GENERAL ELECTION MANIFESTOS CONTINUE TO BE PUBLISHED

The Labour Party will today publish its general election manifesto at a launch event in Birmingham. BBC News (online only) reports that the document will include pledges to introduce a statutory "real living wage" of at least £10 an hour, the creation of one million "green jobs" to tackle climate change, and a housebuilding program to build 100,000 council houses a year during the next five years. The Financial Times (£, online only) reports that the manifesto will also announce a windfall tax on the oil industry.

BBC News (online only) also reports on the Liberal Democrats manifesto published yesterday, in which the party promises to 'stop Brexit?, increase the rate of corporation tax to 20 per cent, and expand the role of the British Business Bank.

Meanwhile, The Times (£, p9) reports the Conservative Party has announced that it would introduce ?lifetime? fixed-rate mortgages, requiring deposits of five per cent, to help those in rented accommodation to ?realise their dream of owning a home?.

ECB SEES STABILITY RISKS IN SHADOW BANKING SECTOR GROWTH

In its biannual stability report, the European Central Bank (ECB) identified the rapid growth of the 'shadow banking? sector and poor profitability for banks as being among the eurozone's principal financial stability vulnerabilities (Reuters, online only).

The ECB's report notes that historically low - even negative - interest rates have made business conditions particularly challenging for banks in the single currency area (The Telegraph, £, online only).

NEWS IN BRIEF

HMRC has announced that nearly 900,000 people received emails, texts or calls claiming to be from the tax authority in the past year, as it warned the public to be particularly careful in the lead-up to the tax return deadline on 31 January (Financial Times, £, online only). Criminals are experts at tricking you into revealing security details or sending them money - Take Five to stop and think before parting with your money or information.

The Guardian (£, p12) reports that the National Crime Agency has arrested ten suspected members of an organised crime group on suspicion of laundering £15.5 million made from the sale of drugs and human trafficking.

The Daily Mail (online only) reports figures from Pay.UK which show that the total value of late payments due to SMEs in 2019 has increased by more than £10 billion compared with the same figure in 2018.

Technology companies in the UK have so far this year attracted £8.6 billion in venture capital, representing a 48 per cent year-on-year increase, according to a report by Atomico (City AM, online only).

WHAT THE COMMENTATORS SAY

In the Financial Times (£, p11) the chief executive of the Impact Investing Institute, Sarah Gordon, argues that institutional investors can ?do well by doing good?, pointing to a growing body of evidence that companies that invest to improve sustainability in an area that is material to their business see higher returns in the long term than competitors who ignored it. However, Gordon warns of an emerging trend of 'social washing? - deliberately mislabelling an investment as an impact investment.