The Business: Wednesday 19 June 2013

Incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney has made his first appointment, luring City high-flier Charlotte Hogg to become his top enforcer, reports The Independent. Hogg has taken a £1m pay cut to leave her current post, running the retail bank at Santander UK. She is tasked with being Carney's "eyes and ears", implementing his strategy across the vastly expanded central bank. Hogg's mother, Baroness Hogg, led John Major’s policy unit in the 1990s and became the first female chairman of a FTSE 100 company in 2001. Her father was a cabinet minister in Major's government and an MP until he stood down in 2010.

Leaders of the G8 major economies have agreed new measures to clamp down on money launderers, illegal tax evaders and corporate tax avoiders, reports the BBC. The governments agreed to give each other automatic access to information on their residents' tax affairs. Urging countries to "fight the scourge of tax evasion", the governments will also require shell companies - used to exploit loopholes and invest money anonymously - to identify their effective owners. Tax, trade and transparency - dubbed "The Three Ts" - were placed at the top of the UK's agenda for its presidency of the G8, which consists of the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Canada and Japan.

Britain's coldest spring since 1962 boosted Costa Coffee, with total sales jumping 23% to £281.8m, and like-for-like sales up 8%. Whitbread, the chain's parent company, reported a 13.8% rise in overall sales in the 13 weeks to 30 May, with like-for-like sales up 3.1%. “People in town during the day sought out our warm drinks,” said chief executive Andy Harrison. “But it wasn’t just the weather. People like our well trained baristas.” Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown told the Daily Express: “Whitbread has delivered its almost customary breath of fresh air in the midst of a tepid economic backdrop.”