Tag: UKs

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Business

The UK’s new prime minister could possibly be about to shake up the Metropolis of London

Talks about deregulating Britain's financial sector are

People in the UK financial sector are wondering if the new PM will change the regulatory landscape.

Jeff J. Mitchell/Staff/Getty Images

As Liz Truss becomes Britain’s new prime minister on Tuesday, questions will be raised about her plans for Britain’s historic financial district – the City of London – as the country grapples with a deepening cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

According to the Financial Times last month, the city’s regulators could be in for a big shake under Truss. It cited campaign insiders who said Truss will seek to review and possibly merge the three major London regulators – the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Payment Services Regulator (PSR).

She has also suggested reviewing the Bank of England’s mandate during her time as Prime Minister.

“Change for Change’s Sake”

The FCA regulates 50,000 firms in the UK to “ensure our financial markets are honest, competitive and fair”, according to its website. The PRA, meanwhile, oversees the work of around 1,500 financial institutions to “ensure the financial services and products we all rely on can be delivered in a safe and sound manner.”

Their responsibilities sound similar, but the various organizations were formed when it was decided that the Financial Services Authority, which regulated the city between 2001 and 2013, had several functions that could be better served by separate organisations.

According to Matthew Nunan, a partner at law firm Gibson Dunn and a former department head at the FCA, the original agency’s main objectives were good governance and financial soundness across the sector. He said the split in two is seen as a way to give these goals equal priority.

“The simple question that needs to be answered now is: What would the reunification of the PRA and FCA do?” Nunan wrote in an email to CNBC.

“If the answer is to reform the old Financial Services Authority, what was the question? Or is it simply change for the sake of change?”

Governments should always “challenge the status quo,” Nunan said, but argued that it was a question of whether doing so would actually better serve the “changing needs of a nation.”

“The problem here is that instead of articulating a problem and seeking evidence, the statements made seem to be proposing answers to questions that no one is asking,” he said.

Nunan also highlighted the difference between regulators and politicians, saying regulators are “never allowed” to make proposals in the way Truss has done.

“Regulators are legally required to make evidence-based decisions about rule changes [and] require a cost-benefit analysis before they can be implemented… If that applies to regulators, why doesn’t it apply to politicians?” he asked.

“Light Touch Regulatory Regime”

The “fight” to deregulate the banking sector is like “turning back the clock to the pre-2008 global financial crash,” Fran Boait, director of campaign group Positive Money, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe last month.

Boait said there was a risk that the country would find itself in the same situation “or much worse”.

“Liz Truss’ proposal to merge the three key city watchdogs would risk restoring this light regulatory regime — the regime we had before the crash,” she said.

She also stressed that less than a decade has passed since the organizations were founded.

“It wasn’t long ago that we put in place a much larger regulatory regime because there was a consensus that the regime contained so many risks [that] Complexity in the financial sector needs to be properly regulated,” she said.

‘ambiguity’

Discussions of a review or merger of any of London’s regulators remain speculative as Truss has yet to issue any official statements on the matter.

This is leading to a “lack of clarity” about the future status of the three regulators, according to Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

She said improving financial services for customers should be at the forefront of any regulatory discussion.

“Whether they stay as single entities or as a merged entity, it’s really important that the UK has dynamic regulators that make the most of the Brexit freedoms,” Streeter said in an email to CNBC.

Tackling fraud, creating more opportunities for investors to invest in IPOs and how information is shared with prospective investors should be on the agenda of any proposed changes to the current regulatory regime, she added.

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World News

UK’s Blue Prism turns into newest goal of U.S. non-public fairness

UK’s Blue Prism becomes latest target of U.S. private equity

Employees walk past FTSE AIM share price information displayed on a lighted rotating cube in the atrium of the London Stock Exchange Group’s offices in London, UK

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Robotics firm Blue Prism is the latest in a series of UK firms to attract the attention of U.S. private equity firms, but a high profile shareholder has urged it not to sell.

Blue Prism’s shares rose Wednesday after confirming they had started talks with TPG Capital and Vista Equity Partners. However, she stressed: “There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor on the terms on which an offer would be made.”

It comes after supermarket chain Morrisons, infrastructure giant John Laing, and aerospace company Cobham have been exposed to transatlantic private equity approaches in recent months.

Blue Prism, one of the largest tech companies in the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, uses robotic process automation (RPA) software to hire digital workers to perform back office tasks for businesses.

In a letter to Blue Prism’s management team on Tuesday seen by CNBC, shareholder Coast Capital, a notable activist investor who is reluctant to sell its U.S. operations by FirstGroup, expressed concerns about the company’s valuation.

Coast Capital currently considers Blue Prism to be undervalued and it would be a mistake to approve an acquisition at its share price.

“As you know, Blue Prism PLC’s business value is currently valued at about three times its appointment revenue – a 80-90% discount over the company’s competitors including UiPath, Appian, WorkFusion, Automation Anywhere, etc.,” the letter from Coast Capital said.

“If a buyer were to pay a premium of 100%, the share price would still be considerably lower than its intrinsic value and well below the value that the share was still trading in January 2021.”

James Rasteh, CEO of Coast Capital, said Blue Prism was facing a number of problems – such as product gaps in its portfolio, its position on the London Junior Stock Exchange, and its geographic distance from many key customers – but which could be overcome . He said Coast worked with industry experts to develop an operational improvement plan to drive sales growth and increase Blue Prism’s stock value.

“In addition, we note that the Blue Prism PLC team (including management and board) has developed and maintained the world’s leading unattended automation software product with an extremely valuable customer base of more than 2,000 large corporations,” said Rasteh.

“Even in the worst of times today, the company has an enviable reputation as a best-in-class performer, keeping it at the forefront of its fast-growing and highly profitable industry. Now is not the time to throw in the towel!”

Blue Prism declined to comment. TPG Capital and Vista Equity Partners were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

“Reverse Activism”

Where coastal capital is public urged management change at FirstGroup, Rasteh told CNBC in an email Thursday that the company’s engagement with Blue Prism was “the opposite of activism” and claimed it plans to work with management to implement the operational changes needed .

Coast Capital has a stake of almost 3% in Blue Prism. According to data from Refinitiv Eikon, Jupiter Fund Management, which declined to comment, is the largest shareholder with 7.49%.

The company’s stock rose up to 39% on Wednesday but remains in the red around 30% for the year.

“The CEO, Jason Kingdon, is clearly a visionary in the UK’s high-tech industry and does not have long enough time to influence the workforce changes and operational improvements that can and will transform Blue Prism,” said Rasteh.

Kingdon was an early investor in Blue Prism and became Chairman and CEO in April 2020.

Categories
Business

UAE may keep on UK’s journey purple listing indefinitely, stoking confusion

UAE could stay on UK's travel red list indefinitely, stoking confusion

Dubai is known for its modern architecture, including the Burj Khalifa, which is almost twice as tall as the Empire State Building at 2,700 feet.

Fraser Hall | The image database | Getty Images

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The United Arab Emirates’ potentially indeterminate status on the UK’s “Red List” for travel has created anger and confusion, made more uncertain by recent statements from the UK government.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps pointed out that due to its status as an international transport hub, the UAE could remain on the UK red list despite falling infection trends and the world’s second fastest vaccination campaign.

“We are not restricting the UAE due to the coronavirus level in the UAE,” Shapps said at an aviation event on Wednesday. “The problem is that of transit.”

The comments were sharply criticized by Emirates President Tim Clark: “It makes no sense to keep us on the ‘Red List’ for transit reasons, as (passengers) can easily pass through other hubs,” he said at a recent online event. “It puts our operations in the UK at risk for Emirates. It’s a shame if they keep us on the red list.”

Inclusion on the UK Red List comes at a high price and has real ramifications for the 120,000 Britons living in the Gulf State and their families. Anyone entering the UK from a Red List country must be quarantined in a government approved hotel and pay their own room and board expenses for 10 days at a cost of £ 1,750 (US $ 2,428) per person.

“When someone asks me about my home, I cry,” said a British national who works in Dubai and has not seen her family in the UK since mid-2020.

“The ambiguity is unbearable,” said the source, who asked not to be identified due to job restrictions. “It is much easier to find and maintain a balance in your life when you have a plan in place. Changing positions in the UK makes this impossible and is so detrimental to people’s wellbeing.”

People are waiting for their turn to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on February 3, 2021 at a vaccination center at the Dubai International Financial Center in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. The UAE has administered more than a quarter of at least three million doses to its population.

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The UK’s red list, banning air travel or imposing costly quarantine on arrival, currently lists 40 high-risk countries considered too dangerous to travel, including India, where new infections have skyrocketed to over 300,000 cases per day are.

The UAE remains on the list, although infection rates drop to around 2,000 cases per day. Abu Dhabi has now put Great Britain on its own “green” list of travel destinations.

CNBC has asked the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Office for comment.

Growing support

A petition to remove the UAE from the UK Red List had received over 8,500 signatures on April 26, amid growing frustration over travel restrictions and quarantine costs on one of the world’s busiest air routes.

“I want the government to remove the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the red list by the summer so that travelers can visit the safe country without being quarantined in a hotel on their return,” wrote petitioner Mikael Aziz.

The UK government must respond if the petition receives 10,000 or more signatures.

“You need to rethink Dubai’s red list. Most of the UK citizens who work there are fully vaccinated and should be allowed to travel to the UK. You could have a PCR test before and when you arrive.” Twitter user @ DawnWilson2606 tweeted to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Any decision to remove the UAE from the Red List is made even more difficult by the different restrictions between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The UAE’s most populous emirates have enforced separate access, travel, testing, and quarantine rules since the pandemic began – despite being less than a two-hour drive away from each other.

Removal of the red list “as soon as it is feasible”

Amid criticism and confusion over recent travel restrictions, there are indications that the 10 million desert sheikh dome, which is predominantly overseas, could still be removed from the red list.

“We are working very closely with the UAE authorities to ensure that we can remove the UAE from the red list as soon as possible,” said Simon Penney, British Consul General in Dubai and Trade Commissioner in the Middle East. Penney’s comments came on April 21st, the same day as Shapp’s suggestion that the UAE could remain on the red list.

The UK government is expected to review its ban on non-essential international travel from May 17th. However, it is unclear which targets will receive approval.

Commuters cross London Bridge at sunrise on March 1, 2021 in London, England.

Hollie Adams | Getty Images

“It is too early today to say which countries are on the green list and which are not, and we have to wait until early May before we have any further clarification,” said Penney during an interview with a radio station in Dubai

“The decisions made are driven by data and science. The keys to this are the launch of the vaccine, the number of daily cases and the prevalence of harmful variants,” he added.

The UK Foreign Office said it “advises against all travel across the UAE based on the current COVID-19 risk assessment. The UAE outperforms most of the developed world in vaccine adoption by almost 40% of the population are fully vaccinated.

“Visitors who have been to the United Arab Emirates or have traveled through the United Arab Emirates in the past 10 days are not allowed in,” said an April 25 report.

“A travel corridor worth reopening”

“The positions of the countries on each other’s lists need not be reciprocal,” Rob Willock, director of the Economist Corporate Network advisory service, told CNBC on Sunday.

“Given that the UAE and the UK are second and third in the global vaccination league, and more than half of their populations have had at least one vaccine, one would imagine this is a travel corridor well worth it to be reopened. “

The UK, one of Dubai’s biggest tourist sources and a key itinerary for Emirates, removed the United Arab Emirates from its “safe travel corridor” in January as falls in Dubai skyrocketed after an influx of British travelers in November and December.

The UAE reported just over 2,000 new infections on Saturday. The country has so far given 9.9 million doses of vaccine.

US travel warnings

It is not just Britain that is holding back on opening up. The US added more than 100 countries to its Level 4: Do Not Travel list last week, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

“Things change, and they will change over time,” IATA director general Willie Walsh told CNBC when asked if the State Department misunderstood the advice.

Certain countries on the American list also have their own restrictions on travel by foreigners, while others allow entry by air with proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test or other criteria.

“We’re not suggesting that you lift all restrictions now,” said Walsh. “We urge governments to come up with a plan that will give an indication of when they believe international air travel will start and how international air travel should work when things start moving again.”

Categories
Health

UK’s coronavirus dying toll surpasses 100,000

UK's coronavirus death toll surpasses 100,000

Paramedics work in an ambulance parked outside the Royal London Hospital in east London on January 21, 2021.

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – The official UK death toll from the coronavirus pandemic hit 100,000 on Tuesday. That was the grim milestone reached as a recent surge in infections continued to put pressure on hospitals and emergency services.

The latest government data showed an additional 1,631 people had died within 28 days of testing positive. To date, the UK has had over 3.6 million infections.

The UK has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic that hit the country almost a year ago. The first two reported Covid-19 cases occurred on January 31, 2020 in the tourist city of York, in northern England.

Now, a year later, the UK is in its third national lockdown, battling an increase in infections and subsequent hospitalizations and deaths caused by a more communicable variant of the virus. The mutation, first discovered in the south-east of England in September 2020, then spread to London and is now responsible for the majority of new infections in Great Britain. This has resulted in more people going to the hospital and putting the health system under extreme pressure.

The UK has the fifth highest number of cases in the world after the US, India, Brazil and Russia, according to Johns Hopkins University. France with around 3.1 million cases, followed by Italy and Spain with around 2.5 million cases each, but the UK has a higher death toll than its European neighbors.

Experts have attributed the UK’s harsh experiences during the pandemic to a number of factors, including the subsequent initial lockdown that caused it to struggle to gain control of the fast-spreading virus and hesitation about the following two lockdowns when the cases had already increased again, periods of relaxation. A poor testing and traceability system was also a factor.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that he had taken full responsibility for everything his administration did.

“What I can tell you is that we have really done what we can and continue to do everything we can to minimize the loss of life and suffering,” he said at a daily press conference.

On a more positive note, the UK is leading the world in its coronavirus vaccination campaign. It was the first country to approve and introduce the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, and the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

After the vaccination campaign started in early December, weeks before the EU, she has now vaccinated a large part of her priority groups. elderly and healthcare / nursing home workers and is now offering the vaccine to those over 70 and anyone at extreme risk.

To date, it has vaccinated over 6.8 million people with at least the first dose of a vaccine.