Rishi Sunak promises to protect the City from Brussels’ financial services bid June 8, 2021 Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, promised that the City will remain “competitive and dynamic” even in the face of Brussels’ bid to unseat it from its crown, in a private call with banks. Sunak described the financial services industry as a “crown jewel” and, according to reports, said the country will fight to protect it. The [...]
The race is on to put climate change centre stage June 8, 2021 With the countdown to COP 26 well underway, this article looks at how the race is on to put climate change at centre stage. Sustainability is the key theme for ICAS for the month of June. Throughout June, we will be focussing on the three strands of sustainability: environmental, social and governance (ESG), in our [...]
Tory rebellion on foreign aid cuts thwarted by speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle June 7, 2021 A Tory rebellion over Boris Johnson’s foreign aid cuts has been thwarted by House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as he called the amendment tabled “out of order”. However, Hoyle also said the issue should be “debated and aired” in the Commons and urged the government “to give this House the due respect it deserves…the [...]
‘Stablecoin’ payments must be regulated like banks, says Bank of England June 7, 2021 The Bank of England has said payments made with ‘stablecoin’ should be regulated in the same way as payments made by banks if they become widely used. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency usually pegged to a traditional currency and thus are intended to avoid the volatility usually associated with crypto. “The prospect of stablecoins [...]
G7 leaders ink landmark global tech tax agreement June 5, 2021 The G7 has agreed a landmark deal to crack down on tax avoidance by major tech companies. The group of rich nations today committed to a global minimum corporation tax rate of at least 15 per cent on a country by country basis. “We commit to reaching an equitable solution on the allocation of taxing [...]
Sunak ‘confident’ of tech tax progress ahead of G7 finance meeting June 4, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he is “confident” of making “concrete progress” towards a global deal for taxing digital giants when the G7 finance ministers meet over the weekend. Taxing firms such as Amazon and Facebook has become an area of disagreement between the US and a number of other countries. Earlier this week the [...]
Rishi Sunak prepares to chair G7 finance ministers summit in London June 3, 2021 Rishi Sunak will tomorrow chair the first day of this year’s G7 finance ministers summit in London, with a global taxation deal set to be on top of the agenda. The chancellor has said his major priorities for the two-day summit will be an agreement on a global tech tax and to urge other G7 [...]
Number of Brits on furlough falls by 1.3m to lowest level this year June 3, 2021 Furlough numbers have dropped to their lowest level this year, as those needing the scheme fell to 3.4m. Official figures published today showed that 1.3m fewer employees accessed furlough across March and April, with the biggest falls in workers aged 24 and under. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 11.5m employees have been [...]
US slaps tariffs on UK goods in push for global tax deal June 3, 2021 The US has slapped new trade tariffs on six nations including the UK as President Joe Biden seeks to corral fellow economies into backing his proposals for a global tax deal. After announcing tariffs worth 25 per cent against $2bn worth of goods from the UK, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India and Austria, the White House [...]
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey doubles down on climate plans June 1, 2021 The Bank of England Governor has doubled down on promises to carry out policies to help the UK shift to a net zero economy, but warned it was not regulators’ role to enforce change. Central banks have started to outline plans to help steer the path for economies and financial systems as they transition to [...]