HSBC high street bank staff face bonus cuts over remote working

HSBC has told staff in its UK high street banks that it may cut their bonuses if they do not work in the office frequently enough.The bank told employees at its HSBC UK division, which includes its retail and domestic commercial banking businesses, that anyone who did not spend at least 60% of their time in the office could end up being paid less, according to a report by Bloomberg.It is the latest bank to harden its stance on remote working. In January, the rival bank Barclays ordered all staff to work from the office for at least three days a week, up from a previous requirement of two days. Last year Santander told employees they must be in the office for at least three days a week

Liberty Steel has not produced anything at two key plants since July 2024

Liberty Steel has produced nothing at two of its key UK plants since July, in a sign of the deep financial difficulties for Britain’s third-biggest steelmaker as it looks for rescue funding.The plants at Rotherham in South Yorkshire and Motherwell in Scotland have not produced any steel for about nine months because of a lack of funds to buy vital materials, with staff on furlough on 85% of their salaries for the duration, according to workers who spoke to the Guardian.Steel companies have been struggling for several years. UK steel production fell in 2024 to its lowest since the 1930s, and in the last month the government in effect took over the British Steel blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, amid fears of more than 2,700 job losses and the end of primary steel-making in the UK.Liberty Steel is ultimately owned by Sanjeev Gupta, whose GFG Alliance metals empire is under severe financial pressure across the world after a debt-fuelled expansion spree

The cyber-attack is costly and embarrassing. But M&S should pull through

Shouldn’t a robust IT system be able to withstand the odd “human error”, such as somebody at a third-party supplier being hoodwinked by devious cybercriminals? Isn’t £300m at the expensive end for these events? And should it really take four-and-a-half weeks, and counting, for one of the UK’s biggest and well-resourced retailers to restore its website to working order?The response of Marks & Spencer’s chief executive, Stuart Machin, to such questions ran along these lines: the incident had nothing to do with underinvestment in IT; everyone is vulnerable; M&S was unlucky; the “moment in time” will pass and everything will be back to normal by July at the latest.Too complacent? Marking his own homework? Well, before joining the chorus that says M&S should have been better prepared, one should probably say that assessing corporate responses to these cyber-attacks is impossible from the outside. M&S can’t share the full details of what happened, just as nobody ever does. One suspects its reaction was better than most, but there isn’t a league table to consult. We will have to wait to see what, if any, fine is dished out by the Information Commissioner’s Office for breaches of customers’ data

You would think after nearly three years of being wrong, the RBA might start to question its economics. But no | Greg Jericho

The decision by the Reserve Bank to cut rates on Tuesday was welcome and well overdue. While all signs point to more rates cuts to come, unfortunately the RBA remains wedded to the idea that we need more people to lose their jobs in order to keep inflation low.You might have missed it, but the inflation fight is now officially over.After every board meeting going back to October 2022, the RBA has issued a statement that ended by saying the bank remains “resolute in its determination to return inflation to target”.On Tuesday the bank changed the language, ending its statement by noting that “the Board is focused on its mandate to deliver price stability and full employment and will do what it considers necessary to achieve that outcome”

UK inflation jumps to 3.5% in April on higher energy, water, road tax and air fare prices – as it happened

Here’s our analysis on the jump in UK inflation to 3.5% in April.For households across Britain, April was an awful month. Rising energy bills, broadband costs and the sharpest increase in water bills since privatisation – despite public anger over the quality of service offered – all added to the cost of living squeeze.Economists had forecast a jump in inflation based on the flurry of annual bill increases

M&S expects cyber-attack to last into July and cost £300m in lost profits

Marks & Spencer has said it will take an estimated £300m hit to profits this year from a damaging cyber-attack that it expects to disrupt its online business into July.Its chief executive, Stuart Machin, confirmed that “threat actors” had gained access to the retailer’s systems via one of M&S’s contractors using “social engineering” techniques, which can include posing as a staff member to fool a helpdesk.“They used heavily sophisticated techniques,” he said, adding that the incursion was quickly spotted over the Easter weekend and the business was ready with a plan after a simulation exercise of an attack last year.You can tell us how the cyber-attack has affected your shopping habits and your personal information by filling in the form below, or messaging us.Please include as much detail as possiblePlease include as much detail as possiblePlease include as much detail as possiblePlease note, the maximum file size is 5