Why Chinese wine is so hot right now January 27, 2023 Sunday marked Chinese New Year, an excellent reason to sample some of the country’s incredible wines. Despite making wine for over 2,000 years, it is only relatively recently that winemaking has increased and started filtering into the UK’s market. “Wine is becoming popular because younger people are more influenced by Western tastes, and grape wine [...]
Competition watchdog is asked to step in over pricing spat between Wise and Atlantic Money January 27, 2023 Money transfer firm Wise has been reported to the competition watchdog after removing one of its smaller, cheaper competitors from its price comparison tools. London-listed Wise, which offers its own comparison tool as well as a number of others on external sites, has removed or delisted any mention of Atlantic Money’s cheaper service, in a [...]
Why I think Bitcoin could be a key to saving the environment January 26, 2023 Susie Violet Ward busts some myths on Bitcoin's environmental credentials urging users to understand the technology to understand the value.
‘Intelligence received’ suggesting airports breaking competition law – regulator January 26, 2023 UK airports could be breaking competition law, according to information received by a regulator. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has written to airport operators warning of “serious consequences” for illegal information sharing. The letter, produced jointly with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), stated: “The CMA has recently received intelligence to suggest that some UK [...]
Who watches the watchdog? “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” Part III January 25, 2023 The third instalment of Lord Holmes' thoughts on the Financial Services and Markets Bill which is at the committee stage in the House of Lords today.
We’re instinctively afraid of Big Things, but we don’t need to break up the Home Office January 25, 2023 Whether its Big Government or Big Tech, we have an innate fear of anything too large or unwieldy. But breaking things up - or making them smaller - won't in itself fix problems in the system, writes Sascha O'Sullivan.
Oaknorth and Atom Bank call on Grant Shapps to boost lending to small businesses January 24, 2023 The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and a group of top fintech firms, including Oaknorth and Atom Bank, have called on Grant Shapps to improve small businesses’ access to borrowing, warning that failure to do so could further damage the UK’s economic growth prospects. The business lobby and a number of fintech lenders have warned [...]
Open banking body appoints former Mastercard and Natwest exec to top job January 23, 2023 The body charged with overseeing the rollout of open banking in the UK has appointed a former Natwest and Mastercard executive as its new chair, City A.M. can exclusively reveal, as the regime moves into its next phase of implementation. Marion King, a former director of Payments at Natwest Group and president of Mastercard UK [...]
Fuel price warning if Asda forecourt mega-merger goes ahead January 23, 2023 A MOOTED merger between Asda and its owners’ separate forecourt business could lead to significantly higher fuel prices, a campaign group has warned. The billionaires – who bought Asda in 2020 for £6.8bn – are reportedly plotting to merge the supermarket chain with their forecourt business EG Group. The merger could create a new company [...]
Wait, so who’s watching the watchdog? January 23, 2023 The Financial Services and Markets Bill reaches a significant stage on Wednesday, and Lord Holmes explains how it's regulated.