Covid-19 has only increased the appetite to talk trade May 11, 2020 The announcement that UK-US free trade agreement discussions have officially begun will have been welcomed by many firms across the Square Mile last Tuesday. Incidentally, it also coincided with my first virtual ‘visit’ to the country to speak to US regulators alongside UK Finance. Accounting for nearly £22 billion, the US is by far the UK’s largest single export [...]
Tech firms must now show they’re serious about building trust May 11, 2020 The pandemic lockdown has supercharged the already dizzying speed of technological change. In six weeks we’ve come to accept a world where the office has become Zoom, the classroom Google and the theatre YouTube. Neighbours support each other through Slack channels. The dying say their farewells on FaceTime. And with little prospect of significant changes [...]
UK economy: Is the Bank of England’s 2021 rebound scenario too optimistic? May 7, 2020 The Bank of England today said the UK economy could suffer its worst economic crash in 300 years this year as the coronavirus lockdown batters the economy. Yet it said it is likely to bounce back relatively quickly. Despite the dire report it stopped short of launching more bond-buying or “quantitative easing” (QE) and left [...]
Rory Stewart pulls out of London mayoral race May 6, 2020 Independent mayoral candidate Rory Stewart has pulled out of the race for City Hall. The contest has been delayed for a year until 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and Stewart, a former Tory cabinet minister, was unwilling to ask his unpaid staff to work a further year. “London remains the greatest city on earth,”Stewart [...]
UK economy to shrink eight per cent this year amid coronavirus, says EU May 6, 2020 The UK economy will shrink by 8.3 per cent this year as Europe is ravaged by coronavirus and the lockdown measures put in place to contain it, the European Commission has predicted. Paolo Gentiloni, European commissioner for the economy, said: “Europe is experiencing an economic shock without precedent since the Great Depression.” In the UK, [...]
Michael Spencer: PM right not to seek Brexit trade deal extension May 5, 2020 City grandee Michael Spencer has urged the government not to extend the December deadline for a Brexit trade deal, saying the Prime Minister is right “to take a hard line on this.” The billionaire financier, who voted to remain in the EU, now believes that the UK is well-placed to secure a good deal and [...]
SMMT: UK coronavirus crisis wipes out April car sales May 5, 2020 New car sales have tanked 97 per cent amid the UK coronavirus crisis, according to new stats from an industry body today. That effectively means new UK car sales ground to a halt in April, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. Just 4,321 cars were sold over the month – 70 per cent [...]
Europe’s Crypto funding gap May 5, 2020 The European blockchain ecosystem is increasingly critically undercapitalised if it is to maintain the hard fought global leadership role established over the last decade. Despite London, Switzerland and Berlin when combined being home to roughly a third of the worlds blockchain startups, it has just 22% of the investment compared with the US and China [...]
Business groups welcome start of UK-US trade talks May 5, 2020 Business groups have welcomed the start of UK-US trade talks today, urging the government to concentrate on Britain’s small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in negotiations. International trade secretary Liz Truss will host a video conference call with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer today to signal the start of negotiations. The first round of talks [...]
The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Michael Spencer May 4, 2020 In this episode Christian is joined by billionaire financier and City grandee Michael Spencer. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Spencer urges the government to “be brave” in easing the UK out of lockdown – a state of affairs he described as “agonising”. He warns of lasting damage [...]