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HSBC Chief: 'Swiss Bank Claims Are Painful'

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 14 Februari 2015 | 11.46

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Revelations about tax-dodging activities facilitated by the private wealth arm of HSBC have been painful and frustrating, the bank's chief executive told staff on Friday as he conceded that it had failed to meet the standards expected of it.

In a memo to more than 250,000 employees around the world and seen by Sky News, Stuart Gulliver said the media firestorm surrounding the operations of its Swiss private bank had obscured an overhaul of the group's compliance and financial crime-fighting efforts.

"You have been working tirelessly and with great dedication to build a stronger HSBC with fully global businesses and functions, rigorous controls and the highest global standards, all underpinned by a clear strategy to serve our millions of loyal customers," Mr Gulliver wrote.

"I share your frustration that the media focus on historical events makes it harder for people to see the efforts we have made to put things right.

"But we must acknowledge we sometimes failed to live up to the standards the societies we serve rightly expected from us."

In his first remarks to the bank's workforce since the scandal re-emerged this week, Mr Gulliver said that HSBC's Swiss private bank had been "completely overhauled" since 2008, when a whistleblower, Herve Falciani, stole data relating to tens of thousands of accounts and passed it to French authorities.

The disclosure of the identities of some of those account-holders has sparked an international outcry, ensnaring a number of prominent political donors in the UK.

While many of the accounts were held legally, the details of tax-evading assistance given to wealthy customers by HSBC's Swiss private bank has raised the prospect of new investigations by regulators in the UK, US and elsewhere.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is also facing scrutiny over the dearth of successful prosecutions of HSBC customers found to have evaded taxes, while David Cameron has been urged to disclose whether he knew about the scale of the issue when he appointed Lord Green, the bank's chairman, as his trade minister in 2010.

In his memo to staff, Mr Gulliver said that media coverage had focused on 140 prominent names, "the vast majority" of whom were no longer clients of the bank.

One had ceased to be a client as long ago as 1991, he added, while 105 others were no longer with the bank.

Mr Gulliver, who took over at the helm of HSBC in 2011 after a stint running its investment banking operations, said that at its peak, the Swiss private bank had had roughly 25,000 clients - far fewer than the 100,000 mentioned in some reports.

The HSBC chief, who has had to secure a number of gruelling regulatory settlements since taking over, insisted that his new management team had "fundamentally changed the way HSBC is run, with much tighter central control".

"HSBC has been putting in place tough, world-class financial crime, regulatory compliance and tax transparency standards, enforced by a compliance team of over 7,000 people, more than two times the number we had in 2011," he wrote.

The number of clients at its Swiss private bank had been reduced by nearly 70%, Mr Gulliver added.

He said that HSBC "strongly supports government initiatives to exchange tax information".

"We implemented FATCA, the US tax information disclosure regime, in 2014, and we are implementing the new global regime, the Common Reporting Standard, which is supported by 98 countries and comes into force from 2016."

The HSBC chief added that the bank had "absolutely no appetite to do business with clients who are evading their taxes or who fail to meet our financial crime compliance or other standards".

Mr Gulliver said that along with HSBC's chairman, Douglas Flint, he had been asked to give evidence to a parliamentary committee, although he did not provide further details in the memo.

"We welcome the opportunity to explain everything we are doing to build the HSBC we all want to work for," he wrote.

"I would like to reiterate my thanks to all of you for your dedication and hard work."


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Is Apple Building Top Secret Electric Car?

Is Apple Building Top Secret Electric Car?

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Apple is moving into the automotive industry by designing an electric car, according to reports.

A team of 1,000 has been assembled by the company to build the vehicle, which the Wall Street Journal says "resembles a minivan".

The newspaper reports it could take several years for "Project Titan" to reach the production stage.

Apple may not even end up producing a car at all, the paper writes.

Instead it could use any prototype to test other mobility technologies it is working on, such as CarPlay, which integrates your phone with the dashboard.

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  1. Gallery: A Legacy: Apple Products Timeline

    The Apple II was the first computer that Apple made in large numbers. It was released in 1977

The Macintosh was released in 1984 and was the first mass-produced personal computer to feature a mouse

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The Mac Portable was Apple's first laptop computer. It was released in 1989

]]>

The iBook was released in 1999 in two colours, orange and blue, with these colours added a year later

]]>

This redesigned G3 Power Mac was released in 1999

]]>
Is Apple Building Top Secret Electric Car?

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Apple is moving into the automotive industry by designing an electric car, according to reports.

A team of 1,000 has been assembled by the company to build the vehicle, which the Wall Street Journal says "resembles a minivan".

The newspaper reports it could take several years for "Project Titan" to reach the production stage.

Apple may not even end up producing a car at all, the paper writes.

Instead it could use any prototype to test other mobility technologies it is working on, such as CarPlay, which integrates your phone with the dashboard.

1/24

  1. Gallery: A Legacy: Apple Products Timeline

    The Apple II was the first computer that Apple made in large numbers. It was released in 1977

The Macintosh was released in 1984 and was the first mass-produced personal computer to feature a mouse

]]>

The Mac Portable was Apple's first laptop computer. It was released in 1989

]]>

The iBook was released in 1999 in two colours, orange and blue, with these colours added a year later

]]>

This redesigned G3 Power Mac was released in 1999

]]>

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Bank Whistleblower: I Tipped Off Taxmen In 2008

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 13 Februari 2015 | 11.46

By Faisal Islam, Political Editor

Herve Falciani, the man who exposed a tax scandal at HSBC by leaking thousands of account details from a Geneva branch, says he first raised concerns about suspect practices at the bank seven years ago.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Falciani claims to have emailed and called Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in 2008 - though he said the full processed data was only given to UK authorities in 2010.

Mr Falciani initially obtained the details while employed as an IT worker in 2007 and passed them to French authorities.

The details of 30,000 accounts - holding almost £78bn in assets - have been revealed after they were obtained by a French newspaper and analysed by a team of investigative journalists.

They accused HSBC's Swiss banking arm of helping wealthy customers avoid tax and hide millions of dollars, and providing accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen, politicians and celebrities.

Senior politicians and HM Revenue & Customs have been accused of failing to act over the claims that HSBC helped clients dodge taxes.

And a furious blame game is under way between the Tories and Labour.

Mr Falciani said: "I sent an email, a very naive email, in 2008... to England - to the department dedicated to tax evasion - and afterwards I even called them.

"And finally the most efficient move was through the French authorities because when we accepted to work together it was established and agreed that what we were doing should be available to any countries having co-operation treaties signed with France."

The date of this offer is an important part of the scandal impacting British politics.

HSBC now admits problems in controls and compliance in the period before 2008.

Mr Falciani said he was "relieved" that it had made the admission, something he had suggested for years.

So this raises questions on all sides.

Firstly, the problems on compliance and control occurred at a time when Lord Green was chief executive and then chairman of Britain's biggest bank.

He was then made a lord, trade minister, and appointed to a Cabinet committee on post-crisis banking reform by the Prime Minister - after HMRC had received a full account of thousands of Britons suspected of avoiding taxes with HSBC's help.

However, Mr Falciani confirms he first tried to contact HMRC in 2008, at a time when Labour was in office.

The picture painted by Mr Falciani is of a Britain reluctant to delve into illegally obtained data that nonetheless contains revelations about personal and corporate conduct.

He said he was used to being ignored by authorities that should have wanted to know more.

"Never did British tax authorities, Parliament nor Government invite me... right now the British investigators received just a tiny part of the available information on HSBC. Just 1%."

His actions were the ultimate source of the data that has caused political havoc in Greece, Spain, India, France, Belgium and now the UK.

He says he is glad that another French source handed the full data to Le Monde newspaper, who then passed it on to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

"We hope it would increase public awareness of offshore banking, which is out of control," he said. "We have proof in front of us."

Mr Falciani is now advising political parties such as Podemos in Spain and the Indian government on how to combat tax avoidance by their richest citizens.

He said he would be delighted to come to Britain, but fears arrest by Interpol on account of a Swiss extradition warrant.

He was arrested in Spain because of the warrant, but his extradition was blocked on account of the help his data had given to Spanish tax and judicial authorities, after he appeared, disguised, at a tribunal.


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Bank Will Act If Weak Inflation Persists

The governor of the Bank of England has said interest rates could be cut further and asset purchases expanded if negative inflation gives way to "bad" deflation.

Outlining the Bank's quarterly Inflation Report, Mark Carney said it was "more likely than not" that the core consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation would turn negative in the spring.

However, he insisted that falling prices should be short-lived and that the UK was not expected to experience a damaging spiral into deflation - a more entrenched period of negative price growth.

Mr Carney welcomed weak inflation in the short term, saying that falling commodity costs, particularly oil, provided a boost in spending power to UK households and most businesses.

CPI, which follows the price changes on a range of goods in the economy, currently stands at a joint-record low of 0.5% but has been falling steadily in the past few months given the halving in Brent crude prices.

The latest projections in the report suggested CPI would average around zero in the second and third quarters this year before starting to climb towards the end of 2015.

Mr Carney said the Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) would need to provide "more support" should negative inflation prove more persistent.

He said the Bank could decide to expand its £375bn quantitative easing (QE) programme to bolster money supply or cut its Bank rate further towards zero from its current level of 0.5%.

It has been at that level for 71 months as the UK economy recovers from the effects of the world financial crisis.

Fears of a spiral into deflation are more real in the eurozone where the European Central Bank is set to introduce its first QE programme from March with bond purchases expected to total €1.1tn (£815bn).

Mr Carney stressed to reporters that low inflation was not the "main story" as the Bank also upgraded forecasts for wages and economic growth in the coming years.

He reiterated that the next change in monetary policy was likely to be a rise in interest rates - something financial markets are not forecasting until mid-2016.

But he conceded that a Greek exit from the eurozone would change the outlook for the UK.


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Tory Peer Says Miliband Tax Claim 'Defamatory'

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 12 Februari 2015 | 11.46

A Conservative Party treasurer has hit back at a suggestion by Labour leader Ed Miliband that he was involved in "tax avoidance activities".

During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Miliband accused Lord Fink of seeking to avoid paying taxes by holding a Swiss bank account.

But the Tory peer has written a letter to the Labour chief, saying the claim was "untrue and defamatory".

He challenged Mr Miliband to repeat the allegation outside the Commons, where he would not be protected from legal action by parliamentary privilege, or withdraw it publicly.

Meanwhile, the man who lifted the lid on the HSBC tax scandal has told Sky News he first raised concerns about suspect practices at the bank in 2008 - two years earlier than previously thought.

In an exclusive interview, Herve Falciani said he emailed and called Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs seven years ago.

The claims came as David Cameron was challenged to reveal whether he discussed tax evasion at HSBC with Lord Green, the bank's former boss who was subsequently appointed a Tory minister.

There were fierce clashes at PMQs amid revelations that wealthy donors to political parties were among those who legally held accounts with HSBC's private Swiss bank.

Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron was a "dodgy prime minister" who was "up to his neck" in the HSBC tax avoidance scandal - but the PM hit back, claiming his rival had relied on trade union cash to win the Labour leadership.

The Guardian has published a list of nine Conservative donors who it said were listed in files relating to clients of HSBC's Swiss subsidiary.

The newspaper stated that the accounts were held legally for a wide variety of reasons, and made no allegation of wrongdoing against those listed.

Mr Miliband told the Commons that on the list was Lord Fink, who gave £3m to the Conservatives and was appointed party treasurer and given a peerage by Mr Cameron.

Lord Fink said he had a Swiss bank account because he was working for the Man Group in the country for four years from 1996 to 2000.

"During this time I had need of a local bank account to do simple things like receive my Swiss franc salary and pay grocery bills," he said.

"As I already banked with HSBC in London, I set up an account with HSBC. I subsequently set up an account with Credit Suisse as they had a branch much closer to my home and office.

"I submitted tax returns in both Switzerland and Britain showing my revised tax status, which was accepted by the Inland Revenue.

"The only way I have ever sought to depress my income tax liability is by giving a lot of my income to charity."

Mr Miliband claimed that the PM must have talked to Lord Green about HSBC as a coalition minister issued a press release in 2011 referring to the investigation into HSBC's Geneva account holders.

The Opposition leader said: "Do you expect us to believe that in Stephen Green's three years as a minister you never had a conversation with him about what was happening at HSBC?"

Mr Cameron said the Tories had a far better record than Labour on tax avoidance - introducing measures to stop hedge funds dodging levies, make foreigners pay stamp duty and tax all bank profits.

Labour MP Sharon Hodgson asked Mr Cameron directly whether he had conversations about HSBC tax avoidance with Lord Green, adding: "If not, why not?"

The Prime Minister said "every proper process was followed" when Lord Green was made a minister in 2011.

He said: "I consulted the Cabinet Secretary, I consulted the director for propriety and ethics, and of course the House of Lords appointments commission now looks at someone's individual tax affairs before giving them a peerage.

"I made the appointment, it was welcomed by Labour, and three years later they were still holding meetings with him."

Mr Cameron pointed out that Lord Green was the head of Labour PM Gordon Brown's business advisory council and was invited on a trade mission by the party in 2013 - three years after the HSBC revelations first surfaced.

During PMQs, Mr Miliband said: "You gave a job to the head of HSBC and you let the tax avoiders get away with it.

"There's something rotten at the heart of the Conservative Party and it's you."

Mr Cameron replied: "For 13 years they sat in the Treasury, they did nothing about tax transparency, nothing about tax dodging, nothing about tax avoidance.

"This government has been tougher than any previous government. That's why they are desperate, that's why they are losing."

The PM pointed out that Labour donor Lord Paul was also caught up in the revelations.


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Whistleblower: Offshore Banking 'Out Of Control'

By Faisal Islam, Political Editor

The man who leaked tens of thousands of account details from HSBC's Geneva branch has told Sky News that he first contacted HMRC by email and by telephone in 2008.

However, Herve Falciani said the full processed data was only given to UK authorities in 2010.

"I sent a naive email in 2008 [to HMRC] and afterwards I called them and finally the most efficient move was when authorities made available to any countries with tax treaties with France," he said.

The date of this offer is an important part of the scandal impacting British politics.

HSBC now admits problems in controls and compliance in the period before 2008.

Mr Falciani said he was "relieved" that it had made the admission, something he has suggested for years.

So this raises questions on all sides.

Firstly the problems on compliance and control occurred at a time when Lord Green was chief executive and then chairman of Britain's biggest bank.

He was then made a lord, trade minister, and appointed to a Cabinet committee on post-crisis banking reform by the Prime Minister, after HMRC had received a full account of thousands of Britons suspected of avoiding taxes with HSBC's help.

However, Mr Falciani confirms he first tried to contact HMRC in 2008, at a time when Labour was in office.

The picture painted by Mr Falciani is of a Britain reluctant to delve into illegally obtained data that nonetheless contains revelations about personal and corporate conduct.

He said he was used to being ignored by authorities that should have wanted to know more.

"Never did British tax authorities, Parliament nor Government invite me ... right now the British investigators received just a tiny part of the available information on HSBC. Just 1%."

His actions were the ultimate source of the data that has caused political havoc in Greece, Spain, India, France, Belgium and now the UK.

He says he is glad that another French source handed the full data to Le Monde newspaper, who then passed it on to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

"We hope it would increase public awareness of offshore banking which is out of control ... We have proof in front of us".

Mr Falciani is now advising political parties such as Podemos in Spain and the Indian government on how to combat tax avoidance by their richest citizens.

He said he would be delighted to come to Britain, but fears arrest by Interpol on account of a Swiss extradition warrant.

He was arrested in Spain because of the warrant, but his extradition was blocked on account of the help his data had given to Spanish tax and judicial authorities, after he appeared, disguised, at a tribunal.


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PM Hails Business As 'Country's Job Engine'

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 11 Februari 2015 | 11.46

David Cameron has hailed business as "the country's job engine" as he unveiled plans to help expanding firms through the financial "valley of death".

The Prime Minister said a Tory Government would launch a financing scheme to help the country's 500 fastest growing companies.

Mr Cameron made the pledge during a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference where he outlined a series of steps taken by the Government, which he said had helped support business.

And he warned companies had reason "to fear the alternative" in a sideswipe at the opposition, which has faced claims of being anti-business.

The PM argued a Labour government would mean "more borrowing, more debt, higher interest rates, a loss of confidence in Britain".

In an apparent move to spike opposition accusations of a "cost of living crisis", Mr Cameron also called on business leaders to pass on the benefits of economic growth and low oil prices to staff.

He said economic success should be reflected in the contents of workers' pay packets.

"Put simply - it's time Britain had a pay rise," the PM told the conference.

Unions have dismissed his call as "pre-election mood music".

But Mr Cameron rejected criticism that he was pressing for private firms to increase wages while limiting public sector pay.

He said: "Within the public sector we have actually seen quite a lot of pay increases through progression, through people taking on new skills and talking on new tasks.

"And we have seen that take place, for instance in the NHS, so that people have had pay rises, in many cases year on year."

Outlining Conservative plans for the so-called Help To Grow scheme, Mr Cameron said the Business Bank has identified a £1bn-a-year finance gap preventing businesses from expanding.

The initiative would help firms span this "valley of death" funding gap, he added.

A pilot scheme will be launched at the upcoming pre-election Budget using £100m from the British Investment Bank.

Mr Cameron also announced that if the Conservatives win the May poll, they would increase from 50% to two-thirds the proportion of business rates that can be kept by local councils, aimed at encouraging them to support commercial development.

He told the business audience this would be "a further big incentive to get councils on your side and get Britain building".

In Nick Clegg's speech to the conference, he urged businesses to smash the glass ceiling for women and called for a million more female workers in employment by 2020.

The Deputy Prime Minister told the audience: "If we are to stand a chance of smashing that glass ceiling we need British business to hold the hammer.

"If we can unlock the talents of women, British business will boom."


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Sky Wins Majority Of Premier League Matches

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent

Sky has won the rights to show 126 live Premier League matches per season for three years from 2016-17 after winning the rights to five packages of games.

The broadcaster, which owns Sky News, won the rights to games kicking off at 12.30pm on Saturdays, 28 games on Sunday at 1.30pm and 28 at 4pm.

A further 28 matches split between Monday and for the first time Friday evenings, and 14 games divided between Bank Holidays and Sundays, were also part of the packages.

The Sky matches are part of a record-breaking broadcast deal that will see Premier League clubs receive a record revenue of £5.136bn, a 70% increase on the current deal.

After an intensely competitive auction that went to two rounds of closed bids, Sky and BT agreed to pay the equivalent of £10m per game for the right to screen live matches over three seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

The deal represents a £2.118bn increase on the £3.018bn Sky and BT agreed to pay for their current three-year rights deal, which expires at the end of next season.

Jeremy Darroch, Sky's Group Chief Executive, said: "This is a good result and confirms that Sky is the unrivalled choice for sports fans.

"We went into the Premier League auction with a clear objective and are pleased to have secured the rights that we wanted.

"Our strong performance across the board gives us financial strength and flexibility. We have a clear plan to absorb the cost of the new Premier League deal while delivering our financial plans."

Under the new deal Sky will pay £4.176bn to show 126 games each season. The remaining rights, which include Saturday evening and midweek matches, were secured by BT for £960m.

Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, welcomed the deal.

He said: "It is an endorsement of what the Barclays Premier League delivers that these broadcast partnerships have been extended and enhanced today.

"We are grateful for the continued belief that Sky Sports and BT Sport have in the Premier League and our clubs, both as a sporting competition and organisations to work with."

The broadcasters were competing to buy the rights to 168 games a season, divided in seven packages of matches including various kick-off slots Friday evening and the right for broadcaster to have first or second choices of matches.

There were five packages of 28 games and two of 14 games each, with no broadcaster able to purchase more than 126 games.

The record-breaking deal means the Premier League is now the second most valuable sporting competition in the world, with only the NFL generating more revenue from broadcast contracts.

The deal emphasises the popularity of the Premier League and the power of its brand.

The competition has seen a huge increase in the value of its rights since it was founded in 1992, when Sky paid £191m for a five-year deal to show 60 matches per season.

By 2001 that had increased to £1.75bn over three years, and in 2012 the league secured a 71% increase in its value to more than £3bn for 154 games a year, or £6.5m per match.

The major beneficiaries will be the clubs and players. Under the current deal even the club finishing bottom of the league is guaranteed £60m, enough to ensure that all 20 Premier League clubs are ranked among the richest 40 clubs in Europe.

The league says its distribution of the income means it is the most equitable and competitive in world football, with a ratio of 1-1.6 between the top and bottom clubs.

Players can look forward to an increase in wages in line with the rise in value of the deal as clubs compete for the best talent.

Currently the average Premier League player earns around £40,000-a-week, or £2.08m-a-year, with the very best players earning more than five times as much.

The deal is likely to be just the start of the good news for clubs.

The league will now begin the process of selling its international rights, which generated a further £2.28bn in the last rights sale, nudging the total from all broadcast rights, including highlights, above £5.5bn.

That figure is likely to be eclipsed when the sales process concludes later this year.

The deal will see the clubs come under pressure from supporters' groups and politicians to ensure some of the vast wealth is distributed to the grassroots game and lower leagues, as well as to fund a reduction in ticket prices for match-going fans.

John Petter, BT Consumer CEO, said: "I am pleased we will be showing Premier League football for a further three years and that we have secured the prime Saturday evening slot.

"These new rights will enhance our existing schedule of football, rugby and other international sport."


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Ministers Plot New Energy Switching Drive

Written By Unknown on Senin, 09 Februari 2015 | 11.46

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Ministers are to unveil a fresh drive urging consumers to switch energy companies just weeks before the main parties pledge renewed oversight of the industry in their general election manifestos.

Sky News understands that Ed Davey, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, will spearhead a renewed push to encourage the public to consider alternatives to their existing gas and electricity tariffs.

Mr Davey's latest intervention, which Whitehall insiders said would take place the week after next, is designed to remove the sting from Labour's repeated accusation that the Coalition has done too little to help millions of consumers.

This week, the consumer group Which? said the big six energy companies had failed to pass on price cuts in full despite a round of recently announced reductions, costing the average household £145 a year.

The group said its research highlighted a failure to align retail prices with wholesale costs, which meant that consumers had paid an extra £2.9bn during the last year.

The Government's new switching push will not specifically target customers of the six biggest suppliers – British Gas, EDF Energy, E.On, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE – but will highlight the recent cut in the time it takes to switch provider.

Last month Mr Davey claimed the Government had "introduced more competition in the energy market and made it much quicker for people to switch energy supplier".

"Industry is delivering on my challenge so now my challenge is for more consumers to take advantage. There's never been a better time to shop around, switch and save money faster than ever before," he said.

Mr Davey added that companies were being challenged to further reduce the switching timetable to 24 hours as soon as possible.

Ministers are expected to use this month's initiative to say that households which shop around could save more than £200 annually on their energy bills, as well as a new Confidence Code agreed between Ofgem, the industry regulator, and switching sites.

Matthew Hancock, the Conservative Business and Energy Minister, met the bosses of the big six companies last month to discuss whether recent price cuts were sufficiently generous to consumers.

"Political factors have... become increasingly significant over the last few years, particularly as we approach the UK general election," Paul Massara, Npower's chief executive wrote in a letter to Mr Hancock ahead of their meeting.

"Any change in prices in the short term will inevitably have to take account (of) potential outcomes after May this year," he added.

The price cuts have been announced even though Labour leader Ed Miliband plans to freeze energy prices until 2017 if the party wins the General Election in May.

Last month Labour was defeated in a House of Commons vote to secure support for powers for the regulator, Ofgem, to be able to force companies to reduce consumer bills in line with wholesale price movements.

Labour was forced to adapt the language of its energy policy, insisting that the freeze was actually intended to be a cap, although it continues to use the original language in online material promoting one of its flagship policies.


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HSBC Helped Clients Dodge Tax - Report

HSBC's Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers avoid tax and hide millions of dollars, according to a report by a network of investigative journalists.

The British banking giant provided accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen, politicians and celebrities, secret files analysed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) show.

The documents have led to criminal investigations in several countries and attempts to get the money back after being stolen by an IT worker in 2007 and passed to authorities in France.

Details of the 30,000 accounts, which hold nearly £78bn of assets, are coming to light after the files were obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde and analysed by the ICIJ.

The files are reported to include evidence that the bank colluded with some clients to hide accounts from tax authorities in their home countries.

While holding a secret bank account is not illegal, they have been used by some to deliberately conceal assets to dodge tax, which is against the law.

"HSBC profited from doing business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws," the ICIJ reported.

According to the files, the bank's clients included former and current politicians from Britain, Russia, India and a number of African countries.

Those named in the files include people sanctioned by the US, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was the subject of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

HM Revenue and Customs was passed the data in 2010 and has since then clawed back £135m from some of the 3,600 Britons identified as potentially avoiding tax.

But some MPs have complained about HMRC's perceived slow progress and the fact that only one evader has been prosecuted to date.

The bank said in a statement that since the period in question, it had "implemented numerous initiatives designed to prevent its banking services being used to evade taxes or launder money".

"Although there are numerous legitimate reasons to have a Swiss bank account, in some cases individuals took advantage of bank secrecy to hold undeclared accounts," the statement continued.

"This resulted in private banks, including HSBC's Swiss private bank, having a number of clients that may not have fully met their applicable tax obligations.

"We have taken significant steps over the past several years to implement reforms and exit clients who did not meet strict new HSBC standards, including those where we had concerns in relation to tax compliance," it added.

"We are fully committed to the exchange of information with relevant authorities and are actively pursuing measures that ensure clients are tax transparent, even in advance of a regulatory or legal requirement to do so.

"We are also co-operating with relevant authorities investigating these matters and we acknowledge and are accountable for past control failures."


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