Sunak under pressure to extend stamp duty holiday as tax break sparks housing market boom January 21, 2021 Housing transactions boomed at the end of last year driven by buyers rushing to complete deals before the stamp duty holiday deadline, putting pressure on government to extend the tax break. UK residential transactions in December were 31.5 per cent higher than the previous year, and jumped 13.1 per cent compared to November, buoyed by [...]
Bank of England’s Bailey expects ‘pronounced recovery’ for economy January 21, 2021 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said yesterday he expected Britain’s economy would recover strongly as the country moves ahead with vaccinating its population against Covid-19. “I really do think that we are going to see a pronounced recovery in the economy as the vaccination programme, as it is doing now, rolls out,” Bailey said. [...]
Before the Bell: Honeymoon in Washington January 21, 2021 Joe Biden was sworn in as the new US President overnight with financial markets granting him a DC honeymoon on his first day as the buy everything trade returned with a vengeance. Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst atOANDA, said this morning that equity markets soared, as did precious metals, and currency markets saw commodity link currencies outperform [...]
Insurers need to capture the Covid-19 zeitgeist and go beyond expectations January 21, 2021 As a communications professional, you rarely want your client and the words “the Supreme Court” to appear in the same sentence. However, last week, the justices issued a 112-page judgement on the Financial Conduct Authority’s appeal asking for “clarification” on whether insurance companies were required to pay business interruption claims for companies which had been [...]
The UK has conceptualised 21st century tech – now it’s time for us to make it, too January 21, 2021 Few people would argue that the lithium ion batteries which power our smartphones, or the flat-screen televisions sitting in millions of living rooms across the world, were not game-changing scientific innovations. Fewer still would be aware that the research and conceptualisation behind these innovations was conducted here in the UK. So too, in fact, was [...]
Hospitality sector urges Sunak to extend business rates and VAT support January 20, 2021 Hospitality bosses have again issued an urgent call for the government to extend business rates and VAT support in the March budget as the sector remains closed due to coronavirus restrictions. In a letter to the chancellor, industry body UK Hospitality asked him to extend the VAT cut to five per cent for a further [...]
A 21st century Big Bang 2.0 won’t look like the eighties – but it’s worth pursuing January 20, 2021 UK financial services can unlock a new phase of growth by taking a lead on sustainability, digital innovation and governance, and redefining ‘Big Bang’ to be far more than simply deregulating markets. Chancellor Rishi Sunak spoke of the City’s “perfect platform” for a post-Brexit “Big Bang” last week but remained equivocal on how the new [...]
British musicians ‘shamelessly failed’ over post-Brexit touring January 20, 2021 Musicians have been “shamelessly failed” by the government over the failure to secure visa-free touring after Brexit, some of the UK’s biggest music stars have said. Sir Elton John, Ed Sheeran and Liam Gallagher are among more than 100 signatories on a damning open letter that warns many performers could be “tipped over the edge” [...]
Sadiq Khan backs CBI’s calls for furlough extension January 19, 2021 The mayor of London has backed calls from the CBI for further financial support for businesses, saying current deadlines create a "financial cliff edge"
‘We want to be the regional magic circle firm,’ says Knights CEO January 19, 2021 Regional law firm Knights saw revenues jumped by some £14m in the second half of 2020, up to £46.2m from £31.9m in H1, and the positive year has only fuelled the firm’s ambitions. The promising results were in part delivered in part by the successful remote acquisitions of Shulmans, ASB and Fraser Brown, and the [...]