FCA SETS DIVERSITY TARGETS FOR COMPANY BOARDS

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has outlined new diversity rules for UK listed companies, including a target that women should make up at least 40 per cent of board seats to help increase diversity in senior executive roles (Financial Times). The FCA will review the policy in three years’ time and the rules will apply to accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2022. The FCA said at least one senior position such as company chair, chief executive or chief financial officer should be held by a woman and that at least one member of the board should be from an ethnic minority background excluding white ethnic groups (Reuters).

UK GOVERNMENT PREPARED TO CHANGE NORTHERN IRELAND POST-BREXIT TRADE DEAL 

The Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg told a committee of MPs yesterday that the UK will “reform” the Northern Ireland post-Brexit trade deal if the EU doesn’t take action to reform it (Financial Times). Mr Rees-Mogg told MPs that the protocol was written in such a way that it could be “superseded” however he was unable to disclose what reforms the government would take due to the sensitivities of the Stormont election in Northern Ireland (The Guardian).

NEWS IN BRIEF

The Prudential Regulation Authority has said that it will be hiring 100 extra staff in roles to help monitor emerging risks across the financial sector (The Guardian).

In an interview with BBC News, the World Bank’s president David Malpass warned that the world is facing a human catastrophe from a food crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, predicting that there could be a 37 per cent increase in food prices.

UK energy prices will remain significantly above average levels for the rest of the decade at over £100 per megawatt-hour annually, according to energy market consultancy Cornwall Insight (The Times).

In a letter to members of the European Parliament, the European Central Bank’s top supervisor Andrea Enria wrote that all large euro zone banks can withstand a full write-off of their Russian exposure, saying they can “maintain sufficient headroom over the minimum and buffer requirements” (Reuters).