TREASURY ANNOUNCES NEW GRANTS FOR BUSINESSES AFFECTED BY LOCAL LOCKDOWNS

The Treasury has announced that businesses in England that are required to shut because of local coronavirus lockdowns will be able to claim government grants (Financial Times, £, p2). Larger companies will receive £1,500 every three weeks while smaller companies will receive a lower payment of £1,000. The government said the rules will offer additional breathing space for firms that have to temporarily close and would build on the support already in place (The Guardian, p6). The payments will be distributed by local authorities in England, where lockdowns have so far been imposed on Manchester, Oldham, Pendle, Leicester and parts of Blackburn with Darwen.

Meanwhile, the thinktank Onward has published a report calling for state-backed coronavirus loans to be repaid only when business borrowers return to making a profit (The Times, £, p40). The research suggests that repayments could take the form of a 'tax surcharge? on top of corporation tax, using a model similar to the student loan scheme under which repayments start only once a salary threshold is passed.

BANK OF ENGLAND SAYS UK TO MAINTAIN HIGH FINANCIAL STANDARDS POST-BREXIT

Britain will maintain high financial standards as it prepares to end compliance with EU laws, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods has said (Reuters). Mr Woods said the shape of regulation in the UK will change to become more ?agile and dynamic?, but that the Bank will not regulate for its own sake. Meanwhile, the Financial Times (£, p10) reports that the European Central Bank (ECB) is putting pressure on banks to relocate more assets and staff to their EU-based subsidiaries before the end of the Brexit transition period. It comes as the UK and the EU prepare to hold emergency talks today over a future trade deal and the government's proposed Internal Market Bill that would override parts of the withdrawal agreement negotiated last year (BBC News).

NEWS IN BRIEF

House prices across the UK reached a four-year high in August, driven by pent-up demand and the stamp duty holiday, according to a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Daily Telegraph, £, B4).

Climate change poses ?profound risks? to the financial system, according to a report by a special climate subcommittee to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Financial Times, £, p4).

Former prime minister and chancellor Gordon Brown has called for the Bank of England to be given a dual mandate that considers employment as well as inflation when making policy decisions (The Guardian, p27).

The Trades Union Congress has called on the government to press ahead with an increase in the national living wage from £8.72 to £9.21 from April next year (The Times, £, p45).

LATEST BLOGS

Christine Farrow, our Account Abuse Lead, writes about how the Banking Protocol has continued to successfully prevent millions of pounds worth of fraud during the Covid-19 pandemic.