Key events
UK to grant new North Sea oil and gas licences
Rishi Sunak has confirmed that hundreds of new oil and gas licences will be granted in the UK.
As he heads to Scotland to announce funding for a planned carbon capture scheme in the region, the prime minister argues that Britain needs to strengthen its energy security.
In a statement, Sunak says:
“We have all witnessed how Putin has manipulated and weaponised energy – disrupting supply and stalling growth in countries around the world.
“Now, more than ever, it’s vital that we bolster our energy security and capitalise on that independence to deliver more affordable, clean energy to British homes and businesses.
“Even when we’ve reached net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will come from oil and gas. But there are those who would rather that it come from hostile states than from the supplies we have here at home.
“We’re choosing to power up Britain from Britain and invest in crucial industries such as carbon capture and storage, rather than depend on more carbon intensive gas imports from overseas – which will support thousands of skilled jobs, unlock further opportunities for green technologies and grow the economy.”
Rishi Sunak tells the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that issuing hundreds of new oil and gas licences is “the right thing to do.”
He says: “Even when we reach net zero in 2050 a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas.”
— Ione Wells (@ionewells) July 31, 2023
Sunak is due to fly up to a critical energy infrastructure site in Aberdeenshire, Scotland today, to announce funding for a planned carbon capture scheme in the region.
He’s also insisted that banning people from flying is “absolutely the wrong approach” to tackling climate change, in a tetchy-sounding radio interview ….
Rishi Sunak not coming across his best on @BBCRadioScot
When GMS says he only has 5 mins, he said it was “a strange way to start the interview”
On flying to Scotland, he said: “If your approach to climate change is no one should go on holiday is completely and utterly wrong”
— Eleanor Langford (@eleanormia) July 31, 2023
The new Consumer Duty is the most significant change in conduct regulation in the last two decades, says David Morrey, financial services group partner at Grant Thornton UK.
Morrey says the introduction of the Duty today is “perhaps ‘the end of the beginning’,” and will prompt firms to take actions in four days:
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Follow through on the implementation actions that weren’t ready for today – high on this list is producing the management information (MI) required to measure good outcomes.
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Assurance so boards can ‘sleep at night’ as well as formally confirm every year that they comply with the Duty.
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Closed book actions – the deadline for complying with the Duty on closed books is 31 July 2024.
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Optimise – the FCA would call this embedding the right practices. It can also mean turning some of the tactical fixes of the past few months into something more robust (‘Consumer Duty by design’).
Consumer Duty which begins today would have prevented £40bn PPI misselling, @TheFCA Exec Director Sheldon Mills tells @Moneybox and admits consumers’ interests do not trump those of shareholders https://t.co/mZV9gJiLsX starts at 08’08”
— Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) July 31, 2023
UK watchdog ready to pounce on firms harming consumes
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Britain’s financial watchdog is poised to pounce on any companies who aren’t giving customers a good deal, as new consumer protection rules come into force today.
The Consumer Duty lays out clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services, sets a higher bar for financial firms and giving customers more certainty that products actually do what they promise.
It means firms must focus on delivering “good outcomes” for customers and preventing “foreseeable harm”, when selling products such as home loans and insurance.
You might hope that financial service providers already had their customers’ needs at the heart of their work, but those who have suffered a “poor outcome” know this isn’t always the case.
Nisha Arora, a director for consumers and competition at the FCA, said the consumer duty “raises the bar across all corners of finance”.
Arora says firms who are harming consumers are in the regulator’s sights, telling Reuters:
“We have been tracking those who are not ready or may not be ready and we will therefore be poised to take action and deal with firms who are not compliant and causing harm to consumers.
“Where we see fees or charges based on nothing, or products that have no value to them, or excessive fees… those are the things that will attract our attention.”
Rocio Concha, the director of policy and advocacy at the consumer body Which?, said the new regime was the FCA’s response “to what it sees as too many customers being ripped off in financial services”.
The new regime coincides with growing concern over “debanking” – where people or organisations have their bank accounts closed, typically with little or no explanation – after Nigel Farage said his account with the NatWest subsidiary Coutts was shut down because it disagreed with his political views.
More here:
Also coming up today
We discover how the eurozone economy performed this spring, when GDP data for the second quarter of 2023 is released. Economists predict the region grew by 0.2%, after failing to grow for the previous six months.
The Bank of England’s latest mortgage lending figues will show if rising interest rates have cooled the market, as borrowers brace for another hike in Bank rate on Thursday.
In the energy sector, Rishi Sunak is committing to pressing ahead with oil and gas exploration and production in the North Sea, despite concerns it will undermine the push towards net zero.
In another attack on green policies, ministers are considering restrictions on councils’ ability to impose 20mph speed limits, as Sunak insists he is on the side of motorists.
The agenda
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9am BST: Italian GDP report for Q2 2023
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9.30am BST: UK mortgage approvals and consumer credit data for June
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10am BST: Eurozone inflation report for July
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10am BST: Eurozone GDP report for Q2 2023
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Noon BST: Mexico’s GDP report for Q2 2023
