Rishi Sunak orders review into UK capital gains tax July 14, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has commissioned a report into capital gains taxes, which could lead to the government increasing the tax burden to help pay for its coronavirus spending. Sunak has asked the Office of Tax Simplification to conduct the review, with the body launching a survey today asking for “evidence to seek views about capital [...]
Common mistakes founders make – a lawyers’ point of view July 14, 2020 There is a ton of noise on how to succeed in making fail-proof start-ups or nailing the elevator pitch. What doesn’t find much mention is mistakes founders make for lack of a legal budget. As a lawyer I will obviously say that there is just no substitute for proper legal advice, but I also recognise [...]
Magnitsky Act: Dominic Raab unveils first foreign citizens facing visa restrictions July 6, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has unveiled the first 49 foreign citizens facing sanctions for alleged human rights abuses under the UK’s new Magnitsky Act. Speaking in the Commons today, the foreign secretary said the UK was taking action against the “thugs of despots and henchmen of dictators” and those trying to launder their “blood-stained ill-gotten [...]
DEBATE: Did Boris Johnson’s ‘Build, build, build’ speech succeed in rebooting his premiership? June 30, 2020 Did Boris Johnson’s speech succeed in rebooting his premiership? John Oxley, a Conservative commentator, says YES. Boris is back in business. He has mastered his own recovery from coronavirus and is now ready to tackle the nation’s. It is a challenge he would have never expected when he entered Downing Street, and an important evolution [...]
Increasing the opportunities for female leaders in Fintech June 29, 2020 Fintech emerged from the 2008 financial crisis to transform traditional financial services, with aspirations to innovate, build trust and, deliver greater efficiency. While progress has been made for customers and businesses, are we optimising our ability to innovate? Despite the UK being one of the fastest growing Fintech economies, female founders make up only 17% [...]
Tax system to the rescue: Six policy tweaks that could kickstart the economy June 23, 2020 The past three months have seen a deluge of economic, political, and legal moves that would have been unthinkable at the start of the year. As civil liberties were curtailed on a scale never seen in peacetime and ten million children were turned away from school, new hospitals were built in a matter of weeks, [...]
Government’s Future Fund approves just £55.9m of convertible loans to date June 9, 2020 The government’s Future Fund scheme has approved £55.9m of convertible loans despite receiving applications worth £515m on the first day of launching. The fund was set up as an alternative to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme (CBILS) for startups unable to demonstrate a turnover. It was designed to support startups through the coronavirus crisis [...]
Q&A: Why do markets rise even when the outlook is bleak? June 9, 2020 The global economy is on track for its worst recession in nearly 100 years, yet April was the market’s best monthly performance in three decades and the S&P 500 has just turned positive for 2020. Why? The first quarter of 2020 has been tough for the global economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. [...]
Crypto AM: Shines its spotlight on Mode June 2, 2020 Start A New Decade of Digital Banking with Mode We’re constantly reminded that we live in the age of digital banking. Most high street banks have been actively reducing their number of physical branches year-on-year since 2015, and according to comparison site Finder.com, an enormous two-thirds of UK banking customers say they are planning to [...]
Funding the Covid-19 recovery: Seize the opportunity to build a better tax system June 2, 2020 The suspension of huge parts of the economy coupled with an unprecedented package of government support measures mean that tax revenues are falling while public spending is surging. A leaked Treasury assessment estimated a £337bn budget deficit this year, nearly seven times the forecast in March’s budget. Analysts expect the debt-to-GDP ratio to be near [...]