The rise of the renminbi is a century-defining story – and London is at its heart THIS has been a momentous year for UK-China relations and the development of London as a key centre for trading in the Chinese currency, the renminbi (RMB), outside China. This progress is partly inevitable, as London is the world’s most international financial centre, trading more dollars each day than the whole US, and twice as [...]
Bank competition is picking up speed – and this inquiry is a vital next step YESTERDAY, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it will be launching far-reaching investigations into the state of competition in the personal current account and smaller business banking markets. This is an extremely significant development, and one that the government welcomes. It is exactly why we created the CMA. A key part of our [...]
How the government is helping SMEs access the finance they need Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of our economy. They employ close to 14.4m people (almost 60 per cent of total UK private sector employment), with almost 4.6m people now self-employed. But many SMEs suffered after the financial crisis, due in part to the lack of availability and flexibility of bank lending. This [...]