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1. Small businesses warn of disruption around implementation of PSDII
2. British Business Bank steps up small business lending in lead-up to Brexit
The percentage increase in wages in the year to May 2019, highest rate since July 2008 (Financial Times, £, online only).
The Daily Telegraph (£, p5) reports business concerns about the the roll out of Stronger Customer Authentication (SCA), scheduled for 14 September 2019, which will require online shoppers to relay a passcode sent to their mobile phone or other device for purchases over a certain value. In a recent letter to the FCA, the British Retail Consortium warned that three quarters of small online retailers do not have the correct software in place to enable such two-step verification at checkout.
The FCA recently announced that it will be working on a new migration plan to give some firms extra time to implement SCA. UK Finance is now coordinating closely with the FCA, retailer groups and other stakeholders to deliver these changes in a way that minimises any disruption for consumers and businesses.
A UK Finance spokesperson said:
?Fighting fraud must be a priority for everyone and these new rules will be an important tool in protecting customers.
?The banking and finance industry is coordinating closely with the FCA, retailer groups and other stakeholders to deliver these required changes in a way that minimises any disruption for consumers and businesses. We want to ensure that the convenience of making an online payment is balanced with these increased security standards. Given the FCA's statement on a proposed migration plan, we believe that a managed, timely migration to SCA will result in the best outcomes for consumers while effectively balancing both convenience and security.
?We expect that providers will have appropriate solutions in place to allow their customers to authenticate themselves. This could mean your bank or provider using text message, phone call, banking app or card reader to check your identity. Other methods are being developed that will make it even easier to shop more safely online in the future, including biometric technologies that could allow customers to be identified with something as simple as a thumbprint.
?We would encourage anyone concerned about their ability to verify online payments to speak with their bank or provider, to ensure their contact details are up to date and discuss what alternatives may be available.?
Keith Morgan, chief executive of the British Business Bank, has told the Financial Times (£, p3) that the national development bank increased funding for start-ups and small and medium entreprises by more than a quarter in the fiscal year 2018-19 as part of its preparation for the end of firms? access to EU funding with Brexit. Nearly half of the £6.6 billion increase involved the provision of capital to lenders which in turn issued loans to companies, while a third consisted of equity placed with venture capital funds. The remaining portion went towards guaranteeing borrowing by businesses.
Meanwhile, the Times (£, p1) reports Boris Johnson is considering holding a Queen's Speech in early November if he succeeds Theresa May as prime minister. This would require the prorogation of Parliament for two weeks leading up to the event, effectively meaning that MPs would not be sitting on 31 October, the date that the UK is scheduled to leave the EU. The news contributed to the pound falling to its lowest level against the US dollar in over two years (City AM, p1).
Separately, Ursula von der Leyen secured the backing of a majority of MEPs to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission, in a vote held in the European Parliament yesterday (Politico, online only).
Mike Conroy, Director, Commercial Finance, UK Finance, blogs on investing in women entrepreneurs following last night's announcement of the Investing in Women Code.
New-build homebuyers pay up to ten per cent more for homes than second-hand properties, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Daily Mail, p51, paper only).
GCHQ has issued a warning that scammers are increasingly impersonating real-life vicars and barristers in order to gain access to people's bank accounts (The Telegraph, £, online only).
Members of the United States Senate's Banking Committee expressed strong scepticism about Facebook's intention to launch its Libra digital currency, in a hearing involving Facebook executive David Marcus (BBC News, online only).
The Financial Times (£, p2) reports that shadow chancellor John McDonnell will today commit a Labour government to end in-work poverty in just five years.
In CityAM (p18), the economist Paul Ormerod argues that the UK will probably avoid a recession in the short term despite recent figures suggesting a slowdown in manufacturing and services. Ormerod reports that there has been no corresponding downturn in consumer and investor confidence, which he has monitored since the EU referendum using artificial intelligence technology which analyses sentiment on social media.
In the Financial Times (£, online only) fund manager Rob Burnett warns that the European Central Bank has exhausted its ?arsenal? of monetary policy instruments, with interest rates already at the zero per cent lower bound and having injected over a trillion euros through its quantitative easing programme. Burnett argues that the central bank is ill-equipped for another economic downturn.
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