ALIGNMENT WITH EU RULES REQUIRED FOR CITY OF LONDON ACCESS

Financial regulation in the UK will need to remain closely aligned to European Union (EU) rules if the City of London is to maintain access to European markets after Brexit, Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's financial services chief, has told the Financial Times (£, online). Mr Dombrovskis said the EU was willing to grant ?equivalence? access to the UK, but it would depend on Britain ?not starting to engage in some kind of deregulation?, with the greater the systemic importance of the market 'the closer the regulatory alignment that is expected?.

Meanwhile, the CBI has forecast that UK economic growth will reach 1.8 per cent in 2021 if Britain leaves the EU by the end of January next year with a deal which enables ?alignment with EU rules where essential for frictionless trade? (The Times, p44, £).

NEW STANDARDS FOR BANKS ON GOVERNMENT BOND SALES

Investment banks may face potential conflicts of interest in the role they play in auctioning government bonds, the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Markets Standards Board (FMSB) has said (Financial Times, £, online). Currently banks are appointed to buy bonds directly from the government which they then sell to investors, with the potential ability to ?participate in lucrative syndications? in return.

The FMSB has developed a new set of standards in which it recommends banks separate purchase orders from clients at such auctions from its other trading activity, while also suggesting that primary dealers should implement ?appropriate supervision?.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Mark Carney will become a special envoy for climate action and finance to the United Nations when he steps down from his role as governor of the Bank of England next year (The Guardian, p43).

The former small business commissioner, Paul Uppal, has said that a lack of engagement from Whitehall officials hampered his efforts to tackle late payments by large firms (The Times, p43, £).

Retail footfall increased 3.3 per cent on Black Friday, the first rise since 2016, in contrast to expected decreases, according to research from Springboard (City AM, p1, print only).

Consumer confidence grew in November following three months of decline, with increased positive sentiment over job security and house price growth, according to a poll from YouGov and the Centre for Economic Research (The Times, p46, £).

Ursula von der Leyen began as the new head of the European Commission yesterday, having said tackling climate change is a top priority with plans to publish a European Green Deal on 11 December (Daily Telegraph, p15, print only).

Writing in the Financial Times (£, online), Paul Polman, former chief executive of Unilever, argues that businesses are ?mobilising much faster than anyone expected? in responding to the threat of climate change. Mr Polman cites ?collective action? in consumer industries, with firms coming together to reform parts of their business which are irrelevant for customers but impact the environment. However, what is missing is support from government Mr Polman says, with regulatory and spending changes required, such as ending fossil fuel subsidies.

LATEST BLOGS

Mike Peckham, managing partner, and Stephen Head, senior partner, Gadhia Consultants and Huntswood, blog on how security measures must evolve to defeat the cyber threat.

LATEST VIDEOS

Nick West, Principal, Head of Learning Innovation and Delivery, UK Finance, talks about some of the courses available to book now from our 2020 training schedule.