Britain - Brexit: Demand to rent UK commercial property falls to 5-year low

Demand to rent British commercial property levelled off for the first time in almost five years during the past three months, as online shopping hurt high-street retailers and Brexit and election worries unsettled other potential tenants.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said on Thursday that its gauge of commercial tenants’ demand for property fell to -2 for the second quarter of 2017, its lowest reading since the third quarter of 2012.

“The commercial property market has enjoyed a good run and it is hardly surprising that we are now seeing a flatter trend emerge … which chimes both with recent economic newsflow and the political environment,” RICS’s chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said.

Read more: Demand to rent UK commercial property falls to 5-year low – EURACTIV.com

City of London to bear the brunt of EU sanctions on Russia - by Bruno Waterfield

New EU sanctions to block Russia's "access to capital markets", dominated by Britain's banking sector, will target business worth up £6billion a year in bonds issued by Russian state-owned banks and financial institutions in European markets

 "Restricting access to capital markets for Russian state-owned financial institutions would increase their cost of raising funds and constrain their ability to finance the Russian economy, unless the Russian public authorities provide them with substitute financing," said a proposal seen by the Telegraph. "It would also foster a climate of market uncertainty that is likely to affect the business environment in Russia and accelerate capital outflows."

The EU has threatened Russia with new sanctions unless it ensures a full international investigation of the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines flight last week and stops an "increasing flow of weapons, equipment and militants across the border" into Eastern Ukraine, arms that include SA-11 missiles that downed MH17 with the loss of 298 lives.

The EU proposals also include an arms sales or export embargo despite a similar measure being blocked by France on Tuesday because of a euro 1.4 billion French contract, signed in 2011, to supply two warships to Russia.

Read more: City of London to bear the brunt of EU sanctions on Russia - Telegraph

European Financial Industry: EU court rebuffs UK legal challenge to short-selling law

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Londen City: "The Party Is Over"

he UK government's attempt to limit the extent of European Union power to ban certain financial practices has failed in the courts.

In 2012, the EU passed a law giving it the power to ban short-selling - betting on whether shares or other securities will fall in price - in emergency situations.

The UK challenged the law as a restraint of trade on the City, but the EU's highest court rejected the case.
Britain will not be able to opt out.

EU authorities believe short-selling contributed to financial instability during the region's debt crisis by increasing the volatility of stocks.

Under the new law, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) can ban short-selling if it thinks the practice threatens the stability of the EU financial system.

Britain has argued that such measures interfere with the efficiency of the financial markets.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice said the EU's new powers were "compatible with EU law" and dismissed the UK's legal case "in its entirety".

Read more: BBC News - EU court rebuffs UK legal challenge to short-selling law

Financial Industry: EU proposed Transaction Tax on "dubious financial deals" could reduce Britain's treasury income by euro 4 billion

The European Union on Feb. 14 unveiled its proposal for a 0.1 percent levy on stock and bond deal trades and 0.01 percent on derivative trades with ties to participating countries.

The measure exempts primary offerings of government bonds, though includes secondary market trades. The EU estimates the move could raise as much as 35 billion euros ($45 billion) a year. To become law, the proposal has to be approved by all the nations that agree to participate, which currently stands at 11 countries including Germany, Spain and France.

The effective tax rate would be 10 times the EU levy on bonds because the tax would be repeatedly charged at each step in the settlement of a trade, the report said. That “cascade effect” could cripple trading in the debt-securities markets, London economists say.

To stop traders from escaping the levy by operating outside the tax’s zone, the EU plan invokes “residence” and “issuance” ties to firms in participating nations. That means, for example, that a French bond traded in London would still be affected.

Approximately half of European investment-banking activity is conducted through London and British financial firms and it has generated almost 12 percent of the country’s tax revenue from 2011 to 2012, according to TheCityUK, a British bank lobbying group

The new EU Transaction Tax is seen by many Governments and central banks in Europe as a major first step- in curbing  some of the financial industry's  speculative  practices which resulted in one of the world's worst recessions ever experienced.

EU-Digest