China widens child policy to three children to combat declining population May 31, 2021 China is set to widen its child policy to three children, after easing its longstanding one-child only policy in 2015, to combat its declining population. The change, approved by president Xi Jinping in a politburo meeting, will signal the end of its two children only policy, state media outlet Xinhua said. It follows China’s 10-year [...]
Boris Johnson announces Royal Yacht Britannia replacement May 30, 2021 Boris Johnson has announced that a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia will be built and operational within four years. Downing Street last night unveiled the plan, which will see the new ship “host high level trade negotiations and trade shows and will sail all over the world promoting British interests” as a part of [...]
EU Brexit chief Sefcovic urges UK to not ‘further sour relationship’ over Northern Ireland May 30, 2021 The EU’s Brexit chief has today warned the UK to not “further sour our relationship” by taking unilateral actions in Northern Ireland as negotiations between the two sides continue. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said the EU is committed to the Good Friday Agreement and not having a hard border on the island of [...]
Generous trade offer to Australia will allow Global Britain to demand the same elsewhere May 29, 2021 The free-traders in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet appear to have won the day: the Prime Minister has reportedly sided with Trade Secretary Liz Truss, his Brexit advisor Lord Frost and other Cabinet liberals to support a zero-tariff, zero-quota trade deal with Australia. The protectionists who wanted a watered-down deal – led by Environment Secretary George Eustice [...]
Brexit: £20bn UK-Norway trade deal implodes over British beef and cheese as crucial deadline passes May 28, 2021 A wide-ranging free trade pact between the UK and Norway will have to be pushed back as Norway’s coalition government failed to reach an agreement today. The three governing parties had until today to reach consensus over fears that a free trade deal would hit farmers in Scandinavia’s richest country too hard. The Christian Democrats [...]
Landlocked Brexit: Switzerland-EU talks collapse as Bern walks away from €227bn trade deal May 28, 2021 The Swiss government has informed the European Commission it is ending efforts to reach an agreement on a long-anticipated political treaty that would cover trade between the two countries. Switzerland refused to agree to the EU demand that the treaty would include freedom of movement stipulations. “We regret this decision, given the progress that has [...]
Hungary PM seeks UK allyship post-Brexit ahead of Downing Street meeting May 28, 2021 Hungary has been missing the UK post-Brexit, as the country’s Prime Minister said this morning it ‘suffers’ from Britain’s absence and wants to build new bilateral ties. “We agreed on many things, which created a sort of balance in the EU,” prime minister Viktor Orban said ahead of his meeting with Boris Johnson later today.. [...]
Exclusive: Meet the former UBS and JPMorgan heavyweights shaking up private banking May 28, 2021 As the economy is slowly switching into recovery gear, activity in the City and beyond is starting to pick up again. That is also the case for Vestrata, a relatively new fintech player that is taking the wealth management and private banking space by storm by bring machine learning and automated risk metrics into the [...]
Bitcoin needs to win the environmental argument – or else May 28, 2021 One of bitcoin’s original goals as a decentralised currency, was that it obviated the need for central banking. One of its achievements is that it has obviated the need for roller coasters as well. Bitcoin began the year at $29,000. Now, five months into 2021, holders are looking at gains of around 40%. So far [...]
US shoppers behind Klarna’s recent platform transaction boom May 28, 2021 Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ company Klarna has reported a jump in transactions using its platform in the January to March quarter, helped mainly by growth in the United States. Klarna’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) – the value of transactions made using its payment platform – nearly doubled to $18.9bn in the first quarter from $9.9bn a [...]