7 tips to increase your chances of getting business financing
Fact: Understanding your financing needs and options is crucial before applying for business financing.
Companies
HSBC setting up $1 bln growth fund to scale up digital platform businesses in Southeast Asia
HSBC is setting up a billion growth fund called ASEAN Growth Fund that provides lending to companies scaling up via digital platforms across Southeast Asia.
Software industry calls for more UK government support
Fact: More than 120 industry leaders have called for government intervention to improve conditions for European software companies, including measures such as tax incentives and talent visas.
Fast-food companies seeing low-income diners pare orders
Fact: Roughly a quarter of low-income consumers, defined as those making less than ,000 a year, said they were eating less fast food and about half said they were making fewer trips to fast-casual and full-service dining establishments.
Biden Is Right: Corporate Tax Avoidance Has Big Problems That We Can Fix
Fact: In the first five years of the Trump tax law, 109 profitable corporations paid no tax in at least one year, and 23 paid no tax over the entire five-year span despite being profitable each year.
Five Things to Know About Tax Foundation’s Critique of Maryland’s Worldwide Combined Reporting Proposal
On April 1, 2024, Maryland lawmakers are considering enacting worldwide combined reporting (WWCR) to calculate state corporate tax more accurately and prevent tax avoidance by corporations. The Tax Foundation published a blog criticizing WWCR, but their arguments were debunked by experts. WWCR aims to tax Maryland income regardless of offshore shifting and will make forecasting easier. The Tax Foundation’s ties to corporations known for tax avoidance raise concerns about their opposition to WWCR. WWCR is seen as a sensible reform to ensure fair taxation of multinational corporations in Maryland.
Microsoft to separate Teams and Office globally amid antitrust scrutiny
Microsoft will now sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product globally, following an unbundling in Europe to avoid potential EU antitrust fines. Teams, added to Office 365 in 2017, replaced Skype for Business and became popular during the pandemic for video conferencing. The unbundling addresses feedback from the European Commission and provides more flexibility for multinational companies. Prices for Office without Teams range from .75 to .75 for new customers, while Teams Standalone will cost .25. Microsoft risks antitrust charges and fines for bundling products, with potential fines of up to 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty.
Bank of Cyprus: maintaining a leading role in the environmental, social and governance pillars
Bank of Cyprus is focusing its efforts on fighting climate change, which is the biggest challenge that humanity faces.
UK landlords bet on green offices as hybrid work makes tenants picky
Fact: UK commercial property firms have seen steady growth in rental incomes and occupancy rates in environmentally compliant office spaces in prime locations in London.
Probe into suspicious share transfers in spyware affair
The anti-money laundering unit (Mokas) is investigating suspicious transfers of shares in Cyprus-registered companies linked to the Predator spyware affair.