Category Archives: Business

Gas shortages possible during bouts of extreme weather over next four years, Aemo warns

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Customers could face supply gaps if cold weather coincides with low levels of renewable energy generation, report says

South-eastern Australia faces possible gas supply gaps for at least the next four years during bouts of extreme weather, potentially requiring exports to be diverted south, according to the gas outlook from the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).

Aemo’s gas statement of opportunities (GSOO) report found that gas output in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania would meet demand until 2027. However, customers could face shortfalls particularly if cold weather coincided with low levels of renewable energy generation.

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ABC staff to walk off job next week – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Acting prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles has spoken to ABC News Breakfast this morning after the $368bn announcement of the Aukus deal yesterday.

In response to the reaction from China accusing Australia, the US and Britain of embarking on a “path of error and danger”, Marles defends making a decision that is in Australia’s national interest:

We are seeking to acquire this capability to make our contribution to the collective security of the region and the maintenance of the global rules-based order.

And one of the issues within our region we are witnessing the largest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of the second world war. And it’s not Australia who is doing that, but that shapes the world in which we live.

We’re completely confident these are in complete compliance with non proliferation.

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Most Australian states face sharp power bill rises, despite government’s intervention

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Energy regulators issue draft default market offer, which set cap for this year’s increases

Power bills for households in three states will rise as much as 23.7% from 1 July if the Australian Energy Regulator’s draft determination, announced on Wednesday, is confirmed. Prices in Victoria may rise by almost a third.

The AER chair, Clare Savage, said the increases were “significant” but they could have been as much as 40% to 50% without the federal government’s intervention in December to cap domestic gas and black coal prices.

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UK homeowners still better off than renters despite spike in interest rates

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Average monthly cost of owning 3-bed home is £500 a year less than renting, but the gap is narrowing

Homeowners in the UK are nearly £500 better off a year than renters, according to new research from Halifax.

The average monthly cost of owning a three-bed home for first-time buyers is now £971, which is £42 lower than the average cost of renting an equivalent property, the mortgage lender said. Renters pay on average £1,013 each month – 4% more.

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Credit Suisse warns of ‘material weaknesses’ in financial reporting

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Swiss bank’s shares fall as annual report reveals another blow to its bid to recover from string of scandals

Credit Suisse has said it found “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting controls and that clients were still withdrawing cash, the latest blow to the Swiss bank as it tries to recover from a string of scandals.

The bank’s shares fell as much as 5% on Tuesday, dropping as low as 2.12 Swiss francs – close to the record low on Monday – before recovering some ground to be down 1.7%. Credit Suisse’s bonds also weakened to record lows on Tuesday, after comments in its delayed annual report.

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Internal government briefing admits HS2 delays will increase costs

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DfT document appears to undermine ministers’ claims, saying jobs are likely to go and construction firms could be at risk

An internal Department for Transport briefing on the HS2 project has admitted delays to the high-speed railway will increase costs, appearing to undermine ministers’ claims.

The document seen by the Guardian says the decision to delay the project is also likely to cost jobs, put construction firms at risk of going into administration and that the department could face compensation claims.

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TechScape: How Silicon Valley Bank UK was saved

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In this week’s newsletter: While its quick slip into financial hardship has left American bankers reeling, its UK division is surprisingly fine. But the tech sector isn’t out of trouble yet

Last week, if you had heard of Silicon Valley Bank UK, you probably worked in tech. The bank had only been spun out in to a separate entity last summer, after its few thousand corporate customers pushed it over a regulatory threshold, and while SVB had grown to almost hold £10bn of deposits, with £5.5bn of outstanding loans, it was very much a specialist player.

The bank’s selling point was that it understood the needs of the “innovation economy”, something that high street banks frequently failed to acknowledge. A startup might have zero revenue, yet hold £5m in the bank and have 10 employees, a profile fundamentally different from a typical small business. As a result, trying to get something as simple as a corporate credit card could be a surprising hassle, and when SVB arrived on the UK scene, it was enthusiastically adopted by founders and venture capitalists alike.

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China to reopen to foreign tourists for first time since Covid crisis

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Authorities will resume issuing all visas after closing borders to international holidaymakers in 2020

China will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the Covid pandemic erupted by allowing all categories of visas to be issued.

The removal of this last cross-border control measure on Wednesday comes after authorities declared victory over the virus last month.

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China’s top property developer expects first loss since 2007 flotation

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Country Garden’s 2022 forecast is another blow for country’s embattled sector

China’s top property developer expects to record a loss in 2022 – its first since the company went public in 2007 – in another blow for the country’s embattled property sector.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Country Garden said that the losses for 2022 would amount to between 5.5bn yuan and 7.5bn yuan (£663.6m-£904.9m). In 2021 Country Garden’s profits reached 26.8bn yuan.

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‘Banking system is safe’: Joe Biden reassures markets in address on Silicon Valley Bank collapse – live updates

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Failure of bank last weak sparked fears of financial crisis, as US government announces plans to stabilize situation

Have you been affected by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank?

The Guardian would like to hear from you. Share your experience with our community team at the link below:

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Silicon Valley Bank: global banking shares slide as fallout spreads

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Stock markets fail to be reassured by Joe Biden’s intervention, as SVB failure is followed by Signature

Global financial markets have come under severe pressure after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, despite governments on both sides of the Atlantic taking extraordinary measures to maintain confidence in the banking system.

On a day conjuring up memories of the 2008 financial crisis, the US president, Joe Biden, sought to restore calm by insisting the US banking system remained safe, while HSBC stepped in to buy the UK arm of the failed technology lender after a deal brokered by the British government and the Bank of England.

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Silicon Valley Bank: US bank shares tumble despite Biden insists system is safe; HSBC rescues SVB UK – business live

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Silicon Valley Bank UK has been sold to HSBC for £1, in a deal that protects depositors’ money says Treasury and Bank of England


Here’s Sky’s Ed Conway:

Important developments.

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Silicon Valley Bank collapse ‘could force central banks to stop interest rate rises’

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Analysts say US Federal Reserve will probably reject further increase in borrowing costs next week

The world’s most powerful central banks could be forced to stop raising interest rates after the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, economists have said, amid growing signs of financial stress linked to rapid increases in borrowing costs over the past year.

Analysts said the US Federal Reserve would probably leave interest rates on hold at its decision next week, as the meltdown at the California-based technology lender ripples through global financial markets.

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Australian Ethical offloads Lendlease shares over development threat to koala population

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The fund believes itself to be ‘one of the first’ in Australia to divest from a company over a concern for an endangered species

One of Australia’s leading ethical investment managers says it has sold its shares in Lendlease over concerns a planned housing development in south-west Sydney threatens the survival of Sydney’s largest healthy koala population.

Australian Ethical has divested $11m in shareholdings in the property developer’s listed assets, saying Lendlease had failed to provide “critical information” about the width of planned koala corridors at stage two of its Gilead housing development.

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UK racing to secure deal to protect firms from Silicon Valley Bank collapse

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Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt explore options to help tech and life sciences sectors

The UK government is scrambling to secure an emergency deal to protect Britain’s tech and life sciences sectors from major losses after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), as financial markets braced for further volatility after the biggest bank failure since 2008.

The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, signalled on Sunday that they were exploring a range of options, including an emergency fund that could provide a cash lifeline to support startups, as bidders put their hat in the ring for a potential takeover of the UK subsidiary.

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Yellen rejects Silicon Valley Bank bailout as regulators auction assets

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US treasury secretary says Biden administration is working closely with regulators to help depositors as fears of banking crisis rise

The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said on Sunday there would be no bailout for Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed this week, raising fears of a crisis, but also said the Biden administration was working with regulators to help depositors hit by the fall of SVB.

Yellen said conditions did not match the 2008 financial crisis, when the collapse of large institutions threatened to bring down the global financial system. She also sought to calm fears the $23tn US banking system could be affected by the fall of a regional bank.

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Why Silicon Valley Bank was so important to UK tech sector

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SVB specialised in high-growth startups, solving problems other lenders would not touch

Silicon Valley Bank’s name isn’t just hollow branding. Founded in Santa Clara in the 1980s, in the heart of the Bay Area’s tech cluster, it was a regional bank that served the local economy.

As that local economy became the engine of American growth, SVB – which collapsed on Friday – grew alongside it. It remained a tech specialist, a limitation that allowed it to continue to be regulated as a regional bank and so avoid the stricter requirements piled on larger competitors, but otherwise spread across the US and the world.

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Saudi Aramco’s $161bn profit is largest recorded by an oil and gas firm

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Amnesty International hits out at ‘shocking’ annual figure reaped through sale of fossil fuel

Saudi Aramco has reported a record $161bn (£134bn) profit for 2022, the largest annual profit ever recorded by an oil and gas company, fuelled by soaring energy prices and rising global demand.

The largely state-owned company’s profits rose by 46% year on year and it made more than the recent bumper results reported by Shell, BP, Exxon and Chevron combined.

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Hunt likely to save spending spree for polling day, not budget speech

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The chancellor has room for giveaways in this week’s budget, but business and consumer groups fear he will hold them back for the election

Jeremy Hunt is under pressure to be generous when he delivers his first budget speech since he became chancellor last October.

The public finances have improved dramatically from the chaotic days that followed Liz Truss’s mini-budget in September, which rocked international money markets and sent interest rates on government debt soaring. The cost of financing Britain’s debt has fallen in recent months and the cost of gas on wholesale markets has tumbled.

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USD Coin value falls after revealing $3.3bn held at Silicon Valley Bank

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The stablecoin fell as low as $0.87 as Circle broke the news that its reserves were at the collapsed lender

The value of the world’s fifth-biggest cryptocurrency, USD Coin (USDC), slumped to an all-time low on Saturday after Circle, the US firm behind the coin, revealed that $3.3bn of the reserves backing it were held at Silicon Valley Bank.

USDC is a stablecoin – cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a stable value – USDC’s value is supposed to mimic the dollar. But the coin broke its 1:1 dollar peg and fell as low as $0.87 on Saturday morning.

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