What happened last week?

Brexit delay is ‘negative’ for UK, Moody’s warns

Rating agency Moody’s has warned that the UK’s creditworthiness could be damaged by the latest Brexit delay, after a House of Commons vote against the Prime Minister’s rapid timetable for passing the EU Withdrawal Bill. Moody’s managing director Colin Ellis said the likelihood of Britain leaving the EU with a deal is higher than it has been recently but added: “Significant uncertainties remain around the timing and eventual outcome of Brexit, which is likely going to weigh on spending, investment and hiring decisions in the UK for some time, a clear credit negative.” This follows research earlier this month which found that business investment has fallen by 11% since the 2016 referendum. Read more →

US-China Trade deal breakthrough soon?

U.S. and Chinese officials have both said they are “close to finalizing” some parts of a preliminary trade agreement, following a high-level phone call on Friday. China’s commerce ministry says that technical talks about the phase 1 trade deal text with the US is “basically completed”. Both sides have agreed to properly address core issues, it says. Read more →

Softbank injects another £510m into Greensill

Softbank is set to inject another £510m into British online finance firm Greensill ahead of its expected purchase of FreeUp, a technology company that should enable the firm to offer ordinary workers early payment of their wages. Until now Greensill specialised in providing small and medium-sized businesses with access to so-called working capital finance to run their day-to-day operations. Earlier this year SoftBank invested £625m in Greensill for less than 10% of the business. The latest investment values Greensill at around £3.1bn. Read more →

Western Union expands real-time cross-border payments to India

Western Union became the first money transfer operator to offer cross border remittances via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India under Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines. It allows Western Union customers globally to send money into bank accounts in India simply by using the receivers UPI ID, instead of providing bank account and routing details. Read more →

Standard Chartered gives billion-dollar trade finance boost to emerging markets

Standard Chartered is giving emerging markets trade finance a $1bn boost by agreeing to extend its eight-year partnership with International Finance Group (IFC), part of the World Bank. Standard Chartered will originate a portfolio of trade finance transactions of up to $1bn through emerging markets issuing banks (EMIBs). IFC will contribute up to 50% of the portfolio or up to $500m. the EMIBs will extend the finance to local importers and exporters to promote global trade. Read more →

Citi partners with WorldLink to enhance supply chain offering

Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) has strengthened supplier finance offerings in partnership with the bank’s internal platform WorldLink, allowing clients to transact and settle across multiple major currencies in the US with plans to expand globally. Read more →

EU agrees on extension as Boris Johnson looks to trigger UK election — latest news

EU leaders have agreed to offer the UK an extension on the Brexit deadline from October 31 to the end of January after France gave up on its objections to such a lengthy delay. Across the Channel, UK parliament is poised to vote on Monday afternoon on Boris Johnson’s motion to trigger a general election Read more →

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