:00:07. > :00:09.This is Business live from BBC News with Ben Thompson
:00:10. > :00:15.Foreign ministers of the world's seven largest economies arrive
:00:16. > :00:18.in Italy with free trade high on the agenda.
:00:19. > :00:38.Live from London, that's our top story on Monday the 10th of April.
:00:39. > :00:40.Today's meeting in Italy comes at a crossroads
:00:41. > :00:47.We'll ask an expert whether political upheaval signals
:00:48. > :00:53.Also in the programme: Regulators investigate Barclays boss
:00:54. > :00:55.Jess Staley in relation to alleged misconduct in a
:00:56. > :01:03.The bank says it'll reduce the chief exec's pay
:01:04. > :01:15.And all the details of what you need to know for the trading week ahead.
:01:16. > :01:19.Later in the programme we'll speak to the boss of a company hoping
:01:20. > :01:21.to develop the next generation of coding geniuses.
:01:22. > :01:29.The Green Party in the UK want to introduce a three-day weekend.
:01:30. > :01:32.Would you want one, and would you work longer hours to get one?
:01:33. > :01:49.How about if you still work longer hours but you still have to do a
:01:50. > :01:52.five-day week? That sounds like what we do here!
:01:53. > :01:56.We start in Italy where the Foreign Ministers of the world's
:01:57. > :01:59.biggest economies are meeting in the historic city of Lucca.
:02:00. > :02:02.This year Italy holds the presidency of the G7 group and Rome has already
:02:03. > :02:05.made it clear that one of its priorities is "fighting
:02:06. > :02:10.Well, it's important because the G7 accounts for just over 46%
:02:11. > :02:18.And this meeting is important because it comes before next
:02:19. > :02:26.Last month the host, the Italian Prime Minister,
:02:27. > :02:30.laid out his G7 plan by saying "We need to keep betting on the free
:02:31. > :02:32.market and on free trade, the biggest economic
:02:33. > :02:43.But how can they boost their economies when there appears
:02:44. > :02:44.to be more political appetite for protectionism?
:02:45. > :02:46.The latest IMF forecasts show reasonable growth
:02:47. > :02:48.this year for the US, Germany and the UK but
:02:49. > :02:52.Other topics on the agenda include climate change,
:02:53. > :02:54.immigration and energy security, in fact G7 energy ministers
:02:55. > :03:03.are currently holding a separate meeting in Rome.
:03:04. > :03:08.Stephanie Hare, an Independent Political Risk Analyst.
:03:09. > :03:15.A familiar face, great to see you. This is going to be interesting,
:03:16. > :03:23.because already there seems to be an air of mistrust, because US Treasury
:03:24. > :03:27.Secretary Rex Tillerson is being accused of hampering this year's
:03:28. > :03:32.gathering because he hasn't appointed the number of people that
:03:33. > :03:36.he needs to put these draft accords in, and it is already tainted? I
:03:37. > :03:46.don't know if it is tainted, but we have to have realistic expectations.
:03:47. > :03:51.Tillerson hasn't appointed the deputy secretaries he needs, and
:03:52. > :03:55.department is being cut by a third, so the United States is undergoing
:03:56. > :03:58.fundamental changes as a result of the election of Donald Trump, so we
:03:59. > :04:05.will see a different America I think going forward. But the others around
:04:06. > :04:10.the table will want to know what the picture is that America is going to
:04:11. > :04:15.paint. They don't know what they are doing on trade, security, etc. And
:04:16. > :04:18.that is a powerful position for the United States, because it is keeping
:04:19. > :04:23.everybody else off-balance and making them wait and react to
:04:24. > :04:27.whatever it is that Trump and his administration put forward. And
:04:28. > :04:33.foreign policy are huge issue because all this is happening while
:04:34. > :04:37.they are sending in a carrier fleet, a strike force fleet, towards the
:04:38. > :04:48.Korean pollutants in a. My concern with this -- the Korean peninsular.
:04:49. > :04:50.My concern is that we have to foreign policy crises at the moment
:04:51. > :04:55.that could make everything else redundant. The first as you said is
:04:56. > :04:58.looking at North Korea, so we are seeing extremely tough language
:04:59. > :05:03.coming out of the United States right now about whether or not they
:05:04. > :05:06.would tolerate any red lines being crossed, and that language of the
:05:07. > :05:11.red line and trying to force China whose leader was in the United
:05:12. > :05:15.States last week meeting Trump, trying to force them to pressure
:05:16. > :05:19.North Korea, because we are worried they are going to have nuclear
:05:20. > :05:23.weapons, so what are talking about is potentially killing the leader of
:05:24. > :05:28.North Korea, this was advanced as an option put before President Trump,
:05:29. > :05:32.putting nuclear weapons into South Korea. This is a little more than
:05:33. > :05:37.sabre rattling. It Israeli scary, and last week we had the United
:05:38. > :05:41.States launching air strikes against Syria because of a red line being
:05:42. > :05:45.crossed on chemical attacks. That was seen as sending a message to
:05:46. > :05:52.other leaders around the world that the United States is not afraid that
:05:53. > :05:52.and to act quickly. We have to leave it there, unfortunately, but thank
:05:53. > :05:57.you very much. Let's take a look at some news
:05:58. > :06:00.from the UK banking sector now. Jes Staley, the chief executive
:06:01. > :06:03.of Barclays is to be investigated by The Financial Conduct Authority
:06:04. > :06:05.and the Prudential They say Mr Staley tried to identify
:06:06. > :06:22.a whistle-blower in 2016. Simon Jack has the details, so bring
:06:23. > :06:27.us up to date. Unusual story, this. He is accused of sticking his nose
:06:28. > :06:31.in where CEOs shouldn't stick their nose in. He is accused of hiring
:06:32. > :06:35.someone from JP Morgan, someone he had known for years, who had had
:06:36. > :06:38.personal issues in the past, and somebody wrote to the members of the
:06:39. > :06:42.board of Berkeley is questioning whether this new person was a
:06:43. > :06:49.suitable higher and saying maybe the fact that Jess Staley was a friend
:06:50. > :06:53.of his meant that normal due diligence had been ignored. He saw
:06:54. > :06:57.this as a personal knifing of somebody who had had problems at the
:06:58. > :07:00.passport was now OK, and it didn't sit well with him. He wanted to know
:07:01. > :07:04.who sent the letter, he was told to back off it was none of his he then
:07:05. > :07:11.mistakenly thought he was clear to restart the hunt and try to involve
:07:12. > :07:14.US law enforcement agencies into trying to find who wrote the letter,
:07:15. > :07:18.and was told that was not appropriate. Whistle-blowing only
:07:19. > :07:22.works if the system is anonymous, which is why regulators get so upset
:07:23. > :07:29.if chief executive Zahra allowed to hunt down whistle-blowers, it
:07:30. > :07:33.doesn't work. It could cost him up to ?1.3 million from his bonus last
:07:34. > :07:36.year, and that will not be the end of it. Regulators love
:07:37. > :07:39.whistle-blowers, it helps them do their job, so they want to get to
:07:40. > :07:43.the bottom of this. Simon Jack, thank you for explaining
:07:44. > :07:45.that, the latest at events on Barclays.
:07:46. > :07:49.Let's look at some of the other stories making headlines around the
:07:50. > :07:56.world. A secret recording that implicates
:07:57. > :07:59.the Bank of England in the Libor rigging has been uncovered
:08:00. > :08:01.by the BBC's Panorama programme. Libor is the rate at which banks
:08:02. > :08:05.lend money to each other and it sets a benchmark for mortgages and loans
:08:06. > :08:07.for regular customers. The 2008 recording adds to evidence
:08:08. > :08:09.the central bank repeatedly pressured commercial banks
:08:10. > :08:12.during the financial crisis A quick update on a story you may
:08:13. > :08:22.have seen around yesterday. The payday loan firm Wonga has
:08:23. > :08:25.suffered a data breach which may have affected up to 245,000
:08:26. > :08:27.customers in the UK. The firm said it was "urgently
:08:28. > :08:29.investigating illegal and unauthorised access
:08:30. > :08:31.to the personal data The information stolen includes
:08:32. > :08:34.names, addresses, phone numbers We have also got some news, this is
:08:35. > :08:49.fairly interesting. The operator of Hong Kong's gold
:08:50. > :08:52.exchange is in talks with Myanmar to help the government there set up
:08:53. > :09:04.a similar exchange in that country. It is part of the Whaddon Road, one
:09:05. > :09:08.belt. We may come back to that later with Sarah in Singapore if we can
:09:09. > :09:11.get her. I think we may have lost her.
:09:12. > :09:16.Down the back of the sofa! That be run you through some numbers.
:09:17. > :09:20.We'll talk wider markets in a moment - but just want to show you two
:09:21. > :09:28.The BBC has seen evidence that top bosses at Shell knew that money paid
:09:29. > :09:31.to the Nigerian government for a vast oil field would be passed
:09:32. > :09:34.It also had reason to believe that money would be used
:09:35. > :09:45.We're also following Barclays - with news that regulators have begun
:09:46. > :09:48.investigations into Jes Staley , the chief executive of Barclays
:09:49. > :09:50.after he tried to identify a whistle-blower in 2016.
:09:51. > :09:54.The BBC has learned that Barclays chief executive Jes Staley
:09:55. > :09:57.could lose his 2016 annual bonus, worth ?1.3m, due to his "error" over
:09:58. > :10:01.the attempted identification of a whistle-blower.
:10:02. > :10:06.Here's what Europe is doing right now.
:10:07. > :10:12.It is pretty quiet at the moment. Let's just nip over to Wall Street,
:10:13. > :10:17.because Michelle has details about the trading day ahead.
:10:18. > :10:24.The week may end early because of Good Friday, but there is plenty to
:10:25. > :10:27.look out for. America's biggest bank starts to release first-quarter
:10:28. > :10:34.earnings. JP Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all put their earnings
:10:35. > :10:41.out on Thursday, likely to put out a rise in profit. Wells Fargo is
:10:42. > :10:48.struggling to shake off the effects of a mis-selling scandal and is
:10:49. > :10:52.widely forecast to report a fall in first-quarter profit. On Friday,
:10:53. > :10:55.markets are closed, but there is lots of economic data, not least
:10:56. > :10:57.retail sales numbers for the month of March.
:10:58. > :11:02.Joining us is Jessica Ground, UK Equities Fund Manager, Schroders.
:11:03. > :11:09.Great to have you with us as well. I know you were listening to Stephanie
:11:10. > :11:21.who scared the Bee Gees is out of us. -- who scared the wits out of
:11:22. > :11:28.us. The US is facing two ships heading towards the Korean
:11:29. > :11:33.peninsular and Syria. And you have to remember where we have come from
:11:34. > :11:35.on this, Trump saying I am not going to get involved in foreign policy
:11:36. > :11:41.commitments, everybody thinking it is all about global growth and all
:11:42. > :11:44.of a sudden quite early on we are facing two difficult situations, and
:11:45. > :11:51.investors struggle to price these things because there is so much
:11:52. > :11:58.uncertainty. There is indeed. And a lot of investors jump into typical
:11:59. > :12:02.safe havens, gold. Oil having a strong run, so as you say, on
:12:03. > :12:08.Friday, the initial reaction was a jump to safe haven, and taking off
:12:09. > :12:14.from very low levels, people becoming slightly more concerned
:12:15. > :12:21.about risk. Let's talk about banks. We have been talking about Barclays
:12:22. > :12:26.and the Bank of England. Look at the front page of the BBC News website,
:12:27. > :12:30.bank implicated in Libor rigging, Watchdog probe into Barclays boss,
:12:31. > :12:39.and Barclays shares down. What a callous about the culture in the
:12:40. > :12:45.city? -- what does it tell us? Regulators and bank boards are
:12:46. > :12:48.taking this seriously. Before the financial crisis, a blind eye was
:12:49. > :12:58.cast on the sector, but now you have the regulators and the boards is...
:12:59. > :13:04.We are still cleaning this up in 2017? Definitely, it has been a huge
:13:05. > :13:12.task. Initial phase was about every body getting into the emergency room
:13:13. > :13:15.and keeping it going, then it was physical rehabilitation, how do you
:13:16. > :13:23.make the banks function with a strong culture of integrity, and it
:13:24. > :13:26.takes to change behaviour. And change regulation, because we have
:13:27. > :13:30.seen swathes of regulation being brought into tidy up our bags
:13:31. > :13:39.operate # How banks operate? Yes, and retail
:13:40. > :13:43.being cut off somewhat from investment banking, but that still
:13:44. > :13:47.hasn't been done. You can't just click your fingers and have change
:13:48. > :13:49.happen overnight. Good to see you, thank you very
:13:50. > :13:50.much. Still to come,
:13:51. > :13:52.investing in the future. Later in the programme we'll speak
:13:53. > :13:55.to the boss of a company hoping to develop the next generation
:13:56. > :13:57.of coding geniuses. You're with Business
:13:58. > :14:07.Live from BBC News. And it is not just coding, it is
:14:08. > :14:09.about finding jobs we don't know existed, and training them now. We
:14:10. > :14:21.will talk about that a little later. The hotel chain Travelodge has
:14:22. > :14:25.its annual figures out this morning. It saw profits and revenues rise
:14:26. > :14:28.last year, and there was an increase They now account for
:14:29. > :14:43.half of all sales. Good morning. Some good figures, and
:14:44. > :14:47.I think it is fair to say this comes after what has been a tough few
:14:48. > :14:53.years for you guys, all sorts of different owners, varied results, as
:14:54. > :14:58.we said, after the financial crisis. Where are you up to? The company was
:14:59. > :15:03.restructured in 2012 is of it above that viable financial crisis, and we
:15:04. > :15:06.have been investing heavily and upgrading our hotels in trying to
:15:07. > :15:13.win business customers. This is another milestone, with Isner --
:15:14. > :15:19.business customers accounting for more of our customers. And wires
:15:20. > :15:27.that imported, you would've expected they would stay at higher in hotels,
:15:28. > :15:31.and now they are staying with you? Yes, there was a certain business
:15:32. > :15:34.budget customer, but we are all budget travellers now, and
:15:35. > :15:37.businesses in an uncertain economic environment are turning to low-cost
:15:38. > :15:42.operators more and more, and almost half the FTSE 100 now use the
:15:43. > :15:48.Travelodge here in the UK, so it is a mainstream product.
:15:49. > :15:53.What are your mattresses like? There is another chain in the UK, of
:15:54. > :15:59.course, we know that pride themselves on their mattress and
:16:00. > :16:07.I've tried and they're comfy mattresses? You can buy one of our
:16:08. > :16:12.beds. If they are good enough for the future king, they will be good
:16:13. > :16:17.enough for our customers. We appreciate your time and good luck
:16:18. > :16:22.with everythingment seriously. That was the big boss of Travelodge.
:16:23. > :16:28.Thank you very much for putting up with Aaron's mattress questions!
:16:29. > :16:38.It's important. You look for a good mattress and internet! Plenty of
:16:39. > :16:44.details on the BBC website. To the Bank of England libor story. We love
:16:45. > :16:49.a good Hornby story. Shareholders who represent a 20% stake in Hornby
:16:50. > :16:53.asking for the boss to go. The chairman is being proposed to leave
:16:54. > :17:05.Hornby. We like talking about it. Full details on the website.
:17:06. > :17:10.The so-called STEM subjects - Science, Technology,
:17:11. > :17:12.Engineering and Maths - are often seen as vital
:17:13. > :17:15.But how do you make those subjects attractive
:17:16. > :17:26.I liked science, but I didn't like maths. I didn't like any of them.
:17:27. > :17:29.I'm joking! Last year the BBC gave
:17:30. > :17:32.about one million devices called the Micro Bit to children in the UK
:17:33. > :17:35.in an effort to encourage One of the companies involved
:17:36. > :17:38.in the project was called It sells do-it-yourself
:17:39. > :17:43.kits for children. So far they've sold more
:17:44. > :17:45.than 100,000 kits which let you build all kinds of things
:17:46. > :17:48.from robots to games and even Bethany Koby, co-founder
:17:49. > :18:02.of Technology Will Save Us. Welcome. You brought some of your
:18:03. > :18:06.kits in. We will have a look in a moment. What fascinates me about
:18:07. > :18:09.this is, it is about teaching kids in schools these days, giving them
:18:10. > :18:13.skills, and giving them the training for jobs that don't even exist yet.
:18:14. > :18:17.How do teachers, how do students and how do parents even get their head
:18:18. > :18:21.around that? So we believe that it's all about learning by doing. It's
:18:22. > :18:25.about getting kids hands on with all kinds of technology to help them
:18:26. > :18:30.build confidence, passion, and understanding of the skills that
:18:31. > :18:34.they can actually achieve whether that be through electronics, through
:18:35. > :18:38.programming, through things like electronic play dough when they are
:18:39. > :18:43.as young as four. It is about really getting kids hands on with the
:18:44. > :18:49.potential to what technology can do. We do a lot, I do a lot of stories
:18:50. > :18:54.on this subject and it always comes you, the experts say there is a
:18:55. > :18:58.global lack of coders. That's a big problem considering the stuff Ben is
:18:59. > :19:02.holding in his hand, technology is going to be the future or it is the
:19:03. > :19:06.future? There is a stat that we talk about a lot. 65% of kids in primary
:19:07. > :19:11.school, their jobs don't even exist yet. So these kids and their
:19:12. > :19:14.families will have to pave a path for themselves and we believe that
:19:15. > :19:17.the one way for kids to pave a path is by playing and finding enjoyment
:19:18. > :19:21.in the potential of what tech can do. If kids can find confidence, if
:19:22. > :19:25.they can build skills and actually see what they're good at, that's a
:19:26. > :19:29.better way for them it take the skills and apply them. This is so
:19:30. > :19:36.much more interesting than the things we had to do at school which
:19:37. > :19:42.was make a light on a circuit board light up. You have got the kit. This
:19:43. > :19:44.is about a bit of coding, but it is about proving that science and
:19:45. > :19:51.technology can be useful in your life. How does this work? This is
:19:52. > :19:56.the mover kit. It is waerbable. It has rainbow lights and a motion
:19:57. > :20:02.sensor and a compass that kids can programme to invent games and
:20:03. > :20:07.activities. One of the kids, eye sack, he programmed the mover, he
:20:08. > :20:11.brushes his teeth and shows his mum and his mum believes that he brushed
:20:12. > :20:15.his teeth for two minutes of the that's a valid reason for an
:20:16. > :20:21.eight-year-old to programme something. Programming is the medium
:20:22. > :20:25.to get a device to do something which they are interested in. There
:20:26. > :20:29.is so much more to it than just programming. We were talking earlier
:20:30. > :20:35.and I wanted to be an architect when I grew up and I thought maybe I need
:20:36. > :20:38.science and technology and maths to do that and realised it wouldn't
:20:39. > :20:45.happen. This isn't about identifying the job and getting the skills, this
:20:46. > :20:50.is finding something that you enjoy and are good at? It gives kids the
:20:51. > :20:54.chance to explore what technology can provide, whether that be coding
:20:55. > :20:59.or sensors, design, electronics, there is an array of things that
:21:00. > :21:02.kids should be exposed in order to really understand what their
:21:03. > :21:08.potential is. Did you know you would be sitting
:21:09. > :21:13.here in the chair as the boss of this company. Did you sit down and
:21:14. > :21:20.plan your career? Of course not, it was a big accident. They are
:21:21. > :21:23.different ages groups, aren't they? So it is four years old and
:21:24. > :21:35.four-year-old kids can do this stuff. This is electronic play
:21:36. > :21:40.dough. This one is aged 12. You have the four plus one. Do you do the
:21:41. > :21:46.design? Yes. My background is in design and branding and I don't do
:21:47. > :21:50.all of it myself, we have an amazing team now but kids are a part of
:21:51. > :21:54.every stage of product development at Technology Will Save Us. We
:21:55. > :22:01.appreciate your time. Thank you very much for coming in. Good luck with
:22:02. > :22:03.it all. Get those coders out there! While we make this, you can do the
:22:04. > :22:09.four plus one! In a moment we'll take a look
:22:10. > :22:12.through the Business Pages, but first Steph McGovern is in Essex
:22:13. > :22:15.in the East of England today with the first freight train
:22:16. > :22:17.about to leave Britain for China. Obviously you can the port behind me
:22:18. > :22:24.where lots of containers are coming in off the ships,
:22:25. > :22:27.but the reason we're This train will be the first train
:22:28. > :22:34.to travel from the UK to China carrying lots of different products
:22:35. > :22:45.that have been made So it's everything
:22:46. > :22:49.from pharmaceuticals, soft drinks, baby products,
:22:50. > :22:51.all those things that people in China like to buy from us
:22:52. > :22:54.here in the UK. It's interesting when you look
:22:55. > :22:56.at the stats because we have something like ?16 billion of worth
:22:57. > :23:00.of products that we sell to China and around ?40 billion
:23:01. > :23:03.which we imprort from China so a big difference and the Government
:23:04. > :23:05.and the businesses here are hoping that they can reduce that deficit
:23:06. > :23:19.and start getting more We keep pushing about that train. It
:23:20. > :23:25.has to keep changing gauges. It is the same containers though. We keep
:23:26. > :23:34.saying the train. This is the Green Party in the UK.
:23:35. > :23:39.They say you could create a three day weekend. Four day week. But a
:23:40. > :23:43.four day week. Yes. The caveat is you've got to work longer days? It
:23:44. > :23:47.is not a new idea. If you look back at what economists and politicians
:23:48. > :23:53.like Churchill said, they said for years and years that technology
:23:54. > :23:59.would mean that we were sitting on the beach drinking cocktails, but it
:24:00. > :24:02.has never come to pass, now with robots and artificial intelligence,
:24:03. > :24:08.maybe it is around the corner. The idea of leaving aside what the Green
:24:09. > :24:14.Party is suggesting, a three day weekend, maybe we will have to pay
:24:15. > :24:18.people just to consume. This is an idea that's growing credence amongst
:24:19. > :24:25.economists and particularly Silicon Valley. State will provide you with
:24:26. > :24:29.a basic wage so you will consume because you won't have a job to do.
:24:30. > :24:33.I wonder what the productivity will be like in ten hours. In Sweden
:24:34. > :24:36.they've gone from eight hours to six hour day because they say they get
:24:37. > :24:41.much more productivity out of six hours? This comes back to a wider
:24:42. > :24:45.point, UK productivity and there is a survey from BDO saying that UK
:24:46. > :24:49.productivity is getting worse, not better. At love you getting in
:24:50. > :24:55.touch. Daniel says, "Not great working a four day week if you get
:24:56. > :25:02.paid per day." Maybe you could ask for a payday. Squirrel says, "Utter
:25:03. > :25:09.rubbish. I suppose it is all right if you have a fluffy job." Why is he
:25:10. > :25:13.talking about me? It is good to have three days off, but if you are a
:25:14. > :25:18.parent longer hours can work against the family. All of society are built
:25:19. > :25:21.around a 9am to 5pm. That's been breaking down which is one of the
:25:22. > :25:25.things we discovered during the investigation by the Select
:25:26. > :25:30.Committee. This idea of zero hours contracts is not really a 9am to 5pm
:25:31. > :25:36.economy. The labour laws are much laxer here and employers do take
:25:37. > :25:42.advantage of that. Can you do the US Labour department? This is the
:25:43. > :25:46.Google survey? Yes. The gender pay gap in Silicon Valley particularly
:25:47. > :25:52.Google is worse than it is elsewhere the economy. They're supposed to do
:25:53. > :25:58.good. Maybe they're not after all. You could have had another five or
:25:59. > :26:05.six seconds. For a change we finish on time! That's it from Business
:26:06. > :26:06.Live today. We will see you tomorrow at the same time and same place.