BRUSSELS PREPARES CHANGES TO HELP BANKS OFFLOAD BAD LOANS

The European Commission is due to lay out new proposals next month to make it easier for EU banks to sell non-performing loans (NPLs), against the backdrop of increased corporate indebtedness and an anticipated wave of business insolvencies next year (Financial Times, p4, £).

Speaking to the Financial Times, an EU official said the commission was keen to learn the lessons of the last financial crisis and allow banks to offload NPLs as quickly as possible, to ensure they have the ability to bolster lending during the recovery period.

The report is expected to propose a series of measures to catalyse the sale and purchase of banks? bad loans, including making data templates mandatory to help inform investment decisions. However, it is understood that a proposal for an EU-wide ?bad bank? has not received wide support at this stage.  

Separately, negotiations continued between the UK and EU on a Brexit trade deal over the weekend, with the UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab commenting that only a ?narrow? gap existed between the two sides, with fishing rights remaining the biggest obstacle (The Times, p6, £).

Lord Sharkey appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today to discuss UK and EU equivalence decisions on financial services, ahead of the Lords EU Services Sub-Committee's evidence session on financial services after Brexit, due to be held with the economic secretary John Glen later this morning.

UK GOVERNMENT TO PUBLISH ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF NEW TIERS SYSTEM IN ENGLAND

The prime minister Boris Johnson will today publish the government's economic impact assessment of the new tiers system, ahead of a vote on the proposed new measures in the House of Commons on Tuesday (Sky News).

The publication of the government's impact assessment is in response to a growing threat of rebellion among the government's own backbenchers, with as many as 70 Conservative MPs having joined the tier-sceptic Covid Research Group. Mr Johnson will hope the publication of the government's impact assessment, which was a key demand of the Covid Research Group, will create ?unity? among the government's benches ahead of Tuesday's vote (BBC News).

At the same time, in order to gain support from the opposition, the government is expected to meet Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's requirement of further cash grants for hospitality venues impacted by the new tiers system ahead of Tuesday's vote (The Telegraph, p1, £).

Separately, a study published on Monday by Imperial College London indicated national restrictions imposed in England over the last month had been successful, with a 30 per cent fall in coronavirus infections since the measures were introduced at the start of November (The Times, p6, £).

NEWS IN BRIEF

The EU is poised to offer a ?once-in-a-generation? alliance with the US, which proposes common approaches to data protection, cooperation in screening of sensitive foreign investments, and a joint approach to tackling cyber threats, according to plans seen by the Financial Times (Financial Times, p1, £).

Telecoms providers will be forced to stop installing Huawei equipment in the UK's 5G networks from next September, the digital secretary Oliver Dowden has said (The Guardian, online only).

Despite an initial fall on Monday due to fears of a no-deal Brexit and economic damage from coronavirus, November is due to be the best month for the FTSE 100 in more than three decades (Reuters).

Shops will be given permission to trade for up to 24 hours a day in the lead up to Christmas to help recuperate losses retailers have suffered during the pandemic, according to communities secretary Robert Jenrick (The Guardian, online only).