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☆ Britain to push ahead with readying ground for a digital pound
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Getting the design of a digital pound right is a bigger priority than a rapid launch, Britain's Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith said on Tuesday. China has pushed ahead with piloting a digital yuan and the European Central Bank is studying a digital euro, piling pressure on Britain to do the same and keep abreast of advances in financial technology. The finance ministry is due to launch in the coming weeks a public consultation on the attributes of a digital pound. A digital pound raised many public policy issues, he said. The first case use of a digital pound would probably be in the settlement of wholesale financial transactions, he added.

☆ UK PM reportedly restarts talks with SoftBank about listing Arm in London
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

SoftBank has stopped working on a London initial public offering for chip designer Arm because of political upheaval in the British government, the Financial Times reported. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reportedly reopened negotiations with the CEOs of SoftBank and Arm, in a renewed attempt to have the chip designer list its shares in London. Sunak is the third British prime minister to try to convince SoftBank to list its Arm division in the U.K. since a proposed buyout of Arm by Nvidia was scrapped. In May, former PM Boris Johnson wrote to SoftBank appealing for the Japanese firm to list Arm in London. With 6,000 staff globally and 3,000 in the U.K., Arm is widely regarded as the jewel in the crown of the British tech industry.

☆ UK banks’ Big Bang thankfully looks like big flop
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet, the mooted changes would probably only benefit middling lenders like Santander UK, Virgin Money (VMUK.L) and Banco Sabadell’s (SABE.MC) TSB Bank, according to the FT. And on Wednesday, the BoE’s supervisory body said it planned largely to stick to international bank-capital rules, dubbed Basel 3.1. But the big flop might not be such a bad thing for the country’s financial sector. Separately, the government’s City minister Andrew Griffith said on Nov. 29 that he wanted to relax the so-called ringfencing regime that forces large British lenders to separate their retail and investment banking arms. According to the Financial Times, the ringfencing regime would still apply to the biggest UK banks but there could be exemptions for lenders with limited trading operations including Santander UK, Virgin Money and TSB Bank.

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Britain will change its rulebook to allow banks to take more risks in order to keep the City of London a leading global financial centre, a government minister said on Tuesday. Next week the EU will set out a new law to force banks in the bloc to shift some of their euro derivatives clearing from London to Frankfurt. "The overall thrust of things is to allow more risk... You get reward from taking risks, you shouldn't be risk off, we just need to manage that in an appropriate way," Griffith told a Financial Times event. "There is nervousness about the UK overall," Nunn said, referring to the period of political instability and concern over the nation's finances. Alison Harding-Jones, head of EMEA M&A at US bank Citi, told the event that Britain remained a strong place and open for business.

☆ Bank of England chief questions government's veto power plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey attends the Monetary Policy Report News Conference at The Bank of England, in London, Britain November 3, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville/PoolLONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey took the British government to task on Wednesday over its plan to give itself veto powers over post-Brexit financial rules written by independent regulators, including the central bank. The BoE has warned against easing the rules too much as insurers appeal to the ministry to override the central bank. City minister Andrew Griffith has said a veto would be used sparingly, with regulators continuing to enjoy day-to-day operational independence. The veto would be additional to a new remit in a draft law before parliament for regulators to heed the City's global competitiveness when writing new rules.

The frozen Russian assets were 6 billion pounds more than the amount reported across all other British sanctions regimes. It does not include physical assets such as real estate or assets held in Crown Dependencies such as Guernsey and Jersey. The European Union, a 27-nation bloc with an economy five times larger, said in July it had frozen 13.8 billion euros ($13.83 billion) of Russian assets over the war in Ukraine. While Russian assets are currently only frozen, there are discussions on what options are available to seize them. In the first test of Britain's approach to enforcing sanctions, Russian billionaire Petr Aven is challenging in a London court allegations that he evaded sanctions.

☆ Britain says it has frozen 18 billion pounds worth of Russian assets
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The British government said on Thursday that it had frozen assets together worth 18 billion pounds ($20.5 billion) held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia has passed Libya and Iran to become Britain's most-sanctioned nation, according to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, part of the finance ministry. The frozen Russian assets were 6 billion pounds more than the amount reported across all other British sanctions regimes. Britain has so far sanctioned more than 1,200 individuals and more than 120 entities in Russia, including targeting high-profile businessmen and companies to prominent politicians. The government began imposing travel bans, asset freezes and other sanctions on Feb. 24, the day Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

☆ UK's Andrew Griffith appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Sainsbury's tipped to trim profit forecast as UK shoppers struggle, article with imageBusiness · October 26, 2022Sainsbury's , Britain's second biggest supermarket group, looks likely to follow market leader Tesco and lower its full-year profit sights when it reports half-year results next week, analysts' forecasts indicate.

☆ Britain proposes regulation of all cryptoassets
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Britain would have the power to regulate all cryptoassets under a proposal the UK financial services minister has added to a draft law before parliament that will almost certainly pass. Andrew Griffith, re-appointed as City Minister on Thursday by Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, put forth the amendment to the financial services and markets bill, which parliament has begun approving. The bill, as originally drafted, gives the Financial Conduct Authority powers to regulate stablecoins only, but the amendment broadens the remit to cover promotions for all cryptoassets. "This new clause amends the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to clarify that the powers relating to financial promotion and regulated activities can be relied on to regulate cryptoassets and activities relating to cryptoassets," the amendment says in a parliamentary document dated Thursday. It would put Britain more on par with the European Union's markets in cryptoassets law which is now being finalised, seen as the world's first comprehensive set of rules to regulate the emerging crypto sector.

☆ Turning City of London into the 'Wild West' would be self-defeating, says BoE's Woods
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Turning the City - London's financial district - into a "Wild West" to attract more business after Brexit would be self-defeating as maintaining financial stability is key to competitiveness, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Thursday. Woods said in a speech to be delivered to the annual City Dinner that financial stability is the single most important ingredient of competitiveness in the sector. "Any attempt to become a global financial centre by competitively de-regulating would be self-defeating by its nature: major international financial institutions want a safe harbour, not a Wild West." Woods has clashed with an insurance industry that wants him to go further in easing capital rules to help it invest in infrastructure. A "comprehensive" public consultation paper on introducing the final leg of global bank capital rules, known as Basel 3.1, will be published by the end of the year, he added.

☆ Bank of England and City square off over new government powers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A general view of the Bank of England (BoE) building in London, Britain, August 4, 2022. While Britain remains Europe's biggest financial sector after its exit from the European Union, banks are keen for regulators to help boost the City's global competitiveness. Britain's finance ministry will use a financial services and markets bill now before parliament to give itself powers to intervene in financial rulemaking, when in the public interest. David Postings, chief executive of UK Finance, a banking lobby, said powers to override regulators should be tightly drawn and used sparingly. A source at the ministry confirmed this was still the plan under new finance minister Jeremy Hunt.

☆ PM Truss has the confidence of the government - City Minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss has the confidence of the government, City Minister Andrew Griffith told Sky on Sunday. "Liz Truss has got the support of the government," he said when asked if Truss's position was safe after the recent turmoil in financial markets triggered by her economic plans. "It's really important at this time that we have stability." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by William James Editing by William SchombergOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK's Kwarteng, seeking to calm markets, brings forward budget date
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Andy Bruce | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Kwarteng said the new date for his medium-term fiscal statement would allow the independent Office For Budget Responsibility (OBR) enough time to assess updates to official data and for a full forecast process to take place. British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng speaks during Britain's Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 3, 2022. Junior Treasury minister Andrew Griffith said market practitioners he had spoken to received news of the new date for the fiscal statement warmly. HALLOWEENThe new date for the fiscal plan leaves Kwarteng and Truss with little more than two weeks to settle divisions in her cabinet over cuts to government spending. Truss was no longer expected to appoint Antonia Romeo to run the Treasury, the FT said, citing senior government figures.

☆ UK finance minister will meet with Wall Street banks after the newly unveiled mini-budget sparked panic in markets and sent the pound plummeting
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng is scheduled to meet with Wall Street execs, Wednesday. Kwarteng is conducting outreach about the UK's newly announced mini-budget, Bloomberg reported. The pound dropped to a record low with investors spooked by the plan that includes £45 billion in tax cuts. The pound hit a low of $1.0350 on Monday but has since recovered some ground, trading at $1.0671 on Tuesday. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said Monday the central bank was monitoring repricing in financial markets but didn't announce an emergency meeting.

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