and taxpayer and a very important part of our life science business," he said.

"It is clear that we are worried [given] Pfizer's long history of taking over companies. In Sweden they gave the impression that they had a commitment to life sciences but a couple of years later the business had shrunk.

"In the long run it is a clear risk that they will cut back on research and development and jobs in the UK and Sweden."

Mr Read will also meet other leading AstraZeneca investors during his visit to the UK this week, many of which have backed the rejection of Pfizer's latest £50-a-share proposal.

The value of that offer fluctuates depending upon Pfizer's own share price, meaning that a further offer is likely to need to be pitched significantly higher if it is to convince AstraZeneca shareholders to sell.

The British company's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, and Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, will also give evidence to MPs on Tuesday.

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Pfizer Chief Questioned Over AstraZeneca Jobs

Pfizer's chief executive is to be questioned by MPs later about the US drugs company's commitments to UK jobs as part of its £63bn takeover plan for AstraZeneca.

Ian Read has questioned the British drugmaker's ability to stand alone for much longer and said the planned merger would create a "UK-based scientific powerhouse".

He said Pfizer's agreement to complete AstraZeneca's new research centre in Cambridge and put a fifth of its research staff in Britain if the deal goes ahead were legally binding.

In a written statement ahead of his appearance before the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Pfizer took a swipe at AstraZeneca's go-it-alone strategy by arguing it lacked the financial muscle to make the most of its experimental medicines.

"Looming patent expiries and near-term revenue losses jeopardise its ability to deliver on its very promising pipeline," it said.

If the deal goes ahead, it would be the largest foreign takeover of a British firm.

Critics claim the Viagra maker's pledges are worthless, and are calling on the Government to stop any deal.

AstraZeneca has rejected the offer as "inadequate".

The offer is reviving bitter memories of when American food giant Kraft abandoned jobs pledges after buying Cadbury in 2010.

The GMB and Unite unions are calling on Business Secretary Vince Cable to block the proposed takeover.

"Assurances given by Pfizer ... are worthless. If this takeover is allowed it will be a serious blow to the UK's science economy," said GMB national officer Allan Black.

MPs will also question Mr Cable and AstraZeneca's CEO Pascal Soriot.

A second parliamentary committee on Wednesday will question both CEOs again, along with Science Minister David Willetts.

Meanwhile, Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman has learnt Neil Woodford, the City's most prominent fund manager, will meet Mr Read this week for talks about the proposed takeover.

Mr Woodford may prove to be a key figure in Pfizer's battle to win control of AstraZeneca despite managing only a small stake in the British-based drug-maker.

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'Zombie Bank Accounts Cost Savers £4bn A Year'

Savers are losing more than £4bn a year by having their money in poor-paying accounts, according to consumer group Which?

The group found more than a third of accounts closed to new customers, dubbed 'zombie accounts', paid 0.5% interest or less.

This compares with the best-paying Isa savings accounts which offer up to 2.75%.

Three-quarters of people surveyed thought banks did not do enough to help savers get a good deal.

Which? also found more than a third of people had not switched their main savings account because they did not think it would make a difference.

The group's analysis suggested there was a difference of £4.3bn a year between the amount savers would have received if they were all paid the average interest rate and the amount they would have received if they all had money in a top-paying account.

According to Which?, 82% of the 1,999 easy access savings accounts and cash Isas on the market in March were zombie accounts.

Nearly four in 10 (39%) of those accounts paid 0.5% interest or less and 16% paid 0.1% or less.

Which? said the savings market could be "confusing", with some accounts paying very different rates of interest despite having similar names.

It wants banks to move people's money into one default easy access or Isa account at the end of fixed terms.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "With many savers never switching because they don't think it will make a difference, savings providers should do more to help their customers get the best deal.

"They need to be clear about interest rates, let people know when bonus rates come to an end and make it easier for people to switch Isas."

Andrea Leadsom, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said: "The Chancellor announced a number of measures to help and support savers, notably increasing the cash Isa limit to £15,000, at this year's Budget.

"These changes will give savers more flexibility and choice."

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Billionaire Britain: New Nation Of Super-Rich

Top 25 Billionaires In Britain

Updated: 12:54am UK, Sunday 11 May 2014

The top 25 names on the 2014 Sunday Times Rich List, including their total fortune and the change from last year.

1. Sri and Gopi Hinduja, £11.9bn, up £1.3bn

2. Alisher Usmanov, £10.65bn, down £2.65bn

3. Lakshmi Mittal and family, £10.25bn, up £250m

4. Len Blavatnik, £10bn, down £1bn

5. Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli, £9.75bn, up £2.35bn

6. John Fredriksen and family, £9.25bn, up £450m

7. David and Simon Reuben, £9bn, up £719m

8. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing, £8.8bn, up £3.691bn

9. Roman Abramovich, £8.52bn, down £780m

10. The Duke of Westminster, £8.5bn, up £700m

11. Galen, Hilary and George Weston and family, £7.3bn, up £650m

12. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho, £6.365bn, down £635m

13. Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber and family, £6.16bn, up £1.645bn

14. Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family, £6.14bn, new

15. German Khan, £6.08bn, new

16. Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, £6bn, up £3.65bn

17. Hans Rausing and family, £5.9bn, up £1.18bn

18. Nicky Oppenheimer and family, £4.57bn, up £785m

19. Earl Cadogan and family, £4.2bn, up £525m

20. Joseph Lau and family, £4.03bn, down £570m

21. Sir Philip and Lady Green £3.88bn, no change

22. Denis O'Brien, £3.854bn, up £486m

23. Mike Ashley, £3.75bn, up £1.45bn

24. Sir Richard Branson and family, £3.6bn, up £86m

25. Idan Ofer, £3.43bn, new

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'Zombie Bank Accounts Cost Savers £4bn A Year'

Savers are losing more than £4bn pounds a year by having their money in poor-paying accounts, according to consumer group Which?

The group found more than a third of accounts closed to new customers, dubbed 'zombie accounts', paid 0.5% interest or less.

This compares with the best-paying Isa savings accounts which offer up to 2.75%.

Three-quarters of people surveyed thought banks did not do enough to help savers get a good deal.

Which? also found more than a third of people had not switched their main savings account because they did not think it would make a difference.

The group's analysis suggested there was a difference of £4.3bn a year between the amount savers would have received if they were all paid the average interest rate and the amount they would have received if they all had money in a top-paying account.

According to Which?, 82% of the 1,999 easy access savings accounts and cash Isas on the market in March were zombie accounts.

Nearly four in 10 (39%) of those accounts paid 0.5% interest or less and 16% paid 0.1% or less.

Which? said the savings market could be "confusing", with some accounts paying very different rates of interest despite having similar names.

It wants banks to move people's money into one default easy access or Isa account at the end of fixed terms.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "With many savers never switching because they don't think it will make a difference, savings providers should do more to help their customers get the best deal.

"They need to be clear about interest rates, let people know when bonus rates come to an end and make it easier for people to switch Isas."

Andrea Leadsom, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said: "The Chancellor announced a number of measures to help and support savers, notably increasing the cash Isa limit to £15,000, at this year's Budget.

"These changes will give savers more flexibility and choice."

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Billionaire Britain: Rise Of The Super-Rich

Top 25 Billionaires In Britain

Updated: 12:54am UK, Sunday 11 May 2014

The top 25 names on the 2014 Sunday Times Rich List, including their total fortune and the change from last year.

1. Sri and Gopi Hinduja, £11.9bn, up £1.3bn

2. Alisher Usmanov, £10.65bn, down £2.65bn

3. Lakshmi Mittal and family, £10.25bn, up £250m

4. Len Blavatnik, £10bn, down £1bn

5. Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli, £9.75bn, up £2.35bn

6. John Fredriksen and family, £9.25bn, up £450m

7. David and Simon Reuben, £9bn, up £719m

8. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing, £8.8bn, up £3.691bn

9. Roman Abramovich, £8.52bn, down £780m

10. The Duke of Westminster, £8.5bn, up £700m

11. Galen, Hilary and George Weston and family, £7.3bn, up £650m

12. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho, £6.365bn, down £635m

13. Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber and family, £6.16bn, up £1.645bn

14. Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family, £6.14bn, new

15. German Khan, £6.08bn, new

16. Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, £6bn, up £3.65bn

17. Hans Rausing and family, £5.9bn, up £1.18bn

18. Nicky Oppenheimer and family, £4.57bn, up £785m

19. Earl Cadogan and family, £4.2bn, up £525m

20. Joseph Lau and family, £4.03bn, down £570m

21. Sir Philip and Lady Green £3.88bn, no change

22. Denis O'Brien, £3.854bn, up £486m

23. Mike Ashley, £3.75bn, up £1.45bn

24. Sir Richard Branson and family, £3.6bn, up £86m

25. Idan Ofer, £3.43bn, new

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