The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has effectively had three bites of the cherry in terms of his Budget. The last is arguably the most spectacular – the government will pay 80 per cent of employees’ wages up to £2,500 a month for the next three months to keep firms in operation. There remain concerns about the self employed.
The Bank of England’s record breaking cut in interest rates to 0.1%, down from the previous 0.25% is described as the solution from yesteryear by some commentators. Is this a little unfair, given the extraordinary level of accompanying fiscal action?
Argonaut’s Barry Norris suggests that as with the Black Death, this virus will bring radical economic change. Hopefully not quite so dramatic though no one would argue that the end of feudalism was a bad thing, I suppose.
Sadly, fraudsters almost always see an opportunity even in a situation as distressing as this.
There have been 105 cases of Covid-19-related fraud cases reported to Action Fraud since February 1 2020, with total losses of around £970,000.
The government will offer loans to business with a package of up to £350bn, but Beaufort Group chair Simon Goldthorpe wonders if this can work within the current capital adequacy regime and suggests advisers could be excluded.
Carl Lamb, director at Smith & Pinching says that advisers can show their worth by adapting to help clients, making sure clients do not do anything rash, and being particularly aware that many clients may be in a vulnerable age group. But he also wants a six month holiday in terms of payments to the compensation scheme.
The Yardstick Agency’s Phil Bray suggests offering clients reassurance in the necessary doses in terms of communications. Makes sense.
The regulator is considering swinging pricing or clearer redemption periods to address the problems of liquidity mismatches says FCA director of markets and wholesale policy Edwin Schooling Latter in a speech to the Investment Association.
Probably a bit late to be introduced this time out.
