Paradise Rediscovered Sri Lanka's Resorts Are Set For
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BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY LAYING DOWN PARADISE REDISCOVERED THE LAWES SRI LANKA’S RESORTS ARE ENGLAND MAKE SET FOR A SPECIAL 2020 P24 IRELAND PAY P27 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 ISSUE 3,562 CITYAM.COM FREE TRADING TIMES IG boss says INVESTORS trimming day is wrong direction SPLASH OUT EMILYON NICOLLE FINTECHincluded funding rounds from the Frederic Court, founder and manag- AND ANNA MENIN likes of Oaknorth, Monzo and ing partner at Felix Capital, said @emilyjnicolle @annafmenin Starling Bank, while startups Check- recent deals in the US such as Morgan out.com and Sumup entered the uni- Stanley buying digital stockbroker GLOBAL investors poured money into corn ranks as their valuations E-Trade for $13bn are a sign that the UK’s fintech sector last year, surpassed $1bn. consolidation is on the horizon for almost doubling the amount invested KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech report British fintech firms. “There will be a EXCLUSIVE been lobbying for the London Stock here between 2018 and 2019 — despite showed cross-border transactions lot of value shifting from the estab- ANNA MENIN Exchange to trim the City’s trading the rest of the world suffering a slight around the world remained high last lished players to some of the emerg- @annafmenin day, arguing it would improve downturn in funding. year, despite ongoing geopolitical ten- ing startups such as Monzo and workplace culture and market British fintech companies attracted sions. Cross-border deal value sur- Revolut,” said Court. SHORTENING trading hours in London liquidity. In December the bourse $48.5bn (£37.4bn) of investment in passed $50bn in 2019, with 138 deals. “Consumers have spoken, and they would not be “helpful” for the City and launched a consultation into cutting 2019, up 91 per cent from $25.4bn a “As a number of UK fintechs hit want to lead their financial life the could make it “less competitive hours, and European peer Euronext year earlier. Data released by KPMG their high-growth phase, they're in- way they lead the rest of their life: globally”, according to the head of one has followed suit. today also revealed the number of evitably seeking both scale and prof- using their mobile phone, and having of Britain’s biggest trading platforms. “Right now London has a lot of deals in the UK reached a six-year itability; they’re coming out of their simple products and apps that they June Felix, whose firm IG Group challenges with Brexit,” said Felix. high, defying the amount invested niche and going deep by providing a find as easy to use as social media. offers 24-hour trading to its customers, “Adding [shorter hours] on top of that globally where overall fintech wider range of services or going wide That’s where the incumbents have a said “the whole idea that everything to make you less competitive globally fundraising fell just short of 2018’s by becoming international,” Starling lot to improve.” has to be around work/life would not necessarily, record at $135.7bn. Bank boss Anne Boden told City A.M. Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion balance” is a “bit skewed”. in my humble opinion, Across Europe, the UK accounted for “The incumbents are in real danger Capital, added: “The UK is currently “Based on that, you THE TIMES THEY be helpful to where half of the top 10 deals and netted of being left behind on both fronts.” the leading fintech hub in the world, wouldn’t have 24-hour ARE A-CHANGING London wants to be more than 80 per cent of the conti- Data from Tech Nation and Deal- thanks to extensive financial services electricity... you wouldn’t and remain to be a nent’s record-setting total of $58bn. room last month showed the sector experience, digital technology talent, have 24-hour police global financial hub.” City The largest funding round in UK his- more than doubled its 2018 total in and progressive regulators and policy support,” she told MARKET LEADERS AND INVESTOR GROUPS CALL FOR A SHORTER WORKING DAY ON THE CAPITAL’S TRADING FLOORS SEBASTIAN MCCARTHY for a 90-m A.M. inute reduction to the day. lagging behind a w £ READ THE FULL @SebMcCarthy Long hours are impacting on traders’ ider financial services industry push for more diversity and shorter could also mean less profit as tory occurred last year, when fintech in an interview. mental health and wellbeing, the there would be less tim venture capital funding alone to THE DAILY bustle on Eur makers supportive of increasing com- bodies e f ope’s high- inclusion unless the or activity.” warned, adding that a short long trading day is Another chief executive said: “I agree octane trading floors shoulde bcut short ened day tackled by an industry-wide appr by more than an hour in a bid to improvewould help recruit and retain employees oach”. with the point that we need a mor However, today’s call haseen b me e mental health and div with families. t diverse workforce, but if you take off 90 ersity, two of the Calls for greater diversity on the with mixed reaction from those in financial industry’s most influen the City. minutes to the trading side of business, it tial trading floors come amid a wider push t won’t solve much INTERVIEW: P12 lender Greensill raised $800m from reach $5.4bn last year, comfortably petition and accelerating innovation Industry bodies have bodies have d t d o Th b f Softbank. Other standout deals outpacing the rest of Europe. in such a crucial sector.” FTSE 100▼ 7,403.92 -32.72 FTSE 250▼ 21,780.20 -86.49 DOW▼28,992.41 -227.57 NASDAQ▼ 9,576.59 -174.37 £/$▲ 1.300 +0.009 £/€▲1.195 +0.002 €/$▲ 1.086 +0.006 02 NEWS MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 CITYAM.COM THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THEY USED TO York’s Viking reenactors take a break from marching, fighting and pillaging THE CITY VIEW Spending spree could come at a heavy cost ROM the briefings that have been emerging from Downing Street and the Treasury in recent weeks, it is sometimes Fdifficult to remember which party won the last election. Ahead of the Budget, there are reports we could be set for a spending boom to rival Gordon Brown’s pre-election giveaway in 2001 — the very height of New Labour. It’s no wonder some Conservatives are starting to get a little antsy about the fiscal implications of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s spree, even if the politics are blindingly obvious. Of course the Conservatives are going to spend money in parts of the country that, as the PM puts it so effectively, “loaned” his party their vote in the last election. But that doesn’t mean that all the work that David Cameron did to persuade the country that austerity was YORK’s 36th Viking Festival ended with a popular march yesterday, with reenactors paying tribute to the history of the invaders. necessary can be thrown out alongside. The great British public The city was first captured in November 866 by Ivar the Boneless, who removed the Anglo-Saxons from the region. The Yorkshire has an innate scepticism about city was home to a mint and became one of the Danes’ most important trading posts, with links as far afield as the Persian Gulf. massive spending programmes, as Jeremy Corbyn found out at the ballot box in December. There is a virtue in fiscal Somebody needs prudence that Johnson and to keep an eye on ... but Treasury Sunak must not forget — both Digital currency the finances for the sake of the country’s plots a plan to finances, and because if you allow a spending war to become the overriding narrative of British politics then the opposition will usually win eventually. It’s in that context that eyebrows are vital, says BoE... keep cash alive entitled to be raised when well-sourced reports that the Treasury plans to concoct new fiscal rules or change the way its ANNA MENIN timescales appear, and similarly when it is proposed that the @annafmenin ANNA MENIN “We need to think as an institution next boss of the government’s fiscal watchdog, the Office for @annafmenin about how to position ourselves to THE TREASURY is drawing up plans Budget Responsibility, might not have quite the teeth of the make sure society still has a broad to protect the availability of cash incumbent. This government has already enjoyed its THE BANK of England’s (BoE) chief range of payments that it can use amid concerns over declining cashier has indicated support for an with confidence,” John told the Sun- access to dispensers for older honeymoon period perhaps a little too much; losing a official digital currency, saying it is day Telegraph. people and those from rural chancellor is not considered entirely best practice just two “crucial” for central banks to consider “It is absolutely right that central communities. months into an administration. There will, of course, be plenty entering the market before it be- banks think about whether a public Officials are understood to be in of people who will welcome a burst of infrastructure spending. comes dominated by tech giants. sector or private sector would be best detailed discussions about how to Sarah John, who is responsible for to provide a digital currency going combat the decline of cash ahead But as a new Institute for Government report has made clear, issuing banknotes, said it was “really forward.” she added. of the Budget next month, with one invariably such big clumps of cash do not end up entirely where important” for central banks to Last month, the BoE teamed up with possible option the introduction of they’re supposed to.