Charles became the second reigning monarch after Elizabeth to appear on British banknotes
King Charles expressed surprise on Tuesday that he became the second reigning monarch of the United Kingdom to appear on his country's banknotes.
He received new editions of £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes with his face on them, which will gradually enter market circulation from 5 June.
At a reception at Buckingham Palace, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, was present with Sarah John, the bank's chief financial officer — whose signature appeared on the new edition of the banknote.
Bailey told Charles: "This is a very important moment because we are a country that has never changed the sovereignty of paper money, and the late Queen Elizabeth was the first head of state to appear on paper money. ”
Although British banknotes began to be issued at the end of the 17th century, a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth appeared on the £1 note as early as 1960, becoming the first reigning monarch to have a portrait on a banknote. This was followed by the issuance of the 10 shilling note in 1961, followed by the £5 and £10 notes in 1963 and 1964.
The 2024 plastic composite banknote features a portrait of Charles, who had been loaned to the Bank of England before his mother's death in preparation for the next head of state. The new version of the banknote will be "in circulation in the market" with the existing banknote, which will remain legal tender. The design of the new banknotes represents about 2% of the Bank of England's 4.6 billion banknotes in circulation.
At King's request, the printing of new banknotes will only be used to replace worn banknotes or to meet the growth of demand, thus minimizing the environmental and financial impact of this change.
The king looked at the new banknotes presented to him in a leather-bound booklet and said that many measures had been taken in terms of security, and his portrait appeared on the front and back of the banknotes. Through the security window. Charles added: "I must say, it's very well designed. ”
The printing on the back of the new banknote remains the same: £5 for Sir Winston Churchill, £10 for Jane Austen, £20 for JMW Turner on the north side and £50 for Alan Turing.
King, who has been undergoing an undisclosed cancer treatment, apologized for delaying the official release of the notes, saying, "I hope it's not too late." Bailey replied, "Not at all." We still roll them out in advance. ”
The day the banknote was issued was the third anniversary of the death of the king's father, Prince Philip, and the 19th anniversary of Charles and Camilla's marriage.
Uncertainty for large UK companies fell to a three-year low
Concerns about uncertainty in the UK economy as a whole have fallen to their lowest level since mid-2021, according to a survey by Deloitte on Monday, but the improvement in sentiment has yet to translate into stronger investment momentum.
The UK economy entered a shallow recession in the second half of last year, although recently released surveys suggest a modest return to growth in the first quarter of 2024.
Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, said: "For much of the past eight years, the uncertainty created by Brexit, the pandemic and inflation on business conditions appears to be receding. ”
Margins are expected to rise for the first time in three years, and overall optimism has risen for the third consecutive quarter to levels similar to those seen before the relatively strong growth periods of 2010, 2014 and 2021.
Nonetheless, businesses are more focused on reducing costs and building cash reserves rather than long-term investments.
"Expansion strategies such as capital spending and introducing new products or services have been put on hold," Stewart said. Given the challenges of recent years, it is perhaps not surprising that a certain degree of caution is still maintained. ”
Geopolitics remains the biggest concern for large companies due to fears of an increase in cyberattacks or rising energy prices and a general drop in demand.
Concerns about UK productivity and competitiveness rose to second place – the highest level in a decade – replacing concerns about inflation, energy prices and labour shortages.
Executives expect inflation to fall to 2.9% within a year from 3.5% three months ago, which has led the Bank of England to cut interest rates from 5.25% to 4.25% over the next 12 months
The survey is based on responses from CFOs of 64 subsidiaries of large UK companies and multinationals between March 12 and 25. UK companies have a market capitalization of £200 billion, equivalent to 8% of the stock market.
Labour has pledged to replace business taxes with property taxes
The opposition Labour Party has pledged to replace the corporate business tax with a "corporate property tax" system in a bid to level the playing field between businesses on the high street and online retailers.
At the same time, Labour unveiled a five-point plan to "breathe new life" into Britain's high streets, as well as stricter rules and regulations for shoplifting.
Labour announced the plan ahead of a visit to Tees Valley by Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to reverse the Conservative Party's 14-year decline on the British high street.
Aimed at 'revitalising' spending in brick-and-mortar stores, including tackling anti-social behaviour and theft by allowing investigations into shoplifting worth less than £200, introducing banking centres to combat the decline in in-person banking services, enacting new laws to end late payments, and revamping vacant retail stores.
"Our towns and city centres are an untapped advantage of the UK economy," Rainer said. The chaos of the Conservative Party has cost the country dearly, and every region has paid a price. ”
Reeves said: "Labor will breathe new life into our real economy. We will create the conditions to make retailers thrive again by changing the commercial tax rate, opening hundreds of bank branches across the country, and eliminating payment delays to ensure on-time payments. ”
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Bar Association (BBPA), said: "The existing unfair business tax system costs our neighbourhood pubs up to £500 million a year, and there is an urgent need to find a long-term solution to this problem. ”
Allen Simpson, deputy chief executive of UKHospitality, a hospitality industry in the UK, said: "Policies often lead to high costs of doing business in community centres. We're excited to see the focus on the high street and the repair of the broken commercial tax system. ”
Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West End, said: "The news of Labour's commitment to much-needed overhaul of the bulky commercial rate system will be welcomed by businesses across the country, including the larger high street retailers in the West End. continues to be squeezed by excessive tax burdens and a challenging trading environment. ”
Charles Begley, chief executive of the London Real Estate Alliance, added: "The long-term reform of business tax is very welcome. The old tax system's unsustainable and complex taxation disproportionately impacted brick-and-mortar retailers, who were vital to the health and wealth of our high street and created an uneven playing field with online businesses. ”
Finance Minister Bim Afolami said: "This will mean imposing higher taxes on working families, as previous Labour governments have done, and then going back to square one." The Labour-led Welsh government is raising business interest rates: its business tax is the highest in the UK, and from April 2024 it has slashed business interest rate relief for the hospitality sector. ”
Leasing comes under pressure, with London rents down 10%
After years of rising rents, landlords have had to lower rents to attract tenants, or risk vacant homes
Estate agency Chestertons reported that rental levels in some areas of London have fallen by 10% compared to last year. Real estate agents said they saw a 125% increase in the number of landlords who lowered their asking rental prices in February 2024.
Landlords are under pressure to fill their properties, with nearly 40% more rental properties on the market compared to 2022, but fewer tenants looking for a place to rent.
Adam Jennings, head of leasing at Chestertons, said: "The number of new tenants entering the market in February did not meet the expectations of many landlords. At the same time, the number of properties available for rent continues to increase, leaving landlords with no choice but to start thinking about lowering prices. ”
This is a sharp reversal from the dynamics of London's rental market last year, when tenants were competing for dwindling homes while rents soared.
Between 2021 and 2023, rental prices in London have risen by 31%, while the number of postcodes that tenants can find for less than £1,000 a month is decreasing.
A survey by London City Hall found that low-income London residents in their 20s now spend 77% of their income on housing expenses. At the same time, a recent report by Generation Rent, a leasing charity, shows that London no longer has a borough that can afford rentals for bus drivers, cleaners or carers.
Jennings explained: "Since the pandemic, landlords have become accustomed to rising rents and are reluctant to adapt to current market conditions, and more and more people are finding their properties vacant, which was very rare in the last year. ”
Landlords who rent out their properties to tourists who only stay a few nights at a time on a short-term basis may also reconsider their business model after the government announced last week that it would remove tax incentives to encourage more long-term rentals.
A number of real estate agencies have previously warned London landlords that their rents have risen too much. Savills said: "The market is already feeling the impact of London hitting the upper limit of affordability, with rents already in London as a much higher proportion of income. Tenants have exhausted their ability to increase their bids. ”
Richard O'Donnell, executive director of Zoopla, agrees that rents in London are too unaffordable to sustain at their current high levels. "The peak of rental growth in the UK has passed, which is good news for renters," he said. London will lead the slowdown in rental growth, dragging down UK growth rates. ”
Zoopla's latest rental index suggests that rent increases in London are indeed slowing compared to the rest of the UK, but at £2,119 per month in December 2023, renting in the capital is still £130 more per month.
GBP/EUR is near a two-week low ahead of ECB meeting data
The pound edged higher against the dollar on Tuesday near a two-week low against the euro as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the US data while trying to assess the outlook for the UK economy.
Markets await the release of UK GDP data on Friday, after starting salary data for long-term workers added signs of a slowdown in the job market, and the British Retail Association said that early Easter spending last month had increased Britons' spending on food.
Ahead of the GDP data, the pound will be watching events outside the UK, including US inflation data on Wednesday and the ECB policy meeting on Thursday.
GBP/EUR rose 0.05% to 85.76p. The single currency touched 85.87p against the euro last week, the highest level since March 26.
Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury, said the February data released on Friday could further support the view that the UK has been showing a "recovery in economic activity".
GBPUSD rose 0.1% to $1.2668 as it struggled to find direction amid cautious sentiment ahead of Wednesday's data.
Joe Tuckey, head of FX analysis at Argentex, said: "Businesses sending foreign currency back to the pound to pay dividends can provide support for the pound. ”
Chris Turner, head of global markets at ING, said the election prospects were "reminiscent of 1997, when Labour consistently led more than 20% in the polls, but that wasn't a dramatic source for the pound".
Britain's opposition Labour Party has pledged to stick to the current Conservative government's goal of reducing debt as a percentage of economic output between the fourth and fifth years, according to forecasts from the UK's budget regulator.