Risk & Economy » 5 things FDs need to know this week

5 things FDs need to know this week

As the week comes to an end, we pick out five highlights from the past five days

1. Bank of England to set Sonia rate

The Bank of England (BoE) has announced it will start setting the replacement for Libor, which will be known as the Sonia rate.

The Sonia rate, which stands for the Sterling Overnight Index Average, will differ from Libor as the central bank will take on the end-to-end administration of the inter-bank lending rate, rather than be set by the banks.

The BoE will start setting the Sonia rate on 23 April, 2018.

 

2. Reckitt Benckiser reveals restructure after sales slump

The FTSE 100 consumer goods manufacturer, Reckitt Benckiser, has announced plans to split into two divisions to counter slumping sales and a huge cyber hack.

One division will focus on health and be led by CEO, Rakesh Kapoor, while the other will focus on hygiene and home products and be led by Rob de Groot, North America and Europe head.

 

3. Rio Tinto fined £27m by FCA over Mozambique mine

The Anglo-Australian mining titan, Rio Tinto, has been hit with the biggest fine ever dished out by the UK watchdog, after being accused of overstating the value of coal assets in Mozambique.

The FTSE 100 company and two of its top former executives were charged in the US of hiding losses by inflating the value of assets in Mozambique, which Rio bought in 2011 for $3.7bn ($2.8bn) and sold a few years later for $50m.

 

4. Alphabet backs Lyft in $1bn funding round

Lyft, the rival to cab-hailing app to Uber, has raised a massive $1 billion investment, led by Alphabet, even though they are also investors in Uber.

The new round of funding comes from alphabet’s investment arm, CapitalG and puts Lyft at a valuation of $11 billion.

“2017 has been an important year for the Lyft community. Earlier this month, we completed our 500 millionth ride and our service is now available to 95 per cent of the US population – up from 54 per cent at the beginning of the year,” the company said in a blog post.

 

5. ONS announces new monthly measure of GDP

The office for national statistics has announced it is to introduce a new monthly measure of gross domestic product from July 2018.

 

 

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