Commercial news round-up: Co-op, RBS, Rolls Royce, National Minimum Wage

When the US intelligence community is reportedly withholding information from its own commander in chief due to a belief that he and his circle are beholden to a hostile foreign intelligence service, and this is all happening against the backdrop of nuclear escalation in North Korea and the return to the great obsession of war hawks and neo-conservatives, confrontation with Iran, you know it’s time to sit up and engage with far more than just the latest business developments. However, the business world never stops moving even when more existential concerns push it off the front pages, and here is this week’s round-up of the big commercial stories.

• Troubled times look set to continue at the Co-op Bank, which only avoided collapse in 2013 after a £1 billion black hole in its finances was plugged when various hedge funds bought up many of its shares, and has now announced that it is putting itself up for sale. The bank has also warned that it expects to make another annual loss.
• In even worse banking news, former business clients and an ex-employee of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have accused the bank of fraud and forgery. Various former business customers have said that the bank manipulated documents, including statements and telephone conversation transcripts, to cover up wrongdoing. The allegations have been supported by a whistleblower who came forward to the BBC, who claims that he was even trained to forge signatures while working for the bank. RBS is majority owned by the taxpayer after being bailed out by the government during the financial crisis of 2008.
• Engineering giant Rolls Royce, known for its aircraft engines and luxury cars, has announced a loss of £4.6 billion – the biggest in the company’s history. However, Rolls Royce “hedges its bets” across international markets in the same way as many large companies, so the situation is not as dire as the headline figure might suggest.
• The government has named hundreds of businesses which are failing to pay the National Minimum Wage, including household names such as Debenhams, Subway and Lloyds Pharmacy. While 15,500 workers have now received necessary repayments, the Office for National Statistics says that this in no way indicates the full extent of the problem, with many businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors continuing to not pay their staff properly.
• Inflation is starting to catch up with wage growth, meaning that even the standard of living of people whose pay has risen in recent years is facing a squeeze. Meanwhile, many public sector workers have experienced years of pay freezes following the 2008 financial crisis, making the situation even more difficult for them. 

Be sure to check the News section every Thursday for this weekly commercial news round-up. Follow @LawCareersNetUK on Twitter and like us on Facebook for instant business news updates.