Monday 18 June 2018

Debit card payments have overtaken cash use
for the first time, says the trade body UK Finance. With
contactless technology on the rise, a total of 13.2bn debit card
payments were made last year. With cash 13.1bn payments were made,
as use of notes and coins sunk by 15%. Consumers aged between 25
and 34 were most likely to make contactless payments.

A paper straw factory is set to open in
Britain as restaurants abandon plastic. Although no paper straws
have been made in Britain for several decades, a dedicated
production line in Ebbw Vale, Wales, will produce hundreds of
millions of straws. “When the BBC’s Blue Planet II was
on the telly and the government started talking about the dangers
of plastic straws, we saw a niche in the market,” said a
spokesman.

The Bank for International Settlements has
argued that cryptocurrencies cannot replace money. In a damning
24-page article, the central bank overseer said Bitcoin suffered
from “a range of shortcomings” that would prevent it ever replacing
cash. However, is predicted it could overwhelm the online world,
stating: “The associated communication volumes could bring the
Internet to a halt.”

Huge companies including Amazon, Microsoft
and Apple are vulnerable to hackers conducting a “domain jacking”
attack, says the Daily Telegraph. The fraudsters exploit weak cyber
security measures to hijack subdomains that companies have
forgotten about and use them to lure punters to hoax websites in a
bid to extract their financial details or install spying software
on their device.

Leading US banks are all set to hand over
more capital to shareholders than they are generating from their
businesses for the first time since 2008. According to the FT,
investors in 22 of the country’s top lenders are poised for a
record haul of almost $170bn in dividends and stock buybacks over
the coming year. The move will lower their banks’ defences against
another major shock to the financial system.

“Just don’t kid yourself that it will do much to boost the
British economy. It probably won’t even do very much to improve our
chances of ever beating Germany on penalties.” Mark Littlewood
of The Times says though it might excite fans for England to stage
the 2030 World Cup, there are few winners from hosting sport
events.

FTSE 100: down -1.70 to 7,633.91
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Cac 40: down -0.48 to 5,501.88
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Hang Seng: down -0.43 to 30,309.49
US dollar: buys €0.8623 and £0.7533
Sterling: buys $1.3269 and €1.1443
Oil: $72.94 down -0.68