MEN STILL EARN MORE THAN WOMEN IN MOST COMPANIES

Analysis of the latest gender pay disclosures has shown that men continue to be paid more than women in most UK companies. The difference in pay was found to be 9.4 per cent, the same level as when figures were first published in 2017/18 (BBC News).

The data showed that 79.5 per cent of employers had a gender pay gap that favoured men in 2022-23, and the Financial Times has looked at reported gaps across various sectors of the economy. It reports that the gender pay gap has fallen in some sectors of the economy, but also notes that the finance sector has an average gender pay gap of 22.7 per cent, which is the highest after educational employers.

FCA CHIEF EXECUTIVE DEFENDS FCA’S ROLE IN UK LISTINGS

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has given an interview to Financial News in which he says the FCA’s rulebook is not the main thing holding back London's capital markets. Rathi said “we were very open to recognise that we have a role to play, but it is one role amongst so many other things”.

Separately, the FCA published its annual business plan for 2023/24 this morning.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Most UK businesses expect sales to rise over the coming year, despite seeing no growth over the past three months, according to a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (Sky News). 

Ofcom has said it is proposing to refer the cloud computing services sector to the Competition and Markets Authority amid concerns about the dominant position of certain big tech companies (The Guardian).

The number of homes offered for sale in the UK increased over the past year, according to Zoopla, although it also noted that demand was down on last year (Financial Times). 

In a speech in Geneva, the Bank of England’s chief economist has said the Bank must “see the job through” in its fight to bring down inflation. However, in separate comments, Silvana Tenreyro, an external member of the monetary policy committee, said that rate cuts might be needed to prevent inflation from falling too fast below the two per cent target (The Times).