cityam--2020-10-30--Negative rates explained: should UK investors prepare?

The UK ’ s banks received a letter from the Bank of England ( BoE ) this week which has brought negative interest rates back into the headlines .
The letter , published here , asked banks how ready they would be if the Bank of England base rate – which currently sits at 0.10 % – moved into negative territory .
The letter , signed by Sam Woods , Deputy Governor and CEO of the Prudential Regulation Authority , said : “ For a negative bank rate to be effective as a policy tool , the financial sector – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy – would need to be operationally ready to implement it in a way that does not adversely affect the safety and soundness of firms.
” The letter is not a statement of intent and the prospect of negative rates remains hypothetical – “ should the MPC decide it was appropriate ” – but it has brought the topic back into the spotlight .
We spoke to Azad Zangana , Senior Economist and Strategist to find out more about what this all means .
Discover more from Schroders : – Learn : Would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – Read : What ’ s driving stock market returns ?
– Watch : Is Big Tech under threat ?
Why do we need negative rates ?
“ The UK economy was growing at a relatively weak pace – then the coronavirus pandemic arrived , posing an enormous threat to the system .
The Bank of England ( BoE ) wanted to keep money in the real economy and to kick-start spending .
The intention is to get money flowing out of banks and into the economy in the form of loans and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) – the BoE buying government bonds and corporate bonds – is one way to do this .
And cutting interest rates is another .
As interest rates are now only 0.10 % , cutting much further would lead to negative interest rates .
“ If interest rates are cut so far that they fall below zero , the theory should still apply – negative rates should encourage borrowing and discourage deposits and savings .
But , in practice , negative interest rates can result in some bizarre outcomes – for savers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Europe does not really suggest that negative interest rates encouraged greater lending activity .
In fact , lending was stagnant until the European Central Bank started its own funding for lending scheme .
“ If banks are charged for holding cash reserves with the central bank , rather than being paid , then it eats into their profit margin and requires them to recoup the cost in some way .
“ In theory , banks should pass on the cost to savers by giving them a negative interest rate .
In reality , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been reluctant to do this , choosing instead to either increase banking fees or charges .
If they can not do this , then some banks have simply reduced lending , which may be the worst possible outcome given the policy ’ s intention is to stimulate business activity.
” How do negative rates it affect my mortgage ?
“ Yes .
It sounds crazy , but it ’ s true .
In this topsy-turvy scenario , the lender would actually pay the borrower .
In some European countries , where central @ @ @ @ @ @ @ several years , mortgages at sub-zero rates – or “ reverse-charging ” – are no longer so unfamiliar .
Put another way , if your mortgage comes with a negative interest rate , you ’ ll end up paying back less than you borrowed .
“ Where this happens , the bank doesn ’ t actually make monthly payments to the borrower .
Instead , the bank reduces the outstanding capital , thereby accelerating how fast the borrowers reduce their debt .
Clearly , where interest rates are negative , there is little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debt.
” Why would a lender pay someone who is borrowing money from them ?
“ Are you wondering , what does the lender get out of this arrangement ?
Well , in the world of negative interest rates , a negative return may still look attractive when compared to other returns the bank could receive on its capital .
It also depends on other factors ( rather than just the interest rate ) .
This might include the security of the underlying asset ( such as property ) and the size of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ In this sense a mortgage is just like a government bond producing a negative yield .
In 2019 , for example , a Danish bank offered a ten-year mortgage at –0.5 % .
Compared to other potential returns it could get on its cash , it must have viewed this as an attractive opportunity.
” “ It seems highly unlikely .
After the 2008-2009 financial crisis , some UK “ tracker ” mortgages – the interest rate the borrower pays for the loan rises and falls in line with the Bank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indeed come close to zero .
The BoE rate fell by 90 % , going from 5 % to 0.5 % in under a year .
UK banks learned from that experience .
“ Most tracker mortgage contracts currently in force have a mechanism in place which prevents them from dropping below a stated positive interest rate , irrespective of whether or not the BoE cuts its rate .
In any case , a high proportion of UK mortgages are on fixed rates , so BoE rate reductions would not apply to those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a UK saver , do i have to pay my bank interest ?
“ Negative interest rates penalise consumers and businesses for keeping savings in their bank accounts , as their value would decrease over time .
To avoid charges , some households could even decide to withdraw savings from banks and instead invest in a home safe .
Not only is this a security risk , but the withdrawal of assets from financial institutions reduces liquidity and the ability of banks to lend .
“ Banks would not pay out anything to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ savings , but in the main , investors do not have to pay the banks to hold onto the money for them .
Negative interest rates have actually already been put in place in the eurozone , Japan , Switzerland , Sweden and Denmark .
And that is what has happened to consumers and businesses in those countries .
“ However , savers in Germany are among those experiencing negative rates on deposits but , so far , the majority of those affected are institutions or individual savers with large sums such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pay for the bank to actually hold their money is sometimes called “ depositary charges ” .
Only recently have smaller German savers been hit by such charges.
” “ An interest rate cut into negative territory could boost UK bond markets .
This is because when yields fall , bond prices actually rise .
However , lower yields also decrease any future income that would accrue to bond holders .
“ Growing expectations for interest rate cuts have already sent UK yields on government bonds below zero for the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effectively paying the UK government to hold their money.
” “ Lower interest rates could be positive for the UK stock market because they increase the value of future earnings that companies make that would eventually be paid out to shareholders .
Companies ’ earnings become more valuable in a low interest rate environment .
When this happens , share prices tend to appreciate in value.
” Does the BoE have any other options ?
“ Although we do not expect to see negative interest rates in the UK , if this did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of far-reaching consequences for consumers , businesses and banks as well as the economy .
We actually doubt the BoE will cut interest rates below zero .
Instead , further expansions in QE are possible , with the BoE continuing to indicate that interest rates will remain on hold for some time .
“ In terms of what could happen next , to support the economy , the BoE could continue to buy more bonds .
This can lower borrowing costs and encourage lending without moving the base rate into negative territory.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and follow Schroders on twitter .
Important Information : This communication is marketing material .
The views and opinions contained herein are those of the author ( s ) on this page , and may not necessarily represent views expressed or reflected in other Schroders communications , strategies or funds .
This material is intended to be for information purposes only and is not intended as promotional material in any respect .
The material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be relied on for accounting , legal or tax advice , or investment recommendations .
Reliance should not be placed on the views and information in this document when taking individual investment and/or strategic decisions .
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results .
The value of an investment can go down as well as up and is not guaranteed .
All investments involve risks including the risk of possible loss of principal .
Information herein is believed to be reliable but Schroders does not warrant its completeness or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from external sources we consider to be reliable .
No responsibility can be accepted for errors of fact obtained from third parties , and this data may change with market conditions .
This does not exclude any duty or liability that Schroders has to its customers under any regulatory system .
Regions/ sectors shown for illustrative purposes only and should not be viewed as a recommendation to buy/sell .
The opinions in this material include some forecasted views .
We believe we are basing our expectations and beliefs on reasonable assumptions within the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , there is no guarantee than any forecasts or opinions will be realised .
These views and opinions may change .
To the extent that you are in North America , this content is issued by Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. , an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Schroders plc and SEC registered adviser providing asset management products and services to clients in the US and Canada .
For all other users , this content is issued by Schroder Investment Management Limited , 1 London Wall Place , London EC2Y 5AU @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority .

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Negative rates explained: should UK investors prepare?
Although officials voted unanimously in favour of holding rates at 0.1 per cent, one key member broke ranks and signalled their opposition toward the scale of the Bank’s bond buying programme
The UK’s banks received a letter from the Bank of England (BoE) this week which has brought negative interest rates back into the headlines.
The letter, published here, asked banks how ready they would be if the Bank of England base rate – which currently sits at 0.10% – moved into negative territory.
The letter, signed by Sam Woods, Deputy Governor and CEO of the Prudential Regulation Authority, said:
“For a negative bank rate to be effective as a policy tool, the financial sector – as the key transmission mechanism of monetary policy – would need to be operationally ready to implement it in a way that does not adversely affect the safety and soundness of firms.”
The letter is not a statement of intent and the prospect of negative rates remains hypothetical – “should the MPC decide it was appropriate” – but it has brought the topic back into the spotlight.
We spoke to Azad Zangana, Senior Economist and Strategist to find out more about what this all means.
Discover more from Schroders:
– Learn: Would a Biden presidency hurt stock markets?
– Read: What’s driving stock market returns?
– Watch: Is Big Tech under threat?
Why do we need negative rates?
“The UK economy was growing at a relatively weak pace – then the coronavirus pandemic arrived, posing an enormous threat to the system. The Bank of England (BoE) wanted to keep money in the real economy and to kick-start spending. The intention is to get money flowing out of banks and into the economy in the form of loans and mortgages.
“Quantitative easing (QE) – the BoE buying government bonds and corporate bonds – is one way to do this. And cutting interest rates is another. As interest rates are now only 0.10%, cutting much further would lead to negative interest rates.
“If interest rates are cut so far that they fall below zero, the theory should still apply – negative rates should encourage borrowing and discourage deposits and savings. But, in practice, negative interest rates can result in some bizarre outcomes – for savers and mortgage holders.”
Do negative rates work?
“The evidence from Europe does not really suggest that negative interest rates encouraged greater lending activity. In fact, lending was stagnant until the European Central Bank started its own funding for lending scheme.
“If banks are charged for holding cash reserves with the central bank, rather than being paid, then it eats into their profit margin and requires them to recoup the cost in some way.
“In theory, banks should pass on the cost to savers by giving them a negative interest rate. In reality, where negative interest rates exist, banks have been reluctant to do this, choosing instead to either increase banking fees or charges. If they cannot do this, then some banks have simply reduced lending, which may be the worst possible outcome given the policy’s intention is to stimulate business activity.”
How do negative rates it affect my mortgage?
“Yes. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. In this topsy-turvy scenario, the lender would actually pay the borrower. In some European countries, where central bank rates have been below zero for several years, mortgages at sub-zero rates – or “reverse-charging” – are no longer so unfamiliar. Put another way, if your mortgage comes with a negative interest rate, you’ll end up paying back less than you borrowed.
“Where this happens, the bank doesn’t actually make monthly payments to the borrower. Instead, the bank reduces the outstanding capital, thereby accelerating how fast the borrowers reduce their debt. Clearly, where interest rates are negative, there is little incentive for the mortgage borrower to repay debt.”
Why would a lender pay someone who is borrowing money from them?
“Are you wondering, what does the lender get out of this arrangement? Well, in the world of negative interest rates, a negative return may still look attractive when compared to other returns the bank could receive on its capital. It also depends on other factors (rather than just the interest rate). This might include the security of the underlying asset (such as property) and the size of the “return” (loss).
“In this sense a mortgage is just like a government bond producing a negative yield. In 2019, for example, a Danish bank offered a ten-year mortgage at –0.5%. Compared to other potential returns it could get on its cash, it must have viewed this as an attractive opportunity.”
Will UK mortgage rates go negative?
“It seems highly unlikely. After the 2008-2009 financial crisis, some UK “tracker” mortgages – the interest rate the borrower pays for the loan rises and falls in line with the Bank of England’s rate – did indeed come close to zero. The BoE rate fell by 90%, going from 5% to 0.5% in under a year. UK banks learned from that experience.
“Most tracker mortgage contracts currently in force have a mechanism in place which prevents them from dropping below a stated positive interest rate, irrespective of whether or not the BoE cuts its rate. In any case, a high proportion of UK mortgages are on fixed rates, so BoE rate reductions would not apply to those borrowers’ loans.”
If I am a UK saver, do i have to pay my bank interest?
“Negative interest rates penalise consumers and businesses for keeping savings in their bank accounts, as their value would decrease over time. To avoid charges, some households could even decide to withdraw savings from banks and instead invest in a home safe. Not only is this a security risk, but the withdrawal of assets from financial institutions reduces liquidity and the ability of banks to lend.
“Banks would not pay out anything to consumers, who receive zero on their savings, but in the main, investors do not have to pay the banks to hold onto the money for them. Negative interest rates have actually already been put in place in the eurozone, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark. And that is what has happened to consumers and businesses in those countries.
“However, savers in Germany are among those experiencing negative rates on deposits but, so far, the majority of those affected are institutions or individual savers with large sums such as €100,000 or more. What savers have to pay for the bank to actually hold their money is sometimes called “depositary charges”. Only recently have smaller German savers been hit by such charges.”
How might negative interest rates affect bonds?
“An interest rate cut into negative territory could boost UK bond markets. This is because when yields fall, bond prices actually rise. However, lower yields also decrease any future income that would accrue to bond holders.
“Growing expectations for interest rate cuts have already sent UK yields on government bonds below zero for the first time last month. This means they were effectively paying the UK government to hold their money.”
How might stock markets react?
“Lower interest rates could be positive for the UK stock market because they increase the value of future earnings that companies make that would eventually be paid out to shareholders. Companies’ earnings become more valuable in a low interest rate environment. When this happens, share prices tend to appreciate in value.”
Does the BoE have any other options?
“Although we do not expect to see negative interest rates in the UK, if this did actually happen, it could have a number of far-reaching consequences for consumers, businesses and banks as well as the economy. We actually doubt the BoE will cut interest rates below zero. Instead, further expansions in QE are possible, with the BoE continuing to indicate that interest rates will remain on hold for some time.
“In terms of what could happen next, to support the economy, the BoE could continue to buy more bonds. This can lower borrowing costs and encourage lending without moving the base rate into negative territory.”
For more visit Schroders insights and follow Schroders on twitter.
Important Information: This communication is marketing material. The views and opinions contained herein are those of the author(s) on this page, and may not necessarily represent views expressed or reflected in other Schroders communications, strategies or funds. This material is intended to be for information purposes only and is not intended as promotional material in any respect. The material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. It is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for accounting, legal or tax advice, or investment recommendations. Reliance should not be placed on the views and information in this document when taking individual investment and/or strategic decisions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The value of an investment can go down as well as up and is not guaranteed. All investments involve risks including the risk of possible loss of principal. Information herein is believed to be reliable but Schroders does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Some information quoted was obtained from external sources we consider to be reliable. No responsibility can be accepted for errors of fact obtained from third parties, and this data may change with market conditions. This does not exclude any duty or liability that Schroders has to its customers under any regulatory system. Regions/ sectors shown for illustrative purposes only and should not be viewed as a recommendation to buy/sell. The opinions in this material include some forecasted views. We believe we are basing our expectations and beliefs on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of what we currently know. However, there is no guarantee than any forecasts or opinions will be realised. These views and opinions may change. To the extent that you are in North America, this content is issued by Schroder Investment Management North America Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Schroders plc and SEC registered adviser providing asset management products and services to clients in the US and Canada. For all other users, this content is issued by Schroder Investment Management Limited, 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Registered No. 1893220 England. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.


cityam--2020-10-30--The City A.M. Punter Podcast EP:24 Ascot, Wetherby & Hong Kong

Today trainer Kim Bailey joins us to talk about his exciting Vinndication who runs at Wetherby on Saturday in the @ @ @ @ @ over 3 miles .
Racing editor Bill Esdaile looks at the best of the weekend @ @ @ @ @ and Wally Pyrah talks us through some of the Hong Kong races at Sha Tin @ @ @ @ @ Chris Barnett

The City A.M. Punter Podcast EP:24 Ascot, Wetherby & Hong Kong
Today trainer Kim Bailey joins us to talk about his exciting Vinndication who runs at Wetherby on Saturday in the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase over 3 miles.
Racing editor Bill Esdaile looks at the best of the weekend action at Ascot & Wetherby and Wally Pyrah talks us through some of the Hong Kong races at Sha Tin on Sunday. Hosted by Chris Barnett
About The City A.M. Punter Podcast
‘The Punter’ has been City AM’s dedicated sports betting section for over a decade with a primary focus on horseracing. Throughout the season ‘The Punter’ will preview the weekend’s action every Friday along with in-depth coverage of all the major racing festivals. In a partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, ‘The Punter’ also previews every midweek Wednesday Hong Kong meeting as well as all the major meetings.
Every Friday, and for all major racing Festivals, the City AM racing podcast will give you in-depth analysis of the action. Featuring interviews with leading trainers, jockeys and owners, the podcast is hosted by well-known racing broadcaster Chris Barnett who is joined by Bill Esdaile and Hong Kong racing expert Wally Pyrah
Bill Esdaile
City AM’s racing editor Bill Esdaile has written for the paper since 2008. He had previously written for publications including the Sporting Life, Racing Post and The Sportsman. Each week he picks out his best bets for the weekend’s big racing action.
Chris Barnett
Chris Barnett has been a broadcasting specialist for over two decades, specialising in radio, video and podcast presentation and production. Since working at SIS, Betfair Radio, Timeform Radio, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, Cheltenham Festival Radio and more recently, Arena Racing, Chris has always been at the forefront of the top sporting events, grabbing interviews with those that matter.
Wally Pyrah
Having spent most of the last decade out in Hong Kong working as a racing expert for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Wally has teamed up with City AM to share his expert opinions on the weekly racing action. He picks out his best bets for the weekend’s Hong Kong racing action.


cityam--2020-10-30--Eurozone economy posts record growth but Covid set to knock recovery

The Eurozone economy handily beat expectations in the third quarter of the year with record growth , although surging coronavirus cases and new lockdowns now look set to knock the recovery off course .
Eurozone GDP grew 12.7 per cent in the third quarter , having slumped 11.8 per cent in the April to June period , the EU ’ s statistics body Eurostat said .
That was well above economists ’ predictions of a 9.4 per cent rebound .
France , Germany , Italy and Spain all posted better-than-expected GDP figures this morning .
The growth broke quarterly records @ @ @ @ @ @ @ second quarter .
However , economies remained much smaller than their pre-coronavirus size .
Eurozone output as a whole was 4.3 per cent lower , while Europe ’ s biggest economy Germany was 4.2 per cent smaller .
And since the end of the third quarter in September , new coronavirus cases have once again hit record highs in various Eurozone countries .
Governments have put in place new lockdowns which are likely to severely constrain growth in the final quarter .
France has gone into a second lockdown and Germany has put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Stock markets are on track for their worst week since March , after investors reacted badly to the new measures .
“ This positive EU GDP data comes against a backdrop of surging virus cases and a feeling of deja vu , ” said Robert Alster of Close Brother Asset Management .
“ These dark economic clouds are likely to squash any green shoots of recovery in the services sector as fears of a double dip recession take hold.
” Eurostat said France achieved the strongest quarterly growth with an 18.2 per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 13.7 per cent in the second quarter .
Spain was second-best with 16.7 per cent growth after contracting 17.8 per cent .
Italy grew 16.1 per cent after a 12.8 per cent drop , and Germany expanded 8.2 per cent after shrinking 9.8 per cent in the second quarter .

Eurozone economy posts record growth but Covid set to knock recovery
The Eurozone economy surged in the third quarter after the historic contraction of the spring, but countries including Germany have since put new lockdown measures in place
The Eurozone economy handily beat expectations in the third quarter of the year with record growth, although surging coronavirus cases and new lockdowns now look set to knock the recovery off course.
Eurozone GDP grew 12.7 per cent in the third quarter, having slumped 11.8 per cent in the April to June period, the EU’s statistics body Eurostat said. That was well above economists’ predictions of a 9.4 per cent rebound.
France, Germany, Italy and Spain all posted better-than-expected GDP figures this morning. The growth broke quarterly records after the equally record-breaking contraction in the second quarter.
However, economies remained much smaller than their pre-coronavirus size. Eurozone output as a whole was 4.3 per cent lower, while Europe’s biggest economy Germany was 4.2 per cent smaller.
And since the end of the third quarter in September, new coronavirus cases have once again hit record highs in various Eurozone countries.
Eurozone economy could see ‘double-dip recession’
Governments have put in place new lockdowns which are likely to severely constrain growth in the final quarter. France has gone into a second lockdown and Germany has put in place “circuit break” restrictions.
Stock markets are on track for their worst week since March, after investors reacted badly to the new measures.
“This positive EU GDP data comes against a backdrop of surging virus cases and a feeling of deja vu,” said Robert Alster of Close Brother Asset Management.
“These dark economic clouds are likely to squash any green shoots of recovery in the services sector as fears of a double dip recession take hold.”
Eurostat said France achieved the strongest quarterly growth with an 18.2 per cent expansion. Its economy had contracted 13.7 per cent in the second quarter.
Spain was second-best with 16.7 per cent growth after contracting 17.8 per cent. Italy grew 16.1 per cent after a 12.8 per cent drop, and Germany expanded 8.2 per cent after shrinking 9.8 per cent in the second quarter.


cityam--2020-10-30--Bother: The startup looking to disrupt the grocery market

The days of empty shelves and loo roll shortages seem a distant lockdown memory , but one London-based startup thinks it speaks to a wider problem within the UK ’ s grocery market .
Startup Bother is on a mission to disrupt the saturated grocery market by offering what it considers to be a convenient and cheaper online alternative .
It is a simple idea : Bother offers next-day delivery on household items that don ’ t require refrigerating , offering everything from dishwasher tablets to baked beans .
Founder Doug Morton ’ s plan to expand across the UK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the space .
But with backing from Deliveroo and Just Eat , investors are seeing a gap in the market .
Read more : Tiktok moves into ecommerce with Shopify advertising deal The grocery sector ‘ hasn ’ t changed since the 60s ’ Doug Morton jumped on the growing demand for online shopping well before Covid-19 hit but it has proved a worthy investment .
Having spent the vast majority of his career analysing Asian markets as a fund manager , Morton spent his spare time “ itching a scratch ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ market in the region .
He soon discovered how far behind the UK had been lagging , with the market dominated by just one company – Ocado .
“ Grocery shopping as we know it hasn ’ t changed since the 1960s when we had housewives cooking our meals and cleaning our homes .
It doesn ’ t reflect the way we currently live our lives , ” Morton tells City A.M. By the time the pandemic hit the UK Bother had built a solid advisory team of some big hitters in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Just Eat and Unilever .
And with Bother in the final stages of a “ very large capital raise ” it is clear investors are buying into Morton ’ s proposition .
Bother expedited its launch by two months , offering deliveries to key workers as it became clear that Britain ’ s grocers were buckling under immense pressure from panic buying .
“ We launched just to NHS key workers to relieve even just a tiny portion of the pressure the market was under at the time , ” Morton tells @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationwide although its marketing efforts so far have relied largely on word of mouth as it expands slowly .
Read more : Coronavirus : Supermarkets ramp up online services amid second wave fears “ We had the beginnings of what we thought was a very good product ” , Morton says .
“ The real competitive advantage that we had , weirdly , in that time was that grocers were struggling with the fact they had to serve their current customers.
” Britain ’ s biggest supermarkets stopped new customers from signing up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supply chains and delivery slots .
Perhaps then the chaos vindicates Morton ’ s claims of inefficiency in the market , but he is quick to praise how quickly the supermarkets acted .
These companies do not contend with a global pandemic every day so is there a risk that demand for e-commerce , and therefore Bother ’ s role in the market , is a flash in the pan ?
Morton is adamant this isn ’ t the case : “ These trends were already in place.
” What the founder seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic has highlighted some of the issues within the market , there are broader , more ingrained issues .
“ Supermarkets used to own convenience and they did that by having massive store networks .
They were a one-stop shop for getting all of your shopping done , ” Morton says .
“ Consumers are increasingly demanding online services but the supermarkets can ’ t make money in that .
They can ’ t invest in it because they only think about how to make their store networks profitable .
The answer is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that as a result of this competitive advantage for three generations , they have not innovated or invested enough to retain the market appropriately .
Read more : Amazon expands Morrisons range as it beefs up grocery deliveries Morton ’ s work has led him to the conclusion that people are wanting to shop more locally , particularly since the outbreak of Covid-19 , leaving room for Bother in the market to deliver the “ boring basics ” .
In terms of efficiency Morton has a point : “ Having fresh produce delivered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of your grocery shopping is massively inefficient for your cost and convenience because you need to be at home to take delivery.
” “ It ’ s a ridiculous state of affairs… There ’ s no reason for us to have our dishwasher tablets delivered to us in a refrigerated van , ” he adds .
There is likely some element of truth to the pickup in local shopping as people struggle to pick up online delivery slots .
But a push to buy fresh produce from a local butcher or greengrocers is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big cities .
Initially Bother ’ s was mainly catering to an urban demographic but Morton says this is changing as the startup expands nationally .
While Bother claims to offer convenience for its customers , it is likely that for many families it will remain convenient to do a “ big shop ” once a week .
Read more : Tesco sees profit drop despite surge in lockdown sales ‘ It ’ s not on the customer to solve the environmental crisis ’ This is where Morton ’ s commitment to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commitment is what sets Bother apart from the likes of Amazon , which undoubtedly offers convenience .
The supermarkets are already fighting off the tech behemoth so whether a small London startup will be able to put up a fight is unlikely .
But Morton points to the “ box economics ” of both brands – on average Bother delivers 15 items per order while Amazon delivers 1.3 .
The startup can therefore paint itself as the environmentally friendly alternative .
Morton is at pains to explain this is not the case and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as such .
“ The most important pillar of Bother is the environment .
Although when we first go to market we come out with our convenience and price messaging first , ” he explains .
With a huge pickup in interest in the environment following global climate protests why not push the sustainable narrative ?
“ We don ’ t like reductionist environments… There ’ s no point saying ‘ let ’ s stop flying aeroplanes ’ because that ’ s just not going to happen .
Equally resurfacing coconuts is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and very easy for them to sell but it ’ s not scalable.
” “ It ’ s preaching to people who probably already have an environmental bent to their lifestyles .
It ’ s reductionist in its impact , ” he adds .
Morton ’ s assessment is right : consumers are faced with a number of options for a ‘ sustainable alternative ’ but the price points are far higher .
More often than not they go for the cheap , convenient option over the virtuous one .
“ There ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental story unless we also have a story that resonates in the first instance with consumers , ” Morton says .
“ We don ’ t want to have a really good environmental position , but ask them to invest more in that proposition .
Equally we don ’ t want to put guilt on consumers , we don ’ t think it ’ s on them to solve the environmental crisis.
” Whether consumers will set aside their loyalty to the big supermarkets , and increasingly to Amazon , remains to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is welcome .

Bother: The startup looking to disrupt the grocery market
Bother founder Doug Morton is looking to disrupt the grocery market.
The days of empty shelves and loo roll shortages seem a distant lockdown memory, but one London-based startup thinks it speaks to a wider problem within the UK’s grocery market.
Startup Bother is on a mission to disrupt the saturated grocery market by offering what it considers to be a convenient and cheaper online alternative.
It is a simple idea: Bother offers next-day delivery on household items that don’t require refrigerating, offering everything from dishwasher tablets to baked beans.
Founder Doug Morton’s plan to expand across the UK is ambitious, particularly with Amazon moving into the space. But with support from investors who have previously backed Deliveroo and Just Eat, there is clearly a gap in the market.
The grocery sector ‘hasn’t changed since the 60s’
Doug Morton jumped on the growing demand for online shopping well before Covid-19 hit but it has proved a worthy investment.
Having spent the vast majority of his career analysing Asian markets as a fund manager, Morton spent his spare time “itching a scratch” looking at the growth of the e-commerce market in the region.
He soon discovered how far behind the UK had been lagging, with the market dominated by just one company – Ocado.
“Grocery shopping as we know it hasn’t changed since the 1960s when we had housewives cooking our meals and cleaning our homes. It doesn’t reflect the way we currently live our lives,” Morton tells City A.M.
By the time the pandemic hit the UK Bother had built a solid advisory team of some big hitters in the e-commerce industry, ex leads at Deliveroo and Just Eat.
And with Bother in the final stages of a “very large capital raise” it is clear investors are buying into Morton’s proposition.
Bother expedited its launch by two months, offering deliveries to key workers as it became clear that Britain’s grocers were buckling under immense pressure from panic buying.
“We launched just to NHS key workers to relieve even just a tiny portion of the pressure the market was under at the time,” Morton tells City A.M.
Bother has since launched nationwide although its marketing efforts so far have relied largely on word of mouth as it expands slowly.
Supermarkets no longer own convenience
“We had the beginnings of what we thought was a very good product”, Morton says. “The real competitive advantage that we had, weirdly, in that time was that grocers were struggling with the fact they had to serve their current customers.”
Britain’s biggest supermarkets stopped new customers from signing up in a bid to ease pressure on supply chains and delivery slots.
Perhaps then the chaos vindicates Morton’s claims of inefficiency in the market, but he is quick to praise how quickly the supermarkets acted.
Grocery startup Bother gets the “boring basics” delivered. (Photo: Bother)
These companies do not contend with a global pandemic every day so is there a risk that demand for e-commerce, and therefore Bother’s role in the market, is a flash in the pan? Morton is adamant this isn’t the case: “These trends were already in place.”
What the founder seems keen to emphasise is that while the pandemic has highlighted some of the issues within the market, there are broader, more ingrained issues.
“Supermarkets used to own convenience and they did that by having massive store networks. They were a one-stop shop for getting all of your shopping done,” Morton says.
“Consumers are increasingly demanding online services but the supermarkets can’t make money in that. They can’t invest in it because they only think about how to make their store networks profitable. The answer is you can’t.”
Morton notes that as a result of this competitive advantage for three generations, they have not innovated or invested enough to retain the market appropriately.
Shop locally for fresh produce
Morton’s work has led him to the conclusion that people are wanting to shop more locally, particularly since the outbreak of Covid-19, leaving room for Bother in the market to deliver the “boring basics”.
In terms of efficiency Morton has a point: “Having fresh produce delivered through the same channels as the rest of your grocery shopping is massively inefficient for your cost and convenience because you need to be at home to take delivery.”
“It’s a ridiculous state of affairs… There’s no reason for us to have our dishwasher tablets delivered to us in a refrigerated van,” he adds.
There is likely some element of truth to the pickup in local shopping as people struggle to pick up online delivery slots. But a push to buy fresh produce from a local butcher or greengrocers is probably reserved for the more affluent in big cities. Initially Bother’s was mainly catering to an urban demographic but Morton says this is changing as the startup expands nationally.
While Bother claims to offer convenience for its customers, it is likely that for many families it will remain convenient to do a “big shop” once a week.
‘It’s not on the customer to solve the environmental crisis’
This is where Morton’s commitment to the environment comes in. He claims this commitment is what sets Bother apart from the likes of Amazon, which undoubtedly offers convenience.
The supermarkets are already fighting off the tech behemoth so whether a small London startup will be able to put up a fight is unlikely.
But Morton points to the “box economics” of both brands – on average Bother delivers 15 items per order while Amazon delivers 1.3.
The startup can therefore paint itself as the environmentally friendly alternative. Morton is at pains to explain this is not the case and is determined not to position the brand as such.
“The most important pillar of Bother is the environment. Although when we first go to market we come out with our convenience and price messaging first,” he explains.
With a huge pickup in interest in the environment following global climate protests why not push the sustainable narrative?
“We don’t like reductionist environments… There’s no point saying ‘let’s stop flying aeroplanes’ because that’s just not going to happen. Equally resurfacing coconuts is a very virtuous thing for brands to do and very easy for them to sell but it’s not scalable.”
“It’s preaching to people who probably already have an environmental bent to their lifestyles. It’s reductionist in its impact,” he adds.
Morton’s assessment is right: consumers are faced with a number of options for a ‘sustainable alternative’ but the price points are far higher. More often than not they go for the cheap, convenient option over the virtuous one.
“There’s no point in having a great environmental story unless we also have a story that resonates in the first instance with consumers,” Morton says.
“We don’t want to have a really good environmental position, but ask them to invest more in that proposition. Equally we don’t want to put guilt on consumers, we don’t think it’s on them to solve the environmental crisis.”
Whether consumers will set aside their loyalty to the big supermarkets, and increasingly to Amazon, remains to be seen but a disrupter to the market is welcome.


cityam--2020-10-30--Watchdog slams Grant Thornton over ‘unacceptable’ public sector audits

The accounting watchdog has criticised Grant Thornton over its ‘ unacceptable ” record on public sector audits , after five out of six of the firm ’ s local audits were found to fall below the expected standard .
The Financial Reporting Council ( FRC ) singled out Grant Thornton and Mazars for criticism following a review of 15 major audits of health bodies and councils , saying that both firms ’ “ level of audit quality requires significant improvement ” .
Read more : MPs demand update on audit reform progress from business secretary The watchdog reviewed six local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that five required improvement .
Both of the two reviewed audits by challenger firm Mazard were found to require significant improvements , while all three by Big Four firm EY were deemed to meet the required standard .
“ The high percentage of major local audits requiring improvements is unacceptable , ” said David Rule , the FRC ’ s executive director of supervision .
The local audit sector is coming under intense pressure as overstretched public sector budgets push auditors to accept lower fees , while the work of ensuring public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more complex as local authorities turn to more complex financial instruments in a bid to stretch limited resources .
Before the Open newsletter : Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data A review into the sector by Sir Tony Redmond published last month found that “ the local audit market is very fragile ” .
Redmond warned that the sector ’ s “ current fee structure does not enable auditors to fulfil the role in an entirely satisfactory way ” , and proposed the creation of a new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ High quality local audit is essential to providing local taxpayers and the wider public with an independent , impartial view of a local body ’ s financial statements and controls , ” said Rule .
“ We recognise the challenges in the major local audit sector and will be working with stakeholders on the Redmond review recommendations , ” he added .
“ As a leading provider of audit and related professional services to local authorities , we remain committed to the quality and integrity of our work , ” said a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Grant Thornton had taken steps to address concerns over its valuation of certain key assets , which the FRC identified as a concern .
“ Mazars is committed to delivering the highest standards of audit quality , ” a spokesperson for the firm said , adding that the auditor was “ disappointed that the FRC has identified that two of our local audits required significant improvement ” .
The firm said it had carried out “ a root cause analysis focusing upon the matters identified by the FRC inspections ” , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for its local audit work “ to ensure they are fully addressed ” .

Watchdog slams Grant Thornton over ‘unacceptable’ public sector audits
Both local audits by Mazars reviewed by the watchdog were found to require significant improvements
The accounting watchdog has criticised Grant Thornton over its ‘unacceptable” record on public sector audits, after five out of six of the firm’s local audits were found to fall below the expected standard.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) singled out Grant Thornton and Mazars for criticism following a review of 15 major audits of health bodies and councils, saying that both firms’ “level of audit quality requires significant improvement”.
The watchdog reviewed six local audits by market-leader Grant Thornton, and found that five required improvement.
Both of the two reviewed audits by challenger firm Mazard were found to require significant improvements, while all three by Big Four firm EY were deemed to meet the required standard.
“The high percentage of major local audits requiring improvements is unacceptable,” said David Rule, the FRC’s executive director of supervision.
The local audit sector is coming under intense pressure as overstretched public sector budgets push auditors to accept lower fees, while the work of ensuring public money is being spent appropriately has become more complex as local authorities turn to more complex financial instruments in a bid to stretch limited resources.
Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data
A review into the sector by Sir Tony Redmond published last month found that “the local audit market is very fragile”.
Redmond warned that the sector’s “current fee structure does not enable auditors to fulfil the role in an entirely satisfactory way”, and proposed the creation of a new regulatory body to oversee local audits.
“High quality local audit is essential to providing local taxpayers and the wider public with an independent, impartial view of a local body’s financial statements and controls,” said Rule.
“We recognise the challenges in the major local audit sector and will be working with stakeholders on the Redmond review recommendations,” he added.
“As a leading provider of audit and related professional services to local authorities, we remain committed to the quality and integrity of our work,” said a spokesperson for Grant Thornton.
They added that Grant Thornton had taken steps to address concerns over its valuation of certain key assets, which the FRC identified as a concern.
“Mazars is committed to delivering the highest standards of audit quality,” a spokesperson for the firm said, adding that the auditor was “disappointed that the FRC has identified that two of our local audits required significant improvement”.
The firm said it had carried out “a root cause analysis focusing upon the matters identified by the FRC inspections”, which would be included in an upcoming plan for its local audit work “to ensure they are fully addressed”.


cityam--2020-10-30--Water spending rebellion could cost households billions, says Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice has waded into a row between the competition and water watchdogs over new spending rules for the country ’ s water companies .
According to the charity , households could lose out on a combined £3.7bn across the next five years if the Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA ) sticks with its decision to back a rebellion against Ofwat ’ s price controls .
Read more : Rebel water companies get partial support in fight over price cuts Earlier this year four firms appealed to the CMA after Ofwat published new price proposals which would have drastically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Under Ofwat ’ s proposals , water companies would have had to cut bills by £50 per household , as well increasing investment into infrastructure from £50bn to £51bn over a five year term .
13 of the UK ’ s 17 water companies backed the decision .
However , Anglian , Bristol , Northumbrian and Yorkshire contested it .
Last month the market regulator came down in favour of the four , ruling that they could spend £214m more on investment into the UK ’ s creaking water infrastructure .
Before the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the City View podcast and key market data Today new analysis from Citizens Advice showed that the CMA ’ s decision would cost households £50 over the next five years .
In addition , it said that if the CMA upholds its verdict , it could set a precedent for a similar rebellion against energy regulator Ofgem ’ s new set of price controls , potentially costing households another £63.50 .
Alistair Cromwell , acting chief executive of Citizens Advice , said : “ This decision is not only poorly evidenced , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ price controls , like energy , where billions of pounds of people ’ s money is at stake .
“ Both Ofwat and Ofgem have made progress towards delivering fairer deals for water and energy consumers .
While our evidence shows these two regulators could have gone even further in cutting the excess profits of water and energy network companies , the CMA ’ s decision risks undermining that progress.
” Read more : South West Water owner sees shares rise as investors soak up positive update The body added that it not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to support their decision on the key issue how much it would cost in capital to protect investments .

Water spending rebellion could cost households billions, says Citizens Advice
Regulator Ofwat has ordered British water companies to repay customers a total of £67m as a penalty for missing performance targets.
Citizens Advice has waded into a row between the competition and water watchdogs over new spending rules for the country’s water companies.
According to the charity, households could lose out on a combined £3.7bn across the next five years if the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) sticks with its decision to back a rebellion against Ofwat’s price controls.
Earlier this year four firms appealed to the CMA after Ofwat published new price proposals which would have drastically cut the amount they could spend.
Under Ofwat’s proposals, water companies would have had to cut bills by £50 per household, as well increasing investment into infrastructure from £50bn to £51bn over a five year term.
13 of the UK’s 17 water companies backed the decision. However, Anglian, Bristol, Northumbrian and Yorkshire contested it.
Last month the market regulator came down in favour of the four, ruling that they could spend £214m more on investment into the UK’s creaking water infrastructure.
Today new analysis from Citizens Advice showed that the CMA’s decision would cost households £50 over the next five years.
Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data
In addition, it said that if the CMA upholds its verdict, it could set a precedent for a similar rebellion against energy regulator Ofgem’s new set of price controls, potentially costing households another £63.50.
Alistair Cromwell, acting chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “This decision is not only poorly evidenced, but also sets a dangerous precedent for other price controls, like energy, where billions of pounds of people’s money is at stake.
“Both Ofwat and Ofgem have made progress towards delivering fairer deals for water and energy consumers. While our evidence shows these two regulators could have gone even further in cutting the excess profits of water and energy network companies, the CMA’s decision risks undermining that progress.”
The body added that it not believe the CMA has provided sufficient evidence to support their decision on the key issue how much it would cost in capital to protect investments.
A CMA spokesperson said: “The CMA is now consulting on provisional findings from its redetermination of Ofwat’s proposed 2020-25 price controls for four water companies.
“As part of this, we will consider all submissions received before making our final decision.”


cityam--2020-10-30--Screenshot: Will Tim Davie win the generation game?

A weekly column from City A.M. bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology , media and telecoms ** Media Moment of the Week : A sorry soy saga ** Tim Davie and the BBC ’ s tug of war Read more : Screenshot : Will the UK ’ s live music industry ever recover ?
This week it ’ s another social media facepalm moment .
This classic of the genre comes from the Department for International Trade which , in a desperate bid to appear relevant , concocted a mangled reference to the Great British Bake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s newly-signed trade deal with Japan .
The issue ?
It spelled ‘ soy ’ wrong , we currently have zero tariffs on soy sauce through the EU ’ s trade deal with Japan and most of the soy we import doesn ’ t come from Japan anyway .
Otherwise , great tweet .
It ’ s been brewing for a while , but the BBC has now published its new social media policy and , well , it doesn ’ t disappoint .
The overhaul bans presenters from sharing their personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or anything that could be deemed controversial ( which , frankly , rules out quite a lot ) .
It also explicitly bans virtue signalling , tells stars not to put their personal brand ahead of Auntie , and gives a solemn warning about the dangers of emojis .
In addition , the Beeb ’ s top talent will now have to disclose how much they earn from lucrative corporate gigs on the side .
The reforms are a significant first move by new director general Tim Davie , who has pledged a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early and decisive changes to BBC policy , the new boss is setting out his stall and sending a clear signal to the broadcaster ’ s detractors .
But here ’ s the problem : Davie is fighting a war on multiple fronts .
On the one side , he ’ s tackling accusations of bias from vocal ( largely older ) critics on the right .
These are the people trying to usher in a more right-leaning chair and who , potentially , have the power to pull the BBC ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yet at the same time , the new boss has to contend with declining audience numbers among younger viewers .
Unless the BBC can convince a generation that has grown up on Youtube and Tiktok that its relatively analogue services are worth the licence fee , the cash will soon start to dry up .
So the new director general is in the middle of a generational tug of war , being pulled one way by dissatisfied older viewers and by apathetic younger viewers the other .
The question , then , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the BBC ’ s finances already under strain , it seems nothing short of a radical overhaul is in order .
Davie is likely to use his experience leading BBC Studios to expand the broadcaster ’ s income from commercial ventures .
He may also take a more cut-throat approach to the business , overseeing a slimming down of the corporation ’ s services .
Whatever he does , though , Davie will constantly need to juggle the conflicting needs and demands of two very different demographics .
It ’ s an unenviable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seems determined to tackle head-on .
It ’ s really quite a strange time to be a tech giant , isn ’ t it ?
I ’ ve written at length here before about how the net is closing in on Big Tech as politicians , regulators and even the general public begin to reassess their view of Silicon Valley ’ s most powerful denizens .
Indeed , there was more of that this week .
In the US , content moderation was top of the agenda as the bosses of some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dorsey in full desert island chic ) appeared in front of a Senate committee to face a grilling over how they police their platforms .
Meanwhile in the EU , competition tsar Margrethe Vestager unveiled new proposals to ban tech firms from unfairly promoting their own services and force firms to better police their platforms .
And yet , as if oblivious to all this , the tech titans last night published stellar results , smashing sales records as they continue to cash in on the Covid-19 crisis .
( Here ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Amazon , Apple , Facebook and Twitter .
I know , what a day to be a tech reporter , eh ? )
Of course , the two things are not unrelated .
Our increased reliance on tech during the pandemic has at once lined pockets in Silicon Valley and opened our eyes to its flaws .
But while the regulatory threat looms large , last night ’ s figures are a timely reminder that Big Tech ’ s party isn ’ t over yet .
• There was some good news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as publisher Bloomsbury posted its biggest first-half profit in 12 years .
The company credited lockdown for the strong performance and , interestingly , it was a string of titles about race that dominated the bestseller charts .
• Channel 4 has returned fire after a minister hinted it could be in line for privatisation .
The Bake Off broadcaster said it would end the year with a financial surplus after ad revenues bounced back strongly .
Got a story ?
Drop me a line at james.warrington @ cityam.com or on Twitter

Screenshot: Will Tim Davie win the generation game?
New BBC director general Tim Davie is fighting a war on multiple fronts
A weekly column from City A.M. bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology, media and telecoms
This week:
** Media Moment of the Week: A sorry soy saga
** Tim Davie and the BBC’s tug of war
** The tech titans’ tumultuous year
Media Moment of the Week
This week it’s another social media facepalm moment. This classic of the genre comes from the Department for International Trade which, in a desperate bid to appear relevant, concocted a mangled reference to the Great British Bake Off while showing off about the UK’s newly-signed trade deal with Japan.
The bakers used a lot of soya sauce in the first challenge on #GBBO, so it's a good thing it will be made cheaper thanks to our trade deal with Japan 🇯🇵 — Department for International Trade (@tradegovuk) October 27, 2020
The issue? It spelled ‘soy’ wrong, we currently have zero tariffs on soy sauce through the EU’s trade deal with Japan and most of the soy we import doesn’t come from Japan anyway. Otherwise, great tweet.
Tim Davie’s generation game
It’s been brewing for a while, but the BBC has now published its new social media policy and, well, it doesn’t disappoint.
The overhaul bans presenters from sharing their personal views on politics, public policy, or anything that could be deemed controversial (which, frankly, rules out quite a lot). It also explicitly bans virtue signalling, tells stars not to put their personal brand ahead of Auntie, and gives a solemn warning about the dangers of emojis. In addition, the Beeb’s top talent will now have to disclose how much they earn from lucrative corporate gigs on the side.
The reforms are a significant first move by new director general Tim Davie, who has pledged a renewed commitment to impartiality. By making early and decisive changes to BBC policy, the new boss is setting out his stall and sending a clear signal to the broadcaster’s detractors.
But here’s the problem: Davie is fighting a war on multiple fronts. On the one side, he’s tackling accusations of bias from vocal (largely older) critics on the right. These are the people trying to usher in a more right-leaning chair and who, potentially, have the power to pull the BBC’s funding out from under its feet.
Yet at the same time, the new boss has to contend with declining audience numbers among younger viewers. Unless the BBC can convince a generation that has grown up on Youtube and Tiktok that its relatively analogue services are worth the licence fee, the cash will soon start to dry up.
So the new director general is in the middle of a generational tug of war, being pulled one way by dissatisfied older viewers and by apathetic younger viewers the other.
The question, then, is how Davie reconciles the two. With the BBC’s finances already under strain, it seems nothing short of a radical overhaul is in order. Davie is likely to use his experience leading BBC Studios to expand the broadcaster’s income from commercial ventures. He may also take a more cut-throat approach to the business, overseeing a slimming down of the corporation’s services.
Whatever he does, though, Davie will constantly need to juggle the conflicting needs and demands of two very different demographics. It’s an unenviable task, but one the new boss seems determined to tackle head-on.
The tech titans’ tumultuous year
It’s really quite a strange time to be a tech giant, isn’t it? I’ve written at length here before about how the net is closing in on Big Tech as politicians, regulators and even the general public begin to reassess their view of Silicon Valley’s most powerful denizens.
Indeed, there was more of that this week. In the US, content moderation was top of the agenda as the bosses of some of the biggest tech firms (including Jack Dorsey in full desert island chic) appeared in front of a Senate committee to face a grilling over how they police their platforms.
Meanwhile in the EU, competition tsar Margrethe Vestager unveiled new proposals to ban tech firms from unfairly promoting their own services and force firms to better police their platforms.
And yet, as if oblivious to all this, the tech titans last night published stellar results, smashing sales records as they continue to cash in on the Covid-19 crisis. (Here’s a rundown of the figures for Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Twitter. I know, what a day to be a tech reporter, eh?)
Of course, the two things are not unrelated. Our increased reliance on tech during the pandemic has at once lined pockets in Silicon Valley and opened our eyes to its flaws. But while the regulatory threat looms large, last night’s figures are a timely reminder that Big Tech’s party isn’t over yet.
The algorithm recommends
There was some good news in the book world this week, as publisher Bloomsbury posted its biggest first-half profit in 12 years. The company credited lockdown for the strong performance and, interestingly, it was a string of titles about race that dominated the bestseller charts.
Channel 4 has returned fire after a minister hinted it could be in line for privatisation. The Bake Off broadcaster said it would end the year with a financial surplus after ad revenues bounced back strongly.
Got a story? Drop me a line at james.warrington@cityam.com or on Twitter


cityam--2020-10-30--What's in store for the airline industry this winter?

Although every industry has suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic , few have been as hard hit as the world ’ s airlines .
At the beginning of the year , the idea of a world without global air travel was for most people a relic of a long-forgotten past , but seven months of extreme turbulence have flipped that notion on its head .
Read more : Global airlines get nearly £100bn in state aid and bailout funding The combination of travel bans , quarantine regimes , and health concerns have seen passenger numbers nosedive around the world and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on life support .
Governments have spent £100bn so far on propping up airlines through the worst crisis the sector has ever seen , but with the traditionally unprofitable winter period to come , more will have to be done if the sector is to emerge unscathed .
Earlier this month budget carrier Easyjet , which fell to its first ever loss , warned it would need more funding , while carrier group IAG , which owns British Airways , said it expected to fly a mere 30 per cent of capacity through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , aviation analyst at HSBC , said that all the focus now would be on cutting costs through the winter .
Read more : Easyjet on track for first ever full year loss “ For the companies it is a matter of who can hibernate most effectively through the winter with the hope that the environment will be more favourable next summer , although no one ’ s expecting it to come back with a bang ” , he said .
On its own , however , that is unlikely to be enough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the German flag carrier was burning through nearly €600m a month , suggesting its €9bn state bailout is already being sapped by the demands of maintaining its fleet and crew .
“ When we come to the spring all companies will need to strengthen their balance sheets because they will be in radically different place to what we expected six months ago ” , Lobbenberg said .
Whether that money comes from private backers , or from a second round of state funding , remains to be seen – though probably depends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Europe , governments have rushed to prop up their airlines , with France , the Netherlands , Italy , Portugal and Norway all providing financial support of some kind .
It ’ s a very different story in the UK , where , despite early promises of sector-specific support , airlines have largely been left out in the cold by Chancellor Rishi Sunak .
BA , Easyjet , and Ryanair have all drawn down between £300m and £600m from the Bank of England ’ s emergency funding , but all raised extra equity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Having turned down Virgin Atlantic for a £500m rescue deal the first time , could ministers now be tempted to reach into their pockets ?
Julie Palmer , partner at restructuring experts Begbies Traynor , thinks not .
“ The challenge of going back to the government at the moment is that the pot is getting rather dry ” , she told City A.M. .
“ Politicians may be thinking , ‘ Why support an industry if there ’ s going to be a long-term change to that industry ’ s model @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s not going to return to historic levels until 2025 anyway , then you ’ re looking at very long-term support , so do you instead say that we need to let this model correct itself and reduce down to the level that it is going to be going forward ?
” Before the Open newsletter : Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data And independent consultant Chris Tarry warns : “ Not everybody wants to invest in airlines , and not everybody has to.
” So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will go bust as a result of the crisis ?
For Lobbenberg , it ’ s a done deal , but he thinks it will be smaller , secondary carriers which collapse , and not the bigger names .
A lot of this is down to securing connectivity for when demand does eventually come back .
“ Frankly , smaller carriers are not going to deliver the kind of international connectivity that a global country wants ” , he says .
Yet some bigger names may be under threat as well .
Even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the viability of Norwegian – which is in talks with officials over temporary state ownership – while others cited Virgin Atlantic as another candidate for failure .
Both are heavily exposed to the lucrative transatlantic market , which all but shut due to the continued ban on entering the US .
Figures from Heathrow showed that passenger numbers from North America fell 94.8 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter , and though the industry has pleaded for a travel corridor between London and New York to be trialled , any such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such uncertainty , it ’ s time for carriers to get creative , said aviation consultant John Strickland .
“ Airlines are going to have to be far more opportunistic about where they fly .
With all that capacity available , in terms of both aircraft and crews , either you have to find viable uses or take tough decisions about disposals or redundancies ” .
Read more : Wizz Air sees capacity drop in September as quarantine bites The more nimble you are , the better , he reckons , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is the case .
Hungarian budget flier Wizz Air was the first to restart flights from the UK back in May , and has opened 12 new bases even while the pandemic clipped the wings of other carriers .
A new subsidiary based in Abu Dhabi will also open up the Middle Eastern and African markets to the carrier , which has previously focused on Europe .
Palmer added that she expects smaller operators to use that nimbleness to “ nibble away ” at the bigger players – and for private jet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Nature hates a vacuum and where there is a vacuum somebody will find a way to try and fill some of that space ” , she said .
Such opportunism is perhaps best typified by plans for a surprise relaunch of Flybe , which fell into bankruptcy as the pandemic reached the UK in March .
The regional flier operated around 36 per cent of all domestic UK flights – 7,500 a month , according to aviation data analysts Cirium – and will be hoping to claw back its monopoly on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more doubtful , however .
“ I ’ m surprised that there is an attempt to resuscitate the airline .
It ’ ll be a question of whether there are enough of these routes around that perhaps could on a smaller scale turn to profit , but I ’ ve got quite a high degree of scepticism ” , said Strickland .
The next five years ?
Although the way back is long , analysts were unanimous that demand would return .
Most airlines have forecast that it will take them until 2024 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but Lobbenberg said that it could well be politics , not the virus , that defines the future shape of the industry .
“ The future is going to swing on where the broad political debate goes between globalisation and nationalism ” , he said .
“ If we do move back towards a more global society which could happen with a change of regime in America then all the debates about ownership could drop away .
Alternatively , what we absolutely do see in the very short term is an increase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which could lead to further restriction for global airlines.
” And closer to home , the challenges of leaving the EU could well see the UK reconsider the emphasis it puts on the country ’ s airlines , Tarry suggested .
Read more : United Airlines opens door to London-New York travel with free Covid testing “ It is impossible to understate the importance of air transport for economic development in the world we used to know and the world we hope to know again .
There comes a point when the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in supporting strategic industries like aviation.
” But in the meantime , it ’ s going to be a very bumpy ride .

What’s in store for the airline industry this winter?
Although every industry has suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic, few have been as hard hit as the world’s airlines.
At the beginning of the year, the idea of a world without global air travel was for most people a relic of a long-forgotten past, but seven months of extreme turbulence have flipped that notion on its head.
The combination of travel bans, quarantine regimes, and health concerns have seen passenger numbers nosedive around the world and have left the world’s carriers on life support.
Governments have spent £100bn so far on propping up airlines through the worst crisis the sector has ever seen, but with the traditionally unprofitable winter period to come, more will have to be done if the sector is to emerge unscathed.
Earlier this month budget carrier Easyjet, which fell to its first ever loss, warned it would need more funding, while carrier group IAG, which owns British Airways, said it expected to fly a mere 30 per cent of capacity through the next three months.
Andrew Lobbenberg, aviation analyst at HSBC, said that all the focus now would be on cutting costs through the winter.
“For the companies it is a matter of who can hibernate most effectively through the winter with the hope that the environment will be more favourable next summer, although no one’s expecting it to come back with a bang”, he said.
First things first: Cash
On its own, however, that is unlikely to be enough. Lufthansa chief exec Carsten Spohr revealed that the German flag carrier was burning through nearly €600m a month, suggesting its €9bn state bailout is already being sapped by the demands of maintaining its fleet and crew.
“When we come to the spring all companies will need to strengthen their balance sheets because they will be in radically different place to what we expected six months ago”, Lobbenberg said.
Whether that money comes from private backers, or from a second round of state funding, remains to be seen – though probably depends on the country in question.
Daily passenger flights by UK airlines (Cirium data for CityAM)
Across Europe, governments have rushed to prop up their airlines, with France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Norway all providing financial support of some kind.
It’s a very different story in the UK, where, despite early promises of sector-specific support, airlines have largely been left out in the cold by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
BA, Easyjet, and Ryanair have all drawn down between £300m and £600m from the Bank of England’s emergency funding, but all raised extra equity to cope with the collapse in revenues.
Having turned down Virgin Atlantic for a £500m rescue deal the first time, could ministers now be tempted to reach into their pockets?
Julie Palmer, partner at restructuring experts Begbies Traynor, thinks not. “The challenge of going back to the government at the moment is that the pot is getting rather dry”, she told City A.M. .
“Politicians may be thinking, ‘Why support an industry if there’s going to be a long-term change to that industry’s model of business anyway?’ If it’s not going to return to historic levels until 2025 anyway, then you’re looking at very long-term support, so do you instead say that we need to let this model correct itself and reduce down to the level that it is going to be going forward?”
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And independent consultant Chris Tarry warns: “Not everybody wants to invest in airlines, and not everybody has to.”
Failures on the horizon
So is it therefore inevitable that some airlines will go bust as a result of the crisis? For Lobbenberg, it’s a done deal, but he thinks it will be smaller, secondary carriers which collapse, and not the bigger names.
A lot of this is down to securing connectivity for when demand does eventually come back. “Frankly, smaller carriers are not going to deliver the kind of international connectivity that a global country wants”, he says.
Yet some bigger names may be under threat as well. Even before the crisis analysts had raised concerns about the viability of Norwegian – which is in talks with officials over temporary state ownership – while others cited Virgin Atlantic as another candidate for failure.
Both are heavily exposed to the lucrative transatlantic market, which all but shut due to the continued ban on entering the US.
Figures from Heathrow showed that passenger numbers from North America fell 94.8 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter, and though the industry has pleaded for a travel corridor between London and New York to be trialled, any such scheme still seems months away.
Cumulative number of passengers passing through UK airports (Cirium data for CityAM)
A time for opportunism for airlines?
Amid such uncertainty, it’s time for carriers to get creative, said aviation consultant John Strickland.
“Airlines are going to have to be far more opportunistic about where they fly. With all that capacity available, in terms of both aircraft and crews, either you have to find viable uses or take tough decisions about disposals or redundancies”.
The more nimble you are, the better, he reckons, and the performance of one carrier in particular suggests this is the case.
Hungarian budget flier Wizz Air was the first to restart flights from the UK back in May, and has opened 12 new bases even while the pandemic clipped the wings of other carriers.
A new subsidiary based in Abu Dhabi will also open up the Middle Eastern and African markets to the carrier, which has previously focused on Europe.
Palmer added that she expects smaller operators to use that nimbleness to “nibble away” at the bigger players – and for private jet travel to become increasingly popular as well.
“Nature hates a vacuum and where there is a vacuum somebody will find a way to try and fill some of that space”, she said.
Such opportunism is perhaps best typified by plans for a surprise relaunch of Flybe, which fell into bankruptcy as the pandemic reached the UK in March.
Regional airline Flybe went bust at the start of the pandemic, but is now set to be resurrected.
The regional flier operated around 36 per cent of all domestic UK flights – 7,500 a month, according to aviation data analysts Cirium – and will be hoping to claw back its monopoly on many of those routes.
Some are more doubtful, however. “I’m surprised that there is an attempt to resuscitate the airline. It’ll be a question of whether there are enough of these routes around that perhaps could on a smaller scale turn to profit, but I’ve got quite a high degree of scepticism”, said Strickland.
The next five years?
Although the way back is long, analysts were unanimous that demand would return.
Most airlines have forecast that it will take them until 2024 to get back to pre-pandemic passenger levels, but Lobbenberg said that it could well be politics, not the virus, that defines the future shape of the industry.
“The future is going to swing on where the broad political debate goes between globalisation and nationalism”, he said.
“If we do move back towards a more global society which could happen with a change of regime in America then all the debates about ownership could drop away. Alternatively, what we absolutely do see in the very short term is an increase in nationalism and an anti-globalisation push, which could lead to further restriction for global airlines.”
And closer to home, the challenges of leaving the EU could well see the UK reconsider the emphasis it puts on the country’s airlines, Tarry suggested.
“It is impossible to understate the importance of air transport for economic development in the world we used to know and the world we hope to know again. There comes a point when the government will have to determine what its role is in supporting strategic industries like aviation.”
But in the meantime, it’s going to be a very bumpy ride.


cityam--2020-10-30--Connecting DeFi with real world assets: the next horizon

Decentralised Finance ( DeFi ) is a term used to refer to innovations in capital markets that rely on blockchains , and enable capital market activities across an open network , where trust is automated in the software .
Instead of using conventional financial rails such as banks or credit transfer APIs , DeFi based projects work entirely on blockchains without the requirement of central clearing houses or banking personnel checking transactions .
This makes it possible for DeFi based ventures to be internet-scale , global ventures without having a presence in countries around the world .
Among the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , blockchain native ventures is MakerDAO .
It has over a billion dollars in collateral in the form of digital assets such as Ethereum tied in it for lending – which is then used for trading or day-to-day purchases .
Similarly , KyberDAO has enabled digital assets worth over a billion dollars to be traded .
This growing , digital native infrastructure is empowering the next wave of financial applications to be built .
DeFi limitation : how to escape the digital realm There is a catch though .
The current generation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assets when it comes to trading and lending .
This means traditional instruments such as commodities swaps , futures or even lending against real life assets such as a house is not possible .
This restricts the ability of the ecosystem to scale meaningfully enough to meet the needs of global financial markets today .
For a scale comparison , the total value locked in DeFi ventures today is around $ 11.2 billion according to DeFi Pulse .
In contrast , the size of the global commodities market is hard to measure accurately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 20 trillion annually .
The race to plug off-chain assets such as physical goods to on-chain finance is at the crux of what will enable the next generation of DeFi applications .
Building an effective bridge between the physical realm of actual assets , and their physical trade and delivery , and the rapidly growing “ digital reality ” will enable huge value to be unlocked .
This is trickier than it sounds , if we wish to achieve it in a genuinely ‘ trustless ’ way , without recourse to legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decentralised technology the cost of creating markets and onboarding stakeholders is reduced dramatically .
For example , with our project Mettalex , we are bringing decentralised finance innovation to the traditional commodities market where the process of creating a new market is marred with roadblocks .
We believe this new way of doing things is a game changer .
Trillions of dollars of trading and new markets can be unlocked solving existing liquidity and access problems for a huge market , and building value for all stakeholders .
Synthetic instruments on blockchain networks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on these networks .
How does that work ?
The equivalent of the asset ’ s value is tied up in a smart contract and another token is issued to represent that asset .
Instruments like gold , foreign currencies and digital asset indices can be purchased on a project named Synthetix .
The risk here is if the underlying asset ( ie – the asset used as collateral ) fluctuates greatly in value , the synthetic instrument can be liquidated .
Another approach to doing this is what UMA Protocol is currently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ value of the entire asset itself , a small fraction of the asset ’ s fluctuations are tied up in a smart contract .
The parties involved in buying the asset are responsible for seeing if the new synthetic instrument is backed by sufficient collateral or not .
The challenge here is that it requires constant monitoring of the asset ’ s price .
Others are attempting to manage “ off chain ” items via crypto-economic ‘ games ’ .
An interesting example of this is with Boson Protocol , pioneering a new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delivery of real goods , via a decentralised protocol .
This is achieved by managing incentives to encourage positive behaviour among all the participants in a transaction , so that trade can occur within a decentralised market .
Our own project Mettalex is focused on a decentralised solution to the real world commodities market , by tokenising derivative products of commonly traded commodities , and other less liquid ones , and enabling short and long positions to be taken by either holding , or trading Position Tokens .
Liquidity providers enable a deep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for every trade .
A Market For the digital Commodities of The Future Beyond the markets of today , Fetch.ai is focused on creating economic activity in new markets which do not exist yet , but will be enabled by decentralised markets empowered by multi-agent systems .
One place this is needed greatly today is for data-based assets such as pricing for hotels in a region or car rentals .
This information does not have a ready repository third parties can plug into and use today .
At the same time , businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the legal challenges of storing that data in a compliant enough fashion .
Fetch.ai ’ s agents will make it possible to create a market for these assets in the future .
As commerce becomes more global , and barriers in trade are reduced with the web and faster air travel , the need to create benchmarks to compare regional service offerings becomes more predominant .
Agent-based curation for travel will be possible only if price discovery is made possible .
In order to kick-start this , we will also be creating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to contribute regional pricing data for commodities such as car rentals and hotel bookings among many others .
This will help create an economy where our agents will be able to act upon price data that is fed in real time and create new economic opportunities for stakeholders within our network .
The financial world went from analog to digital in the past twenty years , the next twenty will see this digitisation spreading across real world assets and infrastructure .
Humayun is an entrepreneur with a track record of success and Fetch.ai @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first brought an entirely new way of thinking to the steel recycling sector , transforming his start-up company , Metallis , into a £40m business within six years .
He was an early investor in DeepMind , having the vision to provide early-stage support to artificial intelligence and deep neural network technology .
DeepMind was ultimately acquired by Google for $ 500m in 2014 .

Connecting DeFi with real world assets: the next horizon
Decentralised Finance (DeFi) is a term used to refer to innovations in capital markets that rely on blockchains, and enable capital market activities across an open network, where trust is automated in the software.
Instead of using conventional financial rails such as banks or credit transfer APIs, DeFi based projects work entirely on blockchains without the requirement of central clearing houses or banking personnel checking transactions. This makes it possible for DeFi based ventures to be internet-scale, global ventures without having a presence in countries around the world.
Among the most prominent among this class of digital first, blockchain native ventures is MakerDAO. It has over a billion dollars in collateral in the form of digital assets such as Ethereum tied in it for lending – which is then used for trading or day-to-day purchases.
Similarly, KyberDAO has enabled digital assets worth over a billion dollars to be traded. This growing, digital native infrastructure is empowering the next wave of financial applications to be built.
DeFi limitation: how to escape the digital realm
There is a catch though. The current generation of DeFi ventures are restricted to using digital assets when it comes to trading and lending.
This means traditional instruments such as commodities swaps, futures or even lending against real life assets such as a house is not possible. This restricts the ability of the ecosystem to scale meaningfully enough to meet the needs of global financial markets today.
For a scale comparison, the total value locked in DeFi ventures today is around $11.2 billion according to DeFi Pulse. In contrast, the size of the global commodities market is hard to measure accurately, but could be as high as $20 trillion annually.
The race to plug off-chain assets such as physical goods to on-chain finance is at the crux of what will enable the next generation of DeFi applications.
Building an effective bridge between the physical realm of actual assets, and their physical trade and delivery, and the rapidly growing “digital reality” will enable huge value to be unlocked. This is trickier than it sounds, if we wish to achieve it in a genuinely ‘trustless’ way, without recourse to legal frameworks is a significant challenge.
A Market Ripe for Disruption
With decentralised technology the cost of creating markets and onboarding stakeholders is reduced dramatically. For example, with our project Mettalex, we are bringing decentralised finance innovation to the traditional commodities market where the process of creating a new market is marred with roadblocks. We believe this new way of doing things is a game changer.
Trillions of dollars of trading and new markets can be unlocked solving existing liquidity and access problems for a huge market, and building value for all stakeholders.
Beyond Blockchain Based Assets
Synthetic instruments on blockchain networks is one approach to representing real-life assets on these networks. How does that work? The equivalent of the asset’s value is tied up in a smart contract and another token is issued to represent that asset. Instruments like gold, foreign currencies and digital asset indices can be purchased on a project named Synthetix. The risk here is if the underlying asset (ie – the asset used as collateral) fluctuates greatly in value, the synthetic instrument can be liquidated.
Another approach to doing this is what UMA Protocol is currently doing. Instead of tying up the value of the entire asset itself, a small fraction of the asset’s fluctuations are tied up in a smart contract. The parties involved in buying the asset are responsible for seeing if the new synthetic instrument is backed by sufficient collateral or not. The challenge here is that it requires constant monitoring of the asset’s price.
Others are attempting to manage “off chain” items via crypto-economic ‘games’. An interesting example of this is with Boson Protocol, pioneering a new field called “D-commerce” – the delivery of real goods, via a decentralised protocol. This is achieved by managing incentives to encourage positive behaviour among all the participants in a transaction, so that trade can occur within a decentralised market.
Our own project Mettalex is focused on a decentralised solution to the real world commodities market, by tokenising derivative products of commonly traded commodities, and other less liquid ones, and enabling short and long positions to be taken by either holding, or trading Position Tokens. Liquidity providers enable a deep and liquid market to exist without counterparties for every trade.
A Market For the digital Commodities of The Future
Beyond the markets of today, Fetch.ai is focused on creating economic activity in new markets which do not exist yet, but will be enabled by decentralised markets empowered by multi-agent systems.
One place this is needed greatly today is for data-based assets such as pricing for hotels in a region or car rentals. This information does not have a ready repository third parties can plug into and use today. At the same time, businesses incur huge legal and operational costs due to the legal challenges of storing that data in a compliant enough fashion. Fetch.ai’s agents will make it possible to create a market for these assets in the future.
As commerce becomes more global, and barriers in trade are reduced with the web and faster air travel, the need to create benchmarks to compare regional service offerings becomes more predominant.
Agent-based curation for travel will be possible only if price discovery is made possible. In order to kick-start this, we will also be creating a market for individuals to be able to contribute regional pricing data for commodities such as car rentals and hotel bookings among many others. This will help create an economy where our agents will be able to act upon price data that is fed in real time and create new economic opportunities for stakeholders within our network.
The financial world went from analog to digital in the past twenty years, the next twenty will see this digitisation spreading across real world assets and infrastructure.
Humayun Sheikh / Founder & CEO Fetch.ai
Humayun is an entrepreneur with a track record of success and Fetch.ai is his fourth major venture. His first brought an entirely new way of thinking to the steel recycling sector, transforming his start-up company, Metallis, into a £40m business within six years. He was an early investor in DeepMind, having the vision to provide early-stage support to artificial intelligence and deep neural network technology. DeepMind was ultimately acquired by Google for $500m in 2014.


cityam--2020-10-31--Black British Business Awards announces 2020 winners

The Black British Business Awards has announced its 2020 winners , who have been awarded for their outstanding business talent .
The award recognises rising stars and leaders across industries , including financial services and professional services .
Segun Osuntokun , managing partner at law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in London has been named Business Person of the Year at the Black British Business Awards on 30 September .
He impressed the judges with his work on projects for over 30 FTSE 100 companies and more than 50 Global Fortune 500 companies .
The awards ceremony crowns a landmark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ featured a special recognition for Black British frontline workers .
In addition to naming the Black British Business Person of the Year , the event also recognised the rising stars and senior leader winners in six industries .
The leaders come from a cross section of professions ; from a founder of an equine nutrition system to a project manager at TfL .
Melanie Eusebe , chair and co-founder of the awards said : “ After a year filled with so many challenges , it was rewarding to take a step back this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of the Black community here in the UK , but also to celebrate the incredible individuals who are making their mark now.
” “ Our Category Celebration events along with the Awards Ceremony provided us with many opportunities to reflect on how far our community has come , while recognising there is still much work to be done.
” Anthony Andrews – Co-founder and Creative Director of We Are Parable

Black British Business Awards announces 2020 winners
The Black British Business Awards 2019. (Photograph by Steve Dunlop)
The Black British Business Awards has announced its 2020 winners, who have been awarded for their outstanding business talent.
The award recognises rising stars and leaders across industries, including financial services and professional services.
Segun Osuntokun, managing partner at law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in London has been named Business Person of the Year at the Black British Business Awards on 30 September.
He impressed the judges with his work on projects for over 30 FTSE 100 companies and more than 50 Global Fortune 500 companies.
The awards ceremony crowns a landmark year in history for racial equity and featured a special recognition for Black British frontline workers.
In addition to naming the Black British Business Person of the Year, the event also recognised the rising stars and senior leader winners in six industries.
The leaders come from a cross section of professions; from a founder of an equine nutrition system to a project manager at TfL.
Melanie Eusebe, chair and co-founder of the awards said: “After a year filled with so many challenges, it was rewarding to take a step back this month to reflect not only on the history of the Black community here in the UK, but also to celebrate the incredible individuals who are making their mark now.”
“Our Category Celebration events along with the Awards Ceremony provided us with many opportunities to reflect on how far our community has come, while recognising there is still much work to be done.”
Segun Osuntokun, Black British Business Person of the Year.
Black British Business Awards winners
Black British Business Person of the Year
Segun Osuntokun – Managing Partner at BCLP, London Office
Arts & Media Rising Star
Nnena Nwakodo – Producer at Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Arts & Media Senior Leader
Anthony Andrews – Co-founder and Creative Director of We Are Parable
Consumer & Luxury Rising Star
Rachael Corson and Joycelyn Mate – Co-founders of Afrocenchix
Consumer & Luxury Senior Leader
Sandra Murphy – Founder of Equidiet UK Ltd
Entrepreneur Rising Star
Ayesha Ofori – CEO and Founder of Black Property Network
Entrepreneur Senior Leader Winner
Trevor Robinson OBE – Founder and Executive Creative Director of Quiet Storm
Financial Services Rising Star
Zainab Kwaw-Swanzy – Senior Digital Product Manager at Barclays
Financial Services Senior Leader
Gavin Lewis – Managing Director, Head of UK LGPS at BlackRock
Professional Services Rising Star
Natalie Carter – Senior Associate at Greenberg Traurig LLP
Professional Services Senior Leader
Bennard Owusu – Senior Partner at BWF Solicitors
STEM Rising Star
Ninarita Williams – Project Manager at Transport for London
STEM Senior Leader
Dr Abdullahi Sheriff – Executive, Solutions Strategy, Strategic Partnerships & Solutions, Europe at GE Healthcare


cityam--2020-10-31--John Lewis hints at Christmas advert as retailer launches £5m charity initiative

John Lewis has hinted at the content of its highly anticipated Christmas advert as it launched a charity campaign to feed more than 100,000 families over the festive period .
The department store chain , which also owns Waitrose , will kick start an appeal in November to raise £5m for Fareshare and Home-Start to provide food , support and advice to vulnerable families .
Read more : John Lewis to convert almost half of Oxford Street store into offices The charity initiative will be complemented by this year ’ s Christmas advert , which has become one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John Lewis said the fundraising drive and the advert will “ reflect the world in which we are living ” .
Customers will be encouraged to donate , and collections will be matched by the retailer to the value of £2m .
There will also be a variety of limited edition campaign products to purchase and using the store ’ s loyalty card will also trigger a donation to the charities .
Alongside the financial support , John Lewis said it will encourage customers to show kindness and to help in their local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of John Lewis & Partners , said : “ In a year like no other , the world has changed – so we will be delivering a Christmas campaign like no other .
Read more : John Lewis unveils five-year plan to return to profit “ During 2020 we ’ ve seen some inspiring and heartwarming acts of kindness throughout our country and our communities .
“ Now we want to build on this spirit to create a legacy that extends well beyond Christmas .
Together we can all make a big difference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most .
”

John Lewis hints at Christmas advert as retailer launches £5m charity initiative
John Lewis has hinted at the content of its highly anticipated Christmas advert as it launched a charity campaign to feed more than 100,000 families over the festive period.
The department store chain, which also owns Waitrose, will kick start an appeal in November to raise £5m for Fareshare and Home-Start to provide food, support and advice to vulnerable families.
The charity initiative will be complemented by this year’s Christmas advert, which has become one of the most-talked events of the festive period.
John Lewis said the fundraising drive and the advert will “reflect the world in which we are living”.
Customers will be encouraged to donate, and collections will be matched by the retailer to the value of £2m.
There will also be a variety of limited edition campaign products to purchase and using the store’s loyalty card will also trigger a donation to the charities.
Alongside the financial support, John Lewis said it will encourage customers to show kindness and to help in their local community.
Pippa Wicks, executive director of John Lewis & Partners, said: “In a year like no other, the world has changed – so we will be delivering a Christmas campaign like no other.
“During 2020 we’ve seen some inspiring and heartwarming acts of kindness throughout our country and our communities.
“Now we want to build on this spirit to create a legacy that extends well beyond Christmas. Together we can all make a big difference to the families who need our help most.”