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UK GDP growth in the three months to March 2019, according to the latest estimate from the Office for National Statistics.
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) yesterday announced it is consulting on giving a specific direction for the implementation of Confirmation of Payee (CoP), with the aim of introducing the new payments security scheme by 31 March 2020 (BBC Business Live, online only). CoP is an important tool to help prevent payment fraud and accidentally misdirected payments and works by checking if the name of the account the payment is being sent to matches the name entered. It is understood that this initiative will provide customers with better protection from authorised push payment (APP) scams, which cost customers and businesses £354.3 million in 2018 according to UK Finance's Fraud: The Facts report.
Responding to this announcement, a UK Finance spokesperson said:
?Confirmation of Payee is a major technical change to digital payments and another important tool in the fight against fraud, so it is vital that we get it right. The finance industry supports the new service and the Payment Systems Regulator's revised timetable which will help deliver the best possible outcome for consumers and small businesses, while ensuring there is sufficient time for it to be introduced in a way that delivers an effective customer experience. ?However, it is not a silver bullet, which is why the industry will continue tackling fraud on every front, investing millions in advanced security systems to protect customers and to support law enforcement in combating the organised criminal groups responsible.?
A leading security expert said he was 'surprised? more data breaches have not become public in the 12 months since General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. Bryan Sartin, Verizon's head of global security services, said that data breaches are a "time bomb" and ?at any moment any of those may leak or get some public attention". Mr Sartin spoke following the publication of the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), which collates information from over 2,000 confirmed worldwide data breaches. Under European data protection laws, companies that lose data face fines of up to four per cent of their global revenues (BBC, online only).
Consumers are urged to follow the advice of UK Finance's Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign in the event of a data breach. Following the theft of data, customers should remain vigilant and check their bank and credit card statements regularly and if they spot any unfamiliar transactions, to contact their bank or card company immediately.
The UK economy grew by an estimated 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, according to figures published today by the Office for National Statistics. The manufacturing sector grew at its fastest rate since 1988 in the same period, driven in part by stockpiling ahead of the original Brexit deadline of 29 March (BBC News, online only). The Financial Times (online only, £) reports that this economic performance is stronger than was widely expected, and that despite ongoing uncertainty business investment has begun to grow again after a year-long decline. Meanwhile, The Economist(online only) considers the impact of the Brexit vote on foreign investment, emphasising that low corporation tax and a stable legal system continues to draw business to Britain.
Conor Lawlor, Director of Brexit and International Policy at UK Finance, blogs on some Brexit-related points for consideration in the weeks ahead.
The UK government is set to expand a project that sends Bank of England officials to help emerging economies reform their financial sectors, reports Reuters (online only).
Air passengers should pay a 50p levy to ensure they can be flown home should their airline go bust, the government's Airline Insolvency Reviewhas proposed (Financial Times, p2, £).
Up to a million people in the UK risk losing their ?obsolete? jobs to robots, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and retraining them for safer jobs could cost the UK as much as £90 billion. (Telegraph, B3, £).
Tensions are increasing between the US and China in last-ditch talks to salvage a trade deal following President Trump's tariff increase (Reuters, online only).
A number of FTSE 100 companies faced opposition from shareholders over boardroom pay packages for executives (The Times, online only, £).
Writing in this morning's Telegraph (p14, £), Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator, argues that the Conservatives can only survive if they support a ?no-deal? scenario. He suggests that the Brexit party are ?hoovering up voters? in their millions, but that the delays to Brexit ought to enable the prime minister to ?leave behind a pretty decent no-deal plan? that he says would allow for a Brexit that delivers on the referendum result.
Economic editor Chris Giles writes in today's Financial Times (p11, £) that Britain's regional divide is less extreme that it may first appear. While the chancellor speaks of ?extraordinary? differences and the shadow chancellor bemoans 'the worst regional equality in Europe?, he suggests that 'the London problem? is much exaggerated and that after home and accommodation costs are considered, Londoners are no better off than other regions. He argues that inequality exists within regions rather than among them.
For a full list of upcoming UK Finance statistics releases, please click here.
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