Anger as Nationwide refuses members a binding vote on boss’s 43% pay hike

Nationwide is under fire for refusing to give members a binding vote on a 43% pay rise for its chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, that could mean her pay package reaches up to £7m.Campaigners say it leaves the building society’s members with fewer rights than shareholders of listed UK banks and exposes a worrying “loophole” in building society rules.Nationwide says that after its £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money, Crosbie’s pay should compete with that offered by banks such as Lloyds and NatWest. However, the board is offering members only an “advisory” vote at its annual general meeting (AGM) on 25 July, meaning there are no repercussions if they reject it

Qantas attack reveals one phone call is all it takes to crack cybersecurity’s weakest link: humans

All it can take is a phone call. That’s what Qantas learned this week when the personal information of up to 6 million customers was stolen by cybercriminals after attackers targeted an offshore IT call centre, enabling them to access a third-party system.It is the latest in a series of cyber-attacks on large companies in Australia involving the personal information of millions of Australians, after the attack on Optus, Medibank and, most recently, Australia’s $4t superannuation sector.The Qantas attack came just days after US authorities warned the airline sector had been targeted by a group known as Scattered Spider, using social engineering techniques, including impersonating employees or contractors to deceive IT help desks into granting access, and bypassing multi-factor authentication.While companies may spend millions keeping their systems secure and software up-to-date to plug known vulnerabilities, hackers can turn to this form of attack to target, often, the weakest link – humans

Buy now, pay later loans will now affect US credit scores – what does that mean for consumers?

A new change to buy now, pay later loans means borrowers’ credit scores may see a change, which has worried some users of the loans.“I have a feeling that I’m just not going to have as much access to spending power and zero or really low APR rates,” said Nicole Nitta, a 31-year-old Las Vegas resident, who uses BNPL and shared that she already does not have great credit.Fico, the credit scoring company used by most US lenders, announced on 23 June that they would include BNPL loans, which play “an increasingly important role in consumers’ financial lives”, to help lenders more “accurately evaluate credit readiness”.For users of companies like Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna, the new calculation could benefit them because it allows them to build their credit – if, of course, they pay back the loans on time, experts say.Nitta first used BNPL for essentials in 2021, like non-perishable food items

How has Ryanair changed its cabin baggage rule – and will other airlines do it too?

For all but the most seasoned travellers the metal bag sizers used by budget airlines have become an instrument of fear because of the heavy financial penalty incurred if hand baggage is too big to fit.But as the summer holiday season gets under way there is some good news for those who struggle to travel light: Ryanair has announced it is increasing the size of the small “personal” bag you can take in the cabin for free by 20%.Yes. But it comes as airlines fall into line behind a new EU guaranteed bag size of 40cm by 30cm by 15cm. The current dimensions of the Ryanair free carry-on limit are 40cm by 25cm by 20cm – below the EU rule

Leaders of Russia and China snub Brics summit in sign group’s value may be waning

Russia and China are not sending their leaders to a Brics summit starting in Brazil on Sunday in what may be a sign that the group’s recent expansion has reduced its ideological value to the two founding members.China’s 72-year-old leader, Xi Jinping, has attended Brics summits for the past 12 years. No official reason has been given for sending the premier, Li Qiang, other than scheduling conflicts.Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is facing an international criminal court arrest warrant and may have decided not to travel to Rio to avoid embarrassing the summit hosts, who are signatories to the ICC statute.Mongolia has been in an acrimonious legal dispute with the ICC after it did not act on the warrant when Putin visited last year

Trump threatens 17% tariffs on food and farm produce exports from Europe

Donald Trump threatened to impose 17% tariffs on food and farm produce exports from Europe during talks in Washington this week, it has emerged.Such tariffs would hit everything from Belgian chocolate to Kerrygold butter from Ireland and olive oil from Italy, Spain and France, all big sellers in the US.First reported in the Financial Times, sources confirmed that the EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, was given the warning on Thursday when he met the US treasure secretary, Scott Bessent, trade representative Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.EU ambassadors were briefed on the threat on Friday.The EU remains optimistic for a high-level political agreement, but the threat gives a flavour of the US’s continued aggressive negotiating position to extract a high price out of the EU, which Trump once described as “nastier” than China when it came to trade