THE DAILY BRIEFING

GENDER PAY The gender pay gap at HSBC is almost four times the national average. Women at the bank, which already had the worst figures in the sector, earned 61pc less on average than their male colleagues, up from 59pc last year.

HELLO GIFT Online estate agent Purplebricks has handed a £1.1m ‘golden hello’ to operating chief Vic Darvey. Stock options for 700,000 shares will vest over four years.

BANK HEAD Challenger bank Monzo is to appoint Gary Hoffman, ex-boss of collapsed lender Northern Rock, as chairman. He replaces Labour peer Denise Kingsmill.

NEW ROLE american advertising giant McCann has poached Matt eastwood, the creative chief of one of London-based WPP’s top agencies. It comes after WPP said it was merging his agency, J Walter Thompson, with Wunderman.

DEAL SEALED Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical has completed its £46bn takeover of London-listed rival Shire, putting it in the world’s top ten drug makers and also one of the most indebted – it has vowed to sell assets worth billions of pounds.

BANK BACKTRACKS SoftBank has slashed plans to pump cash into loss-making office sharing firm WeWork. The original £12.6bn has been cut to £1.6bn.

STEPPING DOWN Fashion chain Superdry’s chief product officer Brigitte Danielmeyer has stepped down after less than four months in the role for personal reasons.

STOCK SWOOP Former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has bought 150,000 shares worth £151,500 in technology firm Eagle Eye. Leahy is a non-executive director.

ASYLUM CONTRACTS Public services providers Serco and Mears have scooped asylum support services contracts from the Government. Serco has been awarded two contracts worth around £1.9bn over ten years. Mears will provide asylum accommodation and the contracts are likely to be worth more than £1bn over ten years.

TISSUES WOE Shares in toilet paper maker Accrol fell 35.5pc, after it warned its earnings for the year would hit just £1m. It made a £5.8m loss last year, and was expected by analysts to claw its way back to £4.6m earnings for the year ending in april. But performance has been hit by sterling’s weakness.