TOP ONE PER CENT PAYING THIRD OF TOTAL INCOME TAX

The top one per cent of earners in Britain are now paying a third of total income tax according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) (The Guardian, p44). The figure has risen from 24 per cent in 2007-2008 to 30 per cent currently. This is reportedly due to the introduction of policy reforms which focus on tax rises for high earners, and the personal tax allowance increase to £12,500. Last month a joint report by UK Finance and PWC found that employment taxes accounted for £21.8 billion of the total taxes paid by the banking sector, equivalent to 7.3 per cent of all UK employment tax receipts, reflecting the large number of highly skilled workers employed in the banking industry.

Today is also Equal Pay Day, which aims to highlight the 13.1 per cent pay gap between men and women (i, p.39), effectively meaning women are working for free until the end of the year. This follows yesterday's release by the Hampton Alexander Review, which looks at FTSE women leaders, reporting that 32.4 per cent of boardroom roles are now held by women.

OPTIMISM IN HOUSING MARKET DESPITE POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has predicted that a bounce in activity in the housing market will be seen by the end of the year, despite the uncertainty surrounding the current political situation (The Times, £, p45). While buyer enquiries fell for a second consecutive month, the number of respondents to the RICS survey who said they felt positive about growth in the next few months rose from -7 per cent to five per cent.

Separately, research from estate agency Savills has found that the property divide between the North of England and the South looks set to continue to narrow (The Times, £, p45). This has been caused by slowing property price rises in London, coupled with increasing house price costs in the North West of England.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times (£, online only) reports that competition for new customers between mortgage lenders has caused a fall in buy-to-let mortgage rates, with the paper quoting the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Christopher Woolard speech at the UK Finance Annual Mortgage Conference last week.

NEWS IN BRIEF

In response to criticism of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) legislation, European Comission policymakers are looking at technical changes on issues such as the cost and distribution of market data and investor protection rules (Financial Times, £, online only).

Google is expected to launch a current account in partnership with Citigroup and a credit union at Stanford University in California (Times, £, p39).

The energy price cap has held back inflation growth causing the slowest rate in three years, with the consumer price index dropping to 1.5 per cent in October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (City AM, p2).

Despite it being a condition of the latest Brexit extension, the UK will not nominate an EU commissioner until after the December election. Officials in Brussels say this was relayed in a letter to the European Commission on Wednesday night by Britain's ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow (Politico, online only).

WHAT THE COMMENTATORS SAY

Simon Nixon, chief leader writer of the Times, today critiques the feasibility of an effective European banking union (Times, p41). Whilst Mr Nixon acknowledges the need for such a scheme, he is not convinced that a common banking union can exist among European countries during a time of political turmoil. Europe's current capacity for collective action in light of this, or lack thereof, remains a key vulnerability for the single currency. To conclude, the author questions whether Europe can commit to long-term financial solutions if the Eurozone cannot yet cope with its existing vulnerabilities.

LATEST BLOGS

Daniel Cichocki, Director, Commercial Finance, UK Finance, looks ahead to the LIBOR transition on the blog today.

LATEST VIDEOS

Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the Financial Conduct Authority, talks to UK Finance about regulatory changes in the mortgage market and the challenges that lie ahead.