Wednesday newspaper round-up: Labour plans, diversity, Alphabet, Zopa
Labour’s plan to renationalise large chunks of the economy risks years of disruption that could delay Britain’s transition to a low-carbon economy, a thinktank has said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that taking water, energy companies, the Royal Mail and railways under state control would be costly, complex and risky and said Labour might do better to tighten regulation instead. – Guardian
Britain’s largest companies are failing to improve the ethnic diversity of their boardrooms, according to a study that found the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic executives fell over the past year. The total number of BAME board members, both executive and non-executive, decreased to 7.4%, down from nearly 9% in 2018, while the number of chairs, chief executives and finance directors remained at 3.3%, the recruitment consultancy Green Park found. – Guardian
Larry Page and Sergey Brin have stepped down as the heads of Alphabet, the pair announced in a letter on Tuesday. Sundar Pichai will become chief executive of both Google and Alphabet. Page and Brin will continue their involvement as co-founders, shareholders and members of Alphabet’s Board of Directors, the memo stated. – Telegraph
Zopa appeared yesterday to have salvaged its plans to create a bank with only hours to spare after it raised £140 million. The peer-to-peer lender had to raise the money to fulfil regulatory requirements and in turn lift restrictions on the conditional banking licence that it secured a year ago. – The Times