There seems to be some mystification about an Evening Standard story which says Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is being asked to stay on for another year until 2020.

The Treasury has said that the story did not come from them, and that recruitment for the position will begin "in due course".

A job ad will be placed for the position of governor before the end of the year, a Treasury spokesperson added.

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Are cheques obsolete? Not for some of our readers. Peter Hearne says: "I have written cheques in the last week to my niece, as a wedding gift to her and her new husband, and to two banks where I am opening new savings accounts. The two banks each required a cheque payment to open the account."

Anthony Bird wrote in to say: "Last cheque made out an hour ago to my farrier. He probably prefers payment in his hand immediately as some horsey people can be bad payers," Anthony claims.

Steve Taggart adds: "I pay for work done in the house by cheques. Also membership fees for small local organisations. I pay for workshops that I attend by cheques posted to organisers. Art groups I belong to hold exhibitions and have no facility to accept card payments for work purchased but will accept cheques."

What about you? Still using cheques, or given them up altogether?

Let us know at bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

Image source, Reuters

Thanks to a boom of electric vehicle sales in the first six months of the year, there are now more than a million Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrids (PHEV) on the continent, and the number is expected to rise to 1,350,000 by the end of the year, external.

Germany leads the way, although Norway is biggest market. 37% of all cars sold there in the first half of 2018 were electric.

Image source, Getty Images

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has warned the EU this morning to prepare for every outcome in its divorce talks with Britain as there's still the risk of a hard Brexit.

At an economic conference organised by the German foreign ministry in Berlin, he said: "Regrettably, a hard Brexit is not off the table."

He added that EU officials were working on an independent payment system in light of the row with Washington over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and US sanctions that threaten European companies doing business in Iran.

Image source, Reuters

Investors in struggling estate agency Countrywide have approved a £140m emergency fundraising at its annual meeting this morning.

Its decision to raise £111m by placing more than 1 billion shares at 10p sent shares crashing earlier this month.

The shares had been trading at about 50p but fell as much as 80% after the fundraising was announced.

They were down 7% to 14p on Tuesday, valuing the company at £76m.

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ITV's Robert Peston, formerly of this parish, reminds us that many in the Tory party are not fans of Mr Carney...

More from Liam Fox. He told the BBC that global businesses and investors are watching the Brexit negotiations, and that if there are "impediments" in the process it will "send a signal to the rest of the world's investors about how open Europe is for business."

Dr Fox played down reports of a possible split in the UK cabinet about what a deal might look like. He said the government was united on wanting a deal with the EU, adding that the ball was in Europe's court.

If there ends up being no deal, he said, "it is not the fault of the UK government."

The FTSE 100 has settled down to trundle along at around 7,603, a 25.58p rise -up 0.34% - on yesterday's close.

The FTSE 250 has done slightly better and is up 0.78%, or 161p, at 20,852.

Image source, AFP/ GETTY IMAGES

In an interview with the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Singapore, the UK Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, has said that the chancellor Philip Hammond's sobering estimates for a no-deal Brexit are “rather hard to swallow”.

He added that if the UK gets no deal there will be “disruption to the UK economy".

"It’s difficult to quantify that, but that’s not what we want. We want a good deal, between Britain and Europe”.

Meanwhile, if you're thinking of a career change, taking to the skies might be a good option.

Boeing forecasts that the Asia Pacific will need a huge number of pilots, technicians and cabin crew over the next two decades.

It reckons there'll be a need for 240,000 more pilots and 317,000 cabin crew by 2037.

That's because passenger numbers in the region are expected to skyrocket - if you'll excuse the pun - as Asia's economies strengthen.

Read full story

Chris Johnston
Business reporter, BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Ryanair's Italian pilots have reached a deal over working conditions - the first such deal struck by the airline since it agreed to recognise unions.

The agreement, which follows eight months of talks, gives its 300 Italy-based pilots "protection and guarantees", according to the union involved.

Earlier this month, Ryanair pilots staged a coordinated 24-hour strike to push their demands for better pay and conditions, disrupting travel plans for tens of thousands of passengers.

In July, strikes by cockpit and cabin crew disrupted 600 flights in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, affecting 100,000 travellers.

Ryanair said it hoped pilots in Ireland, the UK, Spain and Germany would soon approve similar agreements as well.

Image source, Tiffany’s

Luxury jeweller Tiffany has reported a 7% rise in second-quarter earnings, beating analyst expectations. The company's shares climbed 5% in premarket trading on the news.

The brand, which has a new chief executive, has been undergoing a revamp in an attempt to attract cash-strapped millennials.

It said net sales from the Americas, which accounts for nearly half of the company's total sales, climbed 8% to $475m, helped by higher spending by local customers.

Growth in Greater China led to a 28% rise in sales in the Asia Pacific region. On a constant currency basis, same-store sales rose 7%.

Africa Minister Harriet Baldwin says UK consumers and African economies can benefit from Brexit.

She told Today that tariffs on African goods post-Brexit will be similar to how they are now.

Prime Minister Theresa May is in Cape Town today at the start of a three-day trade mission to Africa.

Image source, Getty Images

The Evening Standard, external is reporting that Mark Carney has been asked to stay on for another year.

The paper claims: "The Treasury is keen for him to stay on until 2020 so he can provide continuity during the turbulence of Brexit."

But a Treasury spokeswoman denied the story. She told Reuters: "We don't recognise their reporting at all."

Image source, EPA

House of Fraser has criticised "greedy landlords" that are resisting new owner Mike Ashley's attempts to cut rents on the store chain's 59 outlets.

Earlier this month the Sports Direct owner bought the retailer for £90m after it collapsed into administration.

It has been seeking to cut rents in an attempt to prevent stores from closing.

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Reader Michael Ryder has scrapped the use of cheques at a local charity and reckons it's made for a big improvement.

He reports: "Last summer I took over the running of a small charity that used cheques for all of its transactions. About 300 cheques a year, all of them dual-authorised, had to be posted around the country to collect signatures before being dispatched to the payee. Additional signatories had proliferated to mitigate the logistical challenge, regardless of their financial authority in the organisation more widely.

"Since November last year we have written no cheques, payments are quicker, accountability is clearer, risk of misuse reduced and charges are lower."

Image source, Getty Images

Reader Mark Greenman has responded to our cheque debate. He says: "I am the director of Wales International Freight and we still pay all our suppliers by cheque.

"The reason for this is I have total control of the payments and avoid any computer error or more importantly fraudulent activity."

He reports of a friend who recently got conned out of £30,000. "A con artist hacked into his emails and then sent emails asking for bank payments to be made. The accounts department didn`t see any issues in this and made the payments as this was something that my friend had done in the past. The money disappeared with no trace.

"This was a simple reminder to me why I still use cheques. I believe cheque payments will start making a comeback as there are so many stories similar to this one."

Image source, Getty Images

Apparently, Premier League footballers, external are hedging their bets when it comes to Brexit.

The FT reports that players are manoeuvring to defend their multimillion-pound pay packets against currency fluctuations.

Argentex, a currency trading firm whose clients include Manchester City, said there had been a 43% increase in the volume of currency being hedged by its sporting customers since the Brexit vote.

The company allows individuals to lock in the current exchange rate for several months.