Here are the business stories making the headlines across the country this morning.
Microsoft says cyber-attack triggered latest outage
A global outage affecting Microsoft products including email service Outlook and video game Minecraft has been resolved, the technology giant said in an update.
The firm said preliminary investigations show the outage was caused by a cyber-attack and a failure to properly defend against it.
Earlier, the company issued an apology for the incident, which lasted almost 10 hours and caused thousands of users to report issues with Microsoft services.
It comes less than two weeks after a major global outage left around 8.5 million computers using Microsoft systems inaccessible, impacting healthcare and travel, after a flawed software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Post Office scandal victims offered £600,000 under new scheme
Ministers said it would help sub-postmasters traumatised by the scandal, in which faulty IT software called Horizon led hundreds of staff to be falsely accused of stealing from branches, receive financial support without "unnecessary bureaucracy".
The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) is the fourth scheme of its kind.
It is aimed at sub-postmasters whose convictions were not quashed by the courts but have now been automatically overturned by the previous government's recent Post Office Offences Act.
Under its terms, those affected can either receive a fixed settlement of £600,000 or apply for a potentially higher amount by undergoing a detailed assessment of their case by the Department for Business and Trade, which will include a guaranteed minimum payout of £450,000.
HSBC shareholders to receive further $4.8billion as profits rise
HSBC is giving a further $4.8billion to shareholders, providing a final parting gift from the outgoing chief executive, Noel Quinn, after a rise in second-quarter profit.
The London-headquartered bank said it would buy back another $3billionn (£2.3billionn) worth of shares from investors, who will receive $1.8billion in fresh dividends.
It will mean Quinn will have paid $34.4bn to shareholders during his final 18 months in post, as part of a strategy that helped fend off calls to break up the bank, led by its top shareholder, China’s Ping An Asset Management.
Read more in The Guardian.
Japan hikes interest rates for second time since 2007
Japan's central bank has raised the cost of borrowing for only the second in 17 years as it tries to normalise monetary policy in the world's fourth largest economy.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) increased its key interest rate to “around 0.25%” from the previous range of 0% to 0.1%.
It also outlined a plan to unwind its massive bond buying programme as it eases back from a decade of stimulus measures.
The move comes hours before the US Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest interest rate decision, while an announcement is also expected from the Bank of England on Thursday.