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1. Governor of the Bank of England says London financial sector ?ready to cope? with impact of ?no-deal? Brexit
2. Government calls upon companies to improve cyber-security
3. Sharp increase in equity release to fund retirement
The average cost to a firm of a successful data breach or cyber-attack in 2018, up from £3,160 the previous year, according to the government's annual Cyber Security Breaches Survey.
Mark Carney has appeared to lower his estimate of the potential damage that could be done by a ?no-deal? Brexit, according to The Times (p2, £). The governor of the Bank of England said that the government had made ?real progress? in its preparations for leaving the European Union without a deal, albeit that such an outcome would still cause a fall in GDP and a rise in unemployment. Mr Carney also insisted that London's financial centre was ready to cope with the impact of a ?no-deal? Brexit. Mr Carney claimed that while a disorderly exit would provide many things to worry about, the financial sector was not one of them (Sky News).
While concern over a ?no-deal? outcome remains high, a late-night vote in the House of Commons has made it less likely that the UK will leave the European Union on 12 April without a deal. The cross-party Cooper-Boles Brexit Bill was fast-tracked through Parliament in just one day and approved by MPs with 313 votes for and 312 against (Evening Standard, online only).
Meanwhile, William Wright, head of the thinktank New Financial, has warned that financial firms will continue to leave the UK unless Brexit is cancelled (Reuters). This follows Germany's foreign banking association claim yesterday that up to 5,000 new jobs in its member institutes would be created in the next 12 to 18 months due to the UK leaving the EU.
Another survey from IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply has been a cause for further concern. The survey warned that the economy is at risk of sliding into a deepening downturn after stalling in the first quarter, following the weakest performance in the private sector in almost seven years (Guardian, p35).
The government has called upon businesses to strengthen their cyber security following a new report from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (City AM, p6). The report shows that while the number of businesses suffering attacks dropped to 32 per cent from 43 per cent last year, the financial costs linked to the attacks have increased. Digital minister Margot James said that with only three in ten firms having trained staff to deal with cyber threats, there was ?a long way to go to ensure organisations are better protected?. In an effort to counter such threats, UK Finance is currently working with the Bank of England and the National Cyber Security Centre on the development of the Financial Sector Cyber Collaboration Centre (FSCCC), which aims to combat the threat of cybercrime in the UK financial sector.
This warning comes as a new study from Higher Education Policy Institute has said that universities are failing to protect themselves and their students? data from cyber-attacks (The Daily Telegraph, p2, £). The report warns that criminal gangs are using phishing emails to trick recipients into clicking malicious links which offer free grants or request bank details. Consumers should always follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign to stay safe from email phishing and other scams.
Meanwhile, the data of millions of Facebook users has been exposed after being left publicly available on Amazon cloud computing servers. The personal information of 540 million users and Facebook passwords of 22,000 users were exposed in the leak (City AM, p4).
The Financial Times (online only, £) reports that the equity release market has been growing at an average rate of 7.1 per cent each quarter since 2016. Over-55s are increasingly resorting to products such as lifetime mortgages, which are taken out against one's property, to fund their retirement. Though increasing significantly, the record £3.94 million of equity release lending in 2018 still pales in comparison to the £7.83 billion taken flexibly from pensions over the same period.
Sairoze Hemani, Manager, Payments Policy, blogs on the renewal of the high value payments infrastructure.
11 gang members have been convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court for stealing over £10 million though an email phishing scam (The Mirror, p24).
European Central Bank officials are considering rethinking their policy of cutting interest rates below zero as they face the ongoing fragility of the EU economy and banking system (Financial Times, online only, £).
The International Monetary Fund has warned that ?big tech? poses a dangerous threat to economic growth worldwide if its power is not curtailed by competition, regulation and fair taxes (The Times, p38, £).
The French CEO of online furniture retailer Made.com has said that the UK continues to be a better environment for business than France (The Daily Telegraph, B1, £).
Today's Financial Times editorial (p10, £) calls on Theresa May to honour her pledge to adopt an alternative approach to Brexit, such as a permanent customs union or membership of the single market, if this is backed by a majority of MPs. The piece argues that the chances of an agreement between May and Jeremy Corbyn are slim as the Labour leader has little incentive to support a ?Tory Brexit?. The editorial concludes that to remove the ?no-deal? risk entirely, the various factions in parliament must now be ready to coalesce around options that put the national interest above party politics.
Nils Pratley, financial editor of The Guardian (p38), believes that warnings from the International Monetary Fund about the influence of ?big tech? may encourage governments to take a more interventionist approach towards tech firms. He argues that that the market is essentially an oligopoly, as Google, Facebook and Amazon are dominant with little room for competition. Pratley concludes that it is only a good thing if these tech firms face greater scrutiny.
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