Finance

America’s politicians have long worried about the rising share of men out of work. More on the sidelines means slower economic growth, heftier benefit payments and a frailer social fabric. During the election campaign, both candidates have offered policies designed to tackle this long-standing problem. Donald Trump proposes sweeping tariffs and clamping down on illegal immigration. Kamala Harris vows to revive traditional male sectors, not least manufacturing. More

If not another flat was built and sales continued at their current pace, it would take eight years to sell all the homes lying dormant around Luoyang, a city of 7m in central China. The region is a hot spot for the country’s property crisis, where years of overbuilding have turned entire districts into housing graveyards. Sprawling wastelands of concrete and glass scar the city. More

Pity the California taxman. The state has a yawning budget deficit, which politicians are attempting to narrow. Local laws make it difficult to raise taxes, requiring a two-thirds majority. Worse, once-reliable sources of funds are running dry. Fuel-tax revenues are forecast to fall sharply as drivers switch to electric vehicles. Revenues from cigarette taxes have fallen by $500m, or 29%, since 2017; now those from alcohol taxes are dropping, too. This is a concern: at present, revenues from the trio of taxes amount to nearly half of what the state spends on higher education. More

Block’s business-focused payments arm, Square, told CNBC it has rolled out it’s Square Card product in Britain.
It marks the first time Block has expanded its business card offering outside North America, where it first launched in 2019.
The firm will come up against local banking giants like Lloyds and NatWest, as well as fintech players including Pleo, Payhawk and Spendesk.

Marco Bello | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON — Block, the payments company owned by tech billionaire Jack Dorsey has launched its corporate card service in the U.K. in a bid to deepen its expansion into the country and take on big incumbents like American Express.
The firm’s business-focused payments arm, Square, told CNBC that it opened registrations for its Square Card product in Britain late Wednesday, marking the first time Block has expanded its business card offering outside North America, where it first launched in 2019.

Currently available in the U.S. and Canada, Square Card is a free business spending card that reduces the time between merchants making a sale and having funds available to spend. It competes with offerings from the likes of American Express and Citigroup.
Samina Hussain-Letch, executive director of Square U.K., said the launch of the firm’s corporate card product in the U.K. would give merchants speedier access to funds and help them more easily manage their daily expenses.
“When designing this product we went back to our mission of making commerce easy,” Hussain-Letch told CNBC. Based on internal research Square found that small and micro businesses “prefer their funds to be consolidated in one place,” she said, adding that real-time access to funds was also an important factor.
In the U.K., Square Card will come up against local banking giants like Lloyds and NatWest. It will also heighten competition for some well-funded European fintech players, including Pleo, Payhawk and Spendesk.
Hussain-Letch highlighted The Vinyl Guys as an example of an early adopter of its corporate card offering. The vehicle branding and signage printing shop based in Stafford used the corporate card as part of a testing phase with domestic U.K. customers.

“We’ve had some great feedback about the benefits of having instant access to funds which really helps our small business sellers to run and grow, as we know that the number one reason small businesses fail in the UK is due to problems with cash flow,” she added.
Merchants can personalize employee spending cards with signatures and business branding.
Once an employee is onboarded onto the Square Card program, they can begin using within their own digital wallet apps. The service doesn’t charge monthly fees, maintenance fees, or foreign exchange fees.
Square is deepening its investment in the U.K. at a time when the country is seeking to be viewed as a destination for global technology businesses.
Entrepreneurs have been warning of a possible exodus of talent from the U.K. in response to the government’s controversial taxation changes.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves hiked Capital Gains Tax (CGT) — a levy on investment profits. But the news offered some relief for technology entrepreneurs who feared a more intense tax raid on the wealthy. The lower capital gains tax rate will be increased to 18% from 10%, while the higher rate will climb to 24% from 20%, Reeves said. The tax hikes are expected to bring in £2.5 billion. More

Chinese smartphone company Honor on Thursday announced backing from new investors as the Huawei spinoff prepares for an initial public offering.
The new backers include China Telecom and CICC Capital.
Honor said earlier this year it planned to start changing its shareholder structure in the fourth quarter, and start the IPO process “at a suitable time.”

Chinese smartphone company Honor has released devices that fold up to be nearly as thin as an iPhone.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

BEIJING — Chinese smartphone company Honor on Thursday announced backing from new investors as the Huawei spinoff prepares for an initial public offering.
The new backers are: China Telecom — one of the major telecommunications operators in the country — CICC Capital, Chinese venture capital firm Cornerstone and SDG, a fund linked to a Shenzhen economic zone. Honor said its existing partners also made a new investment round through an entity called Jinshi Xingyao.

Honor said earlier this year it planned to start changing its shareholder structure in the fourth quarter, after which it would start the IPO process “at a suitable time.”
The company has not said where it would list. Honor announced its IPO plans in November 2023.
Honor spun off from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in November 2020 after the parent company was hit by U.S. sanctions. Huawei said it does not hold any shares in Honor or have involvement in business decisions.
Last week, Honor revealed the next version of its operating system can use AI to mimic actions on a touchscreen, such as opening an app to order coffee delivery. The company on Wednesday released its new Magic7 series of phones that can use the AI features in China.
Just under one-third of Honor’s sales came from outside China in the first half of this year, according to Counterpoint.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report. More

With less than a week left before America’s presidential and congressional elections, market participants are abuzz with discussion of what the various results might mean for everything from trade and defence to tax and regulation. But the Treasury market, which ultimately underpins much of global finance, is of particular interest. More

At the 39th ASEAN Roundtable, hosted by a research institute in Singapore on October 28th, the room was split. With Asia riven by an assertive China and a protectionist America, some attendees called for hard-headed thinking about trade-offs. Choices will have to be made; allegiances declared, they warned. A Donald Trump victory might, after all, bring brutal tariffs. More

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Wednesday hiked capital gains tax (CGT) and increased the rate of tax applied to an entrepreneurs’ relief scheme as part of her far-reaching budget announcement.
Reeves’ plans had caused angst among tech founders in the country, with British tech lobby group Startup Coalition previously warning the government’s tax plans could result in a tech “brain drain.”
One tech founder who last week threatened to move to the U.S. over the anticipated tax changes, told CNBC that Wednesday’s announcement was “better than I thought it would be.”

On Monday, British tech lobby group Startup Coalition warned in a blog post that there was a risk Reeves’ tax plans could result in a tech “brain drain.”. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
Oli Scarff | Getty Images

LONDON — Britain’s Labour government on Wednesday announced plans to raise the rate of capital gains tax on share sales, news that offered some relief for technology entrepreneurs who feared a more intense tax raid on the wealthy.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Wednesday hiked capital gains tax (CGT) — a levy on the profit investors make from the sale of an investment — as part of her far-reaching budget announcement. The lower capital gains tax rate will be increased to 18% from 10%, while the higher rate will climb to 24% from 20%, Reeves said. The tax hikes are expected to bring in £2.5 billion.

“We need to drive growth, promote entrepreneurship and support wealth creation, while raising the revenue required to fund our public services and restore our public finances,” Reeves said, adding that, even with the higher rate, the U.K. would “still have the lowest capital-gains tax rate of any European G7 economy.”
Reeves maintained the £1 million lifetime limit on capital gains from the sale of all or part of a company under business asset disposal relief (BADR), quashing fears from entrepreneurs that the tax relief scheme for entrepreneurs would be scrapped.
However, she added that the rate of CGT applied to entrepreneurs selling all or part of their business under BADR will be increased to 14% in 2025 and 18% a year later. She stressed that this still represented a “significant gap compared to the higher rate of capital gains tax.”
In a less welcome move for businesses, Reeves also announced plans to increase the rate of National Insurance (NI) — a tax on earnings — for employers. The current rate is 13.8% on a worker’s earnings above £9,100 per year. This is set to rise to 15% on salaries above £5,000 a year.
The changes form only a small part of sweeping fiscal changes the recently-elected Labour government laid out in its debut budget Wednesday in an attempt to close a multibillion-pound funding gap in public finances.

‘Brain drain’ feared

Reeves’ announcement comes after speculation over capital gains tax changes caused a backlash from tech founders and investors. Even prior to Reeves’ announcement, the anticipation that CGT would increase had caused angst for tech founders across the country.
On Monday, British tech lobby group Startup Coalition warned in a blog post that there was a risk Reeves’ tax plans could result in a tech “brain drain.”
A survey of 713 founders and investors conducted by Startup Coalition with private company database Beauhurst, showed that 89% of those polled would consider moving themselves or their business abroad, with 72% having already explored this possibility.
The survey data also showed that 94% of founders would consider starting a future company outside of the U.K. if the government were to raise the CGT rate.
Dom Hallas, executive director of Startup Coalition, said that while the survey findings were grim, he doesn’t expect founders will “flee if things get hard” as they “aren’t naive about the role of taxes in society.”
Following Reeves’ budget speech, Hallas told CNBC via text message that, “Any budget with increases to CGT and NI, gradual increases to BADR and taxes on investors going up, is never easy and today will be hard for founders seeing taxes on their businesses rise.”
However, he added: “We appreciate that the Government has listened to ensure that entrepreneurs’ biggest fears have not materialised and some balance has been struck including maintaining all important R&D [research and development] investment.”

Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO and co-founder of financial technology app Cleo, told CNBC last week he was considering a move to the U.S. as a result of Labour’s tax plans.
“There’s so many founders already leaving, or already considering leaving — and they’re excited to go to Silicon Valley,” Hussey-Yeo told CNBC on the sidelines of venture capital firm Accel’s EMEA Fintech Summit in London last week.
Hussey-Yeo didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday on whether he still plans to move abroad. However, he told CNBC that the budget announcement was “better than I thought it would be,” adding it “seems like they listened” to entrepreneurs.
Paul Taylor, CEO of London-headquartered fintech firm Thought Machine, said that though it was reassuring to see the government listening to founder concerns, increases to NI contributions would prove costly. Thought Machine’s U.K. payroll spend is expected to spike by £800,000 as a result.
“This is a significant amount for companies like us, which rely on investor capital and already face cost pressures and targets,” Taylor told CNBC Wednesday. “Nearly all emerging tech businesses run on investor capital, and this increase sets them back on their path to profitability.”

Focus on growth-oriented policy

Tech entrepreneurs and investors are urging the government to return to its focus on fostering growth and innovation in the U.K., messages which were key to Labour’s election manifesto prior to the landslide win that saw Keir Starmer become prime minister.
“We’re already seeing early-stage firms in the UK struggle securing pre-seed and seed funding, with VCs here having a lower risk appetite. A higher CGT will act as a further deterrent,” Phil Kwok, co-founder of EasyA, an e-learning startup, told CNBC via email.
“With all the factors at play, we could see investors and the next generation of founders looking to another markets like the U.S.,” he added.
Hannah Seal, a partner at Index Ventures, told CNBC that the government should “pursue reforms that make it easier for startups to attract talent through employee ownership and ensure all regulators prioritise innovation and growth.”
“Startup-friendly policies like these will be essential to signal the U.K.’s commitment to remaining a globally competitive hub for innovation, especially in light of today’s announcements,” she added.
Edgar Randall, managing director of U.K. and Ireland at data and analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet, told CNBC that in order to remain competitive, the government should “weigh the cumulative effect of policies impacting growth.”
These include policies impacting energy costs, employer National Insurance contributions, and tax structures on capital gains and dividends.
Ultimately, “business decisions are influenced on more than just fiscal policy,” Randall said, adding that. ‘entrepreneurs look at the ecosystems [as] a whole.” More