Source: Reserve Bank of India
Ajit Prasad Press Release: 2024-2025/1406 |
Category: Banking
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MIL-OSI Economics: Result of the 14-day Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction held on October 31, 2024
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MIL-OSI China: China’s incremental policies boost foreign investor confidence
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Oct. 31 — Foreign investors are becoming increasingly bullish on the Chinese market, bolstered by the country’s recent incremental policies aimed at vitalizing growth momentum.
UBS Investment Bank has raised its China 2024 growth forecast to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent, while Goldman Sachs has lifted China’s GDP prediction this year from 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent.
The uplift is mostly due to China’s third-quarter year-on-year GDP growth of 4.6 percent, slightly above market expectation of 4.4 percent, and the series of support policies the government recently launched, said UBS economist Wang Tao.
Economists with Goldman Sachs noted that the latest round of China’s incremental policies clearly indicates that policymakers have made a turn on cyclical policy management and increased their focus on the economy.
So far this year, multiple international institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have raised their forecast for China’s economic growth for 2024.
In the face of mounting challenges at home and abroad, China’s GDP grew 4.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year. The country set a target of economic growth at around 5 percent for this year.
To beef up the economy in response to looming challenges, Chinese authorities have unveiled a broader-than-expected policy package since late September, which focused on enhancing counter-cyclical adjustments, expanding effective domestic demand, supporting business operations, promoting the recovery of the property market, and invigorating capital markets.
Aside from these pro-growth policies, Chinese policymakers continued to improve investment facilitation, create a favorable investment environment, promote high-level financial opening up to the outside world, and actively support foreign investors in participating in the Chinese capital market.
Alan Ho, co-senior country officer for China at J.P. Morgan, said that the pace of China’s financial market opening up had accelerated in recent years.
For example, foreign ownership restrictions in local securities, funds and futures companies have been lifted and financial markets’ connectivity mechanisms have been maturing more quickly than expected, which has brought broader development opportunities to foreign financial institutions, Ho said.
Data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed that foreign holdings of domestic renminbi bonds have so far exceeded 640 billion U.S. dollars, reaching a historic high.
Net foreign investment in domestic bonds surpassed 80 billion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters of this year, while foreign investment in Chinese equities saw notable improvement.
Foreign central banks and commercial banks are the biggest investors in domestic renminbi bonds, as they allocate a higher proportion of investment in medium and long-term bonds such as treasury bonds and policy bank bonds, according to the foreign exchange regulator.
The growing foreign holdings have reflected the global investors’ confidence in the Chinese market. Currently, 24 global systemically important banks have a presence in China.
Industry insiders believed that foreign investors’ active buy-in of Chinese assets has shown their optimism in China’s continuous opening-up measures and policy support in the capital market.
During the World Bank’s 110th meeting of the Development Committee last week in Washington DC, Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min pledged that China will intensify countercyclical adjustments of fiscal policy.
A series of strong measures will be implemented to resolve local government debt risks, stabilize the real estate market, increase the income of key groups, enhance people’s livelihoods, and drive equipment upgrades and trade-in deals for consumer goods, Liao said.
By leveraging government spending to stimulate social investment and consumption, effective demand will be increased, he said, noting that China is confident in achieving the annual economic growth target, and will continue to inject impetus into world economic growth.
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MIL-OSI: Scheme of Arrangement for Acquisition of i3 Energy plc Becomes Effective
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —
31 October 2024
RECOMMENDED AND FINAL CASH AND SHARE ACQUISITION
for
i3 Energy plc (“i3 Energy”)
by
Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (“Gran Tierra”)
to be implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006
SCHEME OF ARRANGEMENT BECOMES EFFECTIVE
On 19 August 2024, the boards of directors of i3 Energy and Gran Tierra announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended and final cash and share acquisition of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of i3 Energy (the “Acquisition”). The Acquisition is being implemented by means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006.
i3 Energy published a circular in relation to the Scheme dated 29 August 2024 (the “Scheme Document“).
On 29 October 2024, i3 Energy announced that the Court had sanctioned the Scheme at the Sanction Hearing held on 29 October 2024.
i3 Energy and Gran Tierra are pleased to announce that, following delivery of the Court Order to the Registrar of Companies and satisfaction or waiver of all of the conditions set out in the Scheme Document, the Scheme has now become Effective in accordance with its terms and, pursuant to the Scheme, the entire issued and to be issued share capital of i3 Energy is now owned by Gran Tierra.
Consideration
A Scheme Shareholder on the register of members of i3 Energy at the Scheme Record Time, being 6.00 p.m. on 30 October 2024, will be entitled to receive one New Gran Tierra Share per every 207 i3 Energy Shares held and 10.43 pence cash per i3 Energy Share subject to any adjustments to such consideration resulting from valid Elections made under the Mix and Match Facility. For Scheme Shareholders holding Scheme Shares in certificated form, settlement of the consideration will be effected by electronic payment or (for those Scheme Shareholders who have not set up an electronic payment mandate) by the despatch of cheques. For Scheme Shareholders holding Scheme Shares in uncertificated form, settlement of consideration will be effected by the crediting of CREST or CDS accounts, as applicable. In each case settlement of consideration will occur as soon as practicable and in any event not later than 14 days after the date of this announcement, being 14 November 2024.
Further to the announcement on 7 October 2024, i3 Energy confirms that, the Scheme having become Effective, the Acquisition Dividend totalling £3,084,278 will be paid as follows:
Dividend: 0.2565 pence / i3 Energy Share Record Date: 6.00 p.m. on 30 October 2024 Payment date: by 13 November 2024 i3 Energy admission to listing on AIM
An application was made for the suspension of admission to trading in i3 Energy Shares on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market (“AIM“) and such suspension has taken effect from 7.30 a.m. today. The cancellation of the admission to trading of the i3 Energy Shares on AIM has been applied for and is expected to take place by 8.00 a.m. on 1 November 2024. The delisting of the i3 Energy Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange has been applied for and is expected to take place at the close of markets on 1 November 2024.
Gran Tierra admission of shares to listing
An application has been made for the admission of 5,808,925 new shares (the “Consideration Shares“) of common stock of par value USD0.001 per share in Gran Tierra. Gran Tierra has applied for the Consideration Shares to be admitted to the Equity Shares (International Commercial Companies Secondary Listing) Category of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange PLC (together, “Admission“).
Gran Tierra expects Admission of the Consideration Shares to occur at 8.00 a.m. on 1 November 2024. The Consideration Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with Gran Tierra’s existing shares of common stock of par value USD0.001 per share.
Total Voting Rights
Following Admission, Gran Tierra will have total issued share capital of 36,460,141 common shares, and holds no common shares in treasury. Gran Tierra Shareholders may use the figure of 36,460,141 as the denominator in calculations to determine if they are required to notify Gran Tierra of their interest in, or a change to their interest in Gran Tierra under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Cancellation of the Trafigura Loan Facility
Gran Tierra also announces that the Loan Facility entered into on 19 August 2024 with Trafigura has today been cancelled. As announced on 18 September 2024, Gran Tierra completed an offering of an additional US$ 150 million aggregate principal amount of its 9.500% Senior Secured Amortizing Notes due 2029, the net proceeds of which are being applied to satisfy the cash consideration payable to i3 Energy Shareholders in place of the term loan facility available to Gran Tierra pursuant to the terms of the Loan Facility.
Board and constitutional changes
Each of the i3 Energy Directors has resigned as a director of i3 Energy with effect from the Scheme becoming Effective.
Pedro Zutara, Adam Hewitson and Amy Lister have been appointed as directors of i3 Energy with effect from the Scheme becoming Effective.
i3 Energy will in due course submit an application to cease to be a reporting issuer in each of the provinces of Canada under National Policy 11-206 – Process for Cease to be a Reporting Issuer Applications. i3 Energy is expected to be converted to a private limited company and its name changed to Gran Tierra UK Limited. As disclosed in the Scheme Document, i3 Energy Shares are expected to be transferred to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gran Tierra following completion of the re-registration.
Full details of the Acquisition are set out in the Scheme Document. Defined terms used but not defined in this announcement have the meanings set out in the Scheme Document. All references to times in this announcement are to London time.
Enquiries:
Gran Tierra
Gary Guidry
Ryan EllsonTel: +1 (403) 265 3221 i3 Energy
Majid Shafiq (CEO)c/o Camarco
Tel: +44 (0) 203 757 4980Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Financial Adviser to Gran Tierra)
Callum Stewart
Simon MensleyTel: +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 Eight Capital (Joint Financial Adviser to Gran Tierra)
Tony P. Loria
Matthew HalaszTel: +1 (587) 893 6835 Zeus Capital Limited (Rule 3 Financial Adviser, Nomad and Joint Broker to i3 Energy)
James Joyce, Darshan Patel, Isaac Hooper
Tel: +44 (0) 203 829 5000Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities – Canada, ULC (Financial Adviser to i3 Energy)
Brendan LinesTel: +1 (403) 705 7830 National Bank Financial Inc. (Financial Adviser to i3 Energy)
Tarek Brahim Arun Chandrasekaran
Tel: +1 (403) 410 7749Camarco
Georgia Edmonds, Violet Wilson, Sam MorrisTel: +44 (0) 203 757 4980 No increase statement
The financial terms of the Acquisition will not be increased save that Gran Tierra reserves the right to revise the financial terms of the Acquisition in the event: (i) a third party, other than Gran Tierra, announces a firm intention to make an offer for i3 Energy on more favourable terms than Gran Tierra’s Acquisition; or (ii) the Panel otherwise provides its consent.
Notices relating to financial advisers
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (“Stifel“), which is authorised and regulated by the FCA in the UK, is acting as financial adviser exclusively for Gran Tierra and no one else in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than Gran Tierra for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in relation to matters referred to in this announcement. Neither Stifel, nor any of its affiliates, owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Stifel in connection with this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.
Eight Capital (“Eight Capital“), which is authorised and regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization in Canada, is acting exclusively for Gran Tierra and for no one else in connection with the subject matter of this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than Gran Tierra for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in connection with the subject matter of this announcement.
Zeus Capital Limited (“Zeus“), which is authorised and regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively for i3 Energy as financial adviser, nominated adviser and joint broker and no one else in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than i3 Energy for providing the protections afforded to clients of Zeus, or for providing advice in relation to matters referred to in this announcement. Neither Zeus nor any of its affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Zeus in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities – Canada, ULC (“TPH&Co.”), which is regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, is acting exclusively for i3 Energy by way of its engagement with i3 Energy Canada Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of i3 Energy, in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement and for no one else, and will not be responsible to anyone other than i3 Energy for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for providing advice in relation to the matters set out in this announcement. Neither TPH&Co. nor any of its subsidiaries, branches or affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees or agents, owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of TPH&Co. in connection with this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.
National Bank Financial Inc. (“NBF”), which is regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, is acting as financial adviser to i3 Energy Canada Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of i3 Energy plc, in connection with the subject matter of this announcement. Neither NBF, nor any of its subsidiaries, branches or affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees or agents, owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of NBF in connection with this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise.
Additional Information
This announcement is for information purposes only. It is not intended to, and does not, constitute or form part of any offer, offer to acquire, invitation or the solicitation of an offer to purchase, or an offer to acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction, pursuant to this announcement or otherwise nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities of Gran Tierra or i3 Energy pursuant to the Acquisition in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable laws.
This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, such registration requirements. Any securities issued as part of the Acquisition are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon available exemption from such registration requirements pursuant to Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act. Any New Gran Tierra Shares to be issued in connection with the Acquisition are expected to be issued in reliance upon the prospectus exemption provided by Section 2.11 or Section 2.16, as applicable, of National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus Exemptions of the Canadian Securities Administrators and in compliance with the provincial securities laws of Canada.
This announcement has been prepared in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, the Code, the AIM Rules for Companies and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules and the information disclosed may not be the same as that which would have been prepared in accordance with the laws of jurisdictions outside England and Wales.
This announcement does not constitute a prospectus or circular or prospectus exempted document.
Overseas Shareholders
The availability of the Acquisition to i3 Energy Shareholders who are not resident in the United Kingdom may be affected by the laws of the relevant jurisdictions in which they are resident. Any person outside the United Kingdom or who are subject to the laws and/regulations of another jurisdiction should inform themselves of, and should observe, any applicable legal and/or regulatory requirements. Any failure to comply with the restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
The release, publication or distribution of this announcement in or into or from jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted by law and therefore any persons who are subject to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom should inform themselves about, and observe, such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the applicable restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of such jurisdiction. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the companies and persons involved in the Acquisition disclaim any responsibility or liability for the violation of such restrictions by any person.
Unless otherwise determined by Gran Tierra or required by the Code and permitted by applicable law and regulation, the Acquisition will not be made available, directly or indirectly, in, into or from a Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate the laws in that jurisdiction and no person may vote in favour of the Acquisition by any such use, means, instrumentality or form (including, without limitation, facsimile, email or other electronic transmission, telex or telephone) within any Restricted Jurisdiction or any other jurisdiction if to do so would constitute a violation of the laws of that jurisdiction. Accordingly, copies of this announcement and all documents relating to the Acquisition are not being, and must not be, directly or indirectly, mailed or otherwise forwarded, distributed or sent in, into or from a Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate the laws in that jurisdiction, and persons receiving this document and all documents relating to the Acquisition (including custodians, nominees and trustees) must observe these restrictions and must not mail or otherwise distribute or send them in, into or from such jurisdictions where to do so would violate the laws in that jurisdiction. Doing so may render invalid any purported vote in respect of the Acquisition.
Dealing and Opening Position Disclosure Requirements
Under Rule 8.3(a) of the Takeover Code, any person who is interested in one per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of an offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror (being any offeror other than an offeror in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is, or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position Disclosure following the commencement of the Offer Period and, if later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified.
An Opening Position Disclosure must contain details of the person’s interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s). An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the 10th Business Day following the commencement of the Offer Period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the 10th Business Day following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. Relevant persons who deal in the relevant securities of the offeree company or of a securities exchange offeror prior to the deadline for making an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a Dealing Disclosure.
Under Rule 8.3(b) of the Takeover Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in one per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror must make a Dealing Disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror. A Dealing Disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the person’s interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s), save to the extent that these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8. A Dealing Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the Business Day following the date of the relevant dealing. If two or more persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding, whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in relevant securities of an offeree company or a securities exchange offeror, they will be deemed to be a single person for the purpose of Rule 8.3.
Opening Position Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company and by any offeror and Dealing Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company, by any offeror and by any persons acting in concert with any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4). Details of the offeree and offeror companies in respect of whose relevant securities Opening Position Disclosures and Dealing Disclosures must be made can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Panel’s website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk, including details of the number of relevant securities in issue, when the Offer Period commenced and when any offeror was first identified. You should contact the Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit on +44 20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a Dealing Disclosure.
Publication on website and availability of hard copies
In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the Code, a copy of this announcement is and will be available free of charge, subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in Restricted Jurisdictions, for inspection on i3 Energy ‘s website https://i3.energy/grantierra-offer-terms/ and on Gran Tierra’s website https://www.grantierra.com/investor-relations/recommended-acquisition/ by no later than 12 noon (London time) on the Business Day following this announcement. For the avoidance of doubt, the contents of the website referred to in this announcement are not incorporated into and do not form part of this announcement.
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement (including information incorporated by reference into this announcement), oral statements regarding the Acquisition and other information published by Gran Tierra and i3 Energy contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, strategies, objectives, results of operations and businesses of Gran Tierra and i3 Energy and their respective groups and certain plans and objectives with respect to the Combined Group. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts. Forward looking statements are prospective in nature and are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections of the management of Gran Tierra and i3 Energy about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward looking statements contained in this announcement include, without limitation, statements relating to the expected effects of the Acquisition on Gran Tierra and i3 Energy, the expected timing and method of completion, and scope of the Acquisition, the expected actions of i3 Energy and Gran Tierra upon completion of the Acquisition and other statements other than historical facts. Forward looking statements often use words such as “anticipate”, “target”, “expect”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “strategy”, “focus”, “envision”, “goal”, “believe”, “hope”, “aims”, “continue”, “will”, “may”, “should”, “would”, “could”, or other words of similar meaning. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by Gran Tierra, and/or i3 Energy in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions, future developments and other factors they believe appropriate. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty, because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and the factors described in the context of such forward looking statements in this announcement could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward looking statements. Although it is believed that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct and readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary from the forward-looking statements.
There are several factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward looking statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements are changes in the global, political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory forces, future exchange and interest rates, changes in tax rates and future business acquisitions or dispositions.
Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this announcement. Neither Gran Tierra nor i3 Energy, nor their respective groups assume any obligation to update or correct the information contained in this announcement (whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise), except as required by applicable law or by the rules of any competent regulatory authority.
Early Warning Reporting Provisions of Canadian Securities Laws
Certain of the information in this announcement is being issued under the early warning reporting provisions of Canadian securities laws. An early warning report with additional information in respect of the foregoing matters will be filed and made available under the SEDAR profile of i3 Energy at www.sedarplus.ca. The purpose of the Scheme was to enable Gran Tierra to acquire 100% of the share capital of i3 Energy. Immediately prior to the completion of the Scheme, Gran Tierra did not own, directly or indirectly, any securities of i3 Energy. To obtain a copy of the early warning report, you may also contact Phillip Abraham, Vice President, Legal & Business Development at 403-698-7918. Gran Tierra is an oil and gas company subsisting under the laws of Delaware, United States and its head office is located at 500 Centre Street SE, Calgary, Alberta T2P 1A6 and i3 Energy’s head office is located at 500, 207 – 9 Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 1K3.
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MIL-OSI New Zealand: Transport – Economist Cam Bagrie appointed chairman of the board for Transporting New Zealand
Source: Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
Leading economist Cam Bagrie has been appointed as an independent director, board member and Chair of peak road freight organisation Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand.Mr Bagrie is the former chief economist at ANZ and has held positions at National Bank, Treasury, and Statistics New Zealand. He is currently an independent chair of the governance committee of the NZ Apple and Pear Inc and a board member of Life Education Trust.Transporting New Zealand CEO Dom Kalasih says Mr Bagrie will bring “additional skills, experience and knowledge to the Board and to our leadership”.The appointment was made by the organisation’s new board this week, which also formally confirmed Dom Kalasih as CEO, a role he’s held in an interim capacity for 18 months.Kalasih said on top of Cam Bagrie’s appointment, the next 12 months look very exciting for the organisation.“I see the effectiveness of sector groups such as livestock, ports and logging really taking off and more relationships with industry suppliers being formed.“For Transporting New Zealand, continuing to improve engagement across our membership is vital. We are committed to holding more quality events and leading high-level policy advocacy to benefit the road freight industry.”About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New ZealandIa Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is a national membership association representing the road freight transport industry. Their members operate urban, rural and inter- regional commercial freight transport services throughout the country.Road is the dominant freight mode in New Zealand, transporting 92.8% of the freight task on a tonnage basis, and 75.1% on a tonne-km basis. The road freight transport industry employs over 34,000 people across more than 4,700 businesses, with an annual turnover of $6 billion. -
MIL-OSI: Financial results for Q1-Q3 2024
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Company announcement no. 66 Profit after tax of DKK 1,779 million and return on equity of 18.0%
The financial statements for the first nine months of 2024 show a highly satisfactory net profit of DKK 1,779 million and a return on equity after tax of 18.0%. Overall, core income was 2% higher than in the first nine months of 2023 – supported both by higher net interest income and net fee income. Compared with the same period of last year, we recorded a decent increase in business volume, including a highly satisfactory increase in assets under management of DKK 11 billion, corresponding to 17%, as well as satisfactory lending growth of DKK 3.5 billion, or 6%.
For the sixth consecutive quarter, persistently strong credit quality among the Bank’s retail and business customers enabled us to make a reversal of impairment charges. As a result, the total positive profit impact from impairment charges for the first nine months of 2024 was DKK 38 million. Another result of our very robust retail and business customers is that we now expect a full-year profit impact from loan impairment charges etc. of around DKK 0 million. Against this background, on 23 October 2024 we upgraded our full-year guidance for profit after tax to a range of DKK 2,100 – 2,300 million,” says Lasse Nyby, CEO.
Please direct any questions regarding this release to Lasse Nyby, Chief Executive Officer, on tel. +45 9634 4011, or Rune Brandt Børglum, Head of Investor Relations, on tel. + 45 9634 4236.
Rune Brandt Børglum
Head of Investor RelationsAttachments
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MIL-OSI New Zealand: Reserve Bank of NZ – Home buyers remain cautious in subdued housing market
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand
31 October 2024 – Housing market activity is currently subdued, with interest rates still at elevated levels. Households continue to show resilience following the significant price rises and falls seen over the last four years, according to a special topic on housing from the upcoming Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua Financial Stability Report.
Understanding the dynamics of the housing market is crucial for Te Pūtea Matua, as home loans account for more than 60 percent of total bank lending. Residential property makes up over half of New Zealand households’ wealth and the housing market directly influences financial stability, affects consumer confidence, and shapes economic growth.
“Ensuring that we remain vigilant in monitoring these trends and market dynamics is essential for safeguarding the financial system and broader economy,” says Kerry Watt, Director of Financial Stability Assessment & Strategy.
“House prices remain a stretch for many prospective buyers and are hovering around the top of our estimate of sustainable levels. Banks are currently facing competitive pressures to attract a limited pool of creditworthy borrowers, ” Mr Watt says.
Borrowers’ capacity to take on more debt is increasing as monetary policy is eased. However, the weaker economic environment means households are exercising caution. The level of interest rates is still high by recent standards and lending growth has been low over the past year. It is uncertain when and by how much demand for new borrowing will pick up.
New Zealand saw a rapid house price cycle over the past few years. The special topic compares our experience with some international examples of house price cycles, including those that led to significant financial system distress.
“Although New Zealand’s recent house price cycle has been rapid compared to overseas examples, there has been comparatively less stress on our financial system, demonstrating the robustness of our institutions and regulatory frameworks,” Mr Watt says.
Looking ahead, government policy changes are underway to increase long-term supply responsiveness in the housing market. Better supply responses to housing demand will help to moderate future house price cycles and improve housing affordability. Debt-to-income restrictions will also play an important role in moderating demand cycles and reducing the buildup of risks.
More information
Read our update on the housing market https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=8ebee3769c&e=f3c68946f8
The 2024 November Financial Stability report will be published on our website at 9:00am on Tuesday 5 November, with a media conference starting at 1:00pm. See the full details. https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=2e769bc10c&e=f3c68946f8What is the Financial Stability report https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=2731de53b7&e=f3c68946f8
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MIL-OSI: OP Mortgage Bank: Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2024
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
OP Mortgage Bank
Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2024
Stock Exchange Release 31 October 2024 at 10.00 EETOP Mortgage Bank: Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2024
OP Mortgage Bank (OP MB) is the covered bond issuing entity of OP Financial Group. Together with OP Corporate Bank plc, its role is to raise funding for OP Financial Group from money and capital markets.
Financial standing
The intermediary loans and loan portfolio of OP MB totalled EUR 16,628 million (16,988)* on 30 September 2024. Bonds issued by OP MB totalled EUR 14,915 million (14,915) at the end of September.
OP MB’s covered bonds after 8 July 2022 are issued under the Euro Medium Term Covered Bond (Premium) programme (EMTCB), pursuant to the Finnish Act on Mortgage Credit Banks and Covered Bonds (151/2022). The collateral is added to the EMTCB cover pool from the member cooperative banks’ balance sheets via the intermediary loan process on the issue date of a new covered bond.
In January, OP MB issued a covered bond in the international capital market. The fixed-rate covered bond worth EUR 1 billion has a maturity of seven years and six months. All proceeds of the bond were intermediated to 63 OP cooperative banks in the form of intermediary loans.
The terms of issue are available on the op.fi website, under Debt investors: www.op.fi/op-ryhma/velkasijoittajat/issuers/op-mortgage-bank/emtcb-debt-programme-documentation.
On 30 September 2024, 98 OP cooperative banks had a total of EUR 14,800 million (14,800) in intermediary loans from OP MB.
Impairment loss on receivables related to loans in OP MB’s balance sheet totalled EUR 0.1 million (-0.2). Loss allowance was EUR 2.4 million (2.6).
Operating profit was EUR 6.4 million (8.3). The company’s financial standing remained stable throughout the reporting period.
* The comparatives for 2023 are given in brackets. For income statement and other aggregated figures, the January–September 2023 figures serve as comparatives. For balance-sheet and other cross-sectional figures, figures at the end of the previous financial year (31 December 2023) serve as comparatives.
Collateralisation of bonds issued to the public
The covered bonds issued under the EMTCB programme worth EUR 25 billion established on 11 October 2022, in accordance with the Act on Mortgage Credit Banks and Covered Bonds (151/2022), totalled EUR 5,250 million. The cover pool included a total of EUR 5,781 million in loans serving as collateral on 30 September 2024. Overcollateralisation exceeded the minimum requirement under the Act (151/2022).
The covered bonds issued under the Euro Medium Term Covered Note programme worth EUR 20 billion established on 12 November 2010, in accordance with the Act on Mortgage Credit Banks (Laki kiinnitysluottopankkitoiminnasta, 688/2010), totalled EUR 9,665 million. The cover pool included a total of EUR 11,900 million in loans serving as collateral on 30 September 2024. Overcollateralisation exceeded the minimum requirement under the Act (688/2010).
Capital adequacy
OP MB’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio stood at 49.3% (41.8) on 30 September 2024. The ratio was improved by the decrease in mortgages on OP MB’s balance sheet and the resulting reduction in capital requirement for credit risk. The minimum CET1 capital requirement is 4.5% and the requirement for the capital conservation buffer is 2.5%. The minimum total capital requirement is 8% (or 10.5% with the increased capital conservation buffer). Because OP MB covers capital requirements in their entirety with CET1 capital, the CET1 capital requirement is 10.5%. Estimated profit distribution has been subtracted from earnings for the reporting period.
OP MB uses the Standardised Approach (SA) to measure its capital adequacy requirement for credit risk. The Standardised Approach is also used to measure the capital requirement for operational risks.
OP MB belongs to OP Financial Group. As part of the Group, OP MB is supervised by the European Central Bank. OP Financial Group presents capital adequacy information in its financial statements bulletins and interim and half-year financial reports in accordance with the Act on the Amalgamation of Deposit Banks. OP Financial Group also publishes Pillar III disclosures.
Own funds and capital adequacy, TEUR 30 Sep 2024 31 Dec 2023 Equity capital 369,686 372,160 Excess funding of pension liability -13 -13 Share of unaudited profits -7,490 Proposed profit distribution -5,016 Insufficient coverage for non-performing exposures -4,632 -2,856 CET1 capital 360,024 361,800 Tier 1 capital (T1) 360,024 361,800 Total own funds 360,024 361,800 Total risk exposure amount Credit and counterparty risk 679,352 812,205 Operational risk 26,636 25,140 Other risks* 24,774 27,336 Total 730,762 864,682 Ratios, % CET1 ratio 49.3 41.8 Tier 1 capital ratio 49.3 41.8 Capital adequacy ratio 49.3 41.8 Capital requirement Own funds 360,024 361,800 Capital requirement 76,765 90,829 Buffer for capital requirements 283,259 270,971 * Risks not otherwise covered.
Liabilities under the Resolution Act
Under regulation applied to crisis resolution of credit institutions and investment firms, the resolution authority is authorised to intervene in the terms and conditions of investment products issued by a bank in a way that affects an investor’s position. The EU’s Single Resolution Board (SRB) based in Brussels is OP Financial Group’s resolution authority. The SRB has confirmed a resolution strategy for OP Financial Group whereby the resolution measures would focus on the OP amalgamation and on the new OP Corporate Bank that would be formed in case of resolution. According to the resolution strategy, OP MB will continue its operations as the new OP Corporate Bank’s subsidiary.
The SRB has set a Minimum Requirement for Own Funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) for OP MB. From May 2024, the MREL is 16% of the total risk exposure amount and 18.5% of the total risk exposure amount including a combined buffer requirement, and 6% of leverage ratio exposures. The requirement entered into force on 15 May 2024. The requirement includes a Combined Buffer Requirement (CBR) of 2.5%.
OP MB’s buffer for the MREL requirement was EUR 215 million. The buffer consists of own funds only. OP MB clearly exceeds the MREL requirement. OP MB’s MREL ratio was 46% of the total risk exposure amount.
Joint and several liability of amalgamation
Under the Act on the Amalgamation of Deposit Banks (599/2010), the amalgamation of cooperative banks comprises the organisation’s central cooperative (OP Cooperative), the central cooperative’s member credit institutions and the companies belonging to their consolidation groups, as well as credit and financial institutions and service companies in which the above together hold more than half of the total votes. This amalgamation is supervised on a consolidated basis. On 30 September 2024, OP Cooperative’s member credit institutions comprised 99 OP cooperative banks, OP Corporate Bank plc, OP Mortgage Bank and OP Retail Customers plc.
The central cooperative is responsible for issuing instructions to its member credit institutions concerning their internal control and risk management, their procedures for securing liquidity and capital adequacy, and for compliance with harmonised accounting policies in the preparation of the amalgamation’s consolidated financial statements.
As a support measure referred to in the Act on the Amalgamation of Deposit Banks, the central cooperative is liable to pay any of its member credit institutions the amount necessary to preventing the credit institution from being placed in liquidation. The central cooperative is also liable for the debts of a member credit institution which cannot be paid using the member credit institution’s assets.
Each member bank is liable to pay a proportion of the amount which the central cooperative has paid to either another member bank as a support measure or to a creditor of such a member bank in payment of an overdue amount which the creditor has not received from the member bank. Furthermore, if the central cooperative defaults, a member bank has unlimited refinancing liability for the central cooperative’s debts as referred to in the Co-operatives Act.
Each member bank’s liability for the amount the central cooperative has paid to the creditor on behalf of a member bank is divided between the member banks in proportion to their last adopted balance sheets. OP Financial Group’s insurance companies do not fall within the scope of joint and several liability.
According to section 25 of the Act on Mortgage Credit Banks (688/2010), which was valid at that time, the creditors of covered bonds issued prior to 8 July 2022 have the right to receive payment, before other claims, for the entire term of the bond, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the bond, out of the funds entered as collateral for the bond, without this being prevented by OP MB’s liquidation or bankruptcy. A similar and equal priority also applies to derivative contracts entered in the register of bonds, and to marginal lending facilities referred to in section 26, subsection 4 of said Act. For mortgage-backed loans issued prior to 8 July 2022 and included in the total amount of collateral of covered bonds, the priority of the covered bond holders’ payment right is limited to the amount of loan that, with respect to home loans, corresponds to 70% of the value of shares or property serving as security for the loan and entered in the bond register at the time of the issuer’s liquidation or bankruptcy declaration.
Under section 20 of the Act on Mortgage Credit Banks and Covered Bonds (151/2022), which entered into force on 8 July 2022, the creditors of bonds issued after 8 July 2022, including the related management and clearing costs, have the right to receive payment from the collateral included in the cover pool, before other creditors of OP MB or the OP cooperative bank which is the debtor of an intermediary loan. A similar priority also applies to creditors of derivative contracts related to covered bonds, including the related management and clearing costs. Interest and yield accruing on the collateral, and any substitute assets, fall within the scope of said priority. Section 44, subsection 3 of the Act on Mortgage Credit Banks and Covered Bonds includes provisions on the creditor’s priority claim regarding cover pool liquidity support. According to said subsection, the creditor has the right to receive payment against the funds contained in the cover pool after claims based on the principal and interest of covered bonds secured by the cover assets included in the cover pool, obligations based on derivatives contracts associated with covered bonds, as well as administration and liquidation costs.
Sustainability and corporate responsibility
Responsible business is one of OP Financial Group’s strategic priorities. OP Financial Group’s sustainability programme guides the Group’s actions and is built around three themes: Climate and the environment, People and communities, and Corporate governance. Read more about the sustainability programme at www.op.fi/en/op-financial-group/corporate-social-responsibility.
At OP Financial Group, sustainability and corporate responsibility are guided by a number of principles and policies. OP Financial Group is committed to complying not only with all applicable laws and regulations, but also with a number of international initiatives. The Group is committed to complying with the ten principles of the UN Global Compact initiative in the areas of human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption. OP Financial Group is a Founding Signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking under the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Furthermore, OP Financial Group is committed to complying with the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance.
As of the reporting year 2024, OP Financial Group reports on its sustainability and corporate responsibility in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
OP Financial Group has drawn up a biodiversity road map that includes measures to promote biodiversity at OP Financial Group. The aim is to create a nature positive handprint by 2030. ‘Nature positive’ means that OP Financial Group’s operations will have a net positive impact (NPI) on nature.
OP Financial Group has also drawn up a Human Rights Statement and Human Rights Policy. OP Financial Group respects all recognised human rights, and the Human Rights Statement includes the requirements and expectations that OP Financial Group has set for itself and actors in its value chains. OP Financial Group is committed to remediation actions if it causes adverse human rights impacts.
In March 2024, OP MB published a Green Covered Bond Report on the allocation and impacts of Finland’s first green covered bonds issued in March 2021 and April 2022. Under OP MB’s Green Covered Bond Framework, the proceeds from the bonds have been allocated to mortgages with energy-efficient residential buildings as collateral.
The environmental impacts allocated to the green covered bonds in 2023 were 59,000 MWh of energy use avoided per year and 8,800 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions avoided per year.
Personnel
On 30 September 2024, OP MB had six employees. OP MB has been digitising its operations and purchases all key support services from OP Cooperative and its Group members, reducing the need for its own personnel.
Management
The Board composition is as follows:
Chair Mikko Timonen Chief Financial Officer, OP Cooperative Members Satu Nurmi Head of Personal Finance and Real Estate Services,
OP Retail Customers plcMari Heikkilä Head of Group Treasury & ALM, OP Corporate Bank plc OP MB’s Managing Director is Sanna Eriksson. The deputy Managing Director is Tuomas Ruotsalainen, Senior Covered Bonds Manager at OP MB.
Risk profile
OP MB has a strong capital base, capital buffers and risk-bearing capacity, and they are expected to remain strong throughout the rest of the year.
OP MB’s most significant risks are related to the quality of collateral and to the structural liquidity and interest rate risks on the balance sheet for which limits have been set in the Banking Risk Policy. The key credit risk indicators in use show that OP MB’s credit risk exposure is stable. OP MB has used interest rate swaps to hedge against its interest rate risk. Interest rate swaps have been used to swap home loan interest, intermediary loan interest and interest on issued bonds onto the same basis rate. OP MB has concluded all derivative contracts for hedging purposes, applying fair value hedges which have OP Corporate Bank plc as their counterparty. OP MB’s interest risk exposure is under control and has been within the set limit.
The liquidity buffer for OP Financial Group is centrally managed by OP Corporate Bank and therefore exploitable by OP MB. At the end of the reporting period, OP Financial Group’s Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) was 214% and the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) was 130%. OP MB monitors its cash flows on a daily basis to secure funding liquidity and its structural funding risk on a regular basis as part of the company’s internal capital adequacy assessment process (ICAAP).
An analysis of OP MB’s risk exposure should always take account of OP Financial Group’s risk exposure, which is based on the joint and several liability of all its member credit institutions. The member credit institutions are jointly liable for each other’s debts. All member banks must participate in support measures, as referred to in the Act on the Amalgamation of Deposit Banks, to support each other’s capital adequacy.
OP Financial Group analyses the business environment as part of the ongoing risk assessment activities and strategy process. Megatrends and worldviews behind OP Financial Group’s strategy reflect driving forces that affect the daily activities, conditions and future of the Group and its customers. Factors currently shaping the business environment include climate, biodiversity loss, scientific and technological innovations, polarisation, demography and geopolitics. External business environment factors are considered thoroughly, so that their effects on customers’ future success are understood. OP Financial Group provides advice and makes business decisions that promote the sustainable financial success, security and wellbeing of its owner-customers and operating region while managing the Group’s risk profile on a longer-term basis. Advice for customers, risk-based service sizing, contract lifecycle management, decision-making, management and reporting are based on correct and comprehensive information.
Events after the reporting period
In October, OP MB issued a covered bond in the international capital market. The fixed-rate covered bond worth EUR 1 billion has a maturity of five years. All proceeds of the bond were intermediated to 48 OP cooperative banks in the form of intermediary loans.
The terms of issue are available at the op.fi website, under Debt investors: www.op.fi/op-ryhma/velkasijoittajat/issuers/op-mortgage-bank/emtcb-debt-programme-documentation.
In October, OP MB’s Board of Directors decided to sell OP MB’s on-balance sheet loan portfolio of EUR 1,825 million to 85 OP cooperative banks later this year.
Outlook for 2024
The Finnish economy was sluggish in the first half. GDP contracted over the previous year and unemployment increased. Forecast data suggests that the Finnish economy began to grow in the third quarter of 2024. Falling inflation and interest rates provide a basis for the recovery to continue. Risks associated with the economic outlook are still higher than usual. The escalation of geopolitical crises may abruptly affect capital markets and the economic environment.
OP MB’s capital adequacy is expected to remain strong and risk exposure favourable. This will enable the issuance of new covered bonds also in the future.
Time of publication of 2024 reports
Report by the Board of Directors and Financial Statements 2024 Week 11, 2025 Corporate Governance Statement 2024 Week 11, 2025 Schedule for Financial Statements Bulletin 2024 and Interim Reports in 2025
Financial Statements Bulletin 1 January‒31 December 2024 6 February 2025 Interim Report 1 January–31 March 2025 7 May 2025 Half-year Financial Report 1 January–30 June 2025 30 July 2025 Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2025 28 October 2025 Helsinki, 31 October 2024
OP Mortgage Bank
Board of DirectorsAdditional information:
Managing Director Sanna Eriksson, phone +358 10 252 2517
DISTRIBUTION
LSE London Stock Exchange
Euronext Dublin (Irish Stock Exchange)
Officially Appointed Mechanism (OAM)
Major media
op.fi -
MIL-OSI: The recording of Šiaulių Bankas Investor Conference Webinar of introducing the financial results for Q3 2024
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
During the Investor Conference Webinar by Vytautas Sinius, CEO, Tomas Varenbergas, Head of Investment Management Division and Tautvydas Mėdžius, Strategy Partner introduced the Bank’s financial results for Q3 2024 and recent developments and answered the participant questions afterwards.
The recording of it can be found on Šiaulių Bankas youtube channel here.
Presentation and the recording of webinar are also posted on the Bank’s website https://sb.lt/en/investors
Šiaulių bankas thanks all participants.
If you would like to receive Šiaulių Bankas news for investors directly to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
Additional information:
Tomas Varenbergas
Head of Investment Management Division
tomas.varenbergas@sb.lt -
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Granting of banking licences
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (October 31) that the Monetary Authority has granted banking licences to Guanyin International Limited (GIL) and KGI Bank Co., Ltd. (KGIB) under the Banking Ordinance. The granting of these banking licences take effect today (October 31, 2024).GIL is incorporated in Hong Kong and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Dongguan Co., Ltd. KGIB is incorporated in Taiwan, China.
After the grant of the above banking licences, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong is 151.
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MIL-OSI Russia: Bank working hours on pre-holiday days and holidays
Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Bank “ROSSIA” Russia Bank –
Press Releases and Events
10/31/2024
Bank working hours on pre-holiday days and holidays
We present to your attention information about the work of Bank “ROSSIYA” offices from November 1 to 4, 2024.
On November 1, the Bank’s offices will work as on Friday. November 2 is a working day as on Monday, but service hours are shortened by one hour. November 3 and 4 are days off in all offices. From November 5, the Bank will work as usual.
Exception:
Remote service point “Zhigulina Roshcha”Republic of Crimea, Simferopol municipal district, Mirnovskoye rural settlement, Mirnoye village, Krymskoy Vesny st., 5, bldg. 1, room 330
November 2 from 9:00 to 15:00
No service November 3-5
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
http://abr.ru/about/nevs/13780/
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MIL-OSI: Lars Moesgaard is leaving Nykredit Bank’s Executive Board – Nykredit Bank A/S
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
To Nasdaq Copenhagen
Lars Moesgaard is leaving Nykredit Bank’s Executive Board
Lars Moesgaard is leaving his position as Head of Banking Retail and member of the Executive Board of Nykredit Bank as a result of reorganisation.
Tonny Thierry Andersen, Group Managing Director, says:
“In recent years, Nykredit Bank has welcomed many new customers who opt for the attractive value propositions a customer-owned bank can offer. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Lars Moesgaard for his contribution to the Bank’s development, and I wish Lars all the best in the future.”
Nykredit Bank’s Executive Board will subsequently consist of Dan Sørensen and Søren Kviesgaard.
Contact:
Questions may be addressed to Press Relations, tel +45 31 21 06 39.
Attachment
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MIL-OSI Europe: Euro area bank interest rate statistics: September 2024
Source: European Central Bank
31 October 2024
Bank interest rates for corporations
Chart 1
Bank interest rates on new loans to, and deposits from, euro area corporations
(percentages per annum)
Data for cost of borrowing and deposit interest rates for corporations (Chart 1)
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to corporations, decreased in September 2024. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months decreased by 31 basis points to 4.72%, driven by the interest rate effect. The rate on new loans of the same size with an initial rate fixation period of over three months and up to one year fell by 31 basis points to 4.47%, driven by the interest rate effect. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years decreased by 22 basis points to 3.58%. In the case of new loans of up to €250,000 with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months, the average rate charged fell by 12 basis points to 5.02%.
As regards new deposit agreements, the interest rate on deposits from corporations with an agreed maturity of up to one year fell by 14 basis points to 3.28% in September 2024. The interest rate on overnight deposits from corporations stayed almost constant at 0.88%.
The interest rate on new loans to sole proprietors and unincorporated partnerships with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 22 basis points to 5.19%, driven by the interest rate effect.Table 1
Bank interest rates for corporations
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation
* For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.Data for bank interest rates for corporations (Table 1)
Bank interest rates for households
Chart 2
Bank interest rates on new loans to, and deposits from, euro area households
Data for cost of borrowing and deposit interest rate for households (Chart 2)
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to households for house purchase, decreased in September 2024. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 11 basis points to 4.59%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over one and up to five years fell by 6 basis points to 3.82%. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with an initial rate fixation period of over five and up to ten years decreased by 10 basis points to 3.52%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years fell by 10 basis points to 3.27%, mainly driven by the interest rate effect. In the same period the interest rate on new loans to households for consumption decreased by 7 basis points to 7.75%.
As regards new deposits from households, the interest rate on deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year remained broadly unchanged at 2.97%. The rate on deposits redeemable at three months’ notice stayed constant at 1.75%. The interest rate on overnight deposits from households remained broadly unchanged at 0.37%.Table 2
Bank interest rates for households
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation
* For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories; deposits placed by households and corporations are allocated to the household sector. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.
** For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.Data for bank interest rates for households (Table 2)
Further information
The data in Tables 1 and 2 can be visualised for individual euro area countries on the bank interest rate statistics dashboard. Additionally, tables containing further breakdowns of bank interest rate statistics, including the composite cost-of-borrowing indicators for all euro area countries, are available from the ECB Data Portal. The full set of bank interest rate statistics for both the euro area and individual countries can be downloaded from ECB Data Portal. More information, including the release calendar, is available under “Bank interest rates” in the statistics section of the ECB’s website.
For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, tel.: +49 69 1344 7806
Notes:
- In this press release “corporations” refers to non-financial corporations (sector S.11 in the European System of Accounts 2010, or ESA 2010), “households” refers to households and non-profit institutions serving households (ESA 2010 sectors S.14 and S.15) and “banks” refers to monetary financial institutions except central banks and money market funds (ESA 2010 sector S.122).
- The composite cost-of-borrowing indicators are described in the article entitled “Assessing the retail bank interest rate pass-through in the euro area at times of financial fragmentation” in the August 2013 issue of the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin (see Box 1). For these indicators, a weighting scheme based on the 24-month moving averages of new business volumes has been applied, in order to filter out excessive monthly volatility. For this reason the developments in the composite cost of borrowing indicators in both tables cannot be explained by the month-on-month changes in the displayed subcomponents. Furthermore, the table on bank interest rates for corporations presents a subset of the series used in the calculation of the cost of borrowing indicator.
- Interest rates on new business are weighted by the size of the individual agreements. This is done both by the reporting agents and when the national and euro area averages are computed. Thus changes in average euro area interest rates for new business reflect, in addition to changes in interest rates, changes in the weights of individual countries’ new business for the instrument categories concerned. The “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” presented in this press release are derived from the Bennet index, which allows month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates resulting from changes in individual country rates (the “interest rate effect”) to be disentangled from those caused by changes in the weights of individual countries’ contributions (the “weight effect”). Owing to rounding, the combined “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” may not add up to the month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates.
- In addition to monthly euro area bank interest rate statistics for September 2024, this press release incorporates revisions to data for previous periods. Hyperlinks in the main body of the press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Unless otherwise indicated, these euro area statistics cover the EU Member States that had adopted the euro at the time to which the data relate.
- As of reference period December 2014, the sector classification applied to bank interest rates statistics is based on the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). In accordance with the ESA 2010 classification and as opposed to ESA 95, the non-financial corporations sector (S.11) now excludes holding companies not engaged in management and similar captive financial institutions.
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MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Speech by FS at SAB Invest Hang Seng Hong Kong ETF Listing Ceremony (English only) (with photos)
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the SAB Invest Hang Seng Hong Kong ETF Listing Ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today (October 31, Riyadh time):
Diana (Executive Director and Chief Executive of Hang Seng Bank, Ms Diana Ferreira Cesar), Rosita (Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hang Seng Investment Management Limited, Ms Rosita Lee), Mr Al-Hussan (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Exchange, Mr Khalid Abdullah Al-Hussan), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It is a great pleasure to join you today in celebrating the fast-growing financial collaboration between Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.
I am delighted to congratulate SAB, Hang Seng Investment Management and the Saudi Tadawul for this cheering listing.
Following last November’s listing, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, of the first Asian ETF (exchange-traded fund) investing in Saudi Arabia, the SAB Invest Hang Seng Hong Kong ETF is just another remarkable product that encourages mutual access of our two markets.
Today’s ETF invests into the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong, which tracks more than 80 of the largest, most liquid stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It creates another channel for Saudi investors to participate in Hong Kong’s equity market on a diversified basis, covering such key sectors as finance, technology and property, in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
And the Tracker Fund itself is an eligible ETF for Southbound trading under our Stock Connect Scheme with the Mainland, meaning that it will enjoy the liquidity of the investment from the Mainland, too.
The Hong Kong Stock market is, of course, a global market, boasting capitalisation of more than US$4.5 trillion. That’s 12 times our GDP.
It counts more than 2 600 listed companies, including some 1 460 from the Mainland. And they represent nearly 80 per cent of our market capitalisation. In other words, HK is the global fund raising platform for Mainland companies.
Investing in our market, by extension, is investing in the Mainland economy, which will prove to be a rewarding endeavour as our country, China, is forecast to grow on a relatively faster pace on a sustainable basis for the long term.
But the benefits are much more. Last year, we reached an MOU with the Saudi Tadawul, enhancing co-operation in such areas as cross-listings. We also encourage Saudi issuers to secondary list on our Stock Exchange. We believe these will be important steps to drive more mutual flow of capital, and widening the accessibility to both markets and enhancing their liquidity.
Hong Kong is connecting issuers, investors and capital around the world and are forging more two-way capital flows with the Middle East, China, Asia and beyond.
I’m glad that the ETF listed today is helping to deepen our efforts in connecting emerging markets with global capital. It is more than a financial product; it signifies our determination to create innovative ways to co-operate, to realise mutually rewarding opportunities with Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
I would like to thank all the parties for your hard work. And for that, I look forward to more mutually beneficial cross-border financial innovation to emerge to benefit our markets and our people.
I wish you all the best of business, and investing, long down this 21st century of opportunity. Thank you. -
MIL-OSI Africa: Malawi Accedes to the Establishment Agreement for Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA)
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
KIGALI, Rwanda, October 31, 2024/APO Group/ —
The Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the development impact investment arm of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com), has announced the Republic of Malawi’s accession to the FEDA Establishment Agreement.
This key milestone reflects the Fund’s growing support across Africa, bringing the total number of participating countries in FEDA to eighteen. Malawi’s accession to FEDA highlights the Fund’s growing momentum, following the recent accession of Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, the Arab Republic of Egypt and Equatorial Guinea among others, to its membership.
New memberships are crucial to broadening the scope of FEDA’s interventions and advancing its mission of delivering long-term capital to African economies with a focus on industrialization, intra-African trade and value-added exports. The rapid growth of FEDA reflects the strong support and confidence African states have in its mandate.
Professor Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank and Chairman of the Boards of both Afreximbank and FEDA, commented: “We welcome the Republic of Malawi to the growing FEDA family. This step lays the groundwork for an enhanced and more effective cooperation and gives the country better access to the full range of interventions offered by Afreximbank Group. The dividends of Malawi’s accession are best illustrated by the launch of the Magwero Industrial Park project, being developed by Arise IIP in collaboration with Afreximbank and FEDA. The project which aims to unlock Malawi’s manufacturing export potential represents a significant investment in the country.”
Marlène Ngoyi, Chief Executive Officer of FEDA, said: “The signing of the FEDA Establishment Agreement builds on FEDA’s investment in strategic projects in Malawi, through Arise IIP, that aim to promote industrialisation, intra-African trade and value-added exports. FEDA will continue supporting Malawi to foster an environment that promotes economic diversification and enhances value-added production.”
FEDA’s recent key strategic investments across the continent, include a further USD300 million capital injection in Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP) in October 2024, its strategic investment in Team Drogba, competing in the inaugural E1 Series, the world’s first-ever all-electric boat racing championship and the partnership with the Republic of Malawi in June 2024 to develop the Magwero Industrial Park to expedite Malawi’s industrialization process.
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MIL-OSI: Temenos Named a Leader in IDC MarketScapes for Digital Core Banking Platforms
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
GRAND-LANCY, Switzerland, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Temenos (SIX: TEMN) today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2024 IDC MarketScapes for Digital Core Banking Platforms in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.[1] Temenos attributes this recognition to the rich functionality of its core banking platform, helping banks enhance their customer experiences and increase business agility.
In North America, the IDC MarketScape evaluated 10 technology vendors, while the IDC MarketScapes for APAC and EMEA assessed 15 vendors each. In this competitive global landscape, Temenos is one of just two vendors to be named a Leader in all three evaluations.
Jerry Silva, Vice President, IDC Financial Insights, said: “The Temenos Core Banking solution portfolio is a cloud-native and cloud-agnostic composable microservices-based offering. It uses a modern technology stack that can evolve to cater for new needs as they arise. This enables banks to compose, extend, and deploy banking capabilities at scale via cloud and SaaS, or to deploy on premise. The solution is used by clients all over the world and Temenos has earned a reputation for being customer-centric and collaborative.”
Barb Morgan, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Temenos, commented: “We’re proud to be recognized by the IDC MarketScape as a market leader across multiple regions in digital core banking platforms. We believe this demonstrates the proven value of our comprehensive core banking solutions, providing banks globally with the agility they need to innovate faster and elevate the digital banking experience for their customers. We are committed to keep investing on Temenos’ core banking platform and delivering solutions that create long-term value and success for our customers.”
The IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the icons.
[1] Source: IDC MarketScape: North American Digital Core Banking Platforms 2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US50463523, September 2024); IDC MarketScape: EMEA Digital Core Banking Platforms 2204 Vendor Assessment (doc #EUR150463623, September 2024); and IDC MarketScape: Asia Pacific Digital Core Banking Platforms 2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #AP50463723, September 2024).
About IDC MarketScape
IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of technology suppliers can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective suppliers.About Temenos
Temenos (SIX: TEMN) is the world’s leading platform for composable banking, serving clients in 150 countries by helping them build new banking services and state-of-the-art customer experiences. Top performing banks using Temenos software achieve cost-income ratios almost half the industry average and returns on equity 2X the industry average. These banks’ IT spend on growth and innovation is also 2X the industry average.For more information, please visit www.temenos.com.
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MIL-OSI Economics: Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit – September 2024
Source: Reserve Bank of India
Data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for the month of September 20241 collected from 41 select scheduled commercial banks, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks, are set out in Statements I and II.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit2 in September 20243 grew at 14.4 per cent, as compared to 15.3 per cent a year ago.
Highlights of the sectoral deployment of bank credit3 are given below:
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Credit to agriculture and allied activities continued to be robust with the growth of 16.4 per cent (y-o-y) in September 2024, compared with 16.7 per cent in September 2023.
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Credit growth to industry improved to 9.1 per cent (y-o-y) in September 2024 compared with 6.0 per cent a year ago. The improved industrial credit growth was broad-based across ‘micro & small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’ industries. Among major industries, credit to ‘chemicals and chemical products’, ‘food processing’, ‘petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels’, and ‘all engineering’ recorded a higher growth in September 2024 as compared to their respective growth rates a year ago, while credit growth to ‘basic metal and metal product’, and ‘textiles’ moderated.
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Credit growth to services sector decelerated to 15.2 per cent (y-o-y) in September 2024 from 21.6 per cent a year ago, primarily due to lower growth in credit to ‘non-banking financial companies’ (NBFCs). However, within the segment, during the same period, growth (y-o-y) in credit to ‘commercial real estate’ accelerated.
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Personal loans growth moderated to 16.4 per cent (y-o-y) in September 2024 as compared with 18.2 per cent a year ago, largely due to decline in growth in ‘other personal loans’, ‘vehicle loans’ and ‘credit card outstanding’. However, ‘housing’ – the largest constituent of this segment – recorded accelerated growth.
Ajit Prasad
Deputy General Manager
(Communications)Press Release: 2024-2025/1407
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MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: HKMA and BIS co-host international financial conference (with photos)
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
HKMA and BIS co-host international financial conference (with photos)
HKMA and BIS co-host international financial conference (with photos)
*********************************************************************The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: An international financial conference (Conference), jointly organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and supported by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), was successfully concluded today (October 31) in Hong Kong. This Conference followed the 15th Global Risk Forum co-hosted by the HKMA and GARP on October 30, and brought together over 100 representatives from international bodies, central banks, regulatory authorities, financial institutions, technology firms, consultancy firms and academia around the world. Building on the success of the inaugural Conference last year, the HKMA co-organised this significant event with the BIS for the second time. The Conference this year focused on the theme of “Opportunities and Challenges of Emerging Technologies in the Financial Ecosystem”, and featured a keynote address by the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England for Financial Stability, Ms Sarah Breeden. Other distinguished speakers of the Conference also shared their valuable insights on how artificial intelligence, tokenisation, and other technologies are transforming the financial landscape and how the industry can better prepare for these changes. The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Eddie Yue, said, “Technology is a game changer in the financial industry. While we embrace the immense opportunities it offers, we must also strengthen collaboration among all parties to effectively address the challenges it presents. This Conference provides an excellent opportunity to leverage the collective insights of relevant stakeholders on the opportunities and challenges brought about by technological advancements. The HKMA will work hand in hand with the banking industry to foster a safe and smooth digital transformation journey.” Chief Representative of the BIS Office for Asia and the Pacific, Mr Tao Zhang, said, “Working closely with central banks and other stakeholders, the BIS can play a crucial role in support of their efforts to reap the benefits of tokenisation and artificial intelligence while addressing associated challenges.”About the Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organisation established in 1930 and owned by central banks. Its headquarters is located in Basel, Switzerland. The mission of the BIS is to support co-operation among central banks around the world in their pursuit of global monetary and financial stability. The BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific is located in Hong Kong. The BIS also has an innovation hub centre in Hong Kong and is undertaking projects to develop public goods in the technology space to support central banks and improve the functioning of the financial system. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Hong Kong Centre of the BIS Innovation Hub. About the Global Association of Risk Professionals The Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit membership organisation focused on elevating the practice of risk management. GARP offers the leading global certification for risk managers in the Financial Risk Manager (FRM®), as well as the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate, Risk and AI (RAI™) Certificate, and ongoing educational opportunities through Continuing Professional Development. Through the GARP Benchmarking Initiative (GBI®) and GARP Risk Institute, GARP sponsors research in risk management and promotes collaboration among practitioners, academics, and regulators. Founded in 1996 and governed by a Board of Trustees, GARP is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, the United States, with offices in London and Hong Kong.
Ends/Thursday, October 31, 2024Issued at HKT 18:17NNNN
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MIL-OSI Economics: CBB participates in National Tree Week
Source: Central Bank of Bahrain
Published on 31 October 2024
Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain – 31 October 2024 – In support of the National Action Plan to achieve carbon neutrality, announced by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and in line with the launch of National Tree Week by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to be held annually on the third week of October, HE Khalid Humaidan, Governor of Central Bank of Bahrain, planted a number of trees on CBB’s premises alongside senior officials.
The National Tree Week supports the Kingdom’s afforestation plan to double the number of trees to 3.6 million by 2035, contributing to the Kingdom’s commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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MIL-OSI Europe: Ostrava’s encore
Source: European Investment Bank
Janáček Philharmonic is one of the leading symphonic orchestras in Czechia. Named after the famous composer Leoš Janáček, who was born in a village near Ostrava, it has hosted major conductors and composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Paul Hindemith. Today, it continues to bring pride to the people and the region.
When Žemla and local authorities explored new designs for the concert hall, they looked for something that would capture the orchestra’s spirit and significance to the city. They received such a proposal from Steven Holl, a world-class architect renowned for his profound love of music.
“Steven had the idea that the orchestra itself is the instrument, and the case for that is the hall,” he says. “Just as a case safeguards a delicate and sensitive instrument, the building will do the same for the orchestra.”
The new concert hall’s design mimics the organic shapes of a musical instrument case, reflecting Holl’s inspiration from both music and architecture. Holl designed an innovative interior with perforated wooden panels and lighting, creating a space that resonates with musical logic.
Beyond its primary function as a concert hall, the venue will also serve as a versatile theatre space and host a variety of cultural and educational activities. “There will be theatre halls, educational centres, and spaces for social events, ensuring the building is alive all day, not just during concerts,” says Žemla.
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MIL-OSI Africa: Adesina and Banga lead the charge to end hunger in Africa at 2024 Borlaug Dialogue
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
DES MOINES, United States of America, October 31, 2024/APO Group/ —
In a powerful opening to the 2024 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue, the president of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and his counterpart at the World Bank Ajay Banga, stressed the need for more global action against hunger, a goal slipping further away due to the combined effects of conflict, economic challenges and climate change.
The two leaders were guest speakers at the opening plenary on Tuesday 29 October, entitled “Achieving a Hunger-Free World,” at which they reiterated their institutions’ commitments to ending food insecurity in Africa, highlighting innovative partnerships and financial solutions.
“There is nothing more important than feeding the world. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) play an important role in that,” Adesina declared. He stressed the crucial role of international financial institutions in helping achieve this task.
Interviewed by Roger Thurow, senior fellow for global agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Adesina and Banga discussed the transformative actions from MDBs in meeting Africa’s annual $1.3 trillion development needs.
Giving examples of innovative instruments to stretch balance sheets, Adesina said International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights or SDRs, if channeled through MDBs, could enable them to become leveraging machines, multiplying resources up to eight times.
“And that’s how you recycle capital to do all the things you need. Think of that,” he said.
Banga praised Adesina’s leadership and expressed confidence in joint initiatives like “Mission 300,” an ambitious project to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
“When you want to solve a problem, you work in partnership,” Adesina stated, lauding Banga’s collaborative spirit.
Both leaders highlighted the urgency of engaging Africa’s youth in agriculture. The African Development Bank’s “Enable Youth” program and the World Bank’s focus on youth employment initiatives, reflect a shared commitment to harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend for agricultural transformation and economic prosperity.
“If we don’t put finance behind young people’s ideas, that’s the biggest risk,” Adesina warned.
The 2024 Borlaug Dialogue, hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation, gathers experts worldwide to inspire innovative solutions to global hunger. With this year’s theme, “Seeds of Opportunity, Bridging Generations and Cultivating Diplomacy,” the event champions collaboration, legacy, and hope in the fight for food security.
Adesina also underlined the importance of partnerships such as the G20’s Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty of which the African Development Bank and the World Bank are partnering. The campaign will see SDRs channeled through MDBs to fight hunger. He cited Mission 300, a joint initiative by the World Bank and the African Development Bank to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030, as another example of MDB cooperation.
Banga stated his confidence in Adesina’s leadership for initiatives like M300: “We have six years to get it done,” he said.
Scale and ecosystems to address climate change and improve farmers’ livelihoods
Addressing the topic of climate change and farmers’ livelihoods Banga noted that in Africa, only 4% of global climate financing goes to agriculture.
He stressed the need for scalable solutions to support Africa’s small farmers. “The focus must be on scale and ecosystems,” he said, pointing to the World Bank’s efforts to enhance farmers’ access to energy, internet, and credit guarantees, creating a comprehensive support network.
The World Bank is putting the demographic dividend of Africa’s youth population to the fore by making job creation a specific outcome of all its development work, along six specific pillars, Banga said.
Earlier, Mashal Husain, Chief Operating Officer for the World Food Prize Foundation said the theme for this year’s Borlaug dialogue: “Seeds of Opportunity, Bridging generations and cultivating diplomacy,” pointed to a world of potential to achieve the goal of ending hunger worldwide.
“That seed represents hope, innovation and courage to dream. This week at the Borlaug Dialogue we are not just talking about the seeds of opportunity. We are planting them,” Husain said.
Adesina’s engagements at the Borlaug Dialogue include the Africa Agriculture Dialogue, engagements with the presidents of Sierra Leone and Tanzania and addressing Global Youth Institute Students and Youth Program Alumni on Wednesday 30 October. He will also moderate a high-Level panel Discussion on Thursday 31st October entitled: Bold Measures to Feed Africa.
To learn more about the Norman E Borlaug Dialogue, click here (https://apo-opa.co/3YmL8yW). Follow the conversation on X (https://apo-opa.co/3Us9KFi).
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MIL-OSI: Sandy Spring Bancorp Declares Quarterly Dividend
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
OLNEY, Md., Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc., (Nasdaq- SASR), the parent company of Sandy Spring Bank, announced that the board of directors declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.34 per share payable on November 21, 2024, to shareholders of record on November 14, 2024. This dividend is consistent with the previous linked quarter and the fourth quarter of 2023.
About Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc./Sandy Spring Bank
Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc., headquartered in Olney, Maryland, is the holding company for Sandy Spring Bank, a premier community bank in the Greater Washington, D.C. region. With over 50 locations, the bank offers a broad range of commercial and retail banking, mortgage, private banking, and trust services throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Through its subsidiaries, Rembert Pendleton Jackson and West Financial Services, Inc., Sandy Spring Bank also offers a comprehensive menu of wealth management services.
For additional information or questions, please contact:
Daniel J. Schrider, Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer, or
Charles S. Cullum, Executive V.P. & Chief Financial Officer
Sandy Spring Bancorp
17801 Georgia Avenue
Olney, Maryland 20832
1-800-399-5919
E-mail: DSchrider@sandyspringbank.com
CCullum@sandyspringbank.com
Website: www.sandyspringbank.comMedia Contact:
Amber Washington, Senior Vice President
301.774.6400 x5697
awashington@sandyspringbank.com -
MIL-OSI Economics: Christine Lagarde: Interview with Le Monde
Source: European Central Bank
Interview with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, conducted by Eric Albert, Philippe Escande and Béatrice Madeline on 28 October 2024
31 October 2024
In September, former ECB President Mario Draghi published an alarming report on how the European economy is falling behind. Do you agree with this assessment?
Europe is falling behind. It’s true. And so is France. Mario Draghi’s report highlights the productivity gap, which is largely due to the tech sector. Tech players in Europe and the United States believe that the gap first emerged during the digital revolution that began in the mid-1990s.
The question now is whether the boost that the United States got from the mid-1990s will continue with artificial intelligence, the accumulation of data centres and the exploitation of these data. This is the key issue. In Europe we need to roll up our sleeves and make an effort to keep those companies that start out here and then develop themselves elsewhere. We need to try to make them stay.
So what is the solution? Do you think the gap will remain?
We need to look at why Europe is falling behind. The energy component is key, especially as regards data centres. Labour is also important, with mobility being much greater in the United States. And regulation is a crucial issue, too. In overly simple terms, the United States is developing AI very quickly, and already has a number of major players. In the meantime, not only is Europe lacking such big players, but it has also become a pioneer in AI regulation. This causes players in this sector to say “OK, let’s do this elsewhere. It’ll be easier and we’ll have fewer obstacles and fewer restrictions”.
What about the public funding provided to businesses in the United States?
The fourth factor that is contributing to Europe falling behind is the “light” industrial policy pursued by the United States. It’s not light in terms of money because the Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022 is very large, but there are relatively few criteria to qualify for funding to start a company on US soil. When I ask manufacturers, they pretty much all agree that in Europe, the process is complicated and unwieldy. And on top of the multi-layered European system, you then have those of the Member States.
The final factor is private funding. In the United States there are pension fund plans and other financial instruments that make it possible to channel savings and get savers (employees or retirees) interested in the future of the economy or the evolution of the stock market. In many European countries, these plans are still a long way off of those mechanisms, especially share participation and company profit sharing. Hence the need to develop a capital markets union.
But we have been talking about this project for the past 15 years. And when Mario Draghi’s report was published, Germany immediately opposed common borrowing. Is Europe really capable of reacting?
You’re right. We have been talking about a capital markets union since the time of Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019), and little progress has been made. The Letta and Draghi reports are a wake-up call for Europeans, a warning. The assessment is severe but fair and provides specific recommendations. It suggests that all Europeans should gear up and be ready to give up a bit of sovereignty to ‘combine the best,’ to paraphrase what Paul Valéry once said. But what gives me hope is the engagement of all European institutions on the capital markets union. The ECB’s Governing Council is firmly engaged as well. We must use this momentum.
In 2020, the plan for a collective European loan of €750 billion was a major step forward. Four years later, less than half of the loan has been allocated. Should we see this as another example of European slowness?
We had exactly the same problem during the Greek crisis. The administrations of the different countries are not always able to quickly manage the incoming funds. The finance ministers of countries receiving a lot of funds tell you that they have of course identified what bridge or railway line should be constructed, but that they need to obtain local authorisations as well as permissions to expropriate property, and that environmental organisations are taking court actions. All of this takes a lot of time.
In this context, what consequences could the US elections on Tuesday 5 November have for Europe?
I do not want to give an opinion on any particular candidate. But US international trade policy will of course have an impact on economic activity in the rest of the world, and primarily on China. Whoever wins, if trade fragmentation worsens, the effect on global GDP will be negative, with losses reaching 9% in a severe scenario of full decoupling according to ECB simulations. But remember: when Joe Biden was elected, everyone thought that he would remove the customs barriers erected by his predecessor (Donald Trump). Nothing came of that.
Between China, which is withdrawing towards Asia, and the United States, which is closing up again, isn’t Europe, as a partner to both powers, the big loser?
That’s why we need to act and roll up our sleeves. Will Europe need to undergo another crisis for it to bring about reforms? It’s always in times of crisis that we are able to make things happen. That may be why Mario Draghi speaks of “agony”, it’s a way of saying “the crisis is here, now, do something!”.
There is talk of a European decoupling. But isn’t there a French decoupling within Europe?
If you compare today’s GDP figures with those of 2019, the United States has grown by 10.7%, the European average by 4.8% and France by 3.7%. France is lagging behind the European average.
What is your view of the surge in the French deficit?
The prospect of returning in line with European standards by applying European fiscal rules should serve as a binding guideline.
And are the French promises to restore public finances credible?
As I said, applying European fiscal rules should serve as a binding guideline.
Will we be heading towards a recession in Europe in 2025?
Based on the information now available and our current assessment, we don’t see a recession in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026.
What will drive this growth, given the weakness in demand?
The two levers are exports and domestic demand, which is set to pick up. Today, with wages rising and inflation falling, disposable income is increasing. For the moment, this benefits savings more than consumption. But we are convinced, and economic history shows us, that this additional disposable income will ultimately flow towards consumption.
How do you explain the fact that it is proving so difficult for consumption to recover?
We can indeed ask why households are choosing to save their money instead of spending it. It could be that people are reluctant to make major purchases owing to geopolitical uncertainty. A second explanation could be related to the return on their savings, which is still fairly high in the euro area. A third could be that people are deciding it’s better to save rather than spend when they expect their taxes or other contributions to go up.
Euro area inflation was at 1.7% in September, below your 2% target. Is it now under control?
The target is in sight but I’m not going to tell you that inflation is defeated yet. Inflation stood at 1.7% in September. Excluding energy and food, it was still at 2.7%. We are pleased about the 1.7% figure, but we also know that inflation is going to rise again in the coming months simply because of base effects. In September energy prices were 6.1% lower than a year earlier, bringing down the cost of the consumption basket. Besides, inflation in the services sector – which is highly dependent on wages – is still at 3.9%. So, prudence is warranted.
How do you respond to those who say the ECB was too late in reacting to the rise in inflation?
I tell them we should look at the facts. Don’t forget that inflation was at 10.6% two years ago. It has fallen back to 1.7%. Perhaps we could have started a few months earlier. But we raised rates at the fastest pace ever and we managed to bring down inflation considerably in a short period of time. I now want to see inflation reach the 2% target on a sustained and durable basis. Unless there is a major shock, this will happen during the course of 2025.
And what do you say to those who now accuse you of cutting rates too late and not quickly enough?
The pace at which interest rates are cut will be determined by the economic data we receive in the coming weeks and months – based on our updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission. And to revitalise growth, urgent action is needed in the area of structural reforms.
The spread between France and Germany has increased from 0.5% to 0.8% since the French National Assembly was dissolved. The ECB has an instrument that it can use to intervene and calm the markets. Are you ready to use it?
We have clearly outlined the conditions under which we will use this instrument. And that is not an issue today.
A number of emerging countries brought together by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are thinking about a payments system to circumvent the dollar. Is dedollarisation happening?
That would require another country to be able to take on the role of reserve currency. China is preparing for that, but it isn’t ready yet. I won’t see the renminbi take the place of the dollar in my lifetime.
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MIL-OSI Economics: Euro area bank interest rate statistics: September 2024
Source: European Central Bank
31 October 2024
Bank interest rates for corporations
Chart 1
Bank interest rates on new loans to, and deposits from, euro area corporations
(percentages per annum)
Data for cost of borrowing and deposit interest rates for corporations (Chart 1)
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to corporations, decreased in September 2024. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months decreased by 31 basis points to 4.72%, driven by the interest rate effect. The rate on new loans of the same size with an initial rate fixation period of over three months and up to one year fell by 31 basis points to 4.47%, driven by the interest rate effect. The interest rate on new loans of over €1 million with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years decreased by 22 basis points to 3.58%. In the case of new loans of up to €250,000 with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to three months, the average rate charged fell by 12 basis points to 5.02%.
As regards new deposit agreements, the interest rate on deposits from corporations with an agreed maturity of up to one year fell by 14 basis points to 3.28% in September 2024. The interest rate on overnight deposits from corporations stayed almost constant at 0.88%.
The interest rate on new loans to sole proprietors and unincorporated partnerships with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 22 basis points to 5.19%, driven by the interest rate effect.Table 1
Bank interest rates for corporations
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation
* For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.Data for bank interest rates for corporations (Table 1)
Bank interest rates for households
Chart 2
Bank interest rates on new loans to, and deposits from, euro area households
Data for cost of borrowing and deposit interest rate for households (Chart 2)
The composite cost-of-borrowing indicator, which combines interest rates on all loans to households for house purchase, decreased in September 2024. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with a floating rate and an initial rate fixation period of up to one year decreased by 11 basis points to 4.59%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over one and up to five years fell by 6 basis points to 3.82%. The interest rate on loans for house purchase with an initial rate fixation period of over five and up to ten years decreased by 10 basis points to 3.52%. The rate on housing loans with an initial rate fixation period of over ten years fell by 10 basis points to 3.27%, mainly driven by the interest rate effect. In the same period the interest rate on new loans to households for consumption decreased by 7 basis points to 7.75%.
As regards new deposits from households, the interest rate on deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year remained broadly unchanged at 2.97%. The rate on deposits redeemable at three months’ notice stayed constant at 1.75%. The interest rate on overnight deposits from households remained broadly unchanged at 0.37%.Table 2
Bank interest rates for households
i.r.f. = initial rate fixation
* For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories; deposits placed by households and corporations are allocated to the household sector. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.
** For this instrument category, the concept of new business is extended to the whole outstanding amounts and therefore the business volumes are not comparable with those of the other categories. Outstanding amounts data are derived from the ECB’s monetary financial institutions balance sheet statistics.Data for bank interest rates for households (Table 2)
Further information
The data in Tables 1 and 2 can be visualised for individual euro area countries on the bank interest rate statistics dashboard. Additionally, tables containing further breakdowns of bank interest rate statistics, including the composite cost-of-borrowing indicators for all euro area countries, are available from the ECB Data Portal. The full set of bank interest rate statistics for both the euro area and individual countries can be downloaded from ECB Data Portal. More information, including the release calendar, is available under “Bank interest rates” in the statistics section of the ECB’s website.
For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, tel.: +49 69 1344 7806
Notes:
- In this press release “corporations” refers to non-financial corporations (sector S.11 in the European System of Accounts 2010, or ESA 2010), “households” refers to households and non-profit institutions serving households (ESA 2010 sectors S.14 and S.15) and “banks” refers to monetary financial institutions except central banks and money market funds (ESA 2010 sector S.122).
- The composite cost-of-borrowing indicators are described in the article entitled “Assessing the retail bank interest rate pass-through in the euro area at times of financial fragmentation” in the August 2013 issue of the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin (see Box 1). For these indicators, a weighting scheme based on the 24-month moving averages of new business volumes has been applied, in order to filter out excessive monthly volatility. For this reason the developments in the composite cost of borrowing indicators in both tables cannot be explained by the month-on-month changes in the displayed subcomponents. Furthermore, the table on bank interest rates for corporations presents a subset of the series used in the calculation of the cost of borrowing indicator.
- Interest rates on new business are weighted by the size of the individual agreements. This is done both by the reporting agents and when the national and euro area averages are computed. Thus changes in average euro area interest rates for new business reflect, in addition to changes in interest rates, changes in the weights of individual countries’ new business for the instrument categories concerned. The “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” presented in this press release are derived from the Bennet index, which allows month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates resulting from changes in individual country rates (the “interest rate effect”) to be disentangled from those caused by changes in the weights of individual countries’ contributions (the “weight effect”). Owing to rounding, the combined “interest rate effect” and the “weight effect” may not add up to the month-on-month developments in euro area aggregate rates.
- In addition to monthly euro area bank interest rate statistics for September 2024, this press release incorporates revisions to data for previous periods. Hyperlinks in the main body of the press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Unless otherwise indicated, these euro area statistics cover the EU Member States that had adopted the euro at the time to which the data relate.
- As of reference period December 2014, the sector classification applied to bank interest rates statistics is based on the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). In accordance with the ESA 2010 classification and as opposed to ESA 95, the non-financial corporations sector (S.11) now excludes holding companies not engaged in management and similar captive financial institutions.
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MIL-OSI China: Announcement on Open Market Operations No.215 [2024]
Source: Peoples Bank of China
Announcement on Open Market Operations No.215 [2024]
(Open Market Operations Office, October 31, 2024)
In order to keep liquidity adequate at a reasonable level in the banking system at month-end, the People’s Bank of China conducted reverse repo operations in the amount of RMB327.6 billion through quantity bidding at a fixed interest rate on October 31, 2024.
Details of the Reverse Repo Operations
Maturity
Volume
Rate
7 days
RMB327.6 billion
1.50%
Date of last update Nov. 29 2018
2024年10月31日
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MIL-OSI Economics: Monthly Data on India’s International Trade in Services for the Month of September 2024
Source: Reserve Bank of India
The value of exports and imports of services during September 2024 is given in the following table.
International Trade in Services (US$ million) Month Receipts (Exports) Payments (Imports) July – 2024 30,580
(16.6)15,903
(15.7)August – 2024 30,340
(5.7)16,423
(8.8)September – 2024 32,579
(14.6)16,507
(13.2)Notes: (i) Data are provisional; and
(ii) Figures in parentheses are growth rates over the corresponding month of the previous year which have been revised on the basis of balance of payments statistics.Ajit Prasad
Deputy General Manager
(Communications)Press Release: 2024-2025/1409
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MIL-OSI Economics: Data on India’s Invisibles for First Quarter (April-June) 2024-25
Source: Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank today released data on India’s invisibles as per the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) format for April – June of 2024-25.
Ajit Prasad
Deputy General Manager
(Communications)Press Release: 2024-2025/1410
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MIL-OSI Economics: Lending and Deposit Rates of Scheduled Commercial Banks – October 2024
Source: Reserve Bank of India
Data on lending and deposit rates of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) (excluding regional rural banks and small finance banks) received during the month of October 2024 are set out in Tables 1 to 7.
Highlights:
Lending Rates:
-
The weighted average lending rate (WALR) on fresh rupee loans of SCBs stood at 9.37 per cent in September 2024 (9.41 per cent in August 2024).
-
The WALR on outstanding rupee loans of SCBs was placed at 9.90 per cent in September 2024 (9.91 per cent in August 2024).1
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1-Year median Marginal Cost of fund-based Lending Rate (MCLR) of SCBs remained unchanged at 8.95 per cent in October 2024 from that of September 2024.
Deposit Rates:
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The weighted average domestic term deposit rate (WADTDR) on fresh rupee term deposits of SCBs stood at 6.54 per cent in September 2024 as compared to 6.46 per cent in August 2024.
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The weighted average domestic term deposit rate (WADTDR) on outstanding rupee term deposits of SCBs was placed at 6.95 per cent in September 2024 (6.93 per cent in August 2024).1
Ajit Prasad
Deputy General Manager
(Communications)Press Release: 2024-2025/1411
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MIL-OSI Economics: The future of finance
Source: Bank for International Settlements
The title of this panel is “The Future of Finance”. I know this is an issue you have thought a lot about and one that has been a key focus area for the BIS throughout your tenure as General Manager. Why is the topic so important? How should the financial system change?
Financial innovation is important because finance is important – it is the bloodstream of the real economy.
Today’s financial system falls short in many dimensions: many financial transactions are too slow; many are too costly; for these reasons, useful transactions don’t take place. And in too many countries, too few people are able to access financial services. Improving the functioning of the financial system could make everyone better off.
It is appropriate for the private sector to take the lead in financial innovation. But the public sector has a role as a catalyst for innovation, for instance, by providing the pipes and rails on which finance runs.
Many public institutions – including central banks – are not natural innovators. They may lack experience, expertise and budgets.
Moreover, many countries face similar challenges.
For this reason, there can be great value in working together.
That is why we at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) established the BIS Innovation Hub as a mechanism for collaboration among central banks to develop technological public goods.
When we first came up with this concept, the idea was to have a small unit of four staff members, based in Basel. It quickly became apparent that the appetite among our member central banks to work together and innovate went far beyond that.
Today we have more than 100 staff working in our seven Innovation Hub centres in eight locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia, as well as a strategic partnership with the Innovation Centre of the New York Federal Reserve.
The Innovation Hub undertakes projects across six broad themes: (i) suptech and regtech, (ii) next generation financial market infrastructures, (iii) open finance, (iv) cyber security, (v) green finance and (vi) central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Our CBDC work accounts for a large part of the Innovation Hub’s project portfolio and certainly accounts for much of the public attention. But we have made important contributions in each theme.
Since establishing the Innovation Hub, we have completed 28 projects, with another 27 currently under way. Central banks, of course, are doing their own innovations, and there are many other initiatives under way by both the public sector and the private sector.
While all of the technological innovation has been important, it would be fair to say that it has had modest real-world impact to date. If you compare the degree of progress in the application of digital technologies in, say, the communications industry to that in the financial industry, I am sure you will agree.
The issue is not the technology itself. As I mentioned, there have been great advances there.
What has been lacking is a vision of how the various initiatives should fit together, and of what the financial system of the future should look like and how it should function.
Together with Nandan Nilekani – Chairman of Infosys and the driving force behind India’s digital public infrastructure initiatives – I wrote a paper earlier this year that laid out such a vision. We call it the “Finternet”. The aim of the Finternet is to use technology to make the financial system much more user-centric and to eliminate many of the frictions that add cost and complexity to today’s financial system. It does not advocate for a specific technology, but instead aims to add some guidance about what we want to achieve.
Let me delve more deeply into the Finternet. What does it involve, concretely?
The Finternet rests on three broad pillars. The first is a robust economic and financial architecture. The second is the application of advanced technology. The third is a sound legal and regulatory basis. Let me address each in turn.
The basic economic and financial architecture would resemble that of today’s financial system. As is the case today, there would be a two-tier banking system. Central bank money would be at the core, with commercial bank money accounting for the bulk of the money used day to day. This money, however, would have a more advanced digital representation. We would have tokenised central bank money, which could exist in wholesale form – the digital equivalent of central bank reserves – or retail form – the equivalent of digital banknotes. And we would have tokenised commercial bank deposits.
But tokenising money is just the first step. To get the real benefits of tokenisation you need to combine money with other financial assets, ideally residing on the same ledger.
Government bonds strike me as a natural starting point. These are incredibly important assets in today’s financial system. They serve as the basis for pricing all other financial assets.
Once you have money and government bonds residing on the same platform, you essentially have the basis of the current financial system. Adding other assets to the platform would naturally follow.
Tokenising financial assets would bring many benefits. In particular, if the assets were on a common ledger, there would be much less need for complex messaging and clearing, which are the source of so much cost and delays in today’s financial system. Tokenised assets can settle atomically, helping to further reduce the time needed for financial transactions. And tokenised assets can be programmed. This could open up a huge array of financial transactions that are not possible today.
Of course, not all assets will be tokenised and not all tokenised assets will reside on the same ledger. So we need some way of moving assets across ledgers and from the tokenised to the non-tokenised world. Technology can also help achieve this.
Other technologies can also help to turn the Finternet into reality. For example, compliance with anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regulations – which I would emphasise is hugely important – can also be extremely costly. Technology should allow us to automate such checks, allowing for greater reliability, lower costs and faster processing speeds. Data governance and privacy would draw on the latest privacy-preserving technology. There are many related topics we explore through our projects. One good example is Project Mandala, which has shown how to embed regulatory compliance in cross-border transaction protocols. Beyond economics and technology, the Finternet will also rest on a sound legal and regulatory basis. At a minimum, this should respect all existing laws and governance measures. Privacy, cyber security and related concerns will also need to be addressed. However, technology should also allow us to achieve greater security in the financial system.
This all sounds very promising in principle. But can it be delivered? How could one turn the Finternet vision into a reality?
Absolutely. Indeed, we are already taking active steps to turn it into reality, including through our Innovation Hub projects.
Let me give you a concrete example of one such project, called Project Agorá.
This is probably our largest Innovation Hub Project to date. We have teamed up with six central banks and more than 40 private sector institutions, coordinated by the Institute for International Finance. I should mention that Santander is one of the participants.
The specific aim of Project Agorá is to look at whether, using tokenised deposits integrated with tokenised wholesale central bank money, we can streamline cross-border payments.
This is an area ripe with inefficiencies, and where services in some jurisdictions have actually worsened in recent years due to the shrinkage of the correspondent banking system. One important reason is that the system, by and large, rests on legacy systems. This implies long sequences of messages being sent back and forth, across national borders, using systems that do not necessary communicate with each other very well. The various regulatory compliance measures – which are particularly important in cross-border transactions – often require manual processes, which add delays and lead to errors.
In principle, using tokenised assets residing on unified ledgers could ease many of these burdens. Transactions using tokenised assets can settle atomically – that is immediately – with all parts of the transaction settling at once. Compliance with regulatory norms can be embedded programmatically inside the tokens. So they will be adhered to with certainty and without the need for manual intervention.
So this is a big project, with big potential gains.
But even more than the specific application, what really excites me about Project Agorá is that it has central banks and commercial banks working together to craft a structure that could form the basis for a future financial system.
I mentioned before the useful catalytic role for central banks in initiating technological innovation. But central banks cannot do it alone. The two-tier banking system lies at the heart of today’s financial system. The system needs money. But very little money comes from the central bank. Commercial bank money provides the bulk of it.
The two-tier banking system helps deliver two foundational principles. The first is the singleness of money. This ensures that a euro is a euro, whether it is the banknote in my pocket or in my deposit at Santander or any other bank. The second is settlement finality, which comes about through the final settlement of all transactions on the balance sheet of the central bank.
We do not know what the financial system of the future will look like. But it is hard for me to imagine that it will not require a two-tier banking system. This means that as well as tokenised central bank money – particularly in wholesale form – it will require banks to provide their customers with tokenised deposits. Project Agorá provides a powerful use case, and I hope that it will spur further innovation.
At the same time, cross-border payments can be a controversial topic. For example, I have noted media speculation recently that one of your projects – Project mBridge – could provide the basis for a BRICS initiative to circumvent sanctions. Is that plausible? Can you comment on this?
In the Innovation Hub we try to be a catalyst for innovation. The way it works is that we talk with the community of central banks, identify their needs and then develop projects. And we do them in partnership with central banks.
MBridge has been a project we have been involved with for four years. We have several central bank partners and many, many observers. I think the project has been a big success. It’s a payment system where through wholesale CBDCs you could facilitate tremendously cross-border transactions.
I would say that the project has been so successful that we can declare that we have graduated out. The BIS is leaving that project, not because it was a failure and not because of political considerations but instead because we have been involved for four years and it is at a level where the partners can carry it on by themselves. That has happened already with other projects.
At the same time, I have to say that mBridge is not mature enough to start operating; it is many years away from that.
With respect to political aspects, the noise out there, mBridge is not the “BRICs bridge” – I have to say that categorically. mBridge was not created to cater to the needs of the BRICs. It was put together to satisfy broad central bank necessities.
We at the BIS – I think this is an opportunity to set record straight – we always try to be good global citizen. And the BIS does not operate with any countries, nor can its products be used by any countries that are subject to sanctions. This will continue to be the case. And all central bank members are in this mindset that we need to be observant of sanctions and whatever products we put together should not be a conduit to violate sanctions.
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MIL-OSI: Change to the Board of Directors
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
To Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen
30 October 2024
Company Announcement No 14/2024Change to the Board of Directors
Today, Ellen Dalsgaard Zdravkovic, member of the Board of Directors in the Bank of Greenland has informed us, that she steps down from the Board of Directors as of today. The change happens because she takes on a new position in another financial institution.
Ellen Dalsgaard Zdravkovic has been a member of the Board of Directors in the Bank of Greenland since March 2021. Following the resignation, Chairman Gunnar í Liða states that: ”Ellen Dalsgaard Zdravkovic has been a well-liked member of the Board of Directors and has made a great effort for the Bank of Greenland. I thank Ellen for her contribution and wish her the best of luck going forward”.
26 March 2025, on the Annual General Meeting, a new candidate to the Board of Directors will be recommended instead of Ellen Dalsgaard Zdravkovic. Until then, the Board of Directors in the Bank of Greenland will consist of 8 board members.
Please direct any questions to:
The Bank of Greenland
Martin Kviesgaard
Managing DirectorAttachment
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MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Autumn Budget 2024 speech
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Autumn Budget 2024 speech as delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Madam Deputy Speaker…
[redacted political content]
This government was given a mandate.
To restore stability to our economy…
… and to begin a decade of national renewal.
To fix the foundations…
… and deliver change.
Through responsible leadership in the national interest.
That is our task.
And I know that we can achieve it.
My belief in Britain burns brighter than ever.
And the prize on offer is immense.
As my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister said on Monday – change must be felt.
More pounds in people’s pockets.
An NHS that is there when you need it.
An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all…
… because that is the only way to improve living standards.
And the only way to drive economic growth…
… is to invest, invest, invest.
There are no shortcuts.
And to deliver that investment…
… we must restore economic stability…
[redacted political content]
INHERITANCE
[redacted political content]
… it is the first Budget in our country’s history to be delivered by a woman.
I am deeply proud to be Britain’s first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer.
To girls and young women everywhere, I say:
Let there be no ceiling on your ambition, your hopes and your dreams.
And along with the pride that I feel standing here today…
… there is also a responsibility…
… to pass on a fairer society and a stronger economy to the next
generation of women.
[redacted political content]
A black hole in the public finances…
Public services on their knees….
A decade of low growth.
And the worst parliament on record for living standards.
Let me begin with the public finances.
In July, I exposed a £22bn black hole
[redacted political content]
The Treasury’s reserve, set aside for genuine emergencies…
… spent three times over…
… just three months into the financial year.
Today, on top of the detailed document that I have provided to the House in July…
… the government is publishing a line by line breakdown of the £22bn black hole that we inherited…
It shows hundreds of unfunded pressures on the public finances…
… this year, and into the future too.
The Office for Budget Responsibility have published their own review of the circumstances around the Spring Budget forecast.
They say that the previous government – and I quote – “did not provide the OBR with all the [available] information to them”…
… and – had they known about these “undisclosed spending pressures that have since come to light”…
… then their Spring Budget forecast for spending would have been, and I quote again: “materially different”.
Let me be clear: that means any comparison between today’s forecast and the OBR’s March forecast is false…
… because the party opposite hid the reality of their public spending plans.
Yet at the very same budget…
… they made another ten billion pounds worth of cuts to National Insurance.
[redacted political content]
That’s why today, I can confirm that we will implement in full…
… the 10 recommendations from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s review.
But, the country has inherited not just broken public finances…
… but broken public services too.
The British people can see and feel that in their everyday lives.
NHS waiting lists at record levels.
Children in portacabins as school roofs crumble.
Trains that do not arrive.
Rivers filled with polluted waste.
Prisons overflowing.
Crimes which are not investigated…
… and criminals who are not punished.
That is the country’s inheritance
Since 2021, there had been no detailed plans for departmental spending set out beyond this year.
And [redacted political content] plans relied on a baseline for spending this year which we now know was wrong…
… because it did not take into account the £22bn black hole.
The previous government also failed to budget for costs which they knew would materialise.
That includes funding for vital compensation schemes…
… for victims of two terrible injustices…
[redacted political content]
… the infected blood scandal…
… and the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The Leader of the Opposition rightly made an unequivocal apology for the injustice of the infected blood scandal on behalf of the British state…
… but he did not budget for the costs of compensation.
Today, for the very first time, we will provide specific funding to compensate those infected and those affected, in full…
… with £11.8bn in this budget.
And I am also today setting aside £1.8bn to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal…
… redress that is long overdue for the pain and injustice that they have suffered.
[redacted political content]
… and we will restore stability to our country again.
The scale and seriousness of the situation that we have inherited cannot be underestimated.
Together, the hole in our public finances this year, which recurs every year…
… the compensation schemes that they did not fund…
… and their failure to assess the scale of the challenges facing our public services…
… means this budget raises taxes by £40bn.
Any Chancellor standing here today would have to face this reality.
And any responsible Chancellor would take action.
That is why today, I am restoring stability to our public finances…
… and rebuilding our public services.
FISCAL RULES / OBR FORECASTS
Economy forecast/growth
As a former economist at the Bank of England, I know what it means to respect our economic institutions.
I want to put on record my thanks to the Governor of the Bank, Andrew Bailey…
… and to the independent Monetary Policy Committee.
Today, I can confirm that we will maintain the MPC’s target of two per cent inflation, as measured by the 12-month increase in the Consumer Prices Index.
I want to thank James Bowler, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, and my team of officials.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I would also like to thank my predecessors as Chancellor of the Exchequer…
… for their wise counsel as I have prepared for this Budget.
[redacted political content]
Finally, I want to thank Richard Hughes and his team at the Office for Budget Responsibility for their work in preparing today’s economic and fiscal outlook.
Let me now take the House through that forecast.
The cost of living crisis under the last government stretched household finances to their limit, with inflation hitting a peak of above 11%.
Today, the OBR say that CPI inflation will average 2.5% this year, 2.6% in 2025, then 2.3% in 2026, 2.1% in 2027, 2.1% in 2028 and 2.0% in 2029.
Next, I move on to economic growth.
Today’s budget marks an end to short-termism.
So I am pleased, that for the first time, the OBR have published not only five year growth forecasts…
… but a detailed assessment of the growth impacts of our policies over the next decade, too…
… and the new Charter for Budget Responsibility, which I am publishing today, confirms that this will become a permanent feature of our framework.
The OBR forecast that real GDP growth will be 1.1% in 2024, 2.0% in 2025, 1.8% in 2026, 1.5% in 2027, 1.5% in 2028 and 1.6% in 2029.
And the OBR are clear: this Budget will permanently increase the supply capacity of the economy…
[redacted political content]
… boosting long-term growth.
Every Budget I deliver will be focused on our mission to grow the economy.
And underpinning that mission are the seven key pillars of our growth strategy…
… developed and delivered alongside business…
… all driven forward by our Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
First, and most important, is to restore economic stability. That is my focus today.
Second, increasing investment and building new infrastructure is vital for productivity, so we are catalysing £70bn of investment through our National Wealth Fund…
… and we are transforming our planning rules to get Britain building again.
Third, to ensure that all parts of the UK can realise their potential…
… we are working with the devolved governments…
… and partnering with our Mayors to develop local growth plans.
Fourth, to improve employment prospects and skills we are creating Skills England, delivering our plans to Make Work Pay and tackling economic inactivity.
Fifth, we are launching our long-term modern industrial strategy and expanding opportunities for our small and medium sized businesses to grow.
Sixth, to drive innovation we are protecting record funding for research and development to harness the full potential of the UK’s science base.
And finally, to maximise the growth benefits of our clean energy mission, we have confirmed key investments such as Carbon Capture and Storage to create jobs in our industrial heartlands.
Our approach is already having an impact.
Just two weeks ago – we delivered an International Investment Summit which saw businesses commit £63.5bn of investment into this country…
… creating nearly 40,000 jobs across the United Kingdom.
[redacted political content]
Economic growth will be our mission for the duration of this parliament.
Stability rule
Madam Deputy Speaker, in our manifesto, we set out the fiscal rules that would guide this government.
I am confirming those today…
Our stability rule…
And our investment rule…
The “stability rule” means that we will bring the current budget into balance…
… so that we do not borrow to fund day to day spending.
We will meet this rule in 2029-30, until that becomes the third year of the forecast.
From then on, we will balance the current budget in the third year of every budget, held annually each autumn.
That will provide a tougher constraint on day to day spending…
… so difficult decisions cannot be constantly delayed or deferred.
The OBR say that the current budget will be in deficit by £26.2bn in 2025-26 and £5.2bn in 2026-27…
… before moving into surplus of £10.9bn in 2027-28, £9.3bn in 2028-29 and £9.9bn in 2029-30…
… meeting our stability rule…
… two years early.
Monthly public sector finances data shows that government borrowing in the first six months of this year…
… was already running significantly higher than the OBR’s March forecast.
And so the OBR confirmed today, that borrowing in this financial year is now £127bn…
[redacted political content]
The increase in the net cash requirement in 24-25 is lower than the increase in borrowing, at £22.3bn higher than the spring forecast.
Because of the action that we are taking…
… borrowing falls from 4.5% of GDP this year to 2.1% of GDP by the end of the forecast.
Public sector net borrowing will be £105.6bn in 2025-26, £88.5bn in 2026-27, £72.2bn in 2027-28, £71.9bn in 2028-29 and £70.6bn in 2029-2930.
FIXING THE FOUNDATIONS
Spending
Madam Deputy Speaker, before I come to tax…
… it is vital that we are driving efficiency and reducing wasteful spending.
In July, to begin delivering, and dealing with our inheritance…
… I made £5.5bn of savings this year.
Today we are setting a 2% productivity, efficiency and savings target for all departments to meet next year…
… by using technology more effectively and joining up services across government
As set out in our manifesto, I will shortly be appointing our Covid Corruption Commissioner, they will lead our work to uncover those companies that used a national emergency to line their own pockets.
Because that money belongs in our public services. And taxpayers want that money back.
And I can confirm today that David Goldstone has been appointed as the Chair of the new Office for Value for Money…
… to help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending.
Welfare
Today, I am also taking three steps to ensure that welfare spending is more sustainable.
First, we inherited [redacted political content] plans to reform the Work Capability Assessment.
We will deliver those savings…
…as part of our fundamental reforms to the health and disability benefits system that my Right Honourable Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary will bring forward.
Second, I can today announce a crackdown on fraud in our welfare system…
… often the work of criminal gangs.
We will expand DWP’s counter-fraud teams..
… using innovative new methods to prevent illegal activity…
… and provide new legal powers to crackdown on fraudsters…
… including direct access to bank accounts to recover debt.
This package saves £4.3bn a year by the end of the forecast.
Third, the government will shortly be publishing the “Get Britain Working” white paper…
… tackling the root causes of inactivity with an integrated approach across health, education and welfare.
… and we will provide £240m for 16 trailblazer projects…
… targeted at those who are economically inactive and most at risk of being out of education, employment or training…
… to get people into work and reduce the benefits bill.
Tax avoidance
Before a government could consider any change to a tax rate or threshold…
… it must ensure that people pay what they already owe.
So we will invest to modernise HMRC’s systems using the very best technology…
… and recruit additional HMRC compliance and debt staff.
We will clamp down on those umbrella companies who exploit workers…
… increase the interest rate on unpaid tax debt to ensure that people pay on time…
… and go after promoters of tax avoidance schemes.
These measures to reduce the tax gap raise £6.5bn by the end of the forecast…
… and I want to thank the Exchequer Secretary for his outstanding work on this agenda.
PROTECTING WORKING PEOPLE
Madam Deputy Speaker, I know that for working people up and down our country…
… family finances are stretched…
… and pay checks don’t go as far as they once did.
So today, I am taking steps to support people with the cost of living.
Cost of living
[redacted political content]
As promised in our manifesto, we asked the Low Pay Commission to take account of the cost of living for the first time.
I can confirm that we will accept the Low Pay Commission recommendation to increase the National Living Wage by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour…
… worth up to £1,400 a year for a full-time worker.
And for the first time, we will move towards a single adult rate…
… phased in over time…
… by initially increasing the National Minimum Wage for 18-20 year olds by 16.3% as recommended by the Low Pay Commission…
… taking it to £10 an hour.
[redacted political content]
Second, I have heard representations from colleagues across this house about the Carer’s Allowance…
… and the impact of the current policy on carers looking to increase the hours they work…
… including from the Honourable member for Shipley, the Honourable member for Scarborough and Whitby and the Rt Hon Member for Kingston and Surbiton, too.
Carer’s allowance currently provides up to £81.90 per week to help those with additional caring responsibilities.
Today, I can confirm that we are increasing the weekly earnings limit to the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage per week…
… the largest increase in Carer’s Allowance since it was introduced in 1976.
That means a carer can now earn over £10,000 a year while receiving Carer’s Allowance…
… allowing them to increase their hours where they want to…
… and keep more of their money.
I am also concerned about the cliff-edge in the current system and the issue of overpayments.
My Right Honourable Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary has announced an independent review to look at the issue of overpayments, and we will work across this house to develop the right solutions.
Third, we will provide £1bn from next year to extend the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments, to help those facing financial hardship with the cost of essentials.
Fourth, having heard representations from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Trussell and others…
… to reduce the level of debt repayments that can be taken from a household’s Universal Credit payment each month…
… by reducing it from 25% to 15% of their standard allowance.
This means that 1.2 million of the poorest households will keep more of their award each month…
… lifting children out of poverty…
… and those who benefit will gain an average of £420 a year.
Madam Deputy Speaker, our Plan to Make Work Pay will also protect working people.
[redacted political content]
It is right that we protect those who have worked their whole lives.
In our manifesto, we promised to transfer the Investment Reserve Fund in the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to members…
… and I have listened closely to my Honourable Friends for Easington, Doncaster Central, Blaenau Gwent, and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock on this issue.
Today we are keeping our promise…
… so that working people who powered our country receive the fair pension that they are owed.
Our manifesto committed to the Triple Lock…
… meaning spending on the State Pension is forecast to rise by over £31bn by 2029-30…
… to ensure that our pensioners are protected in their retirement.
This commitment means that while working age benefits will be uprated in line with CPI, at 1.7%…
… the basic and new State Pension…
… will be uprated by 4.1% in 2025-26.
This means that over 12 million pensioners will gain up to £470 next year…
… up to £275 more than if uprated by inflation.
The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will also rise by 4.1%…
… from around £11,400 per year to around £11,850 for a single pensioner.
Fuel duty
While I have sought to protect working people with measures to reduce the cost of living…
… I have had to take some very difficult decisions on tax.
I want to set out my approach to fuel duty.
Baked into the numbers that I inherited from the previous government…
… is an assumption that fuel duty will rise by RPI next year…
… and that the temporary 5p cut will be reversed.
To retain the 5p cut…
… and to freeze fuel duty again…
… would cost over £3bn next year.
At a time when the fiscal position is so difficult…
… I have to be frank with the House that this is a substantial commitment to make.
I have concluded…
… that in these difficult circumstances…
… while the cost of living remains high…
… and with a backdrop of global uncertainty…
… increasing fuel duty next year…
… would be the wrong choice for working people.
It would mean fuel duty rising by 7p per litre.
So, I have today decided to freeze fuel duty next year…
… and I will maintain the existing 5p cut for another year, too.
There will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the last government made cuts of £20bn to employees’ and self-employed national insurance in their final two budgets.
[redacted political content]
Because we now know they were based on a forecast which the OBR say would have been “materially different”…
… had they known the true extent of the last government’s cover-up.
Since July, I have been urged on multiple occasions to reconsider these cuts.
To increase the taxes that working people pay and see in their payslips.
But I have made an important choice today:
To keep every single commitment that we made on tax in our manifesto.
So I say to working people:
I will not increase your National Insurance…
…I will not increase your VAT…
…And I will not increase your income tax.
Working people will not see higher taxes in their payslips as a result of the choices I make today.
That is a promise made – and a promise fulfilled.
TAX
But any responsible Chancellor would need to take difficult decisions today.
To raise the revenues required to fund our public services.
And to restore economic stability.
So in today’s Budget, I am announcing an increase in Employers’ National Insurance Contributions.
We will increase the rate of Employers’ National Insurance by 1.2 percentage points, to 15%, from April 2025.
And we will reduce the Secondary Threshold – the level at which employers start paying national insurance on each employee’s salary – from £9,100 per year to £5,000.
This will raise £25bn per year by the end of the forecast period.
I know that this is a difficult choice.
I do not take this decision lightly.
We are asking business to contribute more…
… and I know that there will be impacts of this measure felt beyond businesses, too…
… as the OBR have set out today.
But in the circumstances that I have inherited, it is the right choice to make.
Successful businesses depend on successful schools.
Healthy businesses depend on a healthy NHS.
And a strong economy depends on strong public finances.
[redacted political content]
That is the choice our country faces too.
As I make this choice, I know it is particularly important to protect our smallest companies.
So having heard representations from the Federation of Small Businesses and others…
… I am today increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500.
This means 865,000 employers won’t pay any National Insurance at all next year…
… and over 1 million will pay the same or less than they did previously.
This will allow a small business to employ the equivalent of 4 full time workers on the National Living Wage…
… without paying any National Insurance on their wages.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let me come now to capital gains tax.
We need to drive growth, promote entrepreneurship, and support wealth creation…
… while raising the revenue required to fund our public services…
… and restore our public finances.
Today, we will increase the lower rate of Capital Gains Tax from 10% to 18%, and the Higher Rate from 20% to 24%…
… while maintaining the rates of capital gains tax on residential property at 18% and 24%, too.
This means the UK will still have the lowest Capital Gains Tax rate of any European G7 economy.
Alongside these changes to the headline rates of Capital Gains Tax…
… we are maintaining the lifetime limit for Business Asset Disposal Relief at £1m…
… to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses.
Business Asset Disposal Relief will remain at 10% this year…
… before rising to 14% in April 2025…
… and 18% from 2026-27…
… maintaining a significant gap compared to the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax.
Together, the OBR say these measures will raise £2.5bn by the end of the forecast.
In a sign of this government’s commitment to supporting growth and entrepreneurship…
…we have already extended the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trust schemes to 2035…
… and we will continue to work with leading entrepreneurs and venture capital firms…
… to ensure our policies support a positive environment for entrepreneurship in the UK.
Next, inheritance tax.
Only 6% of estates will pay inheritance tax this year.
I understand the strongly held desire to pass down savings to children and grandchildren.
So I am taking a balanced approach in my package today.
First, the previous government froze inheritance tax thresholds until 2028. I will extend that freeze for a further two years, until 2030.
That means the first £325,000 of any estate can be inherited tax-free…
… rising to £500,000 if the estate includes a residence passed to direct descendants….
… and £1m when a tax free allowance is passed to a surviving spouse or civil partner.
Second, we will close the loophole created by the previous government…
… made even bigger when the Lifetime Allowance was abolished…
… by bringing inherited pensions into inheritance tax from April 2027.
Finally, we will reform Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief.
From April 2026, the first £1m of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax at all…
… but for assets over £1m, inheritance tax will apply with 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20%.
This will ensure we continue to protect small family farms…
… and three-quarters of claims will be unaffected by these changes.
I can also announce that we will apply a 50% relief, in all circumstances, on inheritance tax for shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and other similar markets…
… setting the effective rate of tax at 20%.
Taken together, these measures raise over £2bn in the final year of the forecast.
Next, I can confirm that the government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator for the remainder of this Parliament at RPI+2%…
… increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year…
… introduce a flat rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026…
… alongside an additional one off- increase in tobacco duty to maintain the incentive to give up smoking.
And we will increase the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to account for inflation since it was introduced…
… as well as increasing the duty in line with CPI each year going forward.
These measures will raise nearly £1bn per year by the end of the forecast period.
Madame Deputy Speaker, we want to support the take-up of electric vehicles.
So I will maintain incentives for electric vehicles in Company Car Tax from 2028…
… and increase the differential between fully electric and other vehicles in the first year rates of Vehicle Excise Duty from April 2025.
These measures will raise around £400m by the end of the forecast period.
Madam Deputy Speaker let me update the House on our plans for Air Passenger Duty…
[redacted political content]
Air Passenger Duty has not kept up with inflation in recent years…
… so we are introducing an adjustment…
… meaning an increase of no more than £2 for an economy class short-haul flight.
But I am taking a different approach when it comes to private jets…
… increasing the rate of Air Passenger Duty by a further 50%.
[redacted political content]
These measures will raise over £700m by the end of the forecast period.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let me turn now to our high street businesses.
I know that for them, a major source of concern is business rates.
From 2026-27, we intend to introduce two permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties which make up the backbone of high streets across the country…
… and it is our intention that is paid for by a higher multiplier for the most valuable properties.
[redacted political content]
So I will today provide 40% relief on business rates for the retail, hospitality and leisure industry in 2025-26…
… up to a cap of £110,000 per business.
Alongside this, the small business tax multiplier will be frozen next year.
Next, I can confirm that alcohol duty rates on non-draught products will increase in line with RPI from February next year…
… but nearly two-thirds of alcoholic drinks sold in pubs are served on draught.
So today, instead of uprating these products in line with inflation…
… I am cutting draught duty by 1.7%…
… which means a penny off a pint in the pub.
Alongside the changes I am making today, I am publishing a Corporate Tax Roadmap..
… providing the business certainty called for by the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute for Directors.
This confirms our commitment to cap the rate of Corporation Tax at 25% – the lowest in the G7 – for the duration of this parliament….
… while maintaining full expensing and the £1 million Annual Investment Allowance…
…and keeping the current rates of research and development reliefs, to drive innovation.
Manifesto
Madam Deputy Speaker, in our manifesto we made a number of commitments to raise funding for our public services.
First, I have always said that if you make Britain your home, you should pay your tax here.
So today, I can confirm…
… we will abolish the non-dom tax regime…
… and remove the outdated concept of domicile from the tax system from April 2025.
We will introduce a new, residence based scheme…
… with internationally competitive arrangements for those coming to the UK on a temporary basis…
… while closing the loopholes in the scheme designed by the party opposite.
To further encourage investment into the UK, we will also extend the Temporary Repatriation Relief to three years and expand its scope…
… bringing billions of pounds of new funds into Britain.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility say that this package of measures will raise £12.7bn over the next five years.
Next, the fund management industry provides a vital contribution to our economy…
… but as our manifesto set out, there needs to be a fairer approach to the way carried interest is taxed.
So we will increase the Capital Gains Tax rates on carried interest to 32% from April 2025…
… and – from April 2026 – we will deliver further reforms to ensure that the specific rules for carried interest are simpler, fairer and better targeted.
In our manifesto we committed to reforming stamp duty land tax to raise revenue while supporting those buying their first home.
We are increasing the stamp-duty land tax surcharge for second-homes…
…known as the “Higher Rate for Additional Dwellings”…
… by 2 percentage points, to 5%, which will come into effect from tomorrow.
This will support over 130,000 additional transactions from people buying their first home, or moving home over, the next five years.
Next, we committed to reform the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies.
I can confirm today that we will increase the rate of the levy to 38%, which will now expire in March 2030…
… and we will remove the 29% investment allowance.
To ensure the oil and gas industry can protect jobs and support our energy security…
… we will maintain the 100% first year allowances and the decarbonisation allowances too.
Finally, 94% of children in the UK attend state schools.
To provide the highest quality of support and teaching that they deserve…
… we will introduce VAT on private school fees from January 2025…
… and we will shortly introduce legislation to remove their business rates relief from April 2025, too.
We said in our manifesto that these changes…
… alongside our measures to tackle tax avoidance…
… would bring in £8.5bn by the final year of the forecast.
I can confirm today that they will in fact raise over £9bn…
… to support our public services and restore our public finances.
That is a promise made – and a promise fulfilled.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I have one final decision to take on tax today.
The previous government froze income tax and National Insurance thresholds in 2021…
… and then they did so again after the mini-budget.
Extending their threshold freeze for a further two years raises billions of pounds.
Money to deal with the black hole in our public finances…
… and repair our public services.
Having considered this issue closely…
… I have come to the conclusion…
… that extending the threshold freeze…
… would hurt working people.
It would take more money out of their payslips.
I am keeping every single promise on tax that I made in our manifesto.
So there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax and National Insurance thresholds beyond the decisions of the previous government.
From 2028-29, personal tax thresholds will be uprated in line with inflation once again.
When it comes to choices on tax, this government chooses to protect working people every single time.
SPENDING
Madam Deputy Speaker, these are the choices I have made.
To restore economic stability.
And to protect working people.
The next choice I make is to begin to repair our public services.
In recent months, we have conducted the first phase of the Spending Review…
… to set departmental budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26…
… and I want to thank my Right Honourable Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for his tireless work with colleagues from across government.
Because I have taken difficult decisions on tax today…
… I am able to provide an injection of immediate funding over the next two years…
… to stabilise and to support our public services.
The next phase of the Spending Review will report in late Spring, and I have set the overall envelope today.
Day to day spending from 2024-25 onwards will grow by 1.5% in real terms…
… and total departmental spending, including capital spending, will grow by 1.7% in real terms.
At the election we promised there would be no return to austerity.
Today we deliver on that promise.
But given the scale of the challenges that are facing our public services…
… that means there will still be difficult choices in the next phase of the Spending Review.
Just as we cannot tax and spend our way to prosperity…
… nor can we simply spend our way to better public services.
So we will deliver a new approach to public service reform…
… using technology to improve public services…
… and taking a zero-based approach…
… so that taxpayers’ money is spent as effectively as possible…
… and so that we focus on delivering our key priorities.
Spending Review: Phase 1
In the first phase of the Spending Review…
… I have prioritised day-to-day funding to deliver on our manifesto commitments.
I want every child to have the best start in life…
… and the best possible start to the school day, too…
… and I know my Right Honourable Friend the Education Secretary shares my ambition.
So I am today tripling investment in breakfast clubs to fund them in thousands of schools.
I am increasing the core schools budget by £2.3bn next year…
… to support our pledge to hire thousands more teachers into key subjects.
So that our young people can develop the skills that they need for the future…
… I am providing an additional £300m for further education.
And finally, this government is committed to reforming special educational needs provision…
… to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children and ensure the system is financially sustainable.
To support that work, I am today providing a £1bn uplift in funding, a 6% real terms increase from this year.
There is no more important job for government than to keep our country safe, and we are conducting a Strategic Defence Review to be published next year.
And as set out in our manifesto, we will set a path to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence at a future fiscal event.
Today, I am announcing a total increase to the Ministry of Defence’s Budget of £2.9bn next year…
… ensuring the UK comfortably exceeds our NATO commitments…
… and providing guaranteed military support to Ukraine of £3bn per year, for as long as it takes.
Last week, alongside my Right Honourable Friend the Defence Secretary, I announced, in addition to this, further support to Ukraine – on top of our NATO commitment…
… through our £2.26bn contribution to the G7’s Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration agreement…
… repaid using profits from immobilised Russian sovereign assets.
And as we approach Remembrance Sunday…
… it is vital that we take time to remember those who have served our country so bravely.
So I am today announcing funding to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ day next year…
… to honour those who have served at home and abroad.
We must also remember those who experienced the atrocities of the Nazi regime first hand.
I would like to pay tribute to Lily Ebert, the Holocaust Survivor and educator who passed away aged 100 earlier this month.
I am today committing a further £2m to holocaust education next year…
… so that charities like the Holocaust Educational Trust, can continue their work to ensure these vital testimonies are not lost and are preserved for the future.
Madam Deputy Speaker, to repair our public services we also need to work alongside our mayors and our local leaders.
We will deliver a significant real-terms funding increase for local government next year…
… including £1.3bn of additional grant funding to deliver essential services…
… with at least £600m in grant funding for social care…
… and £230m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping
We are today confirming that Greater Manchester and the West Midlands will be the first mayoral authorities to receive integrated settlements from next year…
… giving Mayors meaningful control of the funding for their local areas.
*
And to support our local high streets…
… we are taking action to deal with the sharp rise in shoplifting we have seen in recent years.
We will scrap the effective immunity for low-value shoplifting introduced by the party opposite.
And having listened closely to organisations like the British Retail Consortium and USDAW…
… I am providing additional funding to crack down on the organised gangs which target retailers…
… and to provide more training to our police officers and retailers to help stop shoplifting in its tracks.
Finally, I am today providing funding to support public services and drive growth across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Having discussed the matter with the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, and my HFs for Llanelli and Pontypridd…
… I am providing a £25m to the Welsh Government next year for the maintenance of coal tips to ensure we keep our communities safe.
And to support growth, including in our rural areas, we will proceed with City and Growth Deals in Northern Ireland…
… in Causeway Coast and Glens; and Mid-South West.
And we will drive growth in Scotland [redacted political content] including a City and growth Deal in Argyll and Bute.
This budget provides the devolved governments with the largest real-terms funding settlement since devolution…
… delivering an additional £3.4 billion for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula…
… funding which must now be spent effectively to improve public services in Scotland.
This budget also provides £1.7 billion to the Welsh Government…
… and £1.5 billion to the Northern Ireland Executive in 2025-26.
I said there would be no return to austerity, and that is the choice I have made today.
REBUILDING BRITAIN
Madam Deputy Speaker, to rebuild our country we need to increase investment.
The UK lags behind every other G7 country when it comes to business investment as a share of our economy.
That matters.
It means the UK has fallen behind in the race for new jobs…
… new industries…
… and new technology.
By restoring economic stability…
… and by establishing the National Wealth Fund to catalyse private funding…
… we have begun to create the conditions that businesses need to invest.
But there is also a significant role for public investment.
Hospitals without the equipment they need.
School buildings not fit for our children.
A desperate lack of affordable housing.
Economic growth held back at every turn.
Under the plans I inherited…
… public investment was set to fall from 2.5% to 1.7% of GDP.
But in Washington last week, the International Monetary Fund were clear:
More public investment is badly needed in the UK.
So today, having listened to the case made by the former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney…
… former Treasury Minister, Jim O’Neill…
… and the former Cabinet Secretary, Gus O’Donnell…
… among others…
… I am confirming our investment rule.
As set out in our manifesto, we will target debt falling as a share of the economy.
Debt will be defined as Public Sector net Financial Liabilities, or “net financial debt”, for short…
… a metric that has been measured by the Office for National Statistics since 2016…
… and forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility since that date too.
“Net financial debt” recognises that government investment delivers returns for taxpayers…
… by counting not just the liabilities on a government’s balance sheet, but the financial assets too.
This means that we count the benefits of investment, not just the costs…
And we free up our institutions to invest…
… just as they do in Germany, France and Japan.
Like our stability rule, our investment rule will apply in 2029-2030…
… until that becomes the third year of the forecast.
From that point onwards, net financial debt will fall in the third year of every forecast.
Today, the OBR say that we are already meeting our target two years early…
… with “net financial debt” falling by 2027-28…
… with £15.7bn of headroom in the final year.
So that we drive the right incentives in government investments…
… we will introduce four key guardrails to ensure capital spending is good value for money and drives growth in our economy.
First, our portfolio of new financial investments will be delivered by expert bodies like the National Wealth Fund which must, by default, earn a rate of return at least as large as that on gilts.
Second, we will strengthen the role of institutions to improve infrastructure delivery.
Third, we will improve certainty, setting capital budgets for five years and extending them at every spending review every two years.
Finally, we will ensure there is greater transparency for capital spending, with robust annual reporting of financial investments…
… based on accounts audited by the National Audit Office…
… and made available to the Office for Budget Responsibility at every forecast.
Taken together with our stability rule…
…these fiscal rules will ensure that our public finances are on a firm footing…
… while enabling us to invest prudently alongside business.
Growth projects
The capital plans I now set out…
… to drive growth across our country…
… and repair the fabric of our nation…
… are only possible because of our investment rule.
Let me set out those investment plans.
Industrial strategy
Today we are confirming our plans to capitalise the National Wealth Fund…
… to invest in the industries of the future…
… from gigafactories, to ports to green hydrogen.
Building on these investments, my Right Honourable Friend the Business Secretary is driving forward our modern industrial strategy…
… working with businesses and organisations like Make UK…
… to set out the sectors with the biggest growth potential.
Today, we are confirming multi-year funding commitments for these areas of our economy, including…
… nearly £1bn for the aerospace sector to fund vital research and development, building on our industry in the East Midlands, the South-West and Scotland…
… over £2 billion for the automotive sector…
… to support our electric vehicle industry and develop our manufacturing base…
… building on our strengths in the North East and the West Midlands…
And up to £520m for a new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.
For our world-leading creative industries…
… we will legislate to provide additional tax relief for visual effect costs in TV and film…
.. and we are providing £25m for the North East Combined Authority…
… which they plan to use to remediate the Crown Works Studio site in Sunderland…
… creating 8,000 new jobs.
Research & Development
To unlock these growth industries of the future, we will protect government investment in research and development with more than £20bn worth of funding.
This includes at least £6.1bn to protect core research funding for areas like engineering, biotechnology and medical science…
…through Research England, other research councils, and the National Academies.
We will extend the Innovation Accelerators programme in Glasgow, in Manchester and in the West Midlands.
And with over £500m of funding next year, my Right Honourable Friend the Science, Technology and Innovation Secretary, will continue to drive progress in improving reliable, fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas.
Housing
We committed in our manifesto to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament…
… and my Right Honourable Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is driving that work forward across government.
Today, I am providing over £5bn of government investment to deliver our plans on housing next year.
We will increase the Affordable Homes Programme to £3.1bn…
… delivering thousands of new homes.
We will provide £3bn of support in guarantees…
… to boost the supply of homes and support our small housebuilders.
And we will provide investment to renovate sites across our country…
… including at Liverpool Central Docks…
… where we will deliver 2,000 new homes…
… and funding to help Cambridge realise its full growth potential.
Alongside this investment, we will put the right policies in place to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Having heard representations from local authorities, social housing providers and from Shelter…
… I can today confirm that the government will reduce Right to Buy Discounts…
… and local authorities will be able to retain the full receipts from any sales of social housing…
… to reinvest back into the housing stock, and into new supply..
… so that we give more people a safe, secure and affordable place to live.
We will provide stability to social housing providers, with a social housing rent settlement of CPI+1 percent for the next five years.
And we will deliver on our manifesto commitment to hire hundreds of new planning officers, to get Britain building again.
We will also make progress on our commitment to accelerate the remediation of homes following the findings of the Grenfell Inquiry…
… with £1bn of investment to remove dangerous cladding next year.
Transport
Working with my Right Honourable Friend the Transport Secretary, I am changing that.
We are today securing the delivery of the Trans-Pennine upgrade to connect York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester…
… delivering fully electric local and regional services between Manchester and Stalybridge by the end of this year…
… with a further electrification of services between Church Fenton and York by 2026.…
… to help grow our economy across the North of England…
… with faster and more reliable services.
We will deliver East-West Rail to drive growth between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge…
… with the first services running between Oxford, Bletchley and Milton Keynes next year…
… and trains between Oxford and Bedford running from 2030.
We are delivering railway schemes which improve journeys for people across our country…
… including upgrades at Bradford Forster Square…
… improving capacity at Manchester Victoria…
… and electrifying the Wigan-Bolton line.
My Right Honourable Friend the Transport Secretary has also set out a plan for how to get a grip of HS2.
Today, we are securing delivery of the project between Old Oak Common and Birmingham…
… and we are committing the funding required to begin tunnelling work to London Euston station…
… This will catalyse private investment into the local area.
I am also funding significant improvements to our roads network.
For too long, potholes have been an all too visible reminder of our failure to invest as a nation.
Today, that changes…
… with a £500m increase in road maintenance budgets next year…
… more than delivering on our manifesto commitment to fix an additional one million potholes each year.
We will provide over £650m of local transport funding to improve connections across our country…
… in our towns like Crewe and Grimsby…
… and in our villages and rural areas, from Cornwall to Cumbria.
… we understand how important bus services are for our communities…
…so we will extend the cap for a further year, setting it at £3 until December 2025.
Finally we will deliver £1.3bn of funding to improve connectivity in our city regions, funding projects like…
… the Brierley Hill Metro extension in the West Midlands…
… the renewal of the Sheffield Supertram…
… and West Yorkshire Mass Transit, including in Bradford and Leeds.
Energy
Madam Deputy Speaker, to bring new jobs to Britain and drive growth across our country…
… we are delivering our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, led by my Right Honourable Friend the Energy Secretary.
Earlier this month, we announced a significant multi-year investment between government and business into Carbon Capture and Storage…
… creating 4,000 jobs across Merseyside and Teesside.
Today, I am providing funding for 11 new green hydrogen projects across England, Scotland and Wales – they will be among the first commercial scale projects anywhere in the world…
… including in Bridgend, East Renfrewshire and in Barrow-in-Furness
We are kickstarting the Warm Homes Plan by confirming an initial £3.4bn over the next three years…
… to transform 350,000 homes…
… including a quarter of a million low-income and social homes.
And we will establish GB Energy…
… providing funding next year to set up GB Energy at its new home in Aberdeen.
Overall, we will invest an additional £100bn over the next five years in capital spending…
… only possible because of our investment rule.
The OBR say today that this will drive growth across our country in the next five years…
… and in the longer term increase GDP by up to 1.4%.
It will crowd in private investment…
… meaning more jobs, and more opportunities…
… in every corner of the UK.
That is the choice that I have made.
To invest in our country…
… and to grow our economy.
Today, I am setting out two final areas in which investment is so badly needed…
… to repair the fabric of our nation.
Schools
[redacted political content]
… schools roofs are crumbling….
… and millions of children are facing the very same backdrop as I did.
I will be the Chancellor that changes that.
So today, I am providing £6.7bn of capital investment to the Department for Education next year…
… a 19% real-terms increase on this year.
That includes £1.4bn to rebuild over 500 schools in the greatest need…
… including St Helen’s Primary School in Hartlepool, and Mercia Academy in Derby…
… and so many more across our country.
And we will provide a further £2.1bn to improve school maintenance, £300m more than this year…
… ensuring that all our children can learn somewhere safe…
… including dealing with RAAC affected schools in the constituencies of my HFs the members for Watford, Stourbridge, Hyndburn, and beyond.
Alongside investment in new teachers…
… and funding for thousands of new breakfast clubs…
… this government is giving our children and young people the opportunities that they deserve.
NHS
Madam Deputy Speaker, I come to our most cherished public service of all: our NHS.
[redacted political content]
In our first week in office, he commissioned an independent report into the state of our health service by Lord Darzi.
Its conclusions were damning.
While our NHS staff do a remarkable job, and we thank them for it…
… it is clear that, that in so many areas…
… we are moving in the wrong direction.
100,000 infants waited over 6 hours in A&E last year.
350,000 people are waiting a year for mental health support.
Cancer deaths here are higher than in other countries.
It is simply unforgiveable.
In the Spring, we will publish a 10 year plan for the NHS…
… to deliver a shift from hospital to community…
… from analogue to digital…
… and from sickness to prevention.
Today, we are announcing a downpayment on that plan…
… to enable the NHS to deliver 2% productivity growth next year.
These reforms are vital.
But we should be honest.
The state of the NHS we inherited…
… after – and I quote Lord Darzi – “the most austere decade since the NHS was founded” –
… means reform must come alongside investment.
So today…
… because of the difficult decision that I have taken on tax, welfare and spending…
… I can announce…
… that I am providing a £22.6bn increase in the day to-day health budget…
… and a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget…
… over this year and next year.
This is the largest real-terms growth in day to day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010.
Let me set out what this funding is delivering.
Many NHS buildings have been left in a state of disrepair.
So we will provide £1 billion of health capital investment next year to address the backlog of repairs and upgrades across the NHS.
To increase capacity for tens of thousands more procedures next year…
… we will provide a further £1.5bn…
… for new beds in hospitals across the country…
… new capacity for over a million additional diagnostic tests…
… and new surgical hubs and diagnostic centres …
… so that those people waiting for their treatment can get it as quickly as possible.
My Right Honourable Friend the Health Secretary will be announcing the details of his review into the New Hospital Programme in the coming weeks…
… and publishing in the new year…
… but I can tell the House today…
… that work will continue at pace to deliver those seven hospitals affected including…
… West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds…
… and Leighton Hospital in Crewe.
And finally…
… because of this record injection of funding…
… because of the thousands of additional beds that we have secured…
… and because of the reforms that we are delivering in our NHS…
… we can now begin to bring waiting lists down more quickly…
… and move towards our target for waiting times no longer than 18 weeks…
… by delivering our manifesto commitment for 40,000 extra hospital appointments a week.
[redacted political content]
CLOSING
Madam Deputy Speaker, the choices that I have made today are the right choices for our country.
To restore stability to our public finances.
To protect working people.
To fix our NHS.
And to rebuild Britain.
That doesn’t mean these choices are easy.
But they are responsible.
[redacted political content]
This is a moment of fundamental choice for Britain.
I have made my choices.
The responsible choices.
To restore stability to our country.
To protect working people.
More teachers in our schools.
More appointments in our NHS.
More homes being built.
Fixing the foundations of our economy.
Investing in our future.
Delivering change.
Rebuilding Britain.
We on these benches commend those choices…
… and I commend this Statement to the House.
Updates to this page
Published 30 October 2024