this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and sally bundock. it's the end of the road for uber in south east asia! the ride—hailing giant sells its business to the region's biggest player. live from london, that's our top story on monday 26th march. uber has already retreated from china, is today's u—turn a sign that the company is slamming the brakes on its global expansion? also in the programme... the us opens the way to a truce with china but says it's not afraid of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. we also look at the global markets and how they we also look at the global markets and how they have we also look at the global markets

and how they have opened we also look at the global markets and how they have opened in we also look at the global markets and how they have opened in trading on the first week before easter. banking on the next generation: we'll be speaking to the boss of a new lender hoping to transform the way small businesses obtain credit. today we want your thoughts on supermarkets. they are apparently planning to repackage christmas products like crackers in turkey for easter. any excuse to celebrate, or consumerism gone mad? let us know... just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. the ride—hailing app uber is in reverse once again. the company that is promising to transform how the world travels is pulling out of south—east asia, as it tries to stem its losses. it all follows similar retreats china and russia where it has struggled to capture market share. the latest manouvre means it's selling its operations in eight countries to it's malaysia based rival grab. uber will retain a stake

of 27.5% in the newly enlarged company, and will move its customers over to it. last year, uber racked up losses of $4.5 billion as it continued to subsidise rides around the world in an effort to increase market share. our asia business correspondent, karishma vaswani, joins me from singapore. this is grab and go, tell us more. you are absolutely right. grab might not be well known in the west but out here in southeast asia, they are pretty much everywhere. grab was starting by a malaysian businessman. he isn't your usual start—up kind of quy: he isn't your usual start—up kind of guy, i he isn't your usual start—up kind of guy, i have to say, comes from a family business background. a few yea rs family business background. a few years ago he decided he wanted to branch out on his own and started a

ride sharing app, grab. it has grown extremely quickly. it is now southeast asia's most popular ride sharing. according to the company, it has millions of users across eight countries in the region, including indonesia, the philippines and in singapore. when it started, it was just a simple ride hailing app but grab has grown to be the company that has been able to defeat uber out here in this market. it has harboured ambitions to be everything to everyone and hasn't been shy about these ambitions. have a listen to what anthony tan, the ceo of grab told me when i interviewed him last month. we want to be that app that allows you to buy a coffee and earn rewards. then after that, you want to buy your lunch and order in and had your food delivered, so you don't have to go through the traffic jam. and when you are that relevant,

or that real to every customer across these 600 million base, then you create huge value. what does this mean for uber‘s regional expansion plans? well, uber is keen to push the message this isn't a retreat from southeast asia. that instead, this is a merger of equals. but it is true, while it is true uber does get a sizeable stake grab, it is hard to ignore this is the third market uber is pulling out. as you said earlier, first it was china, uber lost out there, now russia and now southeast asia. you just have to read the e—mail this ceo of uber sent to the staff, his staff internally about the deal, where he stresses that consolidation is not the strategy of the day. some

real concerns, i think, is not the strategy of the day. some real concerns, ithink, about is not the strategy of the day. some real concerns, i think, about the fa ct real concerns, i think, about the fact the compa ny‘s real concerns, i think, about the fact the company's expansion plant may be put on hold. i think they may be want to show this deal isn't seen as then giving in being defeated. but look a little closer at that e—mail. he has publicly acknowledged that one of the potential dangers of uber‘s global strategy is they may have taken on too many battles across too many fronts and with too many competitors. it really does beg the question what uber does next in asia, because it is only really japan, south korea and india left. and in all of those markets, uber is facing local, home—grown competition. if grab's example in southeast asia is anything to go by, uber may have to be less prepared for a tough battle ahead. it will indeed. thank you. the ongoing trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies the united states and china are continuing to rattle financial markets.

that's despite the efforts of us treasury secretary saying he was "cautiously hopeful" that an agreement could be reached with china that would stop import tariffs from being imposed. steve mnuchin also told fox news that the us wasn't afraid of a trade war. professor richard portes professor of economics at london business schooljoins us. good to see. we don't want to trade war but on the other hand we are ready for it. trump wants a trade war as a distraction. going back to his long—standing protectionist standing and to be a deal—maker. sta rt standing and to be a deal—maker. start a trade war but find a deal. will there be a deal?” start a trade war but find a deal. will there be a deal? i think there will be a deal. there won't be a

trade—off. the us may announce ta riffs trade—off. the us may announce tariffs on china but at that point, china will retaliate, and it will not look pretty and there will be a lot of pressure from inside the united states to settle all this. who potentially could be the biggest loser if there were to be escalating trade tensions? boeing, apple, for example, the big exports. there are some major losers. and, indeed, the retaliation the chinese have already announced with the steel and aluminium tariffs will hit producers all over the united states, in politically very sensitive areas. restrictions on whiskey imports, for example. and kentucky. the politicisation of trade which we have seen in the last few weeks which is change that dynamic. have seen in the last few weeks which is change that dynamicm have seen in the last few weeks which is change that dynamic. it is politicisation that trade has always been political, to some extent. the question is, in this white house, with trump and his adviser, if it

gets more political. do you think on the minds of the trump administration, which has recently changed, is it all about the mid—term elections? changed, is it all about the mid-term elections? i think it is partly about that. but as i say... trump flails out, he looks for distractions. he has problems on the domestic scene, well, let's start a trade war, why not? chuckles i'm quite serious, it is a distraction. it takes the headlines, for a while, then he's onto something else. so when he gets onto something else. so when he gets onto something is, the trade will look less attractive. we will watch this space, never a dull moment, thank you very much indeed. maybe you'll have me back. we will. don't go anywhere yet, we're not ready for you to go. a lot more still to come on this programme. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... toshiba has thrown fresh doubts on the $18bn sale of its memorychip business,

by saying it doesn't yet have all the neccessary approvals from regulators. the sale to a group led by the us private equity firm bain was scheduled for completion by the end of this month. toshiba is selling the business after incurring huge of losses at its us nuclear unit. the first direct flight from london to the australian city of perth has landed safely. it tookjust over 16 hours, which was about an hour less than the first flight in the other direction over the weekend. the nonstop qantas service uses a boeing 787 dreamliner. an update on facebook: facebook boss mark zuckerberg has taken out fullpage adverts in several uk and us sunday newspapers to apologise for the firm's recent data privacy scandal. he said they could have done more to stop cambridge analytica exploiting the data of 50 million people. mr zuckerberg has until the end of monday to respond to a british parlimentary committee's request to give evidence about the scandal in person. let's ta ke

let's take a look at the markets. in japan, opening lower earlier on in the morning, but ended the session a little higher. of course, what is moving the markets today, in particular what has moved the markets in the last few weeks, are those worries over escalating trade tensions between the us and china. and whereabouts it will leave the world, in terms of investment and inflationary pressures. in terms of what is happening in the rest of the world, in london and in germany and in france, the markets in europe have opened a little higher. investors simply shrugging off what was worrying them over the past few weeks. let's talk about the us. we have the details about what is ahead on wall street today. on monday, investors will be eagerfor street today. on monday, investors will be eager for insight into spotify, which plans to its first—ever financial guidance but

before us markets open. the swedish start—up previously announced plans to lose shares in early april and the us stock exchange in the so—called direct listing. it essentially cuts out the bankers who facilitate the compa ny‘s essentially cuts out the bankers who facilitate the company's entry into public markets. although spotify has yet to turn a profit, it is estimated to be worth as much as $20 billion. the company says it now has 71 million global subscribers and 3500 employees. the ten—year—old company will allow those employees as well as early investors to cash out. one big winner? the company's founder, who could net as much as $2 billion. that was part of our team there. joining us isjeremy stretch, head of fx strategy. nice to see you. how are you? very well. the markets, europe all higher, japan ended up higher, as did hong kong. an interesting time. heading into a long bank holiday

weekend. what is on the mind of traders this week? we're heading into the long weekend on the end of the quarter and end ofjapanese fiscal year. a lot of crosscurrents in play but markets are trying to identify and understand how serious the risk of a trade war actually is. going back to your previous guest, in terms of the questions the issue is raising, i think in the current context, in regard to the early trading for this week, markets have taken down a little some of those risk parameters or fears because of the conciliatory comments coming out of washington. in a sense, i think thatis of washington. in a sense, i think that is the issue, that we have a political bark which is very loud and creates instability but perhaps the bite is not as extreme. that is what markets are trying to understand. what impact does that have on currencies, what pressure is there on the major currencies? the japanese yen are clearly being driven by these uncertainties, because when we have risk parameters oi’ because when we have risk parameters or risk aversion, the japanese yen performs very well, that is one of the reasons why it has been

appreciated and is causing some concern to the japanese. also, in the context of the us, had a position last week and we are trying to determine what data will drive the fed going forward and if it will provide an environment where the us dollar can perform better. normally you expect the us dollar to perform well in uncertain environments but because these issues are emanating from the us, then the us dollar is struggling a little. in the meantime, some market watchers are saying there are some good—looking companies which are pretty cheap right now? if you think what we have seenin right now? if you think what we have seen in terms of equity space this year, a big reversal. after a long run—up, a big reversal. it provides opportunities. certainly from the expectation... some people say facebook is an opportunity. one hesitates to say that but i think there are lots of potential opportunities. i think in a context where interest rates will be going up where interest rates will be going up globally, i think companies may look to try and drop in rates of current levels and look at companies

which are seemingly relatively cheap oi’ which are seemingly relatively cheap or more attractive after the retreating markets than we have seen in. interesting, interesting, thank you. jeremy will be back because he will discuss other stories, including the easter festivities. yes, we will get onto that a commercialisation of easter! it is all out there, if you have the money for it. still to come... we'll get the inside track with the boss of tide! you're with business live from bbc news. a combination of low incomes and high interest rates

is trapping people who ‘rent to own‘ in problem debt, with half borrowing to meet payments. that's according to the citizen's advice bureau which is calling for home credit loans to be capped in the way payday loans are. joining us now is matthew upton from citizen's advice. this will be fine someone pays weekly, say over a three—year period and they would on the product out right. what are the issues with rent to own, how are people getting into debt? it's phenomenally expensive, let's say the list price of washing machine might be £300 on a normal high retailer, i'd be 450— £500 in rent alone france, you get huge interest rates on top which rack up costs, you get all kinds of add—ons, people paying for insurance or expensive delivery costs and then late fees if you miss a payment. what this can mean over the course

ofa what this can mean over the course of a contract you end up paying 3—5 times the the cost of the product. what are you hoping for in terms of capping the way payday loans are, how will that work and will you be successful in seeing that? we would hope so, a few years ago you had the cost of payday loans are spiralling and what the financial conduct authority did was they stepped in alongside the government, they made sure no one ever paid more than they borrowed, we think of something similar could work in rent to own, all the interest rates and charges are capped, if you get an item worth £250, you never pay back more than 500, it won't solve everything, it lacks affordability checks which means people who shouldn't borrow or able to do so but we think a cap would make a huge difference. matthew, thank you. a number of issues for discussion

this morning, qantas venting about the of sponsorship given the scandal that has hit the australian cricket team. read more on business life. —— business live. you're watching business live our top story recap hueber is shelling to grab. —— selling to grab. it's after it sold the business in china in 2016. let's talk about a destructor to the conventional banking system. last year, there were 5.7 million smes in the uk. that's businesses with 250 employees or less. but george bevis the founder of banking challenger

tide realised they had been badly let down by traditional banks and so set up his alternative. the app allows business owners to access instant credit, easy invoicing and helps with accounting in order to save them time. and it's proving popular, just 1a months after its launch, over 33,000 businesses are tide members. george bevis, founder & ceo of tide, a business banking challenger which launched injan 2017. welcome to the programme. i have been a banker in the past, not proud to admit it and i have been an entrepreneur and i interview with the pain of admin which had nothing to do with growing my business and i thought that must be a better way to grow the business,

using my banking experience to the opportunity to build something better. how is it different, if! was a small business who wanted to link up with your bank, how easy is it? it's a care and can't service pack with other tools, it does all the things you expect from a traditional bank, it gives you the opportunity to get your sort code and account number in five minutes on your mobile, it will handle your invoicing, make it easier to manage expenses, it will automate your bookkeeping as well, it's easy to setup and it removes admin burden. you're changing position, you are currently the boss and sound but that's not going to be the casing, tell us. i'm a small business focus sky and one of the sad things about rowing a business that turns out to be successful is that at some point it ceases to be a small business and

i realised earlier this year that we are here to grow a massive international business, not something i've done before and i think there are probably people who would do a betterjob than me, i'm dry to find someone to take on the role of ceo for me so we can expand beyond the uk and get it right first time. many would say listening to you it's great that you recognise the fact because quite a few businesses, the boss doesn't and was not move on. that's right, when i created the company i said there we re created the company i said there were a load of behaviours i wanted to see in our staff and some of that was humility, icy it as myjob to exercise humility and recognise someone who will do the next age of the business better than me. looking at how your business works it takes up at how your business works it takes up that personal piper, isn't the point sometimes when you're with a bank asa point sometimes when you're with a bank as a business you want to start a relationship that the bank manager, to get to know them, what

has happened to personal banking, this seems impersonal?” has happened to personal banking, this seems impersonal? i think the traditionalform of this seems impersonal? i think the traditional form of banking this seems impersonal? i think the traditionalform of banking has a lwa ys traditionalform of banking has always been quite slow and it can ta ke always been quite slow and it can take days or weeks to get an appointment with your banker and it's great if you go in and you have a chat and a copy and it's pleasant but if you are running a business and you need to get something done quickly, doing what our customers do which is send a message to staff and get a response in five minutes is just that. you don't hold anybody's hands, you will give advice which is what some people need? some people need advice and we don't make any pretence to give advice, there are other sources for advice that people wa nt other sources for advice that people want but we think the best thing we can do is provide the fastest, most efficient service for banking. thank you for coming in and good luck in finding the next ceo. we will keep an eye. thank you. maybe we should apply? iam not an eye. thank you. maybe we should apply? i am not going to. it would go under. in a moment, we'll take a

look at the business pages, but first, here's how to get in touch. you can get in touch in all of the usual ways business live, on tv and online, all the business news, when you need to know. many of you have beenin you need to know. many of you have been in touch about christmas, easter celebrations, however you wa nt to easter celebrations, however you want to view it. but germany has returned, livestock about the story in the telegraph, in the business pages of the telegraph, the competition commissioner in europe, taking on google. again. the tech

companies very much in focus, under pressure, not just companies very much in focus, under pressure, notjust google, weaves and spending it at about facebook. clearly the focus is on the dominance of some of these companies in various areas, in this context it is the dominance of the search engine market, however many others use other research engines available but google dominates the market was more than 90%, historically they have used that to favour some of their own counterparts and that's caused uncertainty, difficulties and that's really what the eu is dry to push back against, the dominance of the market, forcing the break—up of the market, forcing the break—up of the company, who knows?” the market, forcing the break—up of the company, who knows? i read some more, facebook and google collectively enjoy about 60% of market share in terms of online advertising. it's actually a de! the numbers are quite stunning, it's a reflection of the success. perhaps

we should be wary of pushing back against companies that are purely successful. —— it's actually 80%. if you dump and competitive pressure that argues you are moving beyond success and into a damaging backdrop. have yourself a merry little easter. this is the headline in the daily mail, it's little easter. this is the headline in the daily mail, its beginning to look a lot like christmas as shops sell crackers, reads and turkeys. do you go big on easter celebration? we look forward to easter, we have not got a wreath on the door, we will not be having an easter turkey. it's fascinating, retailers are taking another christian festival and deciding it's an opportunity for expenditure. they are doing what they do, dry to make more money?‘ retailer needs to shift the stock,

the cost of business is continuing to rise, the demand to ship volume comes more pressing and the marketing campaign that is going around, merry easter. colin tweeted to see easter like christmas has gone over the top, chris says its retail gone mad, i thought christmas was bad, not more commercial rubbish, the only good thing is four days off work. humbug says chris. retailers gone bonkers, crackers and turkey should only be used at christmas, not any other time. everyone giving it a thumbs down. jeremy, thank you for coming in. plenty of chocolate, that's all we need. it is the food of life, is it not? that's it from business live today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live webpage and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. good morning. a lovely start to

british summer time yesterday, today will be dry and sunny but as we go through this week, turning colder and quitea through this week, turning colder and quite a lot more unsettled. this morning, the bright city lights across the uk, lots of clear skies, waiting in the west and the atlantic is this mass of cloud which will push in through the course of today. before we get that far, and the sunshine for scotland through much of england and wales, the cloud increasing from the west, outbreaks of friends spreading into northern ireland. —— outbreaks of rain. foremost, it will dry, temperatures 10-13d. foremost, it will dry, temperatures 10—13d. tonight this area of rain pushing north and east, could turn to snow for a time across scotland,

that's an indication of cold air and for all of us, temperatures above freezing, not quite as cold as last night. going through tonight, looking at this picture, cold air from scandinavia just going to make an influence to the weather across the north, that is where we could see the risk of snow, but further south, westerly wind, not as cold. tuesday, risk of hill snow for scotland, quite a wet day for much of scotland, the far north, west of england, some showers into northern ireland, wales, the midlands, the east and south, temperatures tween 11-13dc, east and south, temperatures tween 11—13dc, noticeable drop in temperatures in scotland and the east of england. 5—7dc. tuesday night into wednesday, area of low pressure with us bringing cold air, in the south, more spells of wet weather, wet start to the day on wednesday, across the south,

clearing, some rain at times across scotland, some of that as snow, as the rain here is, or be a mixture of sunny spells and one or two wintry showers, feeling chilly, temperatures between 7—9dc, just about holding on to double figures. going into easter, feeling chilly, rain at times, risk of some snow, mainly across the north of the uk and mainly over the hills and mountains. that's all from me. goodbye. hello it's monday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. our top story today — jeremy corbyn is accused of siding with anti—semites "again and again". what people are asking now is when, finally, isjeremy corbyn going to confront and deal with the anti—semitism, not just talk about it? the labour leader says he's "sincerely sorry" for "pockets of anti—semitism" in his own party.

we'll speak to a labour mp who says jeremy corbyn needs to "cleanse the party of the cancer of anti—semetism". also on the programme... the bereaved parents who're losing out on tens of thousands of pounds in bereavement payments. this benefit isn't anything any of us want. i'd rather my husband than £350 a month, but i have to be