UK

A London-startup headed by a Credit Suisse veteran is launching a new debit card that it claims will allow people to spend cryptocurrencies across the UK. The London Block Exchange (LBX) launched on Tuesday. It plans to launch a sterling-to-cryptocurrency exchange and a prepaid Visa debit card, dubbed "Dragoncard," that will allow people to convert bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin and monero to sterling and spend it across the UK. The startup plans to add more cryptocurrencies in future.

The Paradise Papers have revealed that the prestigious British universities have committed significant sums to a hedge fund scheme related to investments in fossil fuels. The revelations are likely to increase pressure on both institutions over their investment policies. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge invested millions of pounds in offshore funds, according to revelations contained in the Paradise Papers.

British financial technology firm Revolut said on Wednesday it has applied for a European banking license, as it bids to join a growing number of digital-only banks looking to win away customers from larger, traditional lenders.

Founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko in 2015, Revolut is an app-based banking alternative with a multi-currency card and mobile app. An account can be created in seconds, enabling users to instantly send free money transfers in 26 currencies to banks around the globe; spend fee-free in 120 currencies with a contactless Revolut card; and exchange currencies at interbank rates in the app. It also offers peer-to-peer payments.

Philip Hammond faces another £20bn hole in his deficit reduction plans, as the chancellor comes under political pressure to increase spending in the forthcoming Budget.

Analysis by the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), published today, shows that a productivity forecast downgrade from the government’s Budget watchdog may leave the total deficit as high as £36bn by 2021-22, before any extra spending commitments. The major report from the UK’s leading economic think tank shows that deep cuts have left the NHS, schools and prisons in a “fragile state”, and have merely returned public spending to pre-financial crisis levels.

The gender pay gap refers to the difference in pay between men and women are paid for doing exactly the same job. In most cases, women are paid less tha their male counterparts.

Women in the UK stop being paid on 15th October whereas the average cut off date for Europe is 30th October. According to Eurostat, the gap between male and female salaries in the UK is 20 per cent. The disparity means that by 16 October men have already been paid the amount it would take a woman doing the same job a whole year to earn.

British Euroskeptics now have a new watchword: Beware the “Swiss Trap.” Theresa May’s government is reportedly heading towards a Swiss-style model for its relationship with the European Union after Brexit. To the frustration of hardline Brexiteers within the Conservative Party, the deal Switzerland has with the EU is now being seriously considered within Whitehall and has not been ruled out by the prime minister, according to Politico.

The British Pound had a very challenging trading session yesterday. Due to comments made by the EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier about a "deadlock" in Brexit negotiations the Sterling lost 116 basis points against the Greenback just in couple of hours. Despite a release of better than expected US Core PPI data, traders managed to return the pair to the pre-fall 1.3250 level.

In the first half of this trading session the currency rate is expected to test a resistance near the 1.3290 mark. However, whether the cable will manage to soar and bypass the 1.3300 level or fall back to the 200-hour SMA near 1.3192 will depend on release of data about the US CPI and retail sales, which, in turn, will have major implications on decision about the need of another interest rate hike this year.

Car sales in the UK were down 9.3 per cent in September. The figures that have just been released are worse than the situation in the last six months, that has seen a constant decline.

Chris Bosworth, director of strategy at Close Brothers Motor Finance, commented about the situation blaming Brexit, and therefore the uncertainty in the EU, for this decline.