POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR UK

The British economy will grow faster than that of any other Eurozone country according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has released its forecasts at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (The Times, £, p1). Depending on a smooth Brexit transition, UK growth would increase to 1.5 per cent by 2021, compared to 1.4 per cent for the rest of the Eurozone, with predictions that it will be outperformed only by the United States and Canada, the IMF has said.

Meanwhile, prospects of an efficient Brexit transition have made the UK increasingly attractive to global businesses searching for growth and investment opportunities, according PwC's latest CEO poll. Surveying nearly 1,600 chief executives, it puts the UK as joint fourth in the most important growth target for CEOs after the US, China and Germany. PwC said the rebound in the UK's attractiveness had been particularly marked among German, French and Italian chief executives, and has returned to pre-referendum levels (The Guardian, p38).

TWO MILLION TO BE SAVING REGULARLY BY 2030

Following findings that 11.5 million people have less than £100 in savings to fall back on, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has announced it will be setting out a ten-year plan to improve millions of lives, promising that by 2030 an extra two million people will be saving regularly (The Guardian, p15). Plans to achieve this include increased financial education in schools and offering debt advice to an additional 300,000 people.

Stephen Jones, Chief Executive of UK Finance responded to these measures:

?Improving the financial wellbeing of consumers and wider society is a key priority for the banking industry and we support the Money and Pension Service's (MaPS) ambitious plan and the five priorities it has identified.

?We have already commenced work with MaPS and we look forward to tackling the priorities with them to ensure that the industry delivers positive changes to help their customers.?

NEWS IN BRIEF

More new buyers registered in the second week of January than at any point in the last fifteen years, according to Knight Frank (The Daily Telegraph, £, B1, print only).

Optimism around personal finance has improved since the election according to IHS Markit, whose household finance index has seen a one-year high of 44.6 (Times, £, p34).

There has been a 56.6 per cent decline in the reporting of suspicious activity by company formation agents, the National Crime Agency has said (Times, £, p39).

The IMF has downgraded its global growth forecasts owing to climate change and the financial risks it poses, with growth in 2021 expected to be 0.2 per cent lower than originally predicted (The Guardian, p38).

WHAT THE COMMENTATORS SAY

Writing in the Financial Times, Eric Jing, Executive Chairman of Ant Financial, calls for collaboration in a time of political uncertainty (Financial Times, £, p13). Mr Jing promotes the ability of digital technology to connect the world, and says that the inevitability of financial technological expansion means we must work together to utilise this in a positive way. To conclude, Mr Jing believes that the urgent global issues we are facing - from climate change to financial inclusion - require a united international community.

LATEST BLOGS

Angus Canvin, our Director of International Affairs, blogs on future trade policy concerning financial services

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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.