:00:00. > :00:09.This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock and Ben Thompson.
:00:10. > :00:13.Japan's central bank holds fire on further stimulus -
:00:14. > :00:15.but what's left to do to boost its slowing economy?
:00:16. > :00:34.Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 15th March.
:00:35. > :00:44.Japan's Central bank holds fire on further stimulus and gives
:00:45. > :00:47.a bleaker view of the future - so how will it boost
:00:48. > :00:54.Music to Sony's ears; the entertainment giant buys part
:00:55. > :00:59.of pop legend Michael Jackson's music empire with lucrative rights
:01:00. > :01:05.share markets are under pressure with the price of oil remaining
:01:06. > :01:08.below 40 dollars a barrel, we'll talk you through
:01:09. > :01:14.And predicting the future, we'll get the inside track from one
:01:15. > :01:18.entrepreneur who says she can tell business what the future holds
:01:19. > :01:20.by taking the guess work out of forecasting.
:01:21. > :01:26.The global cosmetics firm moves its headquarters
:01:27. > :01:30.But is it a vote of confidence in the country despite
:01:31. > :01:41.Let us know, use the hashtag, BBC Biz Live.
:01:42. > :01:50.It's the big week for central banks in our major economies;
:01:51. > :01:56.Japan, the US and UK are among the five laying out rates decisions.
:01:57. > :02:01.Today, the Bank of Japan held fire on lowering rates
:02:02. > :02:11.The BoJ gave a bleaker view of the economy,
:02:12. > :02:14.raising questions about how effective its policies are.
:02:15. > :02:20.In January Japan made the surprise move of diving into negative
:02:21. > :02:25.That was to spur bank lending and consumer spending.
:02:26. > :02:28.Other central banks have followed suit.
:02:29. > :02:34.Only last week, the European Central Bank cut interest rates
:02:35. > :02:37.and unleashed quantitative easing to kick-start
:02:38. > :02:43.Joining us is Dr Pippa Malmgren, founder of London-based economic
:02:44. > :02:50.Nice to see you. Sally running through the
:02:51. > :02:56.details there of the policy action we have seen so far from many of the
:02:57. > :03:00.Central Banks but we are getting to the point where they are running out
:03:01. > :03:05.of options? That is the point of going into negative interest rates.
:03:06. > :03:09.It's a last-ditch effort to compel people to stop saving and to take
:03:10. > :03:13.their capital and go put it to work in the economy.
:03:14. > :03:17.But why is it not working to the same extent they might have hoped?
:03:18. > :03:20.The Bank of Japan held off taking further action, they are keen to let
:03:21. > :03:23.the first round of action settle down a little bit, but it's not
:03:24. > :03:28.working in quite the way they might have expected? No, in fact we have
:03:29. > :03:31.record sales of safes in Japan now because if you put your money in the
:03:32. > :03:35.bank you have to pay the bank for holding your cash, that's a negative
:03:36. > :03:38.interest rate. That's exactly what they don't want.
:03:39. > :03:42.They want people to put their capital into the real economy one
:03:43. > :03:45.way or another. The other thing is, you have to understand the purpose
:03:46. > :03:51.of negative interest rates is to raise the cost-of-living. It's to
:03:52. > :03:55.cause inflation to rise. It should make the price of assets like homes
:03:56. > :03:59.or the stock market go up. So another thing is, people start to
:04:00. > :04:02.think, well, if that's true, I need to save even more, so it's a
:04:03. > :04:07.circular problem. Let's zoom out a little bit. In
:04:08. > :04:10.terms of the options that are available to Central Banks, this is
:04:11. > :04:13.one of them. We have seen record interest rates and other policy
:04:14. > :04:17.action. Are there any moves they still have up their sleeve or, is
:04:18. > :04:22.this really the last-ditch attempt to kick start what we have seen,
:04:23. > :04:25.sluggish recoveries, in some cases teetering on the edge of recession
:04:26. > :04:27.again, and they are really trying to find something else they can
:04:28. > :04:33.deploy but they are running out of ways to do that? I'll tell you
:04:34. > :04:33.what's left. They could start buying things
:04:34. > :04:41.in the open market, they could buy debt, they could buy corporate debt,
:04:42. > :04:44.they could put the money into things like infrastructure. But Central
:04:45. > :04:49.Banks are very reluctant to become price-makers,
:04:50. > :04:54.they prefer to create the conditions. So the question is, if
:04:55. > :04:58.the public doesn't take the money and push it into the real economy,
:04:59. > :05:06.how will Central Banks make them do it? One of the ways, is, you go to
:05:07. > :05:11.electronic cash, you dock somebody's bank deposit, if I put ?100 in the
:05:12. > :05:14.bank, that takes ?2 out, that'll make me get my money out of there.
:05:15. > :05:15.Many suggest it's storing up problems for labour down the
:05:16. > :05:19.line. Lovely to see you A worker sacked by Volkswagen
:05:20. > :05:33.in the US has launched legal action He's accusing it of deleting
:05:34. > :05:46.documents and obstructing justice in relation to the
:05:47. > :05:48.emissions scandal. Daniel Donovan, who worked
:05:49. > :05:51.in IT for the company, says he refused to delete the files
:05:52. > :05:54.and reported them to a supervisor. He says he was wrongfully
:05:55. > :05:56.dismissed in December. The head of Bangladesh's central
:05:57. > :06:00.bank has resigned after hackers The money was stolen last
:06:01. > :06:08.month from its account at the Federal Reserve
:06:09. > :06:11.Bank in New York. Last week bank officials say
:06:12. > :06:13.the gang behind the raid used stolen credentials to make
:06:14. > :06:15.the transfer requests. Initially some money
:06:16. > :06:18.was recovered from Sri Lanka, but more than eighty million dollars
:06:19. > :06:20.was laundered through casinos Oil prices have fallen nearly 3%,
:06:21. > :06:24.trading under $40 a barrel after Iran put off plans
:06:25. > :06:26.to join countries proposing Iran's oil minister says the country
:06:27. > :06:31.will only join discussions to cap output after its own production
:06:32. > :06:33.reaches a pre-sanctions levels. A lot of data on our website.
:06:34. > :06:48.Just to highlight on there, we had news from France, consumer
:06:49. > :06:53.prices falling. The live page pointing out, more deflation over in
:06:54. > :06:56.France, consumer prices confirmed by falling % year on year. So that
:06:57. > :07:06.problem of deflation continues to stalk the eurozone.
:07:07. > :07:09.Also, this is the copper company Antofagasta, 83% fall in annual
:07:10. > :07:13.profits mainly down to the fall in the price of copper and slowing
:07:14. > :07:15.growth in China, becoming a real theme. The other mining companies
:07:16. > :07:24.out with news prior to this BH Bilton
:07:25. > :07:28.Rio Tinto, also having to take steps. The price of metals going
:07:29. > :07:33.down and the slowing economy in China. Full details on the website.
:07:34. > :07:39.As Sony snaps up Michael Jackson's interest in a massive music catalog
:07:40. > :07:46.Leisha Chi is in Singapore and has more for us.
:07:47. > :07:53.I didn't realise Michael Jackson had the rights to so many songs? Neither
:07:54. > :07:59.did I, but we have to go all the way back to
:08:00. > :08:03.1995 when Michael Jackson partnered with Sony to set up
:08:04. > :08:09.the world's biggest music publisher. They split the business and Sony is
:08:10. > :08:13.now paying $750 for Jackson's 50% holding, so now they are going to
:08:14. > :08:18.own the rites to about three million songs. This includes most of the
:08:19. > :08:23.works by The Beatles, as well as sales by Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Kanye
:08:24. > :08:28.West and Taylor swift. The deal does not include Michael Jackson's master
:08:29. > :08:32.recordings or the songs written by him, but essentially this deal shows
:08:33. > :08:36.he wasn't just the King of Pop, he made one of the smartest investments
:08:37. > :08:40.by investing in the titles and, importantly, the sale is going to
:08:41. > :08:43.help reduce his estate's debts and he still has three living children
:08:44. > :08:48.and they'll get more financial flexibility from the money that's
:08:49. > :08:50.going to come in. It's been seven years since Michael Jackson left us
:08:51. > :08:51.but he's still ranked amongst the highest
:08:52. > :09:05.earning deceased celebrities. Coke owe had a downbeat day
:09:06. > :09:16.yesterday. The -- Tokyo.
:09:17. > :09:18.Export goods become more expensive, down in
:09:19. > :09:27.Hong Kong adds well, well street the night before. -- as well.
:09:28. > :09:33.The European numbers now: Sainsbury's as well, its shares down
:09:34. > :09:34.1%. The spark retailer in the UK coming out with disappointed numbers
:09:35. > :09:39.as well. Losses across-the-board, oil prices
:09:40. > :09:45.and energy stocks lower. A familiar tale. Michelle is here to tell us
:09:46. > :09:49.what we should be watching. Wall Street will have plenty of economic
:09:50. > :09:52.data to digest as the Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting on
:09:53. > :09:56.interest rate policy. The retail sector generally has been a bright
:09:57. > :10:01.spot as the world's largest economy has recovered. American consumers
:10:02. > :10:06.have opened their wallets. Spending surged in January. Investors will be
:10:07. > :10:10.watching the commerce department's retail sales figures to find out if
:10:11. > :10:14.that momentum carried over into February or if it stalled. Valiant
:10:15. > :10:15.pharmaceuticals get its chance to respond to its detractors. The
:10:16. > :10:19.embattled drug-maker releases its fourth quarter results.
:10:20. > :10:26.It's been under scrutiny for accounting
:10:27. > :10:27.and business practices. And the US Senate
:10:28. > :10:34.is holding a hearing into driverless cars with testimony expected from
:10:35. > :10:39.the likes of Google, Lift and others.
:10:40. > :10:41.Joining us is Maike Currie, investment director at Fidelity
:10:42. > :10:57.Let us turn our aFengs to oil. Japan isn't going to take part in this
:10:58. > :11:01.freeze. -- attention to oil. A lot of concern about whether Iran would
:11:02. > :11:11.join that group and it's not doing so yet? That is right. The sanctions
:11:12. > :11:15.have been going on for so long. The equity markets keep moving in step
:11:16. > :11:19.with oil price. That is one to keep an aye on. Markets washing the Fed
:11:20. > :11:25.now. We have had the Bank of Japan, the next one to make decisions,
:11:26. > :11:28.makes key economy Federal Reserve, again nothing expected this time?
:11:29. > :11:33.Central Bank policy never far from the Spotlight. This week we have got
:11:34. > :11:38.five Central Banks announcing policy and out of those, the Fed is
:11:39. > :11:44.arguably the most important. There is the press conference and it will
:11:45. > :11:49.all be carefully dissected. We could see the next move up in the next
:11:50. > :11:52.June meeting but nothing at this one.
:11:53. > :11:56.A quick word on the budget hear in the UK. We'll get details from the
:11:57. > :12:02.Chancellor, the Finance Minister tomorrow. Fuel - details about that
:12:03. > :12:05.today, transport spending, all of that being leaked ahead of the
:12:06. > :12:09.budget but clearly a big balancing act for the Chancellor to play?
:12:10. > :12:12.Yes. The Chancellor is walking a tightrope. Back in the Autumn
:12:13. > :12:14.Statement in November, he was very bullish, he said the UK economy was
:12:15. > :12:20.looking a lot stronger, there was ?27 billion
:12:21. > :12:24.extra in the Kitty, now there's a black hole of ?4 billion because the
:12:25. > :12:29.economy's shrank and George Osborne's really made himself a
:12:30. > :12:34.hostage to fortune. He needs to pull a show-stopper of a budget and
:12:35. > :12:38.wrestle back the Spotlight from his political opponent, Boris Johnson.
:12:39. > :12:42.The question is, can he afford it One we'll all be watching very
:12:43. > :12:47.closely tomorrow. Thank you. See you later.
:12:48. > :12:50.Still to come, predicting the future - we meet the software entrepreneur
:12:51. > :12:53.who's taking the guessing out of business forecasting.
:12:54. > :13:03.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:13:04. > :13:06.Cross-channel rail operator Eurostar has just announced
:13:07. > :13:10.The firm runs services between London, Paris and Brussels.
:13:11. > :13:13.But it was badly hit by the terrorist attacks in Paris
:13:14. > :13:19.Profit last year fell to ?34 million, that's down
:13:20. > :13:24.Nicholas Petrovic is the chief executive of Eurostar,
:13:25. > :13:41.and I put it to him that it had been a difficult year.
:13:42. > :13:50.An unusual year. Everything went in different directions. There was a
:13:51. > :13:56.migrant issue. There was also some good news. The big thing for us, we
:13:57. > :14:01.had a new fleet of trains at the end of last year. That is the future of
:14:02. > :14:06.Eurostar. So a very, very eventful year actually for us. An eventful
:14:07. > :14:09.year and one in which passenger numbers were flat. You are operating
:14:10. > :14:18.profits down by ?20 million, so a lot going on. But what are you
:14:19. > :14:23.thinking for 2016, how is it going to look because the migration crisis
:14:24. > :14:28.is difficult to predict and it's very hard to counter it really,
:14:29. > :14:37.there's not much you can do about that? There is been a lot of
:14:38. > :14:41.investment. For 2016, I'm quite actually optimistic. I think with
:14:42. > :14:46.the new fleet of train and there is an appetite of people to travel and
:14:47. > :14:47.I think we are expecting to grow. The summer looks
:14:48. > :14:53.good at the moment, bookings are very strong, so we expect, after the
:14:54. > :14:55.effect of the Paris attacks, now to grow again and to have a very good
:14:56. > :15:04.2016. We saw footage of the fancy trains,
:15:05. > :15:07.running between Paris and London currently, but you are going to
:15:08. > :15:12.expand that significantly which which would be costly I would
:15:13. > :15:17.imagine? We are investing ?1 billion into the float to complete it. This
:15:18. > :15:22.year it will be mostly on the Paris route, so most trains will be new.
:15:23. > :15:29.We have more space, Wi-Fi on board, plugs, everything. And then we move
:15:30. > :15:37.that to the Brussels route and other routes, to the South of France.
:15:38. > :15:41.Putting on the brakes - Japan's central bank holds fire
:15:42. > :15:44.on rate cuts and stimulus but gives us a bleaker view of this major
:15:45. > :15:50.Japan's already in negative interest rate territory -
:15:51. > :15:54.so will this mean a fresh dose of stimulus down the line to nurse
:15:55. > :16:07.The next company offers something we could all do with -
:16:08. > :16:08.it works out exactly where you stand financially,
:16:09. > :16:21.I am talking of the start-up CrunchBoards.
:16:22. > :16:24.Its software lets companies to work out their financially situation -
:16:25. > :16:27.who owes what and whether they're in a position to expand or hire.
:16:28. > :16:29.The UK based company is relatively new -
:16:30. > :16:32.it launched just two years ago - but now has offices in London,
:16:33. > :16:35.CrunchBoards now has over 8,500 customers in over 82 countries.
:16:36. > :16:39.It's the brainchild of entrepreneurs Hannah McIntyre and Amy Harris.
:16:40. > :16:47.With us now is one of the duo, Hannah McIntyre.
:16:48. > :16:55.Hannah, nice to see you. We touched on it briefly, it is trying to get
:16:56. > :16:59.businesses more information about themselves. It sounds a bit obvious
:17:00. > :17:03.that these are the things that firms should know, how much money they
:17:04. > :17:10.have, where rents how they can spend it but, crucially, they don't? Often
:17:11. > :17:15.this is the case. CrunchBoards is about driving business growth. Most
:17:16. > :17:18.businesses are sat in a meeting with their accountant at the end of the
:17:19. > :17:23.year having a history lesson, but what you want to see is where you
:17:24. > :17:27.will be in the next three, six, 12 months, five years, then build upon
:17:28. > :17:32.your foundations. This started because you and Amy were running a
:17:33. > :17:37.company prior to CrunchBoards and you needed this service? Yes, and it
:17:38. > :17:38.is pretty extreme to build your own software because you cannot find
:17:39. > :18:00.something to the illiterate you need, but we
:18:01. > :18:02.did. We had a company looking at incident management accounts for the
:18:03. > :18:04.hospitality sector, we realised we needed this. We were spending lots
:18:05. > :18:06.of time exporting data, putting it into the dreaded spreadsheets, there
:18:07. > :18:09.were lots of inefficiencies and we were always running at a massive
:18:10. > :18:12.time like. All the time, you need to have answers today, that is what
:18:13. > :18:15.CrunchBoards does. We spent a lot of time talking about uncertainty,
:18:16. > :18:22.weather it is the referendum, the oil prices, China. You can see the
:18:23. > :18:27.need for some planning, but how do you navigate that? There is knows
:18:28. > :18:33.urge think as a certain future. Scenario planning is really key. --
:18:34. > :18:36.there is no such thing. There is no fixed feature for any company. You
:18:37. > :18:43.need to be able to test different options, that is what the software
:18:44. > :18:49.does. It has helped small businesses to explore opportunity. This does
:18:50. > :18:54.not altogether remove the accountant, it works alongside that?
:18:55. > :18:58.Absolutely. There is an interesting shift in the accounting industry.
:18:59. > :19:04.Traditionally it has been compliance based, tax etc has been looked at.
:19:05. > :19:06.But is there a shift towards advisory services? Small businesses
:19:07. > :19:13.want expertise and knowledge to help them grow. What we do is facilitate
:19:14. > :19:19.collaboration between adviser and the client, so that the time spent
:19:20. > :19:23.is not this history lesson looking back at last year, it is hopefully
:19:24. > :19:29.monthly meetings etc looking towards the future. Many watching this
:19:30. > :19:34.looking at you, you and Amy, you are both really good friends and
:19:35. > :19:38.starting businesses together. It is amazing, we still are really good
:19:39. > :19:46.friends! If you are watching, Amy, it is official. Many might be
:19:47. > :19:51.watching you, thinking, well, you are operating in 80 countries, how
:19:52. > :19:56.do you make that happen? We do not sleep a lot, I should say that. It
:19:57. > :20:02.has been a process. We did not launch with 82 countries and a huge
:20:03. > :20:04.amount of learning has happened. We launched in Australia, lots of
:20:05. > :20:10.people would say, why have you done that? That it is the emerging market
:20:11. > :20:15.for cloud accountancy technology in the world so it was the obvious
:20:16. > :20:20.place. And then, this growth has happened and we have not really done
:20:21. > :20:26.much marketing either. It has been amazing. There is validation in the
:20:27. > :20:31.marketplace. It was not just us that needed that solution, clearly others
:20:32. > :20:36.did, too. A quick word on the technology that lets this happen,
:20:37. > :20:41.like lots of technology firms that is the software that makes it more
:20:42. > :20:46.accessible, and you can do that right here? Absolutely, we are based
:20:47. > :20:50.in the clouds we are accessible in any device anywhere in the globe. As
:20:51. > :20:55.long as you have an Internet connection, of course! We work
:20:56. > :21:01.really, really hard to make sure it is as accessible as possible. And
:21:02. > :21:05.secure, presumably? Absolutely, any cloud business has to take that
:21:06. > :21:10.incredibly seriously. We're working very hard to make sure that is case.
:21:11. > :21:16.Really nice to see you, Hannah, thank you for coming in.
:21:17. > :21:20.I am definitely not inputting any of my numbers! I know it is easy but it
:21:21. > :21:23.would reveal all sorts of nasty things I do not want to know!
:21:24. > :21:25.Innovations in the financial world are swift.
:21:26. > :21:27.Take banking apps, which millions of us use.
:21:28. > :21:30.In fact, the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland is replacing hundreds
:21:31. > :21:31.of staff with so called robo advisers!
:21:32. > :21:34.But what are they and can they really do better
:21:35. > :21:47.Don't worry, you won't have to see a scary chap like him,
:21:48. > :21:49.you won't even have to see a human being.
:21:50. > :21:52.In fact, you can get everything you need from a mobile phone app.
:21:53. > :21:55.There's a list of questions that help us to understand as much
:21:56. > :21:58.as we can the risk attitude and risk profile of our clients.
:21:59. > :22:01.One company that recently entered the UK market is the Italian firm
:22:02. > :22:04.MoneyFarm, it uses robo advice rather than a human personal
:22:05. > :22:07.financial adviser to help its customers make investment
:22:08. > :22:09.decisions in a variety of markets taking
:22:10. > :22:16.With this technology you can build a different way to explain
:22:17. > :22:28.And the robo concept comes from the fact there is no need...
:22:29. > :22:30.At least it's not mandatory to have someone interfacing
:22:31. > :22:32.with the clients, the computer or the app
:22:33. > :22:36.on the mobile phone can help you do so.
:22:37. > :22:46.Lets take a quick look at the stories making business
:22:47. > :22:50.The Wall Street Journal reports that the cosmetics company Avon
:22:51. > :22:53.plans to move its headquarters to Britain and cut 2,500 jobs
:22:54. > :22:55.worldwide as part of a turnaround plan.
:22:56. > :22:58.That is also elsewhere in the financial press and we will talk
:22:59. > :23:00.about it in a moment. The Daily Telegraph warns that
:23:01. > :23:02.global recession risk rises to 30% this year, according
:23:03. > :23:04.to Morgan Stanley. And in the Gulf News,
:23:05. > :23:21.Kuwait looks set to impose a 10% tax They are looking to claw in more
:23:22. > :23:25.money with the price of oil going down. Maike from Fidelity
:23:26. > :23:28.International is back to talk about the papers. Avon is really
:23:29. > :23:32.interesting, any time that we are told that the Brexit debate will
:23:33. > :23:38.cause uncertainty and firms to leave the UK, Avon is moving headquarters
:23:39. > :23:41.from New York to the UK, it is not worried? Avon has much bigger
:23:42. > :23:46.worries than the EU referendum and Brexit. Its direct selling market is
:23:47. > :23:51.struggling in an age where everything is set -- technology
:23:52. > :23:56.driven and it needs to come are swift e-commerce rivals -- compete
:23:57. > :24:04.with. Its commission -based model is struggling. Also the name? The Avon
:24:05. > :24:07.lady is calling, even you are familiar with, growing up in South
:24:08. > :24:14.Africa, it was a big deal in the UK. It is the issue of rant? It is a
:24:15. > :24:17.very good example of how digital disruption can disrupt all business
:24:18. > :24:21.models and you really need to keep up with the times. The other thing
:24:22. > :24:25.about Avon, they were dead set on keeping the business in the US,
:24:26. > :24:28.where the route 's worth. When they have been pressed to expand into
:24:29. > :24:33.emerging markets. I think they missed a trick. Turning our
:24:34. > :24:39.attention to collate, like many big oil producers it is feeling the
:24:40. > :24:46.effects of a falling oil price. -- let's turn our attention to Kuwait.
:24:47. > :24:51.It is imposing a 10% tax. The Gulf is known for being tax-free and it
:24:52. > :24:58.attracts many people to move there. These oil producing nations need to
:24:59. > :25:02.diversify revenue sources. A major change for the Gulf countries. A
:25:03. > :25:08.similar story in Saudi Arabia not so long ago, increasing taxes. It is
:25:09. > :25:11.very interesting how the price of commodities going on is forcing
:25:12. > :25:17.countries to take steps they really do not want to take.
:25:18. > :25:22.This is a story in the Telegraph, the global recession risk rises to
:25:23. > :25:27.30%, according to Morgan Stanley, not least, for many countries,
:25:28. > :25:31.because of falling oil prices. That has been the big worry. We were
:25:32. > :25:34.expecting the low oil price to feed through to consumers. We have not
:25:35. > :25:42.seen that will stop we expect this year to be different. We seek US and
:25:43. > :25:45.EU consumers who use a lot of oil benefiting, I think it will trickle
:25:46. > :25:49.through. We have seen a lot of warnings, we should be careful not
:25:50. > :25:53.to manufacture a crisis. That is something we will watch very
:25:54. > :25:56.closely, we will not manufacture a crisis. Nice to see you, as always,
:25:57. > :25:58.Maike