UK economy registers zero growth in final quarter of 2019 February 11, 2020 The UK economy flat-lined in the final quarter of 2019, data has shown, as political uncertainty driven by Brexit and the December General Election weighed on activity. Britain’s services sector – which makes up about 80 per cent of the economy – eked out growth of 0.1 per cent, while manufacturing production slumped 1.1 per [...]
Bank of England deputy Sir Jon Cunliffe warns EU to stay close to the City February 11, 2020 Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe has warned the European Union that it will need to maintain close financial ties with London if it wants “to be part of global pools of capital and liquidity” after Brexit. He was also bullish about London’s future prospects, saying that although markets could transfer to EU [...]
Exclusive: Treasury to unveil equivalence vision for City in white paper February 10, 2020 The government will insist on the right to diverge from EU financial services regulation as part of a post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels based on equivalence. Writing in City A.M. today, chancellor Sajid Javid says the City “will no longer be a rule-taker” and reveals that ministers are working on a white paper setting out [...]
Top economist Sir Charlie Bean warns UK productivity crisis threatens capitalism February 8, 2020 The threat of Brexit to the economy is “small beer” compared to the UK’s decade-long productivity crisis, which could undermine consent for British capitalism, one of the country’s top economists has warned. In an interview with City A.M., former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Charlie Bean said the failure of productivity to meaningfully grow [...]
Sir Charlie Bean: Forget Brexit – the UK productivity crisis is a threat to capitalism February 8, 2020 Brexit has dominated conversations about the UK economy in recent years, just as it has hung over almost everything else. But over the last week or so, the country’s festering productivity crisis has come to the fore, with the Bank of England downgrading its growth predictions and studies describing the worst decade for productivity expansion [...]
What’s happened to GBP/EUR this week? February 7, 2020 Sterling was on the back foot at the beginning of this week, but that wasn’t the whole story… After a positive end to last week thanks to the Bank of England holding interest rates, sterling was on the back foot at the beginning of this week due to the Prime Minister’s comments about the Brexit [...]
Sajid Javid’s growth plan unlikely to succeed, says think tank February 6, 2020 Sajid Javid’s plan to double the UK’s economic growth rate has little chance of success, according to a major think tank, as Britain pays the price for weak productivity. Javid has said he wants to boost UK economic growth to around 2.75 per cent by “levelling up” spending across the country. Yet the National Institute [...]
BoE policymaker calls for stress testing to go beyond banking sector February 5, 2020 A Bank of England (BoE) policymaker has called for bank stress testing to extend beyond the banking sector. Speaking at the European Central Bank’s stress testing conference in Frankfurt, Donald Kohn said that the bank was looking at opening up stress testing to hedge funds and open-ended funds. Stress tests are used by the BoE [...]
Most people don’t trust big tech companies to issue digital currencies, survey finds February 5, 2020 The majority of people across the world don’t think that tech giants can be trusted to issue digital currencies, according to a new survey. The poll, conducted for the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), found an “overwhelming lack of support” for digital currencies issued by tech companies, which the think tank said “reflects [...]
UK services sector rebound beats expectations after election February 5, 2020 The UK services sector surged in January, according to new survey data, beating initial estimates to deliver its strongest growth in over a year after the December General Election brought some clarity to the economy. The IHS Markit/Cips index of services activity hit 53.9 in January, its best reading since September 2018. It was well [...]