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1. PM appeals for support on Brexit deal
2. Finance industry prevents £1.66 billion in unauthorised fraud
3. ONS figures shows rise in inflation
The percentage of unauthorised fraud victims that were fully refunded (UK Finance's Fraud the Facts 2019 report)
Theresa May addressed the nation last night in a short, televised statement in which she staked her position on securing a deal saying, ?I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30.? She added that a longer extension would just give more time for ?politicians to argue over the way forward?, while the public ?want us to get on with it? (Financial Times, p1, £), (The Guardian, p1), (City AM, p1).
This follows the prime minister writing to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a Brexit delay until 30 June. Mr Tusk rejected her request for an unconditional extension and instead insisted that EU leaders would only grant a short delay if Mrs May's deal wins the support of MPs. Senior Eurosceptics within the Tory party have said that May risks leading Britain to a ?national humiliation? by asking for an extension from the EU (The Telegraph, p1, £).
In the face of ongoing uncertainty ?no-deal? preparations also continue, as Britain's two main financial regulators and the European Union's banking watchdog have agreed a pact to share information in the event of such an outcome (Reuters). The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority and the European Banking Authority said yesterday that they intend to move quickly to sign bilateral memorandums of understanding. In a speech this morning at the City and Financial UK Financial Services Brexit Summit, the FCA's Executive Director of International Nausicaa Delfaas said that more than 1,000 EU firms and fund managers have already decided to enter the UK Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) and seek to continue to do business in the UK after Brexit.
Meanwhile the Financial Times (online only, £) reports that investment into the UK from sovereign wealth funds ?plummeted? in 2018. The 91 state-backed funds, who collectively hold $8.1 trillion under management, invested a total of $21 billion in the UK in 2017 compared with only $1.8 billion last year. While these numbers are somewhat skewed by China Investment Corporation's $14 billion acquisition of Logicor in 2017, the outlet reports that the drop is still significant.
New figures from UK Finance show that the banking industry prevented £1.12 billion in attempted unauthorised card fraud, £317.7 million in attempted unauthorised remote banking fraud and £218.2 million in attempted unauthorised cheque fraud in 2018 - equating to a total of £1.66 billion of unauthorised fraud prevented during the year. This effectively amounts to stopping £2 in every £3 of attempted unauthorised fraud, according to the latest ?Fraud the Facts 2019? report released today. Commenting on the report, Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said: ?Fraud is a crime which poses a major threat to us all - it can have a devastating impact on victims and the money stolen funds even more damaging crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking and people smuggling. Every business, from online retailers to social media companies, as well as the public sector, has a duty to work together to beat fraud and prevent stolen data getting into the hands of criminals.?
New figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that inflation is rising again, posing a threat to living standards (The Times, p38, £). According to the report, consumer prices rose by 1.9 per cent in February compared with a year earlier. These figures followed ONS wages data on Tuesday which showed that average earnings growth dipped to 3.4 per cent in January from 3.5 per cent in December.
The ONS report also showed that average home values have dropped from £232,116 in September 2018 to £228,147 in January 2019. London saw the biggest fall with prices down 1.6 per cent over the year to January 2019. This was followed by the East where prices fell 0.2 per cent, the first recorded decrease in the region on an annual basis since October 2011 (Daily Mail, p73).
Meanwhile, The Bank of England has been advised by a panel of top City economists to hold interest rates steady in the face of continuing Brexit uncertainty, as reported by City AM (p9). The panel, organised by the paper, has warned the Bank to adopt a ?wait and see? approach ahead of today's interest rate decision.
Eric Leenders, MD of Personal Finance, UK Finance, blogs on the value of cash as more customers opt for the convenience and security of paying with contactless.
Business reactions have been mixed as details emerge of the proposed far-reaching powers of the Audit Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA), the planned replacement for the Financial Reporting Council (Financial Times, online only, £).
Business secretary Greg Clark has vowed to scrap the Financial Reporting Council and replace it with a tougher, more independent body with a much wider range of powers (Financial Times, online only, £).
The government has announced that the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) will investigate algorithms used in the justice and financial systems for bias (BBC News).
The European Central Bank has scrapped a request for greater powers to tackle financial stability risks in the market for euro-denominated derivatives, warning that a political deal on the plans reached in Brussels earlier this month would do more harm than good (Financial Times, online only, £).
The EU handed down a - 1.49 billion (1.28 billion pounds) fine to Google yesterday for blocking rival online search advertisers, marking the company's third penalty in two years (Reuters).
The Financial Times editorial (p10, £) argues that regulators must keep pace with recent innovation in digital money and the shift away from cash-based transactions. The article argues that the current regulatory system that governs payments group is disjointed and does not match the supervision of banks. It concludes that this leaves doubts about how solidly financed companies are and how good their defences might be against a serious cyberattack.
Writing in this morning's Times (p25, £), columnist Iain Martin warns that the UK may be sleepwalking into a ?no-deal? Brexit. Martin claims that the hardcore Eurosceptics in the European Research Group do not seem inclined to fold, seeing a ?Brexiteer Valhalla? before them in the form of a ?no-deal?. The EU has made it clear it does not want an extension past 23 May as that would require the UK to take part on the European elections. In closing, Martin warns that history usually happens thanks to a series of ?inter-related cock-ups made by tired leaders in a hurry?, rather than great movements of powerful forces.
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