Away from the royal coverage, the new No.10 continues whirring away behind the scenes. This morning the Financial Times splashes with a report that Kwasi is planning to scrap the EU-imposed cap on bankers’ bonuses later this month – a move which the government believes will quickly attract more top talent to the City and help boost growth. Executives in EU banks are already worried, with one quoted as saying “If it is changed, it isn’t life and death, but it will make it even harder for us to compete in London and with US banks overall”…
Meanwhile, over at BEIS, Jacob Rees-Mogg is rumoured to be ditching Boris’s Energy Bill, currently in the Lords. According to The i, the Bill is either being paused or scrapped entirely to refocus efforts on reforming the energy market and capping bills. The new reforms will reportedly prioritise decoupling electricity prices from wholesale gas prices, and incentivising the private sector to build capacity. Expect to hear more next week…
There’s also more to come on the future – or lack thereof – of the Bill of Rights and the Online Harms Bill, both of which are reportedly for the chop. Either way, politics isn’t slowing down just because the media glare is elsewhere…
The Prudential Regulation Authority has written to banks and insurers to tell them not to pay out dividends or buy back shares and forget about their bonuses. British banks have complied and even European banks are following suit. The Bank of England thinks the scale of the challenge ahead means they need to keep their cash reserves. Bank shares have fallen hard on the news…
Top Corbynista Richard Burgon went after Blair this morning by blasting him for speaking at Bloomberg, in his words the “heart of banking”.
A reasonable point which could only backfire if, say, Jeremy Corbyn had also recently given a speech at Bloomberg. Oh look! Here is Jez giving a speech there in September. There is even a video of Burgon’s boss addressing the “heart of banking”.
Classic Burgon…
George Osborne might have been standing at the despatch box yesterday as Chancellor on a meagre £141,000-a-year. Instead, he’s trousered £320,000 for speeches to various bankers in the last two months alone. Pro rata that’s nearly £2 million a year, £40,000-a-week, over £5,500-a-day. More than many Premier League footballers make, and around the same salary earned by Leicester City’s champions Riyad Mahrez, Wes Morgan and Danny Drinkwater last season…
Osborne made £70,000 speaking to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in Washington, as well as nearly £30,000 for a speech at Stanford University. JP Morgan paid him £81,000 and £61,000 for two speeches in New York. Then three weeks ago Osborne was paid £80,000 by Palmex Derivatives. He could’ve been slumming it in Downing Street, instead he’s earned more in two months than the average Briton does in 12 years…
Almost three-quarters of British bankers think London will still be the financial centre of Europe in five years’ time. The US financial services firm Synechron surveyed executives at British banks and found that 72% were optimistic. Add the fact that it would cost banks some £50,000 per employee to relocate staff away from London to the potential slashing of red tape after Brexit, bankers have decided to stick around. Guess how the media are covering this story?
Kevin Maguire is a banker-basher extraordinaire – scroll through his tweets and he’s never leaving those “nasty bankers” alone, his Mirror column forever bangs on about the Tories being “banker’s friends” who are “out of touch with the public”. Well this morning our Kev’ and the Mail’s Andrew Pierce are entertaining clients at a BNP Paribas “Capitalise International Investment Special” event in the City. His hosts and new friends are the bank’s global CEO Thierry Laroue-Pont and UK CEO John Slade, and the discussion is being chaired by UK Executive Director James Max. Better canapés than at Labour conference?
