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Audiences in the UK have been soaking up the glamour of the luxury LA property market in Netflix’s lockdown hit Selling Sunset. So how different is it from the property race here? “Plain and simple doesn’t get the house full. I’m here to go over the top,” says high-end real estate agent Christine Quinn, as she plans a “burgers and Botox” open house at her latest multi-million dollar property in the Hollywood Hills. There are concerns from her co-agent that this might give buyers the wrong impression. To this, Christine, of supermodel stature with an impressive platinum blonde ponytail, quips: “I’d love to live in a Botox house!”This is Selling Sunset, which follows the lives of real estate agents – “realtors” – working for the Oppenheim Group in Los Angeles, California.Away from Botox parties, there are “twilight” house viewings, immaculately furnished properties, celebrity clients, sweeping views of the sun-kissed LA hills, and fierce confrontations over deals and office gossip. It is worlds away from British property TV, which might see Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer engage in some light banter over knocking down a partition wall. But just how realistic is the show? “[Selling Sunset] is definitely amplified, but not totally fictitious. It is quite a glamorous business over here,” says Jonathan Nash, a British real estate agent based in LA, who represents the same areas as the Oppenheim Group. “It’s a wonderful life and totally incomparable to being an agent the UK,” he tells the BBC.However, he does stress that reality shows “dramatize” the industry.
There’s always a Hollywood story when you’re in prime LAJonathan Nash, Real estate agent
“Some of the interactions that we have day-to-day are akin to what you see on the shows, but the producers prod and push, drama sells.”Jonathan, 41, works with Stephen Resnick at Hilton & Hyland – a Beverly Hills real estate firm, after making a “last minute” decision to move to LA from St John’s Wood, west London, in 2013. He had always wanted to live in the US, and had friends working in real estate in LA.He has since sold properties for up to $56m (£43.7m), and represented buyers for sales including TV host Elle DeGeneres’ Beverley Hills home, and an opulent estate built for property developer Mohamed Hadid – dad of supermodels Gigi and Bella.”There’s always a Hollywood story when you’re in prime LA, it’s always the former home of [someone],” he says, noting another sale last year that had been previously owned by both Gwen Stefani and J Lo.”In England, it’s all about kings and queens, royalty, whereas here the historic figures are the who’s who of film, music [and] entertainment.”However, Jonathan does recall the “pleasure” of working with homes in London that had “centuries of history and fabulous old world architecture which does not exist en masse in LA”.’It’s Hollywood’ While he has only dipped his toe in the world of US property TV, making appearances on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing and NBC’s Open House, Jonathan says such shows often form part of the job in LA.”A certain segment of the client base absolutely love that and want to be involved in it,” he explains. “Because at the end of the day – it’s Hollywood.”It’s one of the many factors that makes LA real estate desirable and exciting.” In the UK, Jonathan worked for central London estate agency Aston Chase, before setting up his own real estate development and property auction firms. Comparing the real estate industry in the two countries, he says their fundamental differences are in the regulation – agents in the US are professionally qualified, in contrast to the UK – and the earning potential.’Rogue’ estate agents face crackdown
Rogue estate agent ‘left me in limbo’
An agent in LA could earn commission of about $1m for selling a $40m home, says Jonathan. This comes from a typical commission of 5%, split in half equally between the agents representing the buyers and sellers of the property. In the UK, estate agents charge between 1 and 3% of the agreed selling price for a home.There are also some differences in the way homes are sold, with networking and home furnishings both playing a key role in LA. Tuesday mornings in LA are reserved for open houses, where agents are invited by brokers to view new listings across the city, and then there’s “a lot of lunches and dinners” with clients. “It’s a social business,” says Jonathan.Homes might also need “staging” – furnishing. “We get to set-design the house if you will,” says Jonathan. “It really helps to sell real estate.”Showing vacant houses with no furniture does happen [in London] and it doesn’t show a home in the best light.”There are two predominant staging companies in LA, Meridith Baer and Vesta, that each have a “signature look”, he adds.”A lot of the homes do end up with the same pieces in them, but it’s as much about creating the right sort of look as it is creating warmth in the house.” ‘Learn something’Mary Beeton, head of sales at British firm Hamptons, says the UK could take note from some aspects of the LA industry, observing that she wouldn’t be surprised if more people started asking for their homes to be sold the LA way.There are similarities in the way homes are sold at the top end of the market, says Mary, particularly in London boroughs like Kensington and Chelsea and Knightsbridge, where Hamptons launches properties with lavish events.But she tells the BBC more homes in the UK could be sold this way. “In the States they tend to showcase all of their properties and I think we can learn something from that,” she says. “Presenting it in the best possible way and launching it with an event, wouldn’t that be better than putting it on a website?” Jonathan’s tips for selling your home the LA wayFind the right agent with “a track record of selling similar properties”, and “trust their advice”
Pricing is “everything” – people know when something’s too expensive
“Staging is very important, candles are very important, flower arrangements are very important”
Landscaping is also key. “Those that pay as much detail and put the same money into the landscape really benefit from it on the back end”
And make sure you’re not at home for viewings. “Agents are employed to keep an arm’s length between buyer and seller”
However, Mary notes the way negotiations are presented in Selling Sunset is very “direct”. “The British, I think, would recoil from the brashness. We are probably a bit more traditional in our approach. “I really hope there aren’t estate agents in London who work like that – competitively against each other,” she adds.And she says there is a “huge pressure” on agents to network and socialise in the US, as real estate agents are self-employed in the US. “Here it’s about your brand, they come to you because they have heard of Hamptons,” she says.For Jonathan, the US way of working and the lifestyle in LA is the selling point.”I really feel that I’m in one of the best businesses to be in because we’re all self-employed. Our days are so varied. We’re running around town meeting great people,” he says. There’s also a lot to do off-duty in the city, he adds. “We’re very lucky in LA because, in one direction, we have mountains and in the other direction we have the ocean. “In one day, I’ve gone from skiing in the mountains to having Nobu [a Japanese restaurant] by the ocean. “It’s a great life out here.”All pictures subject to copyright.

By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter image copyrightEmma Heathcote-JamesIn the last weekend of August, when Emma Heathcote-James had been looking forward to a relaxing bank-holiday break, she instead found herself fighting to save her company’s reputation.She had just discovered the Instagram page for her beauty-product business, which she had spent 12 years building up, had been cloned. “For some reason the scammers tagged me in one of the photos, which seems like it was probably a mistake,” she says.And this alerted her to the cloned page, where the only discernible difference from the legitimate Little Soap Co’s page was an extra “o” at the end of the name.PayPal detailsAs well as making a carbon copy of the page, the scammers were intent on making some money.”The account went private and we discovered that they spent the entire evening on bank-holiday Monday contacting hundreds of our followers, who had entered our latest competition, saying they had won and asking for PayPal details,” Emma says.At least one of her customers responded but she does not know how many more were affected or who lost money.And trying to persuade Instagram to remove the fake page proved frustrating.Square one”It was impossible to speak to a human at Instagram,” Emma tells BBC News.”They make it so hard. “We couldn’t log it as a business-impersonation account as the form to fill in takes you on a loop with nothing at the end, instead you are back to square one.”It is like they don’t want to be contacted. “It sent me demented.”image copyrightLittle Soap CompanyFacebook owns Instagram.And Emma finally told a person or a software bot – she is not sure which – on Facebook Messenger about what she regarded as trademark infringements.”I got an email back saying it wasn’t an infringement but that it breached the terms and conditions of the community guidelines,” she says.”And the account was taken down.”‘Very fortunate’But it was a “cursory” email, devoid of any personal touch. “It was like Facebook was saying, ‘Done – next,'” Emma says.By then the issue had also been logged with the police, who told Emma such cloning was “rife”.”We were very fortunate how speedily it was taken down,” she says.”But we had three of us working on it. “Not all businesses have this resource.”‘Iron fortress’And she remains angry about the way it was dealt with.”Every other digital platform we pay to use has good customer service, whereas Facebook, which is a good shop window for many businesses, is very different,” Emma says.”It feels like an iron fortress.”It’s very hard to speak to anyone.”And the chatbots aren’t yet intelligent enough to help.”Fake accountsFacebook told BBC News: “We have removed the accounts brought to our attention for inauthentic behaviour. “We’re continuously investing in our teams and technology to identify and remove fraudulent activity, and have donated £3m to Citizens Advice to deliver a UK scam action programme, which spreads the word on how to avoid scams and offers support to people who have been affected.”Every day, Facebook’s detection technology blocks millions of attempts to create fake accounts. But account cloning remains a problem for both Facebook and Instagram, with individuals targeted alongside businesses. Twitter and LinkedIn have to tackle similar scams.Bitcoin scamCloning is remarkably easy to do.image copyrightJake MooreIn a blog, security specialist at anti-virus company ESET Jake Moore explains how he copied his own Instagram account in an afternoon – and, with a sob story about being locked out of his bank account as well as social media, persuaded one of his followers to send him moneyHe had the following advice:To avoid being cloned, search for your hashtags or reverse image search on Google to see if the pictures you have posted appear elsewhereIf you are cloned, take a photo of yourself with some official ID and email FacebookIf you receive a message from someone you don’t know requesting funds, do not send moneyIf you receive a message from someone you know asking for money, check with them the message is realEmma is certainly planning on keeping a very close eye on any suspicious activity around her brand and has since found another cloned account and two cloned versions of her personal Instagram page – all now removed.”The whole thing is slightly sinister,” she saysMore on this story

With foreign holidays a precarious business this year, self-catering rentals across the country saw a boom; at least if you couldn’t get abroad you could “staycation” with family.But some would-be holidaymakers are now being forced to cancel their plans.From Monday, new rules will limit the number of people that can holiday together.And it will deal “a hammer blow” to the sector, says Alistair Handyside, who represents holiday rental owners. Under the previous rules in England, two families were permitted to meet if they observed social distancing measures up to a maximum of 30 people.The new rules allow a maximum of six people from separate bubbles to gather.Mr Handyside, who chairs the Professional Association of Self-Caterers, says after what has already been a difficult year, the new rules will bring yet more upheaval that could leave larger properties standing empty.When news of the rule change came through at Best of Suffolk, its head of operations, Tim Ripman, admits the team “tried not to panic”.Out of 410 properties that the firm markets in the East of England, 118 sleep seven guests or more. Until this week, the website boasted that their properties were perfect for large or extended family getaways, particularly “in a year where being together is what matters most”. So this is a “big curve ball” thrown at the business.”It’s going to financially impact us. Our largest properties generate the largest income for us,” says Mr Ripman.Best of Suffolk is contacting customers to discuss whether they want to adapt their numbers, postpone their holidays or request a refund.”Hopefully there are ways to still offer them a holiday at the destination they’ve chosen, maybe down the line,” he says.Larger holiday rentals firms including Centreparcs and Hoseasons’ owner Awaze confirmed that they would do the same – seek to rebook customers for a later date where possible, but provide a refund where preferred.What are my rights to a refund?The rule of six in England and Scotland has created one big problem for larger groups planning a late summer getaway.With the new rules backed by law, there are relatively clear rights to a refund for those whose plans have been affected and have already paid.Guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority says that consumers should expect a full refund if lockdown laws make it illegal to use that service.Ultimately, courts would decide disputed cases, but the guidance suggests group accommodation and large birthday party bookings should be covered.The consumer group Which? says that this should prevent anyone being left out of pocket for obeying the law.Matt Fox, co-founder of BigCottages.com, which offers tens of thousands of larger properties, says there was a sharp drop in traffic to the website when the new rules were announced.”It’s a real shame,” he says. “The sector was just starting to find its feet again and had the rug pulled out from under it.”He says he accepts the government needed to act in the face of a growing number of coronavirus cases, but he doesn’t think the “blanket rules” make much sense.”A self-catering rural holiday with two families mixing seems as low-risk as you could get,” he says. It strikes him as inconsistent to allow people to mix in the pub and fly overseas, while he can’t go for a weekend away in the UK with his sister’s family.Alistair Handyside says for smaller operators like himself, the rules could make the business uneconomic.Last winter, he spent £250,000 converting a barn on his property in Devon that sleeps between 20 and 32.While he has two smaller cottages he can still let, the larger one is, for the time being, a very expensive “white elephant”.He says what matters now is what happens over the next few weeks in the run up to the festive season.”If we don’t get December with Christmas and New Year, which are peak weeks, we will see carnage, we honestly will.”

The UK government should consider a targeted extension of its furlough scheme, MPs have said.The coronavirus crisis risks mass long-term unemployment and viable firms could go under without support, the Treasury Select Committee has warned.However, a blanket retention of the scheme would not be good value for money, it added. The Treasury said it would “continue to innovate in supporting incomes and employment.”The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is due to end on 31 October. Under it, workers placed on leave have received 80% of their pay up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.At first, this was all paid for by the government. But firms had to start making a contribution to wages in September as the scheme began to wind down.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously said that extending furlough past October would only keep people “in suspended animation”.Chancellor Rishi Sunak also ruled out an extension, instead saying that firms will be given £1,000 for every furloughed worker still in employment at the end of January.Coronavirus: What happens when the furlough scheme ends?
Extend furlough scheme ‘or risk second wave of job cuts’
But the committee’s chairman, Mel Stride, said the chancellor “should carefully consider targeted extensions” to the scheme.”The key will be assisting those businesses who, with additional support, can come through the crisis as sustainable enterprises, rather than focusing on those that will unfortunately just not be viable in the changed post-crisis economy.”Pay and skillsIn the second report of its inquiry into the economic impact of Covid-19, the committee also warned that the pandemic risked widening the gender pay gap due to the differences in hours of paid work in lockdown – especially if work patterns are changed permanently.The MPs also said people should be able to reskill, and that small businesses should be able to fully participate in the government’s Kickstart Scheme, which aims to create work placements for young people on universal credit.The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) trade body said with the furlough scheme winding down, “policymakers will need to look closely at measures to stem mass unemployment, including a successor scheme.”FSB national chairman Mike Cherry said: “The priority should be protecting viable small businesses – and all the jobs they provide – that have been disproportionately [hit] by the coronavirus crisis, including those caught by local lockdowns, subject to continued national restrictions, or with staff that have directly suffered because of Covid.”The Resolution Foundation, which campaigns on living standards, said that “extending support for the hardest-hit sectors of the economy will be essential to limit the rise in unemployment Britain faces in the months ahead.”Torsten Bell, the think tank’s chief executive, said: “This authoritative account of the economic impact of coronavirus should be required reading for Treasury officials planning the Autumn Budget against the highly uncertain backdrop of rising coronavirus case numbers. “The chancellor will need to reconsider his plans to swiftly phase out support given the painful reality that the economic crisis is here to stay.”
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This week leading business groups warned that the UK risks a second wave of job cuts and a slower economic recovery if it does not extend its furlough scheme.Germany, Belgium, Australia and France have all decided to extend or launch new wage support schemes into next year. A Treasury spokesperson said that by the time the UK scheme closes it will have helped to pay for 9.6 million jobs.”We will continue to innovate in supporting incomes and employment,” the spokesperson said.”We’re helping employees get back to work, where they want to be, through a £1,000 retention bonus.”And we are creating new roles for young people with our Kickstart Scheme, creating incentives for training and apprenticeships, and supporting and protecting jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors through our VAT cut and last month’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.”The UK’s unemployment rate has been at 3.9% since the lockdown was introduced.But the Bank of England expects that rate to double to 7.5% by the end of the year when the government-funded support schemes come to an end.Thousands of job cuts have already been announced by firm such as Rolls-Royce, Costa Coffee, Pret A Manger, Pizza Express, British Airways and BP.

Peloton, which won an early celebrity fanbase for its exercise bikes and remote workout classes, has seen demand surge during the pandemic.The firm’s global membership base hit 3.1 million at the end of June, more than double a year earlier, as gym closures due to Covid-19 increased demand for at-home workouts. The jump in sign-ups lifted revenue to $607m (£474m), up 172% year-on-year.But it has also strained supply, prompting lengthy waits for equipment.The firm had said it was slashing prices for its existing treadmill and bike, cutting the cost of the bike from $2,245 to $1,895 in an effort to make their products more accessible. The move coincided with the launch of new, more expensive, versions of the same pieces of equipment.But the firm, which relies on purchases of its machines fitted with touchscreens for most of its sales, said it did not expect delivery delays to improve much before the end of the year.”Demand… remains strong and member engagement remains elevated, despite improving weather and the gradual reopening,” chief executive John Foley said on an analyst call after the firm shared its quarterly results on Thursday.Peloton: ‘It’s borderline addiction’
Peloton bike ad labelled ‘sexist’ and ‘dystopian’
Peloton said the number of “connected fitness” subscribers, who access its remote classes via one of the firm’s machines, jumped to more than 1.09 million at the end of June, up 113% in comparison with the same period last year.Those members are also working out more – averaging more than 24 workouts per month, compared to 12 one year ago.The growth propelled the firm to its first quarterly profit of $89m, versus a loss of $47.4m last year.Mr Foley told analysts he was not worried about demand subsiding after the pandemic, given the opportunities for global expansion. Peloton said it expected the number of subscribers to exceed 2 million over the next 12 months and forecast revenue for its next financial year of at least $3.5bn. The results shared by the firm exceeded analyst expectations, prompting shares to rise 7% in after-hours trade.

Travellers from mainland Portugal to England will have to quarantine from 04:00 BST on Saturday, just weeks after the country was put on the safe list.Wales and Scotland had already imposed the mandatory two weeks of self-isolation earlier this month.Quarantine-free travel is still allowed from the Portuguese islands, the Azores and Madeira.Meanwhile, Sweden has been made exempt from quarantine for Wales, England and Scotland.People travelling to England, Wales and Scotland from Hungary and Reunion will also be required to self-isolate, while England is additionally requiring arrivals from French Polynesia to quarantine.Hungary has a seven-day rate of 31.6 infections per 100,000 people and French Polynesia’s rate is 71.3.Portugal, one of the UK’s most popular holiday destinations, was given an exemption from UK quarantine rules as recently as 22 August.But since then the infection level has been rising. It now has 28.3 infections per 100,000 people, above the threshold of 20 per 100,000 people which the UK generally uses for adding countries to the quarantine list.Portugal expressed “regret” over the quarantine decision for the mainland, but said it valued the continued inclusion of the Azores and Madeira on the safe “travel corridor” list.It comes as the UK’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose by another 2,919, the fifth consecutive day that the figure has been more than 2,000. Another 14 deaths were reported within 28 days of a positive test.Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that because of “enhanced data” the government was able to assess the infection rates of islands separate to their mainland countries.On Wednesday, quarantine requirements were also imposed on seven Greek islands, the first time that different self-isolation rules had been applied to the mainland of a country and its islands.Mr Shapps also stressed that travellers must fill out the Passenger Locator Form on arrival to the UK, a day after the prime minister said enforcement of this part of the quarantine rules would be stepped up.”It is a criminal offence not to complete the form and spot checks will be taking place,” Mr Shapps said. Figures show that nearly 2m spot checks have been carried out to ensure travellers have filled out the form, and calls and text messages were made to 136,500 people to check they were quarantining. Successful contact, where the traveller has been spoken to or responded to a text, was made 66,773 times with 64,800 people confirming they were self-isolating. Just 34 fines have been issued.Travel industry body Abta, along with the chief executives of airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways, is calling on the government to introduce testing on arrival at airports and to change quarantine policy so mainland regions can be treated differently.”Every country, mainland or island that is taken off the government’s travel list lessens the ability of travel businesses to operate and increases the necessity for the government to provide tailored industry support,” said an Abta spokesman.Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said holidaymakers were now “more acutely aware” of the risks of travel abroad, but said the “last-minute” decisions meant many missed out on refunds or were “extorted” with additional airfares if they tried to rush home.”It’s obvious that the current travel corridor system is not working for passengers, and becoming completely detrimental to the already dwindling trust in the sector,” he said.Sweden adopted a lighter-touch strategy for dealing with the pandemic compared with most other European countries, deciding not to institute a widespread lockdown, and putting in place relatively few restrictions.This was based partly on the idea of letting Covid-19 sweep through the population creating so-called herd immunity. Such an approach was considered but then abandoned in the UK.Research published in August suggested exposure to coronavirus was similar in Stockholm and London, based on antibody tests, despite the different lockdown strategies.In other developments:The number of people who have died with the virus globally reached 900,000
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said new rules banning social gatherings of more than six people will not be kept in place “any longer than we have to”

Public health officials have ordered the closure of the Southampton International Boat Show, the day before 20,000 visitors were expected to arrive at the city’s seafront
Northern Ireland is imposing new restrictions on visiting other households in selected areas from next week
And Scotland has also limited gatherings to a maximum of six people, as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the spread of the virus was accelerating
Musician and DJ Sister Bliss from Faithless has said UK nightclubs have been “left to rot in a corner” without support during the pandemic
The government has published its coronavirus guidance for universities ahead of students returning later this month, with full online learning only as a last resort
The disruption to hospitals in England during the pandemic has meant the number of patients facing long waits for routine operations has soared, new figures show

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The government has announced a “truce” on enforcement action for tenants facing eviction in England and Wales this Christmas.It also said that evictions will not be enforced in areas subject to local lockdowns as the pandemic continues.Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick added that it has increased notice periods to six months in an “unprecedented measure”.Campaign group Generation Rent said the government “must offer [renters] more.”The government confirmed that court proceedings for evictions in England and Wales would restart on 21 September after being suspended for six months due to the coronavirus crisis.But under new measures announced on Thursday, evictions will not be enforced by bailiffs if a local area is in lockdown that includes restrictions on gathering in homes.Bailiffs will also be told that they should not enforce possession orders over Christmas, other than in “the most serious circumstances”, such as cases involving domestic abuse or antisocial behaviour.The government has not yet confirmed which dates the “winter truce” will cover for tenants in England and Wales.What are the rules around evictions?
Charities welcome extended eviction ban in Scotland
“We have protected renters during the pandemic by banning evictions for six months – the longest eviction ban in the UK,” Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said.”To further support renters we have increased notice periods to six months, an unprecedented measure to help keep people in their homes over the winter months.”It’s right that we strike a balance between protecting vulnerable renters and ensuring landlords whose tenants have behaved in illegal or anti-social ways have access to justice.”The new measures are aimed at ensuring potentially vulnerable tenants are not forced out of their homes “at a time when public and local authorities may be dealing with an increased demand for services”, a statement said.’Months of uncertainty’Ministers extended the ban on evictions for four weeks in August, but campaign groups and housing charities had hoped that more would be done for renters who have seen a loss in income during the pandemic.
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Alicia Kennedy, director at Generation Rent, said: “It is welcome that renters will not face eviction by bailiffs around Christmas or where there are lockdown measures. “But outside that, thousands of renters who have had eviction notices during the pandemic still have no assurance from the government whether they can stay in their home.”Those who have lost income will find it difficult to find a new home so face many months of uncertainty, getting deeper into debt.”One survey by homelessness charity Shelter suggested that more than 170,000 private tenants have been threatened with eviction by their landlord or letting agent, and 230,000 in England have fallen into arrears since the pandemic started.However, landlord groups have previously said that their members have been left “powerless” in dealing with the non-payment of rent.Some have called for more help in England to reduce the financial pressures on landlords, in addition to mortgage holidays. Advice for tenantsAnyone under threat of eviction should start gathering evidence such as receipts for rent paid or any communications with your landlord
Landlords have to give you notice before they can apply to court for a possession order. For most tenancy types this notice must now be at least three months in England or six in Wales, but lodgers may get less notice
If a possession order had already been made against you before 27 March 2020, then your landlord may apply for this to be enforced when the ban comes to an end. You should receive 14 days’ notice of the eviction date
Anyone now struggling to pay rent should speak to their landlord, and organise a repayment plan to pay off arrears
Those receiving housing benefit or Universal Credit and unable to pay rent might be able to get a discretionary housing payment from the local council
Source: Citizens Advice

Citigroup has named a woman to be its new chief executive in a first for a Wall Street bank.Briton Jane Fraser, its current president and head of global consumer division, is to become its new boss when current chief Michael Corbat retires in February.He is stepping down after 37 years at the bank, including eight as leader.It comes as the male-dominated world of US finance faces pressure to diversify its ranks. Scotland-born Ms Fraser has worked at Citi for 16 years, serving in her current role since 2019. She oversees business in 19 countries and previously led its Latin America division.Seen as a rising star, she was recently considered for the role of chief executive at Wells Fargo, another top US bank. The chair of Citi’s board of directors, John Dugan, said Ms Fraser would take the bank “to the next level”. “She has deep experience across our lines of business and regions and we are highly confident in her,” he said.Firms with more female executives ‘perform better’Last year, Royal Bank of Scotland named Alison Rose as its first female chief executive, making her the first woman to run any of the big four banks in the UK.But at the end of 2019, just 31 women held the top spots at major American companies listed on the S&P 500 index, none of which were banks.At a congressional hearing last year, the heads of seven of America’s biggest banks, including current Citi boss Mr Corbat, were questioned about the lack of diversity and asked if they believed they would be succeeded by a woman or person of colour. None said yes.At Citi, Ms Fraser has frequently been charged with turning around troubled parts of the bank, the fourth largest in the US. She worked in its mortgage division following the financial crisis and was put in charge in Latin America after a scandal in its bank in Mexico.She is poised to take charge as the bank grapples with the economic fallout of the pandemic. In the most recent quarter, Citi’s profits plunged 73% as it set aside more than $7bn to cover potential losses.Ms Fraser, whose compensation was $12.5m (£9.7m) last year, has said being a good leader means setting a vision, having the courage to make “tough calls”, and asking questions. ‘You cannot have it all’Born in St Andrews, Scotland, she has degrees from Harvard Business School and Cambridge University. The 53-year-old started her career at Goldman Sachs in London, joining Citi after rising to be a partner at consulting giant McKinsey. She has said she moved to the US because of the opportunities she saw for women there and spoken about confronting machismoas a female executive in Latin AmericaA married mum of two, she has also addressed work-life balance, telling broadcaster CNN in 2014: “You cannot have it all at the same time. You can have it all, spread over decades. I think of my life in different chunks. When the kids were little, I needed to be around more, but it’s different now.” However, in a 2018 interview she denied aspiring to the top spot.”I look forward to seeing a woman being the first CEO of a Wall Street firm whoever that may be,” she said. “I’ve never had the ambition to be the CEO of Citi or any other organization. Things can change over time. But at the moment, I’ve still got a lot to learn.”

image copyrightClicks/FacebookSome of South Africa’s biggest retailers will no longer sell TRESemmé hair products, following protests over an advert that denigrated black hair.Pictures of African hair were labelled “frizzy and dull”, “dry and damaged” in an online advert for TRESemmé products featured by pharmacy chain Clicks.White hair, meanwhile, was labelled “normal” and “fine and flat”.Shoprite, Woolworths and Pick N Pay all say they have removed TRESemmé products from their shelves, as has Clicks.Earlier this week, a senior executive at Clicks resigned and a number of employees were suspended. Africa Live: News and views from the continentSouth Africa’s ‘toxic’ race relationsBeing African: What does hair have to do with it? The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says critics found the advert particularly insensitive because of the historic issues around African hair in South Africa. Under white-minority rule, the state used the so-called “pencil test” to decide who was black or mixed-race – depending on how easily the pencil moved through the hair.Many Clicks stores were forced to close on Monday following protests led by opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who called the hair advert “racist” and “dehumanising”.One shop sustained minor damage after being firebombed, police said.Following a meeting between the EFF, Clicks and TRESemmé’s parent company Unilever on Thursday, the party said Unilever would remove all TRESemmé products from South African stores for a period of 10 days and donate at least 10,000 sanitary pads to informal settlements in the country.But Unilever itself has not commented on the meeting.TRESemmé previously acknowledged its advert “promote[d] racist stereotypes about hair”, and apologised.”The campaign set out to celebrate the beauty of all hair types and the range of solutions that TRESemmé offers, but we got it wrong.”Earlier this week the chief executive of Clicks, Vikesh Ramsunder, also apologised, adding that an audit of all promotional material would be “urgently implemented” as well as diversity and inclusivity training.”Whilst the images and content were provided to us by our supplier TRESemmé, this does not absolve us from blame,” he said. “The implications of this are that black identity exists as inferior to the identity of white people. It is an assertion that white standards of beauty are to be aspired to and features of black represent damage, decay and abnormality,” the EFF said in a statement earlier this week.Related TopicsBeauty standardsBlack interestSouth AfricaJulius MalemaMore on this story

image copyrightReutersFacebook has apologised after it placed adverts on a publicly funded TV network’s website without permission. People who visited the website of Danish broadcaster DR via the Facebook iOS app were served with unauthorised third-party advertisements. A spokesman for the broadcaster said it had still not been made aware of how many users had been affected. Facebook said the incident was caused by a coding error that had since been resolved. Facebook ‘profits from hate’ claims ex-engineerFacebook to freeze political ads before US voteNews site Digiday reported that the issue first came to light last week, when a user complained about being targeted with adverts while visiting DR’s website. DR is publicly funded via a licence fee and does not allow ads on any of its platforms. A spokesman for Facebook said a coding error “caused some people to see interstitial ads within news content in the Facebook app”.“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused,” he added. ‘Very unhappy’The broadcaster said it was deeply concerned by the error.“We are happy to see Facebook recognise the mistake and are happy that the issue has been fixed,” said DR’s distribution editor Christian Loiborg. “We are still very unhappy with the fact that users may have been served ads alongside any visits to dr.dk and have stressed the seriousness of this to Facebook,” he added. Last month, Facebook said that new changes to Apple’s operating system could see it lose out on most of the revenue it currently receives from ads on apps. In the forthcoming iOS 14, apps have to explicitly ask users’ permission to collect and share data, meaning ads will no longer be able to just “follow” users to apps outside of Facebook.Related TopicsFacebookAdvertisingApps