Thursday 2 March 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

BAILEY: WE’LL KEEP HIKING A WHILE YET

GOVERNOR SIGNALS NO RATE SHIFT ON THE HORIZON

INTEREST rates may need to rise even further to tame inflation, the governor of the Bank of England said yesterday, signalling further pain for mortgage holders and businesses.

Speaking at a conference on the cost of living crisis in London, Bailey said if the Bank does “too little with interest rates now, we will only have to do more later on”.

“The experience of the 1970s taught us that important lesson,” he said, referring to a dynamic in which businesses hiked prices to offset soaring energy costs, prompting workers to demand pay rises, forcing firms to raise prices further still.

Bailey and the rest of the monetary policy committee (MPC) have already hoisted borrowing costs at the fastest pace since the 1980s, lifting them ten times in a row to a 15-year high of four per cent.

Cumulatively, since December 2021, rates have climbed nearly 400 basis points, breaking

the UK free from over a decade of record low borrowing costs of nearly zero per cent.

The governor did sound a note of caution about piling too much pain onto the economy, which could ultimately push inflation below his two per cent target in the coming years by crushing spending. Hiking rates is usually synonomous with holding back headline economic growth.

“We have to monitor carefully how the tightening we have already done is working its way through the economy to the prices faced by consumers,”

Bailey said.

“Some further increase in Bank Rate may turn out to be appropriate, but nothing is

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the MPC is now “placing more emphasis on the substantial tightening already delivered and would like to

JAMES BOND WOULD APPROVE Aston Martin picks up speed

call time on its hiking cycle as soon as it feasibly can”.

Bailey has spearheaded a tough tightening cycle to tackle inflation, which has raced ahead to its highest level in over 40 years.

The rate of price increases peaked last October at 11.1 per cent and has since dropped three months in a row to 10.1 per cent.

Analysts reckon a combination of the Bank’s rate increases and energy prices falling rapidly could push inflation back to Bailey’s target by the end of the year. Expectations of a quick inflation decline this year had prompted market participants to bet the Bank is close to ending its rate hike campaign at its next meeting on 23 March with a final 25 basis point rise.

However, a batch of data recently signalling the UK economy is responding strongly to tighter financial conditions and may even avoid a recession has triggered an upward shift in markets’ peak rate expectations to nearly five per cent.

They did fall back after Bailey’s speech.

SUPERCAR maker Aston Martin’s upbeat forecast for 2023 saw investors put their pedal to the metal yesterday.

Shares rose around 20 per cent in early trading after the historic marque guided towards “significant growth in profitability” next year, despite pre-tax losses of near on half a billion pounds.

Executive chairman Lawrence Stroll said “the heavy lifting” of turning

around Aston’s performance was behind it and, despite supply issues in 2021 and 2022, the firm was set to deliver as many as 7,000 wholesale sales next year.

Aston will be looking to emulate the success of rivals Rolls-Royce and Bentley, both of whom enjoyed record sales in 2022 despite a constant stream of economic headwinds.

Shares settled around four per cent up on their opening price as investors got their heads around the numbers.

Housebuilders feel the pinch after host of data suggests price slowdown

SHARES in FTSE 100 house building companies tumbled yesterday after a flurry of damaging reports on the outlook for the housing market has shattered investor confidence.

As interest rates rise and borrowing rates become more

expensive, investors are shying away from pumping their funds into the residential market after figures from the Bank of England show that mortgage approvals for house purchases plummeted to the lowest

level since the 2008 financial crash.

Yesterday, Persimmon shares fell by just shy of 10 per cent, while Barratt and Taylor Wimpey were also both firmly in the red.

The number of

mortgage approvals decreased to 39,600 in January from 40,500 in December, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decrease in mortgage approvals. In January 2009, the figure stood at 32,400.

Earlier this week, Nationwide’s House Price Index also revealed that properties dropped in value by

1.1 per cent year-on-year in February – pushing investor confidence down even further.

In a further sign of pressures on the market, selling platform Zoopla said more than four in ten properties had seen asking prices knocked down by sellers to attract buyers.

LAURA MCGUIRE

JAMES SILVER

JACK BARNETT

GO, GO, GO FORMULA ONE IS BACK ON THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND P22-23

POOL BY THE BATTER-SEA WHY YOUR NEXT DIP IS A LOT CLOSER THAN YOU THINK P19

City’s strength is the unique grouping of world-leading sectors

TONIGHT at the Guildhall, City A.M. will once again host its annual awards night –a celebration of the best and brightest of the Square Mile and beyond, and the contribution of enterprising private businesses, CEOs and entrepreneurs to our national life. It will, as it always is, be a fantastic occasion. The competitive advantage of our awards, so to speak, happens to be the same as the City’s

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY THE CITY VIEW

competitive advantage. Rather than focus on just one sector, we focus on the range of professions which make up the Square Mile: from the lawyers to the accountants to the dealmakers to the restaurateurs and entrepreneurs. The City would

not be the City if you took just one part out. That is ever more important as we establish the Square Mile’s post-Brexit future. There is no question in our mind that the City will remain a thriving global financial centre; betting against London has rarely proved a wise investment. Nowhere else in Europe and few places in the world offer the range of services offered here: a one-stop shop, as it were, for global trade, commerce and

finance. But it is also true that we must now double down on those individual strengths. Our insurers and pension funds must be freed up to invest, as Phoenix’s Andy Briggs says later in these pages. Our banks must be given sensible capital requirements and allowed to compete, responsibly, on a global scale. Other sectors, too, need their own openings to exploit. All of that is perhaps for another time. The awards this evening

will be a celebration of excellence, yes, but also a recognition of resilience. During the pandemic, it appeared for all the world that the Square Mile would change forever, and yet for at least three days of the week it looks the same as it always did. In the teeth of an economic slowdown, as we are now, there are still precious few signs of the City slowing down. May that continue to be the case.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

BRIDGEWATER TO CUT JOBS AND CAP FLAGSHIP FUND

Bridgewater Associates is set to cap investments on its flagship vehicle and cut about eight per cent of its workforce in the most significant shake-up of the world’s largest hedge fund since founder Ray Dalio ceded control.

THE TIMES

DUP VETERAN URGES CAUTION OVER BREXIT DEAL

Rejecting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal could place unionism on “perilous ground”, a former leader of the DUP has warned as Boris Johnson prepares to make his first public comments on the agreement.

THE GUARDIAN FINLAND’S MPS APPROVE COUNTRY TO JOIN NATO

Finland’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing the country to join Nato, increasing the chances of it becoming a member of the transatlantic defensive alliance before Sweden.

Give London power to direct its economy to reverse productivity slide, study urges

JACK BARNETT

LONDON must be given greater power to direct its economy by central government to arrest a historic productivity decline, a new report has urged.

Handing the capital more sway over tax and spending decisions, peeling back onerous planning rules and boosting graduate migration would help London return to being an economic growth engine for the rest of the UK.

That’s according to the think tank the Centre for Cities, whose chief, Andrew Carter, yesterday urged policymakers to launch policies to reverse a sharp de-

cline in City’s economic performance.

According to an analysis of Office for National Statistics numbers, the Centre for Cities reckons the rate of growth in output per job in London has collapsed to just 0.2 per cent a year between 2010 and 2019.

That is a huge decline from the average annual increase of 2.7 per cent between 2000 and 2008.

“New York, Paris and Stockholm saw annual growth between 2007 and 2019 at 1.4 per cent, 0.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively,” the report said.

Responding to the study, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London told City

UK factories on the mend as recession U-turn gathers pace

A.M.: “London has less control over the tax we generate than any other global city. If ministers truly wanted to level up, it would give cities such as ours greater control over revenues to deliver economic growth and lasting social change for the benefit of the whole country.”

“More of the same old one-size-fits-all, command and control from Whitehall won’t do, and what’s needed instead is wholesale shifting of power from Whitehall to the mayor and local authorities,” Nick Bowes, chief executive of the Centre for London think tank, told City A.M.

JACK BARNETT

BRITISH factories are performing better than expected in another sign the economy is on course to perform a screeching U-turn and avoid a recession, a closely watched survey has shown.

S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s final purchasing managers’ index for the UK manufacturing sector nudged higher from an earlier estimate to 49.3 points last month.

That reading was above the consensus forecast but still below

the 50 point threshold that separates growth and contraction, meaning factory activity dropped in February.

Experts said the figures send another signal that the UK economy was performing much better than people had feared it would at the turn of the year.

“UK manufacturing showed encouraging signs of resilience in February. Output rose for the first time in eight months, boosted by weaker cost inflation and reduced supply chain disruptions,” Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said.

ARTFULLY DONE A piece by Cecilia Charlton will be just one of the works on display at Collect, the annual international fair produced by the Arts Council at Somerset House

Red tape holding back UK fintechs, industry warns

CHARLIE CONCHIE

REGULATORY red tape is stopping fintech firms from boosting financial inclusion and helping consumers through a cost of living crunch, the industry body and EY have said.

In a new report, Innovate Finance and big four firm EY said that City regulators need to quickly expand the UK’s open banking regime and loosen rules on “robo-advice” so that hard-up consumers can access free financial guidance on managing their debts.

Open banking was rolled out in the UK in 2017 to free up data sharing between big banks and small fintech firms but progress has slowed in the past 12 months as it enters a new phase of implementation.

The chief of Innovate Finance Janine Hirt said it was essential that regulators now ramp up the pace of movement in order to help consumers.

“There is more fintech companies can be doing to help people – especially with open banking, but this can only be made possible by change,” she told City A.M. “We are at a critical juncture, with consumers facing increasing pressures on

Revolut’s bank licence ‘imminent’ as firm marks first year in profit

CHARLIE CONCHIE

REVOLUT yesterday said its UK banking licence was “imminent” as the firm revealed it had spent its first full year in profit in 2021, in a much-delayed set of accounts.

of the end of the year, said it had generated a £26.3m profit in 2021.

their personal finances, and it’s essential there is a swift change in regulatory policy.”

The first stage of open banking was deemed materially complete by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier this year but progress is now hanging on a series of recommendations from the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC), chaired by the Treasury, the CMA, Payments Systems Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The co-chairs of the JROC, Sheldon Mills of the FCA and Chris Hemsley of the Payment Systems Regulator, have said previously that the UK has “led the way on open banking” and they were “working with the industry and broader stakeholders as we work at pace to deliver our shared vision”.

The new report from EY and Innovate Finance added that debt advice, offered by fintech firms, could help cashstrapped Brits’ more savvily handle their debts during the cost of living.

EY’s UK head of fintech and the former interim chief of the FCA, Chris Woolard, said there was an opportunity for regulators and industry to work closer together.

The London-based digital banking fintech, which was due to file its accounts in September 2022 and missed an extended deadline

Small businesses ask Hunt to tackle ‘childcare crisis’ in Budget

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

ONE OF the UK’s leading business groups has called on the Chancellor to immediately tackle the “childcare crisis” in the upcoming budget as the high cost of childcare is increasingly forcing parents out of the workforce. Childcare providers face insufficient funding, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) told City A.M., and are either having to shut down or pass on costs to parents.

The group said the economic impact of the childcare crisis is “far-reaching” as it becomes impossible for some parents to work, forcing them to choose between childcare and their careers.

Although the government currently tries to fund 30 hours of free childcare for 38 weeks of the year, the FSB said there is a funding shortfall which providers have to pass onto parents.

“Childcare businesses are in dire straits,” FSB policy chair Tina McKenzie said.

Yesterday’s results showed revenues in 2022 surged over 30 per cent to more than £850m. However, Revolut is yet to reveal whether it has managed to maintain its profitability amid soaring costs.

Speaking with City A.M. yesterday, chief financial officer Mikko Salovaara said the firm’s long-

awaited UK banking licence was also “imminent” and would be granted in the “very near term”.

Revolut applied for its full licence in early 2021 and the hunt for full authorisation has proved a speed bump to its growth in the past two years. In an interview with City A.M. last year, Revolut’s CEO Nikolay Storonsky criticised the pace of UK regulators.

The increasing cost of childcare is forcing parents out of the workplace

Co-op Bank profits jump to £132m thanks to higher interest rates

CHRIS DORRELL

THE CO-OPERATIVE Bank recorded a big increase in pretax profit in its final year results thanks to higher interest rates.

Across 2022 as a whole, pretax profit increased to £132.6m, up from £31.1m last year. This was primarily a result of higher interest

income, which increased 41 per cent on last year.

The bank’s net interest margin – the difference between what it pays out and receives in interest – widened to 166bps, up from 125bps last year.

Banks have seen their income boosted by the Bank of England’s attempt to stave off inflation with a succession of interest rate hikes. The

base rate now stands at four per cent, the highest since the financial crisis. However, Slape told City A.M. there’s “a lot more going on” at the bank than higher interest rates. For example, the bank launched two new savings products thanks to its IT simplification programme. Slape added the bank would continue to look for acquisition targets.

Banks slammed for not passing on rate hikes

CHRIS DORRELL

UK BANKS have been accused of “taking advantage” of customers by failing to pass on higher interest rates to savers, while upping executive pay.

Britain’s banks have seen their income boosted by the Bank of England’s attempt to stave off inflation with a succession of ten straight interest rate hikes. The base rate now stands at four per cent – the highest since the financial crisis.

However, in a letter to the heads of four of the UK’s largest banks, chair of the Treasury Committee Harriet Baldwin yesterday asked banks why their savings rates remain lower than the Bank of England’s base rate.

The interest rate on HSBC’s ‘flexible saver’ account is the highest at 0.9 per cent. Natwest’s ‘flexible saver’ pays 0.65 per cent as does Lloyds’ ‘easy saver’ account. Barclays’ ‘everyday saver’ pays the least at 0.55 per cent.

Baldwin said constituents may “reasonably surmise” that banks have “taken the opportunity of a rising bank rate and a reluctance of customers to switch to increase net margins and profits.”

The letter follows up on a Treasury

Committee hearing last month in which MPs accused banks of being “ungenerous” on their savings rate, an accusation which the bank bosses rejected.

Since then the UK’s largest lenders have reported their profit for the final quarter of the year, with Natwest, Lloyds and HSBC recording big increases on last year.

Baldwin also drew attention to the high level of executive pay at the banks, confirmed in last month’s results. Natwest CEO Alison Rose saw her pay increase 46 per cent on last year, while HSBC’s Noel Quinn recorded a 14 per cent increase.

“It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that our biggest banks are taking advantage of their most loyal customers to increase profits and CEO pay,” Baldwin said.

It came as Skipton Group yesterday criticised rival high street lenders for failing to pass on higher interest rates to savers.

“We’ve followed the interest rates up on our savings range whereas… the market practice has been for people to maybe leave the savings rates down, which then supports the margins and the profits of the institutions who could make more profit,” Stuart Haire, Skipton Group’s chief executive, told City A.M. “Shame on them,” he said.

Australia’s

Macquarie considering takeover of £5bn FTSE 100 firm M&G

CITY A.M. REPORTER

AUSTRALIAN banking giant Macquarie, is reportedly considering a takeover bid for London-listed investment manager M&G.

Discussions at the Aussie firm about snapping up the FTSE 100 fund, which has a market capitalisation of just over £5bn, are in the early stages and it has not made an approach to M&G’s board yet, Sky News reported late yesterday.

Macquarie is being advised on the

matter by Morgan Stanley, Sky News said.

The report comes after shares in the firm jumped last Friday following speculation about a potential offer from an unidentified suitor.

M&G manages almost £350bn of assets, and holds stakes in many top London-listed companies.

Macquarie declined to comment and M&G said they don’t comment on rumours when contacted by City A.M. about the report.

Australian giant Macquarie is looking at taking over UK investment manager M&G

Brits’ love of brands keeps Reckitt sales up

LAURA MCGUIRE

DUREX owner Reckitt Benckiser has said it was entering the year as a “strengthened business” after reporting a strong sales increase for the year led by its nutrition business.

The Anglo-Dutch company, which also owns other brands including Dettol and Nurofen, saw like-for-like net revenue growth for the year up 9.2 per cent to £14.45bn.

Revenues in its nutrition offering performed the best for the year, increasing by 22.9 per cent. Moreover, its health likefor-like net revenue also grew by 14.7 per cent.

Despite the increase, the group saw revenues in its hygiene offering decline 3.1 per cent, blaming “tough comparatives in Lysol” for the dip. When excluding Lysol,

the business delivered mid-single digit growth.

“We enter 2023 as a strengthened business with enhanced financial, operational and brand resilience, and continued growth momentum,” Nicandro Durante, chief executive officer, at Reckitt Benckiser said.

Durante, who recently stepped into the role following the departure of its former chief Laxman Narasimhan in September, added that the group is now 28 per cent larger than it was in 2019.

AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould said the results underlined how “big brands still count in the nutrition and health market” despite the consumer pressures of the cost of living crisis. Shares finished up over two per cent after the results yesterday.

Purplebricks receives ‘several’ approaches as it goes up for sale

AUGUST GRAHAM

BOSSES at struggling online estate agent Purplebricks launched a formal process to sell the business after several potential buyers expressed an interest in recent weeks.

The company said it had received the approaches after saying in mid-February that it would review its future.

Inmarsat £5.4bn takeover by US rival given okay

HOLLY WILLIAMS

THE £5.4bn takeover of UK satellite giant Inmarsat by US firm Viasat has been given the provisional green light by Britain’s competition watchdog as it said the merged firm would be “challenged” in the rapidly expanding sector.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that, while the companies compete closely in the aviation sector – specifically in the supply of satellite connections for onboard wifi – the deal does not substantially reduce competition for services provided on flights used by UK customers.

Yesterday the firm launched a formal sales process and said it would invite bids from potential interested suitors. While Purplebricks had a lot of success in its early years, disrupting an old industry, it has since fallen on tougher times. Shares, which were selling for around £5 each in 2017, would now set you back less than eight pence.

Following a four-month in-depth phase of the probe, the CMA said the combined firm would be “challenged” by the likes of SpaceX’s new competitor Starlink, as well as established firms such as Intelsat and Panasonic, in the coming years.

The satellite sector has seen a wave of investment and acquisitional activity in recent years as ventures backed by Elon Musk and Amazon have pushed forward in the race to build a constellation of low-orbit satellites.

The struggling online estate agent launched its formal sales process yesterday

Reckitt owns brands including Durex and Lysol PA PA

Solvency II plans must be moved on: Phoenix boss

LOUIS GOSS

ANDY Briggs, the boss of Phoenix Group, has called on the government and regulators not to allow “momentum” on Solvency II reforms to be lost in an article for City

A.M. (right).

It comes amid rumblings of discontent that changes to the regime are moving too slowly or being diluted.

At a dinner speech last week, Sam Woods, the head of the UK’s insurance regulator, outlined the current state of the government’s planned Solvency II reforms.

As they stand, the main benefit for the insurance sector will be in letting UK insurers invest capital they are required to hold on their balance sheets

Losing momentum on these reforms would be a huge missed opportunity to transform the UK OPINION ANDY

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. That phrase might have become a bit of a cliché, especially in recent years, but the UK’s exit from the EU could ensure that Solvency II reforms really are one of those events. The proposed reforms represent a significant opportunity to ensure more private sector capital can be directed into the UK economy.

corporate bonds into infrastructure, social housing and green technology. We expect that to come with higher levels of consumer protection.

BRIGGS

in a wider array of more profitable, but more illiquid, assets.

Speaking at the Association of British Insurers (ABI) dinner, Woods said the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is now ready to implement the UK’s planned reforms.

“We would like to implement these reforms as swiftly as possible,”

Reforms are an opportunity, says Briggs

Woods said.

The PRA is waiting to be given the powers to actually make the reforms, by the Financial Services and Markets

Bill, which is currently working its way through the House of Lords. Insurers have previously told City

A.M. they are hoping the rules will come into force in 2024.

Only seven per cent of UK pension assets are diverted to other assets, like infrastructure, venture capital and real estate. The average among the world’s largest pension pots is 19 per cent. If we want to enable significant investment to where society and the planet needs it most, while also boosting returns for policyholders, we need to put this capital to work and we need to maintain momentum with these reforms.

The opportunity now is to ensure that the regulatory environment enables pension savings to be invested responsibly in a broader range of assets for the benefit of retirees and wider society. In doing so, it would boost the UK economy, allow investment in vital infrastructure such as social housing, and support the UK in its transition to Net Zero. And critically, policyholder protection always remains the undisputed priority. At Phoenix Group, we see a clear opportunity to invest more in alternative

assets - as much as £50bn if the regulatory environment allows us.

Solvency II reforms will be a critical step on this journey. Key to these reforms are the rules around the matching adjustment – using asset prices to assign a market-consistent value to insurers’ annuity liabilities, with strict controls on what assets can be recognised. We believe these controls should be more principlebased, flexible and pragmatic to ensure that our policyholders benefit from having access to a broader range of assets within a safe investment environment. For the avoidance of doubt, we are not calling for a release in capital requirements. In fact, we expect the fundamental spread, another component of the matching adjustment calculation, will increase slightly above current prudent levels, further increasing reserves. The changes will allow the sector to allocate more of its assets away from non-productive assets such as

Over the coming years, the public finances are going to be stretched. Private investment into infrastructure could help fill the gap and ensure capital is provided in key areas. That capital will allow the UK economy to grow; connectivity, infrastructure and housing will improve; and policyholders will get a better return and a better retirement as a result.

Last year we invested more than £1bn in a range of productive assets across the UK, including social housing, renewable energy production projects; and care homes, healthcare and university facilities.

With the right regulatory environment and more investment opportunities, we can do more. We need the transformative projects to come to market that will use our capital. That means we need national and local government working together to build the investment case that will improve our towns and cities, and set the country on a path to Net Zero.

We are on the right track, but must not lose this momentum if we want to put capital to work and enable investment potential where it is needed most.

Onshore wind reforms ‘won’t revive industry’

NICHOLAS EARL

GOVERNMENT proposals to revive onshore wind will do nothing to remove the current de facto ban, the UK’s leading wind industry group has argued.

Renewable UK has sent a damning submission, seen by City A.M., into the government’s consultation on its Levelling Up and Regenerations Bill, which includes amendments to the planning framework around onshore turbines. It fears that the reforms proposed are far too weak to tempt investment into the onshore wind industry

The energy body has highlighted that the government’s proposed new planning rules still require local plans showing areas suitable for wind energy development.

It also includes very broad wording on community consent – meaning that, theoretically, one person could potentially still object to a project to

stop it going ahead.

This means that the risk to potential investors of supporting onshore wind in England remains high.

Renewable UK said: “We suggest in our submission that it should be the responsibility of developers and community groups to work together to identify suitable areas for wind farms – expecting local authorities to do it will delay our ability to take vital action against climate change.”

The industry is now calling for ministers to reverse two specific measures introduced back in 2015 which were designed to stop nearly all new onshore wind projects going ahead in England.

Under the current restrictive planning system, no onshore wind farm can go ahead unless the local authority has drawn up a detailed local plan which identifies all areas that would be suitable for onshore wind development.

Lewis is leaving Eon after 30 years to head up utility giant Uniper

Uniper taps Eon UK boss Michael Lewis as new chief executive

NICHOLAS EARL

UNIPER is on the verge of appointing EON UK boss Michael Lewis as its new chief executive, with the state-rescued utility giant looking to overhaul its strategy after last year’s collapse. The supervisory board has announced its intention to hire Lewis, and hopes it can help oversee the German power

Tata asks UK for £500m for battery factory

NICHOLAS EARL

THE GOVERNMENT will have to cough up £500m in taxpayer funds if it wants Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) owner Tata Motors to build a new battery factory in Britain.

The Indian car giant is close to choosing between Spain and the UK for its new plant and has given ministers just weeks to make a decision, according to the Financial Times.

Tata’s demands reflect the challenge the government faces over how much support to give the industry, as the UK scrambles to transition from petrol and diesel cars to mass-market electric vehicles.

group from its natural gas dependency following a bailout last year.

The company made some of the heaviest losses in the history of business amid a spike in wholesale costs.

EON confirmed the news and revealed it is now in talks with Uniper over when Lewis will take on his new role and has started the selection process for a successor.

JLR is the largest employer in the UK car manufacturing sector and it would be a huge blow for the UK’s battery ambitions if it opted against sourcing batteries in the country.

The industry is still recovering from the resale of Britishvolt to Aussie group Recharge, which has now decided to use the plant to develop clean energy storage and batteries for luxury, high-end sports cars rather than lithium batteries for the mainstream UK car industry.

EVEN as Charlotte Crosswell launched the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) in Leeds this week with a mandate to boost fintech across the UK, those in attendance were asking why it couldn’t have been in London.

The Leeds event had big name backers in City minister Andrew Griffith and has full-throated support from across government and the industry. But however whimsical those questions may have been, they now point to the challenge ahead for CFIT and its chair, the former open banking and Innovate Finance chief Crosswell.

CFIT was outlined as the key delivery measure in the landmark Kalifa review of fintech in 2021, and was described by Ron Kalifa as “the outstanding piece of the jigsaw” to deliver a coherent national strategy for the sector when it was given £5.5m seed funding by the Treasury in 2021.

But fintech’s success has become synonymous with the capital. And, naturally, the talent and money that keeps the sector moving have followed. The role of Crosswell and CFIT’s new chief exec Ezechi Britton is now to ensure the spread of the sector becomes “more balanced”.

“If we do our role well, by having the spotlight and the input and output coming in from those regions, [talent and investment] will be a natural evolution,” she tells City A.M. in an interview. “We’re not there to promote [areas outside of London], that’s not our role. We’re there to solve the difficult challenges.”

She says the aim of the new body will not be to draw the existing sector away from the capital but to establish cities like Manchester, Belfast and Bristol as thriving fintech ecosystems in their own right. As you would expect with a challenge of that size, it is likely to be easier said than done.

LONDON CALLING

Fintech has undoubtedly been a UK success story of the past ten years.

Regulators and politicians moved fast in the wake of the financial crisis and rolled out smart reforms that have spawned an ecosystem and been adopted the world over. But it is an industry that has clustered tightly around London. If London was a country, it would have

DRIVING BRITAIN’S FINTECH FUTURE

been surpassed by only the US last year in terms of capital invested in tech, while employers had 350,000 software developers to choose from in the capital in 2019, more than any other European city.

And while Crosswell says the advent of remote working should in theory have helped ease the tight collection, London’s dominance remains.

“Somebody once called it ‘the £200 cup of coffee’ –you come down from Manchester to London to be told ‘no’. But we seem to have gone back to that again.”

The figures bear that out. London accounted for two-thirds of all the

venture capital investment into the UK with over £16.4bn raised across sectors last year, while deal value into the UK regions fell by £3bn to £6.2bn, according to KPMG.

“[Investors say] I really want to have a regional portfolio, but perhaps they're not going out to proactively find it much,” she says.

More existential than the interregion troubles, however, is that the UK’s crown could be slipping. France is ramping up efforts to win Paris the title of European fintech hub, and progress in areas where the UK was fast moving like open banking are being overtaken.

THERE’S

“We put together the whole playbook for fintech for international hubs, and then they come in and say ‘Great, someone’s done all the hard work. [The UK] has learned from the mistakes. What’s working? We'll take that.’” And that is why the question is less a split between UK and the regions, and more about ensuring the UK stays competitive internationally, she argues. “We need to make sure that we’re not resting on our laurels.” Rather than a battle between the capital and the rest, she argues that the growth of the sector will lift all. Now it’s on CFIT and Crosswell to help drive it.

YOU YOU , THEN THERE’S

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We put together the whole playbook for fintech for international hubs, and then they come in and say ‘Great, someone’s done all the hard work’

Charlie Conchie interviews the biggest movers and shakers in tech, fintech and financial services

CFIT chair Charlotte Crosswell on why growing the sector beyond London is good news for everyone

Glencore fined £582m over officials bribery corruption scandals

LOUIS GOSS

GLENCORE has been fined $700m (£582m) over the corruption scandal that saw the company’s execs pay more than $100m in bribes to officials in Africa and South America.

A New York court has ordered Glencore to pay a $428.5m fine and forfeit a further $272m, after the commodities giant agreed a plea deal last May.

The May plea deal saw Glencore agree to pay $700m to US authorities after it admitted paying more than $100m in bribes to officials in Brazil, Venezuela, and five African countries, from 2007 to 2018.

The New York court’s order comes after Glencore agreed to pay a total $1.5bn to settle charges brought forward by US, UK and Brazilian authori-

ties over the far-reaching corruption scandal.

In dealing with the UK charges, Glencore was ordered by a London court last November to pay £281m to settle seven charges brought against it by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The SFO charges specifically related to activities carried out by execs on Glencore’s West Africa trading desk that saw $29m in bribes paid to officials across seven African countries.

The Swiss firm separately agreed to pay more than $1bn to US authorities for bribing officials and manipulating oil markets, after also pledging to pay Brazilian authorities $40m.

Glencore still faces a raft of civil lawsuits brought forward against it by its own investors and the governments of African countries.

The Law Society said many solicitors were being forced to leave the legal aid sector

Law Society files claim over UK solicitors’ legal aid fees

LOUIS GOSS

THE LAW Society is seeking to force the UK government to give criminal solicitors a 15 per cent pay hike by taking the matter to court.

The legal sector trade body is calling on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to give criminal solicitors a pay

Just Eat orders drop as purse strings tighten

HOLLY WILLIAMS

ONLINE food delivery firm Just Eat Takeaway.com yesterday said it returned to underlying earnings last year and expects to remain profitable in 2023 despite seeing a drop in orders as customers cut back.

The Amsterdam-based group swung to underlying earnings of €19m (£16.7m) last year from losses of €350m (£308m) in 2021 thanks largely to cost-cutting efforts.

In the UK and Ireland, it saw earnings of €23m (£20.m) from losses of €107m (£94.2m) the previous year.

rise that matches the 15 per cent hike given to criminal barristers last year.

Last November, the MoJ pledged to invest an extra £85m a year in solicitors’ pay, making for an effective pay rise of 11 per cent.

Law Society president Lubna Shuja said the government had left it with “no choice” but to file a claim.

Selfridges plays down £1.7bn debt concerns

LAURA MCGUIRE

THE OWNERS of Selfridges have said they are “very confident” about the outlook for this year as they sought to play down reported concerns that its debt pile, worth over £1.7bn, could cause problems for the luxury department store.

The Telegraph reported that the Thai and Austrian owners of Selfridges have laden the firm with over £1.7bn of debt since taking control of the store last autumn.

The Weston family agreed to sell Selfridges Group for around £4bn to a joint venture between Thai

conglomerate Central Group and Austria’s Signa Holding in December 2021, which completed in August last year.

Company filings show that the London branch of Bangkok Bank provided a loan of £1.7bn that is “secured against the freehold of Selfridges flagship London store”.

The Telegraph also reported that a separate large loan, which has been redacted in the company’s filings, was also provided by Swiss lender EFG Bank and secured against Selfridges Exchange Square site in Manchester.

Selfridges refused to provide more

details on the second loan when contacted by City A.M.

But it pushed back against suggestions that the debt was something to worry about.

“Selfridges enjoyed the best Christmas ever in 2022, and we remain very confident about 2023 and beyond,” a spokesperson for Selfridges told City A.M.

A source familiar with the matter told City A.M. that the loans were used to fund the acquisition of the store. “It was a fairly straight forwarded property charge, there’s nothing more to it than that,” the source said.

The group said order numbers tumbled nine per cent to 984m, with the last six months impacted in particular amid a consumer spending pullback.

Just Eat declined to comment on food shortages impact on orders. Shares dropped to close down two per cent yesterday.

City of London update

New era as City business hub moves to new home

Ahub which helps small businesses in the City of London act as ‘engines of growth’ is embarking on a new era as it moves to new premises.

The Small Business Research + Enterprise Centre, based in the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall headquarters, has now temporarily closed its doors.

The centre, which offers advice, support and a flexible workspace for SMEs, will move from its current location in Aldermanbury to a site on the east of the Guildhall complex, in Basinghall Street.

SBREC, which has around 2,500 members, plans to open in its new home in April. The new space will allow more events, networking and exhibitions to be held, details of which will be announced later in the year.

More information

cityoflondon.gov.uk/sbrec

Pedestrians have priority

NEW traffic restrictions have been introduced on Chancery Lane in an experiment aimed at improving conditions for pedestrians.

It is now closed to through traffic from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday as part of the City of London Corporation’s Pedestrian Priority Streets programme.

Black cabs are exempt, while other vehicles can use the street for access to properties and parking and loading bays. It follows similar measures introduced during lockdown.

People can find more information and give feedback on the 18-month experiment before a decision is made on whether to make the restrictions permanent.

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ pedestrianprioritychancery

Despite its debt pile, worth over £1.7bn, Selfridge’s owners feel that the year looks good for the London department store

NOT GOING UNDERGROUND London to be crippled by fresh tube strike on budget day

UNDERGROUND workers are set to walk out on 15 March, when Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will announce the government’s financial plans for the next year, amid a row over pensions, jobs and pay. It comes after Tube drivers with the Aslef union announced that they would strike that day.

ANNOUNCEMENTS LEGAL AND PUBLIC NOTICES

Rayner says that party will revamp training levy

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

LABOUR will reform the unpopular apprenticeship levy, Angela Rayner pledged at a key business summit yesterday.

The scheme, which firms have described as a “£3.5bn mistake”, means companies with a payroll of £3m or above have to put aside 0.5 per cent to spend on apprenticeships.

But firms say the rules around training types mean they have missed out on spending vast swathes of the cash, which is scooped up by the Treasury if unused after two years.

The party’s deputy leader told firms at the Confederation of British

Industry (CBI) future of work conference that Labour will “start by turning the Tories’ failed apprenticeships levy into a growth and skills levy”.

Rayner said Labour wanted the levy to be “used on the greater range of training courses that businesses tell us they need… so adults can gain new skills and businesses can grow.”

She told firms Labour was “unashamedly pro-worker and probusiness”.

She added: “Thirteen years of economic failure has left businesses and working people out to dry… but our response cannot and will not be a rerun of the 1980s.”

In an interview after her speech, Rayner told the CBI: “People are one of the biggest assets we have in our economy.

It’s the working people of this country that create the productivity and growth that we need.

“Harnessing their skills and making sure nobody is left behind is fundamental to our target to have the highest sustained growth in the G7.”

Rayner added: “While Labour is pro-worker and pro-business, the Tories are neither – and that’s bad for working people, bad for business, bad for our economy and bad for our country.”

Hancock denies claims he ignored Covid-19 care home testing advice

JESSICA

MATT HANCOCK has denied claims he ignored expert advice on care home testing during the coronavirus pandemic after leaked Whatsapp messages were published by the Telegraph yesterday.

Journalist Isabel Oakeshott shared more than 100,000 messages with the newspaper after receiving them while working on Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries book, including text ex-

changes with Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and other key cabinet ministers.

In April 2020, according to the paper’s investigation, former chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty advised the then-health secretary anyone going into care homes should be tested.

But leaked texts published by the newspaper appear to reveal Hancock rejected the guidance, suggesting it “muddies the waters” and introduced

mandatory testing for hospital leavers.

The MP hit back at the newspaper’s story, calling it a “distorted account” that has been “spun to fit an antilockdown agenda”.

The messages reportedly amount to 2.3m words or the equivalent of three King James Bibles.

Hancock’s spokesman said: “It is outrageous that this distorted account of the pandemic is being pushed.”

Sunak escapes Brexit grilling at latest PMQs

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday escaped a major Brexit grilling over the Windsor Framework amid a row over former health secretary Matt Hancock’s leaked Whatsapp messages.

The PM – whose latest EU trade agreement is hoped to end the power-sharing deadlock in Northern Ireland – dodged intense scrutiny over the deal in the

Commons yesterday.

It came amid furore over Hancock’s texts with key government figures during the pandemic, as revealed by the Telegraph, which appear to indicate he did not follow advice on testing.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Sunak to ensure the inquiry on UK Covid-19 is able to report its findings by the end of this year.

Some £85m in public money has been spent, he said, and no ministers have yet given evidence.

But “rather than comment on piecemeal bits of information”, Sunak stressed there was an ongoing legal process and the independent inquiry should he be able to “get on and do the job”.

Health minister Helen Whately said “selective snippets of Whatsapp conversations give a limited and at times misleading insight”.

Amendments to the waiting and loading restrictions at Basinghall Street and Nicholas Lane and

FRANK-KEYES

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has promised they will revamp the unpopular apprenticeship levy that companies incur

THE SQUARE MILE AND ME

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?

Working on the European sales desk at James Capel in 1987. I was living in London for the first time and having fun. Then I woke up one morning and the Great Storm had hit and the market fell 22 per cent in two days. There were stunned faces all around. I offered to make everyone a cup of tea.

WHEN DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS THE INDUSTRY FOR YOU –AND WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU MIGHT BE GOOD AT IT?

Private client stockbroking (as it was known) was seen as a bit of a career backwater in those days – where the institutional salesmen were ‘put out to grass’. I was lucky with the support that I received from an early stage. I had a boss who allowed me to speak to clients early on and this brought the job to life. It quite quickly dawned on me that calling clients back promptly and engaging with them regularly bought the best out of the relationship. There was a clear correlation between effort and reward.

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU LOVE ABOUT THE CITY OF LONDON?

I think the City gives you a chance. You can over-achieve if you work hard and keep your wits about you.

In wealth management, I love the connection between the markets, as the gauge of potential, and the real world of the families and charities that we look after. I think some of the financial sector has over-evolved but I like to feel we still provide that important link between investors and capital that the original stock exchange sought to create.

... AND ONE THING YOU’D CHANGE?

Post-Covid-19 and despite work from home, the city has got its buzz back which is great. Recent traffic rule changes have made a difference to the feel and I think that it could be even better if we rolled out more pedestrianised areas.

More my problem, but I need to deal better / concentrate with the cycle lanes!

ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC FOR THE YEAR AHEAD?

Yes I am. In the short run, I think China reopening is a big positive and, in addition, rates are likely to steady and inflation should ease. A year of more stable conditions would be wellreceived and valuations look relatively attractive.

I think prospects for the wealth management industry are positive too. While we’re all finding our way through new regulatory changes due in July, I think they will be good for the well-run businesses and positive for clients, which can only strengthen the appeal of the industry.

WHO’S THE CITY OR BUSINESS FIGURE YOU MOST ADMIRE?

I have a high regard for a number of

people that I have worked with over the years and I was fortunate to have good people whom I could learn from in the early days. Although I never worked under him, I have a lot of admiration for David Mayhew of JP Morgan Cazenove; for all that he has achieved, but mostly for the way he has gone about it. He is still involved with so many things inside the City but also outside of finance. I had lunch with him recently. He is softly

spoken and listens carefully to everything you say.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE LUNCH?

It was a charity lunch that my old friend Mark Durden-Smith invited me to. It was full of showbiz figures and we had some funny people on our table. I was next to Ronnie Corbett. It

NEARBY). WHERE ARE WE GOING?

One of my favourite venues is a small French restaurant called Casse-Croute on Bermondsey Street. Authentic with a small set menu so no dallying. If time is on your side, it’s fun to visit the Market Porter in Borough Market on the way there. For more formal business lunches, Manicomio on Gutter Lane works well.

AND WHERE’S YOUR FAVOURITE PUB IN THE CAPITAL?

Chequers on Duke Street. You need to be in the right mood as it’s normally busy. It’s a small space but it always has a good atmosphere and there is a table outside at the back if it gets too much for you. When I worked at HSBC we were based just around the corner and we watched England win the Ashes which was a fun afternoon.

WHERE’S HOME DURING THE WEEK?

North Hampshire in a village called Hannington. It’s supposedly the highest point in Hampshire. We have the reassuring lights of Basingstoke in the distance but good views and a peaceful spot. There is a pub and a church and a great community.

AND WHERE MIGHT WE FIND YOU ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON?

On the touchline. We have two sons and a daughter. Our daughter is at university and the boys are in their last year at school and so I go to every match that I can. One of them plays some rugby for Bath so that’s another weekend destination. It’s good fun although in summer watching them play cricket is not as relaxing as it could be. I am a keen fisherman so if I am not there, I hope to be on the River Test somewhere. It’s really an excuse to sit on the river bank with mates or family and ‘chew the cud’.

YOU’VE GOT A WELLDESERVED TWO WEEKS OFF. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

also had the best speech I have ever heard, from Peter Ustinov. Everyone there was doubled up. It got quite lively. Later, on my way home, I discovered that someone had put a crayfish in each of my overcoat pockets..

YOU’RE HOSTING A BUSINESS LUNCH IN THE CITY (OR

My favourite place in the world is up at the top of Scotland, two hours north of Inverness where we take a house on a river called the Helmsdale. The lodge overlooks a loch. It’s beautifully wild and remote – the nearest village is 25 miles away – and it’s a perfect antidote to London and Hampshire! We fish, hill walk, have barbecues and then in the evenings have a big dinner and play cards and other games. I love it. Last year we said the children could bring a load of their friends. They stood in the river in bare feet and shorts, smoking while they fished. It was great fun but completely exhausting so I am looking forward to a more peaceful time this year.

We dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good: this week, it’s Hugo Bedford, chief executive of wealth manager JM Finn, with his stories of the Square Mile.

CITY DASHBOARD

Miners receive China boost but house price slide drags on builders

LONDON’s FTSE 100 sprung higher yesterday, propelled by investors piling into commodity giants after a batch of better-than-expected data indicated the Chinese economy is on the mend.

The capital’s premier index flung 0.49 per cent higher to back above the 7,900 point mark, while the domestically-focused midcap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, fell 0.16 per cent to nearly to 19,870.60 points.

Fresh numbers released overnight revealed China’s manufacturing sector has returned to growth and is recovering much faster than analysts had expected, fuelling hopes that the globe’s second largest economy’s resurgence will lift the rest of the world.

The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index climbed to 51.6, smashing the consensus forecast of 50.2 and putting China’s factory output firmly above the 50 point threshold that separates growth and contraction.

FTSE 100 miners soared on the news, with Anglo American and Antofagasta trading at the top of the index, each adding more than three per cent.

Housebuilders tempered gains on the premier index after building society Nationwide said house prices dropped at their quickest pace in a decade over the last year, down 1.1 per cent.

Barratt Developments anchored the FTSE 100, shedding more than four per cent, while Berkeley Group lost nearly two per cent.

The pound was broadly flat against the US dollar.

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com

A BIG CONCERN

Investors will likely find “better value” in companies other than Persimmon, Peel Hunt’s analysts said, after the housebuilder warned its sales could drop by 40 per cent in 2023. The analysts said that while 2023 should be the “trough” of Persimmon’s troubles, higher construction costs will hit its profit margins. They gave Persimmon a ‘hold’ rating with a price target of 1,190p.

“These sharp falls aren’t being reflected in core prices, and wages are still rising. When the January CPI data was released, core CPI was at a record high of 5.2 per cent. It has since been revised up to 5.3 per cent. This is likely to be a big concern for the European Central Bank.”

Shares in engineering company Weir offer strong prospects for growth, according to analysts at Peel Hunt, who said the mining technology company is in a good position to capitalise on soaring demand for minerals due to the global energy transition. The analysts said they see “plenty more to come” after Weir’s “impressive” results as they gave the firm a ‘buy’ rating with a price target of 1,950p.

STANDING UP FOR BUSINESS

MICHAEL HEWSON, CMC MARKETS

House purchases using crypto are up by a quarter in the UK

USING the option of cryptocurrency to purchase property in the UK has risen by 25 per cent over the past year.

Despite typical market volatility –meaning it can be difficult to agree on a price when the value of flagship crypto Bitcoin can vary so dramatically day-to-day – the number of people buying and selling homes using digital assets has risen globally.

However, while crypto real estate has seemingly taken a leap in the UK, there are only 66 properties currently available for purchase with the option of completing a sale using cryptocurrency. This figure, albeit relatively small compared to some other nations, has risen by more than a quarter on the previous year.

The UK ranks eighth on a table of countries where a significant number properties can be bought using digital assets.

Spain ranks the highest with a remarkable 289 properties. The figure is made up largely of villas in and around the cities of tourist hotspots Alicante and Marbella, as well as dozens of apartments in the bustling city of Barcelona.

Thailand takes second spot with a total of 227. The popular islands of Phuket and Koh Samui have some of the higher concentrations of properties available.

Third is Portugal with 130 crypto properties all split between the capital Lisbon and the second largest city of Porto.

The rest of the positions in the analysis by digital asset platform

Forex Suggest sees the United Arab Emirates with 128, Montenegro on 110, Mexico at 89, and the US just ahead of the UK with 80.

The UK ranked seventh for the most expensive crypto properties, with average prices around 62 BTC£1.2 million.

Canada’s crypto property market

proved to be the most expensive with an average listed price at 248.3 BTC – around $5.7 million, although these figures can be explained by the country only having 18 properties for sale by crypto, and almost all are deemed ‘luxury real estate’. The US registered a similar pattern with an average price of 112 BTC –the equivalent of $2.5m.

The Philippines, with only eight properties on the market, proved to be the most inexpensive with an average listed price of 15.4 BTC – around £295,000. Despite the rising number of properties available for sale using crypto in the UK, few are actually sold using digital assets, and a very limited selection of estate agents are willing to operate with cryptocurrency.

Anticipation grows as Shanghai upgrade nears

BITCOIN’Sprice started to slip this week, after a strong start to the year that’s seen the market leader clamber kicking and screaming to highs not seen since the heady preFTX collapse days of last Summer.

Bitcoin’s failure to push past $25k has seen it slip a further one per cent over the past seven days, with the largest cryptocurrency by total value mostly changing hands for just above $23,500 since the beginning of the week. Elsewhere, Ethereum has performed marginally better, dropping just two per

cent since this time last week to $1,650.

It’s an exciting time for Ethereum, with developers preparing for the next stage towards the Shanghai Upgrade this month. The update will allow people who stake Ethereum to withdraw it, which is expected to see a significant increase in the amount being staked and therefore a stronger network.

The flat performance also follows last week’s Personal Consumption Expenditures reading - a key indicator of US inflation - which came in higher than expected. The numbers increased

expectations for the March 22 FOMC press conference, with the odds for a 50bps hike growing.

Despite the last few months, crypto fans will have drawn comfort this week from recent research that suggested people are still interested in crypto. A recent Morning Consult poll of 2,200 people in the US found that 20 per cent owned some form of cryptocurrency, which has remained consistent each quarter since 2022. 67 per cent of respondents agreed that the global financial system is

in need of an overhaul.

“Universally, Americans are frustrated by the inequality in the financial system and are hungry for change. Crypto investors and younger cohorts of Americans still believe that crypto is a worthwhile investment in the future that can lead to societal benefits,” the authors noted.

LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR SPRING AWAKENING

ONLY 100 tickets will be available for purchase to attend the Crypto AM Spring Awakening at the end of the month.

The event – the first of Crypto AM’s series of prominent gatherings across 2023 – will be held at The Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor London, on Thursday March 30. The theme of the Spring Awakening will be the ‘State of the Union of Crypto in the UK’, culminating in a prestigious three-course networking lunch in the magnificent surroundings of the historic Egyptian Hall. Tickets, priced £120, can be purchased by visiting https://www.cityam.com/cryptospring-awakening/.

FTX DIRECTOR PLEADS

GUILTY TO SIX CHARGES

THE former Director of Engineering at collapsed crypto exchange FTX – Nishad Singh – this week entered a guilty plea to a slew of criminal charges in the US. Singh pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by violating campaign finance laws. The 27-year-old answered the charges on Tuesday and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as they continue their investigation into the dealings of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

RIDING A WAVE OF CHANGE

AWARD-winning digital asset investment management company Wave Financial has officially changed its name to Wave Digital Assets.

Founded in 2018 with bases in Los Angeles and London, Wave quickly became the first SEC recognised registered investment advisor exclusively for digital assets, handling approximately $1 billion of assets under management.

On the rebranding, David Siemer, co-founder and CEO said: “Wave is successfully navigating the current ‘Crypto Winter’ and has been a beneficiary of recent market conditions, following a volatile 2022 in the digital asset space. Having made our first acquisition in Europe recently, we are in advanced talks for further M&A activity.”

FETCH BRINGING

GAINS IN A FLAT WEEK

DESPITE a week of largely sideways movement in the cryptocurrency markets, machine learning crypto platform Fetch.ai has produced an impressive upside performance. The Cambridge-based company has seen a remarkable 70 per cent uplift in the value of its FET token over the last month as it recorded a 17 per cent rise this week to $0.48, rounding off a 12-month upward curve of 35 per cent. Last night, FET’s 24-hour trading volume was up by more than 12 per cent at $189.2m as Fetch.ai’s market cap reached $393m.

EDITED BY ELENA SINISCALCO

The DUP must decide what Brexit they want - or Northern Ireland will be stuck

NOT SINCE John Major boasted about the Maastricht Treaty being “game, set and match for Britain” has a Tory Leader been so visibly pleased with the results of a negotiation with the European Union. Gone are David Cameron’s complacency, Theresa May’s caution, or Boris Johnson’s incoherence. Rishi Sunak is aggressively pushing the new Windsor Framework he announced with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

His enthusiasm has caused some eyebrows to be raised, especially around his comments in Belfast that Northern Ireland now has the unique benefit of privileged access to both European and British markets. This isn’t the contradiction with his belief in Brexit that many claimed it to be: instead, what Sunak was talking about was the potential for Northern Ireland to benefit from arbitrage, by being the best place to trade with both Britain and Europe. If the whole UK was still in the single market, then Northern Ireland would obviously have no such special position to exploit.

The aggressive rollout of the new protocol places those who were sceptical of Sunak’s renegotiations on the backfoot. Allies of Boris Johnson are already

briefing he is unlikely to oppose the deal. Leading backbenchers from the once-powerful European Research Group begrudgingly talk of being impressed with the final result. It’s a far cry from last weekend when there were rumours that Sunak’s government may be rocked by ministerial resignations. Sunak’s behaviour shows we have passed peak hostility towards the EU. Whether it’s because of a recognition of Brexit’s growing unpopularity, a desire to unlock currently frozen aspects of the Withdrawal Agreement such as Britain joining Horizon Europe, or the changing geopolitical landscape following the Russian invasion of

Ukraine, Rishi Sunak is keen to reset relations with Brussels. This desire was foremost in his mind when seeking to do a deal on the protocol - perhaps more so than reviving devolution in Northern Ireland.

With all opposition parties in Great Britain also seemingly minded to vote with the government in what many hope is the final vote on Brexit, the Democratic Unionist Party is suddenly backed into a corner.

An unspoken suspicion of many outside the DUP is that the party’s secret hope for Brexit was the return of a ‘hard’ border on the Island of Ireland. Such a border would not just affirm the province’s Britishness, but end any

potential for a slow drift into the economic orbit of Dublin.

If that was the hope, then it turned out to be a hollow one. If they couldn’t get Tory politicians elected on an explicitly pro-Brexit platform to consider invoking Article 16 - let alone erecting customs posts - then it’s just never happening. Brexit can be added to a list of issues, including the province’s border and name, where Britain demonstrated that it cares about its relationship with Ireland and Ireland’s many friends across the world too much to indulge the wildest fantasies of diehard unionists.

Most people in Northern Ireland, including many Unionists, will welcome

Fintech won’t be derailed by recessionsbut it still needs strong regulation to thrive

WE HAVE been facing what feels like an onslaught over the last few months: rising inflation, the costof-living crisis and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit created a snowballing effect of economic challenges weighing heavily on the country and stifling growth.

In short: we’re nervous and it’s showing. Wary of sticking their heads over the parapet, both investors and businesses are playing it safe. We’re seeing this reflected in the lack of investment in venture capital in the UK, which fell by 30 per cent last year.

The difficult ongoing geopolitical situation has also put roadblocks in the way of growth. Sanctions are often done through the financial industry, and the global economy in the second half of 2022 saw a significant drop in investment in fintech as geopolitical tensions heightened. Coupled with the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, it fuelled scepticism in the industry. But tough times call for innova-

Dima Kats

tors and fast decision-making.

The AI frenzy is just one avenue that has been sweeping through every industry and, for fintech, will drive the development of more competitive solutions. AI will revolutionise the financial sector: it can identify fraud by monitoring customer behaviour patterns, personalise the customer experience and provide data-driven insights into the market to help businesses make decisions.

Globalisation is also playing a huge part in demonstrating how useful fintech can be. Much like the rest of the world, Africa’s digital payments industry has boomed in the last couple

of years and real-time payments are increasing. Nigeria is leading the charge in the top ten global real-time transaction rankings in absolute terms, ahead of the US and Japan. The continent’s ecosystem is growing; last year it defied the global trend of decline and saw $5.4bn raised for start-ups across more than 975 deals. The remittance industry will see itself grow with increasing cross-border payments as Africa keeps up with innovations this year. However, regulation must take precedence as fintech works to restore trust.

The Bank of England is considering a digital pound - the “Britcoin” - to adapt to the way some consumers are changing their payment methods. A central bank digital currency could bridge the gap, as cash usage continues to drop. In the private sector, stablecoins will help minimise the volatility commonly associated with crypto. Designed to have a stable value, stablecoins are usually tied to a fiat currency, like the dollar, and are gen-

erally used in decentralised finance for transactions.

The industry only truly functions well if it has strong compliance and, right now, we have an opportunity to raise the bar. This year has started with a fresh set of challenges to overcome, but if the past is anything to go by, diversification is the industry’s modus operandi in hard times.

It’s important to remember where we are from where we have been. Growth is not always fast or linear.

Monzo, Starling and Revolut all started around seven years ago, but are only now seeing operational profitability. Similarly, waves of recession have slowed progress in fintech, but never derailed it.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. This fintech winter will see more solutions and innovations this year as we continue to push for growth and progress.

the fact that there won’t be a trade war with Europe. However, much like the concessions John Major won back in 1991, it will likely turn out there’s less to love about Rishi Sunak’s deal than initially appeared. Journalists in Northern Ireland are already highlighting that while the paperwork involved in trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain has been reduced, it has far from been eliminated.

There is therefore much for Unionists to reasonably still object to. The problem is that if the Windsor Framework isn’t the solution, then there is not going to be one that allows for Great Britain to diverge from the European Union, as Tory Brexiters desire. Instead, the solution would be one that bound all of the UK into alignment with the single market when it comes to goods; same rules and regulations, common VAT arrangements, and membership of the customs union.

The fundamental incoherence in the DUP’s approach towards Brexit is that the likes of Sammy Wilson or Ian Paisley Jr, who are least inclined to accept the Windsor Framework as a reasonable compromise, are also the ones who are most passionately in favour of a hard Brexit.

They can have a Brexit that treats the whole UK the same, or they can have a Brexit that allows Great Britain to diverge from the single market, but they definitely can’t have both. That is their choice to make, but it’s one they ultimately must make if Northern Ireland is ever to move on from this Brexit psychodrama.

£ Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture at It Could Be Said substack

£ Dima Kats is the founder and CEO of Clear Junction

Members of the DUP have been divided over their reaction to the deal negotiated by Rishi Sunak

DONORS AND DONERS City A.M. will never say no to a kebab, and was pleased to be at the British Kebab Awards this week. So was Nadhim Zahawi. But his speech on the food industry being a “wealth creation” machine didn’t go down too well with the audience. He got booed more than once or twice

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Big Tech vs start-ups

[Re: Fintech ‘innovation hubs’ set to launch around the UK in levelling up push, February 28]

Fintech ‘innovation hubs’ up and down the country will be a welcome home to many promising startups. The policy will definitely help smaller firms find their way - in a trend that we’ve been seeing for the past months.

Prior to the recent layoffs, Big Tech was on a recruiting spree, hoovering up all sorts of talent in the market. Startups struggled to attract and retain the right talent as workers succumbed to the bright lights of big tech firms which offer large salaries, a wide spectrum of benefits, stability and the opportunity

to work for a household name. However, given the size and scale of the layoffs, people are now doubting the stability of the largest players and are looking to up-and-coming smaller firms rather than the Big Tech monoliths.

We’ve had more applications from senior, experienced, skilled people than ever before. These types of candidates are now rethinking their priorities and there is a growing realisation that playing a bigger role in a small firm and getting meaningful equity can be a lot more fulfilling than just being a small cog in a big machine at a larger tech firm.

What has been Big Tech’s loss has been startups’ gain - and fintech will benefit too.

Laurent Descout Neo

BUS IN 3 MINUTES New countdown boards arrive in every London borough

To escape an identity crisis, the City of London must cherish new public spaces

THE CITY of London faces a unique set of challenges, with the dual impact of online shopping on our high streets and hybrid working on our offices. In a way, it is facing an identity crisis.

The identities of places change over time as buildings are added, trees grown, new technologies are introduced, and events happen that are incorporated into places’ memories and meanings. These changes are mostly incremental so that place identity, somewhat like personal identity, has continuity. But the shift for the City happened very rapidly without much pre-planning. So now it needs to cultivate a new sense of place.

We have to build our community –the workers, residents and visitors –around public spaces. It’s more than just promoting better urban design: it’s about how we take care of the economic, physical, cultural and social identities that define a place and support its evolution.

True,

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: THE HOMELESSNESS CRISIS IS AT THE WORST IT’S BEEN IN YEARS

The number of people sleeping rough over the last year has increased in every single region in England - with the biggest increase in London. In 2022, the number of people sleeping rough was up 26 per cent compared to the previous year. In London, the numbers are up 34 per cent. This is the biggest increase seen since 2017. The rise is partially attributable to the cost-of-living crisis pushing people who can’t afford to pay their rent out of their accommodation, but there are long-term causes. A shortage of affordable housing is one. A

benefit system leaving people destitute is another - from April, the new universal credit standard allowance for a single person will be £85 a week.

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the bare minimum cost of living for an adult in Britain is £120 a week.

Ending homelessness is part of the Conservative manifesto. The government also published its “Ending rough sleeping for good” strategy in September. Yet it’s far from any successful accomplishment - if anything, this data shows it is falling behind.

Cultivating a greater character in places like the City of London encourages economic vitality, with customers coming into businesses and shops. It enhances wellbeing with green spaces to relax and play in, fosters a sense of belonging creating communities of workers and residents, and enables better physical health when the air is cleaner and there’s space to walk and cycle.

This can only attract footfall back into the Square Mile. And this is already happening in some corners.

Last year, Fleet Street Quarter Business Improvement District launched a report called ‘An Area Based Strategy for the Fleet Street Quarter’. It sets out in great detail a realistic vision for the improvement of the Fleet Street area over the short, medium, and longer terms. It is based on three interconnected strategies: improving the public realm, encouraging activation, and connecting to surrounding neighbourhoods. This vision aims to reinvigorate the area into becoming a memorable, sustainable and vibrant part of London. What is now needed is to turn this into a masterplan. For example, look at London Wall Place, with its 45,000 sqft of new gardens. It’s a commercial development where community and

character are central to the scheme design, where retail thrives and people flock to enjoy the terraced gardens set amongst the restored realms of the Roman city wall and mediaeval St Alphage church tower. It is loved by the Barbican residents, by those who work in nearby offices, and by visitors to the Barbican Centre.

Its strength is that it’s not exactly like other successful open spaces: its architects drew on what was already there. And this is what the City now needs to do. Draw on what is there and go forward. Take Fleet Street and its decline after the newspaper industry relocated. This area has a rich history, and it presents us with an opportunity for reinvigoration through the modern renewal of its past.

Great public space cannot be measured by its physical attributes alone; it must also serve people as a vital community resource in which function trumps form. When people can

not only access a place, but also play a key role in its creation, that is when we see genuine placemaking in action. That is when our City will thrive.

These things will not happen by chance. Deliberate action needs to be taken. Elected members and planners will need to show strong leadership in how we conceive, design, develop and support communities, and systemwide commitments to social, economic and environmental outcomes.

Workers and residents also need to engage with future consultation on any draft local plan as by only being involved to help shape the future of a place will it be successful - as the City will know how its users’ needs will be met. It is about the whole ecosystem coming together to make meaningful and transformative change. Our City has never lost its identity, but it needs constant work to keep it alive.

£ Martha Grekos is a partner at DAC Beachcroft LLP

Martha Grekos

Fleet Street suffered as the newspaper industry relocated elsewhere

we all have Citymapper, but how much do we like the comfort of walking to our local bus stop and instantly knowing how long we have to wait? TfL is installing 300 of these boards across the capital, in a bid to make travelling by bus easier and more enjoyable than by car.

Rooftop swimming: The best £250 you’ll spend this spring

Don’t

Bloodworth

Diving into the new rooftop pool at the Art’otel Battersea Power Station, it was hardly the picture of spring. The temperature was a brisk eight degrees and the sky was bundle of impenetrable clouds.

The sun beds, swanky in similar shades of grey, sat desolate. Two had towels laid on them by staff who were presumably hopeful this pristine empty pool might get some use. It certainly deserves to: it is utterly spectacular. I can’t think of any other open-air rooftop pool in London with such an iconic view, a stone’s throw from the restored chimney bases of Battersea Power Station. They feel so close you could reach out and touch them as you do your backstroke. There are the bouji rooftop pools of Soho House, but those require membership and none have impressive panoramas. Then there is the sumptuous spa at Claridge’s, but that’s underground, and the incredibly high pool on the 56th floor of the Shard, which I once broke into at 1am, but none have anything on this.

There’s something money-can’t-buy about being cradled by bathtub-warm water while suspended 16 floors above the capital. It’s so novel, the biting wind doesn’t register. There are eyelines into some of the most expensive apartments in the capital.

Some of the new residential properties built as part of the Power Station development are going for an eye-watering £16m, but one thing I glean from my viewpoint is that money doesn’t necessarily afford you the ability to

declutter your living room. Looking directly into the Power Station, staff are working behind desks in Apple’s UK headquarters, another arm to this £9bn development project.

Back to my backstroke: I glide a few laps back and forth, keeping an eye on those chimneys, just to convince myself I’ve done a bit of exercise. Then I make for the hot tub with jets and consider changing my plans for later that day. How could I ever leave?

You can have all this, too. The Art’otel, which has just opened, gives access to the pool to hotel guests. Throughout March a room costs around £250 and from April it’s around £300.

There’s a rooftop bar with beers on tap and lounge chairs in gentle shades

of pink. It feels as if the designers have dumped these luxury furnishings in the wrong city, because it’s so cold but mark my words: when the weather warms up this’ll be the best spring staycation investment in the capital.

On the floor below the pool is the Joia restaurant, run by Henrique de Passoa, a Portuguese celebrity chef and the runner of Alma, Lisbon’s only restaurant boasting two Michelin stars. Ask for a table with a Power Station view then order the Txuleton Angus forerib and the suquet stew with monkfish and red prawns.

In the adjoining bar, drink the prata cocktail with clarified chocolate and the safira rosa with mezcal and grapefruit soda, where a DJ

mixes tunes with the Power Station as his backdrop. It’s the sort of set-up that might have been cringe if the view wasn’t so astonishing.

As for the hotel, the rooms are pleasant, the bed comfortable and the staff decent. The bedroom furnishings feel slightly shipped in en masse, designed to be ripped out again when the look becomes passe, and there’s also the slight issue that there aren’t enough lifts to cater to demand for the rooftop.

“It’s too late now,” one staff member grins, saying what we were all thinking. But come the morning I woke content, enjoying the views from my 13th floor bed. I didn’t wait long before I was back up to the pool for more of the good stuff.

FIVE THINGS TO DO AT BATTERSEA POWER STATION

SHOOT UP LIFT 109

The top of one the historic chimneys of the Power Station has been turned into a viewing platform. Book a trip to the top of the north-west chimney for a new perspective over London from within one of the restored, iconic skyscrapers.

VISIT CONTROL ROOM B

If drinking cocktails surrounded by a load of old technology used to control the Power Station sounds like your kind of thing, you’ll be glad to hear about Control Room B. It’s run by the Inception Group, behind the Mr

Fogg’s Bars, and has some impressive old pieces from the middle of last century to gawp at while you sip.

WANDER THROUGH THE STATION

The two turbine halls have been opened to the public for the first

time. Admittedly most of the innards of the building is a luxury shopping centre, but if you look up, the original tiles, machinery and balconies used during the Power Station’s heyday help build a picture of what working life was like in here,

the building that powered a fifth of London’s electricity. A museum on the ground floor is worth a look in too, if only to gawp at some of the ambitious projects that were pitched for the space, including an eccentric theme park.

CHECK OUT THE RIVER

There’s a new social space out on the river side of the Power Station, where street food traders are year-round, and there’s

outdoor pints too. Various events run throughout the year. A Light Festival is running at the moment until this Sunday, for instance, with installations throughout the whole Power Station area.

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY Battersea Brewery serves their locally-brewed beers in Joia, but they also have their own bar a short walk from the Power Station, where there are a handful of decent bars and restaurants including Le Bab, Bao and Cinnamon Kitchen.

bother leaving the capital, there’s a new tropical paradise and it’s right here, says Adam

The chimneys of the Power Station feel so close you could brush them as you do your backstroke

There’s so much to do at the new Battersea Power Station development –here are our top five picks for next time you visit, by Adam Bloodworth

GOING OUT

EDITED BY STEVE DINNEEN @steve_dinneen

WHY MICHAEL B JORDAN’S CREED IS THE COOLEST FRANCHISE IN HOLLYWOOD

FILM

RECOMMENDED

CREED III

DIR. MICHAEL B JOHNSON

BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

The Creed movies are an outlier in modern Hollywood. Their modest success at the box office might undersell the fact that they’ve done what few franchises have achieved convincingly: passed the torch.

Yes, they aren’t the cultural landmarks that the Rocky films were, but the character has established himself enough to make this third chapter sing, with Creed finally moving out of Rocky’s shadow.

Jordan makes his directorial debut and stars as Adonis, now happily re-

tired having done everything there is to do in boxing. Living a contented life as a family man and promoter, his world is rocked by the arrival of old friend Damian “Dame” Anderson (Jonathan Majors).

Dame has spent the last 18 years in prison due to an incident in the pair’s past, and feels Adonis has been living the life meant for him. Resentment and guilt push both men into a feud that can only be resolved in the ring.

The Rocky formula has been repeated hundreds of times over the years, so it’s to Jordan’s credit that he manages to find a new way to tell an old story.

Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin’s script focuses on regret –Adonis wishing he had helped his friend; Dame lamenting the time lost. Taking the story in a direction that deals with mental health as well as pugilism is also interesting, and gives two fine actors a chance to shine.

Majors is on a hot streak, having been

This eco-conscious production of Rusalka is the future

excess. The courtiers in Act II are visual manifestations of ‘Big Oil’, and although their resemblance to today’s glitterati was uncanny, their costumes lacked finesse. This Rusalka was simultaneously too old-fashioned and too modern, too unrefined and too apocalyptic. Overall, unfortunately, neither here nor there.

the only good thing about the recent Ant-Man sequel, and the versatile actor is again superb here. Brimming with emotions he can barely contain, he and Jordan have some intense moments in the build up to the final bout. Carrying the film for the first time without Stallone, Jordan is on fine form and makes the most of his capable co-stars, including Tessa Thompson’s Bianca who delivers bucket-loads of passion.

As a director, Jordan has a visual style that really works here, with a lot of the story told through extreme close ups that allow you to read every micro expression of the characters. It may mean some points are hammered home, but it’s not like the Rocky films were ever known for being subtle. Creed III may leave some pining for the Italian Stallion, but two of Hollywood’s most exciting stars make this ninth instalment of the long running saga something a little bit different.

ART IN THE CITY

The Royal Opera House, in collaboration with directors Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee, has embarked on its first ecoconscious production, Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka.

If you have ever thought that Hans Christian Anderson’s version of The Little Mermaid doesn’t really match the Disney spirit we associate with the tale, Dvorjak’s opera about the water nymph Rusalka is even bleaker. This production intensifies the darkness, as the tale of love and curses is entwined with a message, warning of humanity’s greed and destruction of nature in search of profit, greed and lust. The beginning is much the same as the familiar fairy-tale, with Rusalka falling for a human Prince and begging the witch, Ježibaba, to make her human in exchange for her voice. However, in true operatic fashion, it ends with the spurned Rusalka cursed to lure men to their deaths and a repentant but ultimately doomed Prince.

To put a strong ecological message into an already tragic opera, leaves the production in tension with itself. The message is translated through the production design in a rather obvious way, and as the story progresses the stage becomes littered with more rubbish, chastising humans for their

This tragic love story just doesn’t quite work as an apocalyptic fairy-tale warning against the human impulse to destroy the earth, but that doesn’t mean it is unwatchable –it’s worth a trip for the singing alone.

Asmik Grigorian’s voice possesses a hauntingly beautiful tone, full of heartbreak and longing, making her a perfect Rusalka. The final kiss between Rusalka and her Prince, sung by the charming tenor David Butt Philip, is the emotional payoff of the whole narrative and was undeniably the highlight of this production.

Conducting from Semyon Bychkov is dreamy and light. The emotion lost in this introspective staging mainly comes from the pit, the swells and soars add some much-needed tenderness to the gradually building wasteland on stage.

I can’t help but feel as if this production might be wheeled out again as an eco-conscious offer from the Royal Opera House to buttress their green credentials.

Nonetheless, if the opera world is to take anything from this Rusalka, it should be to reflect on Yee and Abrahami’s process of creating an eco-performance. The importance of figuring out new ways to stage productions that are sustainable cannot be overstated. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

OLIVER BEER: ALBION WAVES –STRANGE SINGING SCULPTURES COME TO THE CITY

Go and catch an innovative art installation without leaving the confines of the City. Located on the ground floor of the London Mithraeum, British artist Oliver Beer takes inspiration for this strange exhibition from the 14,000 Roman artefacts discovered on the Bloomberg site during the 2012-2014 archaeological excavations.

A total of 28 vessels, from various periods and of various sizes, are suspended from the ceiling and stuffed with microphones. As viewers walk around the space, orchestra scores begin to emanate from the pottery, creating unique soundscapes for each visitor. Elsewhere the artist uses sound waves to create ‘Resonance Paintings’ by moving pigment into geometric patterns on canvases. The entire gallery is bathed in blue light, creating a multi-sensory experience that’s quite unlike anything else. Short and sweet, this is a brilliant escape that you can comfortably squeeze into a lunch break.

THEATRE

use by securing the man of the house a wealthy bride...

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND:

MORE ART, THEATRE AND COMEDY NOT TO BE MISSED IN LONDON

Abad production at the Almeida is a rarity, all the more so when it’s directed by Rupert Goold. But this modern morality tale is bafflingly ill-pitched and dangerously undercooked. It opens with satan introducing himself to the audience, lamenting that people no longer believe in evil –what’s a devil to do?

So he whisks us back to the good old days of the 17th century, where we follow the schemings of Elizabeth, an aristocrat fallen on hard times who is willing to do anything – anything –to save her crumbling country estate, even make a deal with the devil.

Opportunity knocks when a servant girl is accused of witchcraft –perhaps the girl could be spared the gallows if she were to put her talents to

What follows is a tonally bizarre play that pinballs between high camp and Jacobean tragedy, period drama and historical sitcom. The bumbling aristocrat Edward feels like he’s lifted wholesale from Blackadder, a pompous git with a penchant for sleeping with –or perhaps raping –the servants. He’s a figure of fun, a ridiculous caricature, but one who will occasionally punch a woman square in the jaw, leaving the audience tittering uncomfortably.

The young witch, a reluctant accomplice, is able to reassemble reality: bachelors wake up married, the rich wake up poor. Lulu Raczka’s serpentine play uses this device to muse on everything from the concept of goodness, to the impossible demands put upon women and the absurdity of men.

It feels like it’s forever on the cusp of making a great point but one never materialises, and no amount of theatrical razzle dazzle –of which there is plenty –can salvage the strangely hollow play that lurks beneath.

We’re coming into one of the most congested part of the London cultural calendar, with top new plays, exhibitions and movies coming thick and fast. If you’re unsure how to approach your weekend, relax, we have you covered.

SUPPORT VAULT FESTIVAL

The amazing Vault Festival has returned to The Vaults below Waterloo Station, where hundreds of plays are being staged by new writers and actors trialing something a little less ordinary. It’s a great vibe down there even if you just pop in for a drink too. The festival has lost its venue for 2024 as landlords have prioritised more commercial work, so get in now before the festival moves home. At City A.M. we’ve launched a campaign to support the festival so keep an eye on the paper for more news on the festival’s future.

£ The Vaults, until 19 March

MIKE NELSON AT THE

HAYWOOD GALERY

Our critic described this show at the Southbank Centre’s Haywood Gallery as a new high-bar for installation art. Exploring a fictional apocalypse, it converts the space into a sprawling, loosely connected series of works that viewers can stroll through. Amsolutely stunning.

£ Hayward Gallery, until 7 May

SEE RYAN REYNOLDS LIVE

There’s a huge comedy festival taking place at the O2 this weekend. Just For Laughs gathers together the biggest and most well-loved comedians for headline sets: Reynolds is performing, as is Katherine Ryan, Aisling Bea, Shaparak Khorsandi

and Reggie Watts, plus something special from the national treasure himself, Graham Norton.

£ The O2, until 5 March

ORCHID FESTIVAL AT KEW

Booking in advance is a must for this annual Kew spectacular. One of the famous greenhouses is decked out in resplendent flowering orchids, this year to the theme of Cameroon. That means native animals from the country are carved out of horticultural displays as you wander. Plus music, food and drink.

£ Kew Gardens, until 5 March

SATURDAY

NIGHT LIVE...LIVE

Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, two of the writers of famous US show Saturday Night Live are performing their own sketch routines in Soho. They got good reviews last year when they played a run at the Edinbugh Fringe, and their videos often go viral online.

£ Soho Theatre, until 4 March

GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF

If you love the show on TV then now’s your chance to see a celebration of the baking show live on stage. Sound confusing? We’re with you, but we won’t knock it until we’ve tried it. It’s a musical, with a central love story between two contestants. We can’t wait to see how this one, ahem, pans out.

£ Noel Coward Theatre, until 13 May WATCH A

THRILLING NEW MEDEA PRODUCTION

British A-Lister Sophie Okonedo stars in this vital new staging of the Greek myth of Medea and Jason. If you aren’t into Greek mythlogy, still go: this shiny modern production really amps up the mental health element of Medea’s story, and Okonedo’s commanding performance means Medea could be any women who’s been wronged in the present day. This is properly riveting theatre from an exciting new venue.

£ Soho Place, until 22 April

WOMEN BEWARE THE DEVIL ALMEIDA

BY STEVE DINNEEN

By Matt Hardy

FORMULA 1 team McLaren would back the sport venturing further into China and the surrounding Asian continent amid a growing feeling that the series is yet to cash in on the opportunities the Far East market provides.

Nick Martin, the director of new business at the Woking-based outfit, told City A.M. that McLaren acknowledges that they haven’t fully stretched their commercial arm to its fullest extent in Asia. China is not on the calendar this year due to its strict Covid-19 rules.

“I think Asia still is a really good opportunity, but we just haven’t really tapped in there as well as potentially we could and I think the sport overall acknowledges that,” he said.

“Clearly Covid-19 has been a challenge there with the region being shut down but in Japan, [there’s] still an incredibly passionate and avid Formula 1 population, I think China is a good opportunity to add another race on the calendar over there.

“I think we would be really supportive of that.”

BEYOND

ASIA

But expansion isn’t just eastwards, with Martin backing Formula 1 to enhance its influence elsewhere too.

“South America has always been a hugely supportive group for F1. It would be exciting to see growth in that region and I’ve seen rumours on the calendar about South Africa, which would be hugely exciting for the sport.

“Whether or not that comes into fruition, let’s see but [we] would be really supportive.”

Formula 1 has been at the forefront of global sports reach, attracting brands with multi-continental influence and investing in technological developments such as YouTube and E-Sports.

It has also taken on board the Middle Eastern advertising market and the world of crypto.

There’s a multitude of Gulf states with interests in the motorsport and this year will see the calendar head to the region four times – Bahrain for this weekend’s opening race, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Links with the Middle East remain controversial, however. Only this week UK MPs urged F1 to set up an inquiry to look into the links between human rights violations and grands prix.

But F1 responded sternly. “For

THE SLEEPING GIANT OF FORMULA 1?

decades Formula 1 has worked hard to be a positive force everywhere it races, including economic, social, and cultural benefits,” a statement said.

“Sports like F1 are uniquely positioned to cross borders and cultures to bring countries and communities together to share the passion and excitement of incredible competition and achievement.”

REALISM VS MORALITY

Speaking to City A.M. after McLaren launched their 2023 Formula 1 challenger, Matt Dennington, McLaren’s chief of partnerships, insisted that the outfit would stick by their Middle Eastern and crypto sponsors.

“The focus is on how we partner [with] brands that are going to support us in delivering performance gains both on and off the track,” he said.

“The Middle East is an increasingly important market across the sporting landscape.

“We wouldn’t be doing our job if we weren’t looking across the ecosystem and understanding the ebbs and flows of partners [such as crypto].

“We do our due diligence on all partners but have a very open relationship with [crypto firm] OKX and amidst the backdrop of a challenging market in the crypto space, they’ve been solid.”

Martin agrees, adding: “[The] Middle East is a hugely important region for

us, economically it’s very strong where you’re seeing some challenges elsewhere. What’s important to us in a partnership is making sure that you’re doing business with people that you ultimately have a lot of faith and trust and transparency in and fortunately for us, we’ve chosen great partners there.”

When City A.M. spoke to McLaren –whose driver pairing this year is Lando Norris (left) and Oscar Piastri –last year on their plans to expand into the Americas, they had just taken on majority

ownership of an IndyCar team. Twelve months on, the racing outfit continue to prioritise the region and are looking to become ‘America’s team’ given that a third grand prix, in Las Vegas, joins the calendar this year.

“[America is a] huge, huge priority market for us,” Dennington added. “We’ve got a significant fan base over there and we see the opportunity to grow that fan base.”

As the world of sport appears to be turning a blind eye to potential crypto volatility and associations with morally questionable brands, Formula 1 looks like being a good bellwether of sentiment towards those partnerships.

My least worst solution to rugby’s trans debate still

THE RUCK over transgender

women participating in female sport is fiercely contested. Opinions are polarised, each side shouting in its own echo chamber.

Into my inbox drops a legal opinion, a reminder that this issue is nuanced. It reinforces my own view that the law is an ass and that politicians need to protect governing bodies from possible financial ruin in addressing its flaw.

Lawyers Kingsley Napley conclude that the RFU’s ban on trans women playing female rugby is contrary to Britain’s Equality Act 2010 and fails

SPORT COMMENT

Ed Warner

the human rights test. It’s a timely intervention as earlier this year UK Athletics, to some derision, concluded that it could not implement a similar regulation for just that reason. The parlous state of UKA’s finances pre-

cluded it from running the risk of legal challenges from trans athletes who might be excluded from female competition if it imposed a ban.

The nub of Kingsley Napley’s interpretation of the Equality Act is that, although male puberty tends to deliver physical sporting advantages, not all trans women are heavier, stronger and faster than rugby players they may compete against who were born female. They argue that rugby inherently involves players with a diversity of sizes, that the sport has risks which participants accept, and that its league structure effectively sorts players into

the right levels for their abilities.

Following that logic, one might conclude that trans players would have to be assessed case-by-case basis to determine whether they present a danger to opponents. This would allow rugby authorities to invoke the fair competition and safety exemption clause that exists in the Equality Act – but only to bar individual players.

That would obviously be unworkable, though. Kingsley Napley calls instead for a “more proportionate – and legally sound – approach”. Bizarrely, they cite the success of the Lionesses in football in support of their argument.

Leaving aside these diversions from the legal path, the only practical suggestion they have is to require evidence of a sustained reduction, through medical intervention, in a player’s testosterone levels. This is the middle ground pursued by World Athletics and other sports bodies, and which discriminates (in opposite directions) against both DSD athletes such as Caster Semenya and the generality of athletes born female.

A testosterone level limit seems to me a fudge that will produce sporadic, inflamed arguments in elite sports whenever trans athletes succeed. Fe-

Why F1 and its teams see China as next big growth market for sport.

Matt Hardy on why this season could define many fans’ relationship with F1

IAM just months away from filing the divorce papers on my cold marriage with Formula 1. Like many in my generation, I was hooked on the world’s greatest motor racing series in 2008 when Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock on the final lap at Interlagos to deny Felipe Massa a world title and claim the first of his seven.

But since then my relationship with Formula 1 has lost its spontaneity and become so, so predictable.

The last decade has been all about constructor dominance. First it was Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, then Mercedes and Hamilton – with a side helping of Nico Rosberg – and most recently Red Bull again, now with Max Verstappen as their main man.

This season is a litmus test for where Formula 1 lies in my future, because at the moment I am bored. The one spark of excitement came when Hamilton and Verstappen caused a ruckus in Abu Dhabi at the end of the 2021 campaign, and even that felt scripted.

In a world of Drive to Survive, Formula 1 no longer needs traditional fans – it’s achieved what plans for a European Super League in football never managed to do.

It has carved out an audience of those who once didn’t care about 20 blokes driving around a track tens of times but are now addicted to the sport.

They have brought in the TikTok generation, the YouTube generation and the countless TV and gaming geeks who have found F1’s content.

But for me, a partial traditionalist, I

just months away from filing divorce papers on my marriage with F1’

am craving something more than ever out of Formula 1 this year.

We need diversity in success. Red Bull and Mercedes have dominated for far too long and last year’s Ferrari challenge fell after the first furlong in its attempt to break that cycle.

It’s not to say I need McLaren, Aston Martin or Alpine to challenge for the title – though that would be brilliant –but I need those three, or others, to challenge full stop rather than scrape the odd race here or there.

McLaren Racing chief executive Zak Brown has said in the past how the budget cap will help teams outside of the big three, but we saw breaches of that cap last year which went practically unpunished.

Pre-season testing last weekend in Bahrain looked promising for Canadian tycoon Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin, and how good would it be to see such an iconic brand – dressed in British Racing Green – stand atop of a podium?

F1 needs new winners, rivalries and reasons for fans to tune in, because Drive to Survive may as well become a three-team documentary otherwise.

I do love Formula 1, I really think it’s unique in the world of sport. But while we go though couples’ therapy in the next couple of months, I need to be surprised by the results.

I am not sure I would ever fully walk away from the sport – I’ve enjoyed too many weekends with it at the forefront of my thoughts – but it needs to buck up its ideas and demonstrate a change in results to make that a certainty.

has two categories

male sport won’t be destroyed, as many on one side of the argument claim. But its survival wouldn’t make the testosterone test right. And what of grassroots sport – and rugby in particular?

Even one severe injury from an avoidable physical mismatch would be one too many.

The answer lies in the hands of politicians. Time for a deep breath. Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden departure in the midst of the furore in Scotland about her gender recognition reform is a coincidental reminder of our lawmakers’ frequent inability to read the room.

Governing bodies adrift in the sea of

legal confusion about gender and sporting competition need to align opinion within their ranks and lobby parliament for a tightening of the exclusion clause in the Equality Act. They need it swiftly if they are minded to go down rugby’s route and risk the costs of legal challenges. After all, most have few pennies to rub together and many are badly scarred by previous tangles with the law. Least worst solution? Two competition categories: one for athletes born female and another that is open to all.

Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com

‘I’m

Chelsea bidder Pagliuca hints at Liverpool and Man Utd interest

FRANK DALLERES

FORMER Chelsea bidder Stephen Pagliuca has hinted that he could be interested in buying Liverpool or Manchester United but says he won’t be sucked into overpaying.

The co-owner of Italian club Atalanta and the NBA’s Boston Celtics previously looked at Liverpool and missed out on Chelsea to Todd Boehly’s consortium last year.

Private equity veteran Pagliuca says he is on the lookout for more sports teams to add to his portfolio and declined to rule out investing in the other Premier League clubs officially for sale. Asked whether he was interested in Liverpool or Manchester United, he told the Financial Times Business of Football Summit: “I can’t speak specifically about any transactions we’re working on because of confidentiality agreements but we’re aware of those transactions.”

Pagliuca, a senior advisor at Bain Capital, revealed he considered buying Liverpool before current owners Fenway Sports Group acquired the club back in 2010.

The American said the Premier League had left its competitors behind

MAL ADROIT Batter’s ton guides England to win in Bangladesh

but warned that he would not overcommit for any club.

“I looked at Liverpool way back, probably 15 years ago,” he said.

“Chelsea received a record price and that has probably motivated folks.

Right now anybody who buys a club has to assess the economic opportunity, how much money they will have to put into it, and that’s what we’ll do.

“If we find the right opportunity that fits with Atalanta and the Celtics brand we’ll make that investment.”

Liverpool’s owners FSG have since rowed back on the idea of a full

sale but remain open to investment.

At United, the Glazer family have invited offers for majority or minority stakes but are yet to inform bidders of their intentions.

Pagliuca said he was disappointed to miss out on a £2.5bn deal for Chelsea.

“Obviously disappointed with the outcome, we thought it was a fantastic opportunity,” he added.

“If you look back at the value of clubs it’s a function of where they sit in the league and geographically, and Chelsea had all of those.”

Dawid Malan hit a century yesterday as England opened their limited-overs tour of Bangladesh with a three-wicket win in the first One Day International in Mirpur. The home side set a target of 209 after 47.2 overs with Najmul Hossain Shanto knocking 58 of his side’s 209 runs. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid all took two wickets while Chris Woakes and Will Jacks took one each. Malan impressed with his 114 from 145 balls leading the England response. Jacks scored a further 26 runs but opener Jason Roy mustered just four while Jos Buttler and James Vince knocked six and nine respectively. England are preparing for this year’s Cricket World Cup with three ODI’s in Bangladesh but they will also play three T20 matches.

Bresnan accused of racial slur at Rafiq’s sister

MATT HARDY

FORMER England cricketer Tim Bresnan was yesterday accused of using racial slurs aimed at Azeem Rafiq’s sister at the Cricket Discipline Commission into claims of systemic discrimination.

The hearing of Bresnan’s case began yesterday alongside those of fellow former cricketers Matthew Hoggard and John Blain.

The trio deny bringing the game into disrepute as well as allegations

of using racial language. A lawyer for the England and Wales Cricket Board, Jane Mulcahy KC, said that it was “more likely than not” that the three former players used racist language.

Bresnan is alleged to have used the term “fit P***” towards the sister of Azeem Rafiq, and other Asian women, as well as the abbreviated term “FP”, the hearing heard.

Former Yorkshire player Bresnan, who was at the county between 2001 and 2019, was also alleged to have referred to Asian team-mates Ajmal Shahzad, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Adil Rashid as “the brothers” and

The hearing stems from a raft of allegations made by Rafiq (left) about racism in English cricket and, specifically, Yorkshire County Cricket Club. A number of ex-players and coaches were named.

CRICKET

Pagliuca tried to buy Chelsea and did not deny Liverpool interest