{"id":9853,"date":"2022-12-14T15:43:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/12\/14\/news-in-review-85\/"},"modified":"2022-12-14T15:59:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:59:53","slug":"news-in-review-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/12\/14\/news-in-review-85\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cOur reforms\ndeliver smarter regulation of financial services that will unlock growth and\nopportunity\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Last Friday, as temperatures plummeted, Chancellor\nJeremy Hunt announced a package of over thirty UK financial services regulatory\nreforms, dubbed the \u2018Edinburgh Reforms,\u2019 which the government intends will \u2018<\/em><\/strong>unlock investment and turbocharge growth in\ntowns and cities across the UK.\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>A considerable overhaul, the effects will be far-reaching, with the <\/strong>financial services sector contributing \u00a3216bn a year to the UK\neconomy. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Speaking\nat an industry roundtable in Edinburgh, he outlined a series of measures to \u2018seize\nthe benefits of Brexit\u2019<\/em> establishing the government\u2019s approach to reversing\nwhat they regard as \u2018burdensome\u2019<\/em> elements of EU law.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Measures\ninclude establishing new rules governing how senior\nfinance executives are hired and sanctioned, and a\ncommitment to make legislative progress on replacing the rules governing\ninsurers balance sheets, expected to unlock over \u00a3100bn of private investment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Mr Hunt commented, \u201cWe are committed to\nsecuring the UK\u2019s status as one of the most open, dynamic and competitive\nfinancial services hubs in the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Andrew\nGriffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury added, \u201cThe UK is a financial\nservices superpower \u2013 and we have long benefited from, and are committed to,\nhigh quality regulatory standards\u2026 Our reforms deliver smarter regulation of\nfinancial services that will unlock growth and opportunity in towns and cities\nacross the UK.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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GDP update <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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As the country ground to a halt, grappling with a combination of\nheavy snowfall and strike action, news came on Monday that the UK economy\ncontracted by 0.3% in the three months to October as soaring prices took their\ntoll on households and businesses. Over the period, economic activity slowed\nacross all primary sectors including services, construction and production. However,\nin October, GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.5% following a fall of 0.6% in\nSeptember. Growth in October was driven by the\nservices sector.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Household confidence on the ropes<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The recently released Q3 Household\nFinance Review from UK Finance has revealed that consumer confidence has\ncontinued to fall below current record lows, due to a combination of factors\nincluding rising energy prices and inflation, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,\nplus the fallout from September\u2019s Growth Plan. Confidence regarding the general\neconomic situation reached an all-time low of -62. Key points from Q3 included:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
  • Although\ninflation masked weaker activity in some sectors, spending remained relatively\nstrong overall, with card spending defying weak consumer sentiment for both the\nvalue and number of transactions<\/li>
  • Personal\nloan borrowing to fund larger purchases subsided in the quarter, following\nstrong growth during H1 2022<\/li>
  • House\npurchase activity aligned with pre-pandemic levels during Q3, but weakness is\nanticipated as the labour market softens into 2023 and affordability issues\ncome to the fore<\/li>
  • Refinancing\nheld firm in Q3 due to a strong maturity schedule, but it is strongly\nanticipated that inflation and interest rate rises will prove challenging for\nthe 1.8 million fixed rate loans set to mature in 2023.<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n
    \n

    \u201cA\nnew era for UK coinage\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

    \n

    On Thursday, almost five\nmillion new 50p coins bearing the image of King\nCharles III entered circulation via Post Offices across the UK this month. It\nis expected that a total of 9.6 million of the coins will enter circulation in\nline with demand. Rebecca Morgan, Director of\nCollector Services at The Royal Mint, spoke on the launch of the new coin last\nweek, “Today marks a new era for UK coinage, with the effigy of King\nCharles III appearing on 50ps in circulation\u2026 We anticipate a new generation of\ncoin collectors emerging, with people keeping a close eye on their change to\ntry and spot a new 50p that bears the portrait of our new King.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

    \n

    Markets <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

    \n

    At\nthe tail end of last week, UK stocks made some modest gains on the back of the\nChancellor\u2019s reforms to overhaul financial services regulations, with UK\ninsurers, banks and asset managers among the companies lifting the FTSE 100\nhigher. Enter the new week and London\u2019s markets sustained\nlosses on Monday after falls on the back of a sharp rise in natural gas prices,\nbut on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 advanced 0.7% as gains in energy stocks outpaced\nweakness in consumer staples and news of slowing US inflation filtered through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

    \n

    Here to help<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

    \n

    Financial advice is key, so\nplease do not hesitate to get in contact with any questions or concerns you may\nhave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

    \n

    The value of\ninvestments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount\nyou invested. The past is not a guide to future performance and past\nperformance may not necessarily be repeated. All details are correct at time of\nwriting (14 December 2022)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cOur reforms deliver smarter regulation of financial services that will unlock growth and opportunity\u201d Last Friday, as temperatures plummeted, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a package of over thirty UK financial services regulatory reforms, dubbed the \u2018Edinburgh Reforms,\u2019 which the government intends will \u2018unlock investment and turbocharge growth in towns and cities across the UK.\u2019 A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":9856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9855,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9853\/revisions\/9855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9853"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=9853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}