THE DAILY BRIEFING

HEADING OFF Dixons Carphone executive Katie Bickerstaffe, 50, is stepping down to lead the household gas and electricity business being formed by npower and

SSE. FLYING HIGH Budget airline EasyJet said passenger numbers rose by 3.4pc to 6.5m in March.

GUNS OUT investment titan Blackrock is launching new funds for savers who do not want to put money in gun stocks. The Us gun lobby has faced huge criticism following decades of school shootings.

BITCOIN ARRESTS bitcoin The bosses of two south Korean exchanges have been arrested on charges of embezzlement. Kim ik-hwan, who runs Coinnest, and the chief of a rival trading hub have been accused of taking customers’ assets.

QUIT THREAT south African Garth Ritchie, co-head of struggling German lender Deutsche Bank, may quit after two decades at the lender. A boardroom war has reportedly broken out over a plot to oust chief executive John Cryan.

WATCHDOG BACKING The Competition and Markets Authority watchdog has backed online gambling firm GVC Holdings’ £4bn purchase of Coral Ladbrokes. it believes the deal will not result in a ‘substantial lessening of competition’.

MORTGAGE RISE The number of people taking out second mortgages for home improvements, or to put down a deposit on a second property, rose 14pc to 22,270 in the 12 months to February, says trade body Finance & Leasing Association.

LAW BONANZA Fees being raked in by the UK’s top 100 law firms rose by 7.7pc in the third quarter of 2017, according to a survey by the accountant Deloitte.

GENDER MISS Around 1,500 businesses missed this week’s deadline to reveal the gap between what they pay male and female staff. new rules require firms with more than 250 workers to publish the data.