Sniffy frustrations at Solvency II reforms betray Bank’s out-of-touch approach March 6, 2023 Regulation is a risky business – pun intended. Reducing the possibility of something going completely Pete Tong is at the heart of the work of all of the City’s rulemakers, but it should not be the be-all and end-all. It is this trap into which the Bank of England and its Prudential Regulation Authority appear [...]
Arm listing failure shows occasional weakness of UK’s tech ecosystem March 5, 2023 In truth, it was always highly unlikely that Arm would list in London. From the moment a proposed takeover by Nvidia collapsed, any other result other than a Wall Street debut was almost a non-starter. But the British firm’s decision to cross the Atlantic for a public offering should not be ignored just because it [...]
City A.M.’s awards a celebration of the best and brightest of the Square Mile March 2, 2023 Tonight at the Guildhall, City A.M. will once again host its annual awards night – a celebration of the best and brightest of the Square Mile and beyond, and the contribution of enterprising private businesses, CEOs and entrepreneurs to our national life. It will, as it always is, be a fantastic occasion. The competitive advantage [...]
Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal could be the making of the Prime Minister February 27, 2023 The Brexit deal signed by Rishi Sunak today may well be the moment that he is able to take charge of his party Rishi Sunak is a funny old Prime Minister. He was vaulted up the political ranks almost by accident; his accession to Chancellor coming years before he could reasonably have expected it as [...]
Sunak must face down the vocal ‘hard Brexit’ minority within his own party February 27, 2023 The terms of our Brexit deal are too important to become mired in the internal politics of a divided Conservative party “We have to stop thinking if there is a deal that is about to be done, it means we’ve been done over in some way.” So said the rational Eurosceptic George Eustice over the [...]
Football regulator may help deliver long-term sustainability for beautiful game February 22, 2023 This paper of free markets and liberal economics may not, you might think, be in favour of a new regulator. But a new referee for the business side of the beautiful game is not one to be dismissed out of hand. In fact, it has plenty going for it. At first principles, the best results [...]
Our post-Brexit relationship cannot be left in the hands of ideologues February 22, 2023 Cast your mind back to Christmas 2020. As most of us settled into the sofa for a Christmas behind-closed-doors, shuttle diplomacy saw the UK finally secure a Brexit deal with the EU on the country’s future relationship with the trading bloc. Boris Johnson hailed it as “glad tidings of great joy.” To all the world [...]
Brewdog’s China deal shows the limits of ESG virtue-signalling February 21, 2023 O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to make commercial hay from a human rights campaign, as Walter Scott very nearly wrote. Brewdog are the latest example of a brand which has made much of its holier than thou culture – only to ditch it in full when the reward is [...]
Nicola Sturgeon’s exit is a chance to leave independence politics behind February 16, 2023 Nicola Sturgeon is a skilled politician, of this we can be in no doubt. However she used those skills almost exclusively for the advancement of a single mission: Scottish Independence. In the UK, there are politicians of different creeds and business leaders from across sectors working tirelessly to create opportunities where previously there were none, [...]
The Bank of England appears to have learnt from earlier mistakes February 2, 2023 The Bank of England made a host of missteps in the early parts of the inflation spike. It has become more boring - and more effective - since.