this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. europe's biggest bank gets a new boss. hsbc‘s john flint suprise departure comes afterjust 18 months in thejob. live from london, that's our top story on monday 5th august. despite a big jump in profits for hsbc, the boss is leaving amid the strains of the us china trade war and supposedly strains in links to the chinese telecoms giant huawei. also in the programme. hong kong, one of asia's biggest business hubs, faces widespread disruption

because of strikes in support of the pre—democracy movement. of the pro—democracy movement. and markets take fright from all the same, recurring problems. trade wars, brexit and big currency moves — we'll have the details. with more customers gearing up to buy cars online we'll speak to the company that bills itself as amazon for cars. but how much are customers missing out by not getting the personal touch in an old—fashioned showroom? and you can be a part of the conversation. do get in touch with your views on the stories we are covering or tell us what you are spotting in business. let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. welcome to the programme. europe's biggest bank is getting a new boss. hsbc sastohn flint is leaving after 18 months in thejob

because it needs a change in leadership to address a "challenging global environment". that's being seen be some analysts as a veiled reference to the us china trade war and the bank's reported links to the chinese telecom giant huawei. according to hsbcjohn flint‘s departure has come by "mutual agreement" with the board. the 51—year—old has spent his entire professional career at the bank. the compa ny‘s financial performance will only increase speculation over his departure. profits were up a very healthy 18.1% to $9.9 billion in the first half of this year compared to the same time a year ago. one reasons why profits up are up is that operating expenses are down 2.3%, that's been a key focus for the bank as it looks to thrive in that challenging global environment. but the bank is concerned about the future. last week us interest rates were cut to a range of 2% to 2.25%

and the bank says a trend towards lower rates around the world could hurt profits. let's talk to our asia business correspondent karshma vaswani, who's in singapore. lovely to see you. and i'm glad to see you, i thought sally was going to chat to us! talk through these numbers, it's interesting, even everything we had in that statement, there is a look for investors to be nervous and speculating about. certainly, the outlook for hsbc, for many global banks trying to operate in an increasingly uncertain global outlook, it is not certain. the focus will be today on the surprise announcement thatjohn flint is leaving the bank, given the fact that the results that have come out from hsbc have been relatively positive. in a statement accompanying the results, the bank

refers to what it calls an increasingly complex and challenging global environment. as you said, then, the us interest rates are on a downward trend, the us china trade war is also worrying many in the investment community. and uncertainty over the outlook of brexit. all of these things, the bank has pointed to in terms of having to meet challenges as it faces them in the months ahead. and although there were no specific reasons for why mr flint is leaving the bank, there has been some suggestion from analysts that he may not have been moving fast enough on reforms at hsbc, and also there have been suggestions around the china focused business for hsbc, because he was focused on growing that part of the business for the bank. according to the financial times, those plans reportedly faced resista nce those plans reportedly faced resistance from the chinese government because it is thought

beijing was upset according to the ft that it was internal e—mails from hsbc that helped the us government launch that extradition request for huawei's chief financial officer which happened last year at the height of the us china trade war. hsbc has never confirmed or denied this, but there has been some analysis that this might be the reason why, one of the reasons at least, where he may have left the bank. 50 many intertwined issues, and you touched on that trade war, which inevitably means big moves in currency and for a big global banks like hsbc, that has implications. yes, what we have seen in the currency markets today is that the chinese currency has weakened against the us dollar, past that all important critical figure of seven, a psychological figure important critical figure of seven, a psychologicalfigure in many ways because analysts say that once it wea ke ns because analysts say that once it weakens beyond this figure, the chinese central bank is likely to

allow it so we can even further. it means that when —— one us dollar can now buy more yuan than it could last week. this week. there now buy more yuan than it could last week. there is analysis saying this isa week. there is analysis saying this is a fightback by china against the trade tariffs from president trump, he said he would put 10% tariffs on $300 billion worth of chinese goods from september, covering everything that china itself to the us. in the past beijing has consistently denied that it manipulates its currency, it says it wants to keep it stable, it has repeated that statement today and has also said that perhaps one of the reasons why the currency is weakening is because of protectionism, but did not single out the united states and that statement. thank you, always a delight to speak to you, unexpectedly or otherwise! we will let sally do a little bit of work now. i didn't want to get between you! let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news. a strike planned by heathrow airport workers today has been called off, as talks continue to stop a further walk—out tomorrow. around 2,500 workers had planned to strike on both days in a row over pay. britain's busiest airport cancelled 177 flights, roughly one in seven departures, after the unite union rejected a pay offer. but british airways said it will now reinstate flights from heathrow. takeaway website just eat, which has been in merger talks with its dutch rival takeaway.com, has unveiled the new name for the combined firm. rather predictably they've picked ‘just eat takeaway.com'. they've also settled on a valuation forjust eat‘s stock at 731p a share, but that's lower than the 736p they were trading at when markets closed on friday. that could now open the door to a rival bidder. sales of japanese cars in south korea fell sharply last month as a bitter trade row between the two countries provoked a consumer backlash. industry data showed toyota sales

plunged 32% from a year earlier, while honda's sales slid 34%. south koreans have been boycotting japanese goods after tokyo tightened export curbs on the country injuly. one of asia's biggest business hubs hong kong is facing yet more widespread disruption. pro—democracy protesters are causing problems across the city state's transport systems and more than 200 flights have been cancelled at the airport. violent clashes have broken out between protesters and police. mariko oi has the latest from hong kong. as you can see, tens of thousands of protesters are gathering at tomahawk here in hong kong. this is one of seven venues for this afternoon's rally. many of them dressed in black, which has become somewhat

of their uniform, holding that yellow banner extent against extradition to china. that's how it started, if you remember, against that controversial bill. now they are asking for a lot more democratic reforms. and that's despite the government's request not to participate in today's strike. when the government held a press conference earlier today, that message was clear. this strike is bad for the economy. the financial secretary said, the economic growth would go into negative with these ongoing protests continuing. and yet, that has really not stopped these people from gathering and as a result, we are seeing the stock market, the hang seng index, down almost 3% after losing 7% over the past month. of course, the global market has been under a lot of pressure because of the ongoing trade war between the usa and china, but even then, that performance is really weak and the hong kong government is clearly concerned. that's really not stopped these protesters from joining the rally today.

she has been across this right from the beginning of the day in hong kong, we are now into mid afternoon, these are live pictures as you can see a very heavy police presence there as this general strike has surged in terms of the number of people joining surged in terms of the number of peoplejoining with surged in terms of the number of people joining with those initial protesters to get their voice heard when it comes to this issue of democracy and the exhibition bill. —— extradition bill. we will stay right across the story and bring you the latest as we get it across the bbc. tokyo stocks closing sharply lower at the end of the first session of the new week. stocks weighed down by a strong yen and following the lead set by wall street amid more worries over us—china trade. a strong yen is bad news forjapanese exporters as it makes their products less competitive abroad and also erodes hits profits when that money comes back home.

in europe, services numbers are expected to show that spain, italy, france and germany all showed evidence of positive economic activity in july. in the uk the sector is also expected to just about expand. the pound also had a difficult week, hitting two—year lows against the us dollar and getting close to similar levels against the euro, as investors worry about the likelihood of a no—deal brexit, as well as a general election. more on that shortly, but first samira has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. on monday, the world's biggest hotel chain, marriott international, will be reporting earnings. now, higher prices for rooms will likely have boosted profits for the company. but investors will really be looking closely about what marriot has to say for the next quarter

in the wake of concerns of a possible global economic slowdown. also reporting earnings on monday, the meat producer tyson foods. and while higher demand for chicken and pork will have boosted sales, investors want to hear about the impact of african swine fever, and what that is doing to their earnings. the fatal hog disease is spreading in china and in some asian countries. joining us is richard hunter, head of markets, interactive investor. good morning. a brand—new trading week, a lot to talk about, what is on your mind? yes, we still have the massive elephant in the room, it has been impacting markets in the us and china, it is getting more concerning as time moves on because we had the early canary in the coal mine which was the likes of apple and general

motors and ford, now we have got further tariffs coming along in september, it's a question of seeing when we are going to get round the table and we will see some positive news. us markets have been nudging re cord news. us markets have been nudging record highs for most of the last few weeks, so it's never a bad thing to be letting a bit of air out of the tires, but even though it seems to be ona the tires, but even though it seems to be on a daily basis at the moment, it likes like the us china thing will dominate the headlines. quick word on those figures, we have seen some european figures? is a block, second in the world behind the us, if you add the economies together, a good barometer of how the global economy is doing. if you put the us and china to one side. europe over the last decade was a story about reducing debt, the last couple of years when it should have turned from debt mode to growth mode, that has not necessarily have been coming through. that's why the

german pmis are looked at because thatis german pmis are looked at because that is the powerhouse of europe and the leader of wear europe in general is going. we have seen from the european central bank over the last few weeks, they might put some more monetary stimulus in place to help those struggling economies. thank you for now. he'll be back to talk through the business pages later. still to come, with more customers ditching car showrooms to buy their vehicles online we'll speak to the company that bills itself as amazon for cars. you're with business live from bbc news. in the uk, rural crime costs the country £50 million a year and it's rising quickly, that's up 12 % on the year before. and it means farmers are having to spend money on high—tech security to counter a wave of organised crime in the countryside. so let's speak to sarah hendry,

director general, country land & business association. why is there such a rise in crime, what is behind this? good morning. there are a range of different crimes that affect rural businesses, some analysis that we have done recently shows that we are looking at things like high—tech agricultural machinery and vehicles being stolen, large—scale livestock theft, nasty crimes such as hare coursing by organised crime gangs and a variety of things like that. these are not little local opportunistic crimes, we are increasingly seeing that they are organised, targeted crimes and when you think of the specific circumstances of rural crime, it's remote, you might not notice them for a while, it's a serious cause of concern and anxiety to rural businesses. one of the things that's very clear in your report is that

police forces aren't equipped to deal with it, many just police forces aren't equipped to deal with it, manyjust don't have the right skills or training to be aware of the problem. we see some good practice across a number of police forces. but the analysis we did shows its very patchy across all of them. across the forces in england and wales, nearly 40% don't have a rural strategy in place despite it being something that chief police officers have said they should have, a similar number don't train new recruits on entry in rural crime, a number of them, over half, don't have the right kind of equipment, all—terrain vehicles, night equipment, drones, the sorts of things you need to have the to tackle rural crime. we are optimistic that the prime minister has announced 20,000 new police officers and we hope some of that can be diverted towards rural crime and together with some of these good practice measures rolled out across all of the police forces, we could

see a real difference made. thanks very much, sarah. otherstories, see a real difference made. thanks very much, sarah. other stories, for example, you're watching business live — our top story, the boss of europe's largest bank hsbc is leaving by mutual agreeement afterjust 18 months in thejob. the lender says it needs a change in leadership to address a "challenging global environment". let's go live to hong kong, hsbc is no stranger to the city state that this is live pictures of the protesters there. they have called for a general strike and it has become violent as the day has

progressed, there are seven different locations at which there are rallies being held. this is all in protest to the extradition bill trying to be put through their legal system, that was some weeks ago. also it has now become a more broader protest about democracy in hong kong. full coverage across the bbc. now, buying a new car is an idea that fills many people with dread. with so many different options to choose from it can be daunting enough to even decide what you want let alone get it at the best possible price. according to research by the data & marketing association 59% of uk consumers buy their cars through dealerships butjust 5% bought direct from a website. perhaps that's no surprise given that deloitte found that 75% of car buyers thought that having a real person to ask questions to was the important of the buying process. but somewhat surprisingly only 16% of uk car buyers used a third party to help them work out the best price for their new car. with us now is james hind,

the founder of carwow. we have been saying throughout the programme, you like to think of yourself as the amazon of the car market. good morning. just explain how ca rwow market. good morning. just explain how carwow works. it works to help you find your perfect new car. you can go on and research, find out about cars on sale, built on your perfect car and compare offers from dealerships, interact with them, test drive and buy the car direct. consumers use us test drive and buy the car direct. consumers use us to make sure they are getting the right car for them, having a good price and finding a good dealership. so how do you find the right car? it's pretty daunting knowing what you want, how much you're going to pay for it, how much do you work out the criteria? i assume it's more completed than the number of doors and wheels. it's very subjective, you might like the band of the look of it. but there will be practical things like baby seats or a big boot. we have videos

for every car on sale, lots of stats as well but it's a purely personal choice. what if you wanted to not just look at dealerships, but also private sales, quite often you get better deals there. you won't necessarily get the mark—up. do you ta ke necessarily get the mark—up. do you take that in as well? we are focused on brand—new and nearly new cars, nearly new are up to two years old and they have the manufacturer warranty. you can buy safe that your car is not going to break down and you can go to an official dealership if you have a problem. we keep being told that no one is buying new cars, the manufacturer trade body told us recently that car sales are at the lowest level in a long time and that's because of all of the uncertainty because uncertainty with that's because of all of the uncertainty with things like brexit. also things like uber and car sharing, what does that mean for your business? you have about1

million people buying cars each year, but the vast majority of people use a car every day, to commute to work or take the kids to school. we don't think the impact of that great and we don't think that brexit will decrease car sales that much. most people buy a new car on finance three years at a time, and then they give the car back. the people are still going to need a car. you are doing well, you have a youtube channel which rivals things like top gear, you started this when you were 22 in your parents bedroom? they're at it, not their bedroom! how did the make a success? yes, we started it in the attic, i didn't know what we wanted to do after

university. i didn't have any net money or knowledge but anyone can do it or if you put your mind to it. that's you and your girlfriend, that was ten years ago and you're still together, getting married soon? yes, we are engaged, soon! let's get the latest now in our ceo secrets series where company bosses give you their tips for success. kite oniwinde used to represent great britain at athletics until injury cut her career short. she's set up a social network designed to help young, black professionals, like herself, to advance their careers. on myjourney, on my journey, i've on myjourney, i've had so many knock backs, people tell me i'm not

good enough. and i've had proper setbacks, it's taken me months to recover. there's so many moments where you will be knocked back as a ceo or founder in general, but you have to know that why you started the company, that you do have the ideas and you are more than capable to go forward. you shouldn't let anyone bring you down. what a great idea. richard is back as promised. looking

at this independent article, when measuring the economy, numbers are no longer good enough, what's wrong with numbers? it's arguing that economic, some of the economic data we re economic, some of the economic data were used have not kept up with where we are. for example, gdp doesn't necessarily reflect what's happening in services, and about 80% of our economy is in services. it doesn't mention inflation, at least the inflation basket of goods is updated regularly. the other thing it points to is this us number. the us unemployment is measured differently to ours, the unemployment rate is a factor of those people actually looking for work. and what this article is suggesting is there's a lot of people within the working age quite simply not looking for work actively, so the states is aware of them but they don't actually get counted in the very low unemployment

numbers we see at the moment so perhaps it's time to think about revising some of the economic data reuse. sounds like a good idea to me. number crunches take note. we have to keep updating it to see how the economy works. thank you, richard. we just want to take you back to hong kong, continuing cove rage back to hong kong, continuing coverage on the bbc throughout the day. these are live pictures, organisers say 14,000 people have joined a citywide strike today. that in those ongoing demonstrations in the citystate versus the concerns they have, pro—democracy against the laws imposed by china. carrie lam, the chief executive of hong kong, was appealing for people to not go to the strike today, she wants business to go on as normal but you can see that we are far from that.

we will see you again tomorrow same time, same place. good morning. low pressure is in charge throughout this week meaning it's going to be quite unsettled. sunny spells in charge at the moment. you can see the satellite at the moment, there is cloud across the moment, there is cloud across the uk, that is around a low— pressure the uk, that is around a low—pressure system in the atlantic which which is moving eastwards. the scotland and northern ireland, heavy showers, sundry times, slow—moving with light winds. a band of showers clearing away in england and wales, sam chan into the afternoon, breezy conditions, the odd shower. —— sunshine into the

afternoon. through tonight, the showers will continue in scotland and northern ireland, then a few more showers into the south—west. for many of us, a dry and clear night, temperatures down to 15 degrees, quite warm for some of us particularly across the south—east. this is the area of low pressure moving its way very gradually eastward, but predominantly the centre will be over scotland, and northern ireland, meaning showers on tuesday will be fairly slow moving. heavy and sundry at times. a scattering of showers for england and miss, —— hitand miss, breezy across england and wales. that will push the showers through quickly. maximum temperature is low 20s. into wednesday, the low pressure system is still there and it will bring a

few showers into scotland, northern ireland and northern england, rainfall in places where you don't really wa nt rainfall in places where you don't really want it in northern england. further south, it should be a little more dry, sunshine here, maximum temperatures 19 to 23 celsius. as we going to the end of the week, this area of low pressure will move from the south, strong winds, heavy rain spreading north and east across many parts as we go into the weekend. it will remain very unsettled by the end of the week. thursday not looking too bad, dry with some sunshine. friday, wet weather moving m, sunshine. friday, wet weather moving in, some of the rain could be heavy or thundery.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me, rebecca jones — the headlines... us officials say a mass shooting in texas in which 20 people were killed is a case of domestic terrorism. the gunman, who is said to have called it a response to "the hispanic invasion" of the state, could face the death penalty after being charged with capital murder. a six—year—old boy is in a critical but stable condition after allegedly being thrown from the tenth floor of the tate modern art gallery in london. there was a fence probably about the height of my shoulder, so it was not dangerous, and it was not possible just to fall down.