Post-Brexit financial services pact with the EU ‘coming this month’ March 18, 2021 A financial services cooperation pact between Britain and the EU is expected before the end of the month, which would see the blocs able to cooperate more closely on financial services regulation in a post-Brexit world. Britain’s financial services industry has been largely cut off from the EU, its biggest customer, since the Brexit [...]
OneSavings Bank flags £28.6m fraud by corporate customer March 18, 2021 OneSavings Bank has delayed its results after discovering potential fraud by one of its corporate customers. In a late statement on Wednesday the buy-to-let lender, which was scheduled to publish results this week, said it had recently become aware of possible fraud but maintains it is likely an “isolated incident”. The maximum possible loss could [...]
Bulls in control after dovish Fed as attention shifts to Bank of England today March 18, 2021 European stock markets had a dull session yesterday as traders played it safe ahead of the closely-watched Fed update. Rates were kept on hold, meeting forecasts. The economy is now projected to grow by 6.5 per cent in 2021, up from the 4.2 per cent forecast issued three months ago. David Madden, market analyst at [...]
EU threatens to block vaccine exports to the UK for the second time March 17, 2021 The European Commission has threatened to block vaccine exports to the UK and other countries with high vaccination rates for the second time, as a bitter dispute over the EU’s sluggish jab rollout continues to escalate. European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen announced the bloc was facing “the crisis of this century” amid vaccine [...]
UK businesses look for international trading opportunities post-Brexit March 17, 2021 Britain’s vaccine rollout has triggered a wave of optimism among businesses as they look to new growth opportunities after the pandemic but Brexit concerns still linger. Business confidence is now at its highest level since the summer of 2018 as the government steps up its efforts to vaccinate the adult population by the summer. While [...]
Best of travel: Why Toronto beats New York for a city break March 17, 2021 To tide us over until we’re able to travel again, we’re republishing classic travel stories from our archives. Today we revisit Siobhan Grogan’s trip to the premier North American city break destination: Toronto. ••• As the cab from the airport inched forward in nose to tail traffic towards the distinctive skyline in the distance, I [...]
City Moves: Who is switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? March 17, 2021 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. IoD appoints new chair The Institute of Directors (IoD) has appointed a new chair after a thorough search process, who will step into the role next Monday. Patrick Macdonald is set to take [...]
Exclusive: City’s venture capital guru on Brexit, fundraising and impact investing March 17, 2021 With Brexit just behind us, and the pandemic gradually being brought under control, it seemed like a good time to measure the temperature of London’s venture capital investment space. City A.M. sat down with David Hall, for his first major interview as chairman of the Venture Capital Trust Association, since succeeding Stuart Veale in January [...]
Ellwood: Britain faces most dangerous threats since Cold War as PM pursues strategic ambiguity on China March 17, 2021 The world has experienced a few revolutions since the last comprehensive review of our defence and security capabilities was published in 2015. These are certainly worrying times, tainted with a 1930’s feel to the challenges we face: rising authoritarianism, global recession, weak international institutions unable to hold errant states to account and an absence of [...]
London remains Europe’s major global finance centre despite Brexit hit March 17, 2021 London has held on to the second spot in a respected international study of financial centres, despite the double whammy of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. London sits behind only New York and remains Europe’s only major global financial centre, remaining a number of spots ahead of Frankfurt and Zurich. But Asian competitors Shanghai, Hong [...]