Vanessa Houlder

The UK’s main interest rate is likely to reach 3 per cent within three to five years, according to a top Bank of England official who said there was a case for starting gradual rises relatively early. Charlie Bean, the departing deputy governor for monetary policy, also pointed to the risks of increasing rates too early, saying policy makers had to be careful not to damage the recovery. In an interview with the BBC, he suggested rates would settle at a lower level than before the crash. “The…

Corporation tax cuts cost UK over £5bn a year

Amid the rolling, wooded farmland of the Ardennes, the highway from Brussels briefly hugs the Luxembourg frontier at Martelange, a small town famous for the border that runs down the middle of its busy main street. On one side – in low-tax Luxembourg – is a profusion of petrol stations offering some of the most lightly taxed fuel in Europe. It is a striking example of the “gas pump tourism” that boosts Luxembourg’s exchequer at the expense of its neighbours. This is one face of Luxembourg: a t…

The European Commission has threatened to launch a formal investigation into a vital aspect of Ireland’s tax system, known as the “double Irish”. This is a simple structure used by US technology and pharmaceutical companies to route profits to tax havens like Bermuda where they hold intellectual property. How does the double Irish work? The double Irish exploits the different definitions of corporate residency in Ireland and the US. Dublin taxes companies if they are controlled and managed in I…

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Investors alerted to risks of higher payments as crackdown closes loopholes

Putting a high cost on emissions will supercharge investment in greener technologies — and cripple businesses that cannot adapt

The costs of inaction on global warming are potentially vast and often not sufficiently factored in to asset values

Dear reader, There is a Pollyanna-ish ring to the adage about an ill wind blowing no good. But the latest twist in Britain’s corporate pensions saga seems to bear it out. Trends in interest rates, inflation and mortality rates are propelling more schemes into surplus. For the first time in decades, finance directors have stopped losing sleep over retirement promises, according to pensions expert John Ralfe. The funding position of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes caused endless problems in…