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The government is to explore the idea of zero-interest loans to help the millions of people trapped in a cycle of problem debt caused by borrowing from high-cost providers such as payday lenders. Campaigners welcomed the development, which will be unveiled by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, in the budget on Monday, but they called on the government to go further to protect low-income households from exploitative lending practices. - Guardian
Ministers would be forced to review public spending after a no-deal Brexit, Philip Hammond said yesterday as he hinted that austerity could only end if Britain remained closely tied to the EU. In provocative remarks that infuriated Brexiteers before the budget, the chancellor claimed that he would have to tear up his plans for the economy and propose a new settlement in the event of no deal in March. - The Times
The new chief executive of BT participated in a notorious “wheeze” that was used by sports stars, celebrities and financiers to illegally avoid paying £700m in tax, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. Official records show that Philip Jansen was a member of Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP for five years between 2006 and 2011. - Telegraph
One of Britain’s biggest listed property companies is drawing up plans to build flats above and around its shopping centres in an attempt to counteract the pressure on retail property valuations. Landsec, which owns Trinity Leeds and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, is working on a rental housing strategy to see how it can increase the income at its 16 shopping centres around the country with an initial focus on its London sites. - The Times
UK ministers will face intense pressure this week to explain continued support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen in the wake of the revelations about the premeditated murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by allies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Middle East minister, Alistair Burt, and the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will be separately cross-examined about Britain’s relations with Saudi Arabia in the Commons, amid reports in British newspapers that UK intelligence may have known in advance that the Saudis were preparing to kill or capture Khashoggi. - Guardian
Tesla’s second largest shareholder has said that it would be willing to plough more cash into the electric car maker, despite the controversy surrounding its founder. Baillie Gifford, the Scottish fund manager that owns nearly 8 per cent of the Silicon Valley giant, threw its weight behind Elon Musk, who recently settled a fraud case with America’s financial watchdog. - The Times
Computing giant IBM has leapfrogged rivals Amazon and Microsoft to become the largest hybrid cloud provider with a $34bn deal to buy software company Red Hat. The 107-year-old US company will pay Red Hat’s shareholders a 62pc premium for their shares in a bid to accelerate its growth into the emerging $1 trillion growth market for cloud-based computing systems. - Telegraph
The company behind the Fortnite video game has been valued at almost $15bn (£11.7bn) after receiving a $1.25bn cash injection led by the private equity firm KKR. The game, which has been described as a cross between The Hunger Games and Minecraft, has proved hugely popular since its release last year by Epic Games. - Guardian
Paperchase has plunged into the red and its earnings have halved after fewer people visited its British shops. The stationery chain’s accounts filed at Companies House show a statutory pre-tax loss of £6.3 million, compared with a profit of £613,000 the year before. Underlying earnings fell from £9 million to £4.5 million on sales up by 5.6 per cent to £131.2 million in the year to February 3. - The Times
Ryanair will come under increased pressure this week to bring in fresh leadership, as investors call for its chairman, David Bonderman, to stand down after more than 20 years. As well as calling for Bonderman to be replaced, the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has told the Irish airline to start planning for a successor to Michael O’Leary, who has been chief executive since 1994. - Guardian
A group of major pension funds have challenged some of the world’s biggest companies to rethink their funding of trade bodies that lobby in favour of high-polluting fossil fuels. The Church of England Pensions Board, Legal & General Investment Management, Robeco and Swedish national pension fund AP7, which together manage £2 trillion in funds, have written to 55 multinationals asking them to review their association with groups whose “lobbying positions are inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement”. - Telegraph
A government health adviser who wrote a report stating that reusable containers could increase the risk of food poisoning had accepted money from plastic packaging lobbyists. David McDowell was paid by Pack2Go, a group representing convenience food packaging makers across Europe, to report on the risk from reusable coffee cups and other products. His findings have been used to lobby the government before today’s budget, which could impose a tax on single-use plastic cups. - The Times
A leading Tory donor yesterday pledged to fund an attempt by Boris Johnson to replace Theresa May as prime minister if she were to be unseated by her party. Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager, said that Mr Johnson would be an excellent leader and added that he had discussed prospects for taking over from Mrs May with the former foreign secretary. - The Times
A British start-up which helps brands to tailor mobile adverts to individual viewers using artificial intelligence has raised $17m (£13m), in the latest show of growing investor interest in the space. LoopMe operates a video software platform that inserts video adverts into mobile websites or apps based on when a consumer is most likely to be interested in or wants to buy something. - Telegraph
