Former minister: Regulators need more scrutiny after receiving Brexit powers March 12, 2023 Widespread concerns have been raised that too little is being done to improve the scrutiny of the UK’s financial regulators as the Financial Services and Markets (FSM) Bill passes through parliament. Following Brexit, UK financial regulators – such as the PRA and FCA – were given the power to replace existing EU laws with new [...]
UK must turn around the ship of state towards economic freedom March 12, 2023 Dr Rainer Zitelmann is a historian and sociologist. In this guest essay, he argues the UK is slipping down the list of free countries in a new global index Last year, the UK received its worst rating in the Index of Economic Freedom since 1995, when the index was first calculated. This year’s rating is [...]
Thames Water drafts in advisors to tackle £14bn debt pile March 12, 2023 Thames Water has been forced to draft in advisors to evaluate its financial situation, amid growing concerns that the group will not be able to fix its £14bn debt mountain. According to reports in Sky News, the UK’s biggest water supplier has drafted in investment bankers from Rothschild, and the law firm Slaughter & May to [...]
Silicon Valley Bank: ‘Serious risk’ to UK tech and life sciences, Jeremy Hunt warns March 12, 2023 The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVBUK) poses a “serious risk” to the UK’s tech and life sciences sectors, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has warned. Ministers have said urgent plans to protect businesses from the fallout are being drawn up. Talks between Hunt, prime minister Rishi Sunak and Bank of England (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey [...]
Aldi to lift restrictions on fresh produce as shortages ease March 11, 2023 Aldi said it will remove all customer limits on buying fresh produce as supply issues which led to widespread shortages begin to ease. The supermarket joins Lidl and Asda in lifting restrictions. Aldi said in a statement on Saturday: “From Monday (March 13), Aldi will remove all purchasing restrictions on fresh produce – including limits [...]
Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank UK ‘could have big impact on tech start-ups’ March 11, 2023 The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVBUK) could have a significant impact on tech start-ups, it has been warned. The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), a non-profit campaigning for policies to support digital start-ups, responded to the overnight announcement from the Bank of England that it would apply to put SVBUK into a [...]
Chancellor Hunt says he can’t rush into tax cuts before economy gets back to growth March 11, 2023 British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said he wanted to lower tax rates for individuals and especially businesses in the longer term but warned it would take time because the economy needed to grow more quickly first. Hunt, who is due to present his budget on Wednesday, said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that lower tax [...]
Silicon Valley Bank’s demise began with downgrade threat March 11, 2023 In the middle of last week, Moody’s Investors Service delivered alarming news to SVB Financial Group, the parent of Silicon Valley Bank: the ratings firm was preparing to downgrade the bank’s credit. That phone call, described by two people familiar with the situation, began the process toward Friday’s spectacular collapse of the startup-focused lender, the biggest bank [...]
Health Secretary invites junior doctors for pay talks ahead of 72-hour strike March 11, 2023 The Health Secretary has invited junior doctors for pay talks in an attempt to avert next week’s three-day strike amid a bitter dispute over pay. Steve Barclay said he had proposed negotiations “on the same basis other health unions accepted”, after planned industrial action by tens of thousands of key workers was suspended when the [...]
Silicon Valley Bank UK says it will be put into insolvency this weekend March 11, 2023 Silicon Valley Bank UK has said it will be put into insolvency from Sunday evening. The announcement came after Silicon Valley Bank (SVP) was put under US government control on Friday afternoon, the biggest failure of a US bank since the 2008 financial crisis. The Bank of England said it would apply to place SVPUK [...]
