globaldiver

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Aside of aspiration, fulfilment and success, it is a truism that the private sector creates wealth for the state to spend on education, defence etc etc.

Fingers crossed! Happy to agree to disagree and I hope I’m not proved wrong!

Higher pay for bankers and in the middle of a cost of living crisis?! The politics of this may not look good but the economics behind this make sense and should be seen as a separate issue to the pay demands behind the recent strikes. Last year Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office Minister and Boris Johnson’s Chief of Staff asked the Chancellor to introduce deregulatory measures to help businesses. Controversially, this included removing the cap on bankers’ bonuses. This cap was introduced by the EU following the 2008 financial crisis. At the time, then Mayor of London Boris Johnson witheringly described the policy as ‘the most deluded measure to come from Europe since Diocletian tried to fix the price of groceries across the Roman Empire’. He was right. Like many such interventions, rather than achieving its stated aims the bonus cap simply ended up distorting the market. It triggered a huge rise in basic pay for bankers and across the financial sector. The big firms and incumbents could afford this, but it made life harder for new entrants and the smaller, innovative and dynamic firms that the City needs. Nor did it help London’s competitive position as a leading global financial centre. All of which means it’s high time the bonus cap was removed, especially given the challenges the City is currently facing. The first of these challenges is a post-Brexit assault by EU financial centres like Paris and Frankfurt. None can match London, but regulators in a host of EU countries – particularly France – are no longer playing by the normal rules. They have become politically motivated and are telling some firms in the City to move operations. Legally they don’t have to, but the pressure persists. This behaviour requires the Government, Bank of England and UK regulators to collectively tell the EU to back off. The second, more significant, long-term challenge is the intense competition from both New York and Asian centres like Singapore and Hong Kong. This is where the lifting of the cap on bonuses makes a big difference. It levels the playing field for London with New York as well as highlighting another of many pro-business differences with Paris. The key point here is that in a global market, firms and skilled people can move with relative ease. That means a financial centre like London needs the right tax, regulatory and wage environment to continue to both attract firms and retain talent.

I think he will, but perhaps to include summer

Definitely scrap it, we need all of the talent we can get, in this competitive world. With appropriate rules and enforcement.

I was reading that Keir Starmer was involved in legal action against Blair’s government so that migrants were given benefits. Haven’t checked.

Used to go Wheelers in London.

And Rachel says it goes…

Quite right. Student politics. Aside of the “rich”, it also sends a message about aspiration.

😂

Certainly “Swiss Bank” immediately thinks of “cautious”, so the reflex is to worry.

😁

We’re a bigger club, with bigger catchment….

An acquaintance, Henry Tapper, offers his thoughts https://henrytapper.com/2023/03/16/can-the-treasury-make-us-all-pension-millionaires/

Many variables. The MPAA (£4,000 going to £10,000) only kicks in once you have taken taxable income. If you take only tax free cash, then you stay at Annual Allowance maximum inputs, £40,000 rising to £60,000. This could be more interesting for some, as the Lifetime Allowance ceases.

If we retain more doctors, which was where the pressure came from, we all are potential winners, I think you’ll agree.

More than likely unchanged, depending on how much it was worth. But your max has gone from £40,000 a year to £60,000, with potential to carry forward 3 years, if that isn’t enough. Ts and Cs apply.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm133810 so you can take out £2,880 and then put it back in, becoming £3,600. Be careful, though.

Well, actually, there is a “recycling” rule. I’ll find it and add any narrative.

Don’t think so

You can still do it even if not working. £3,600 costs £2,880. Up to the Lifetime Allowance, but as that is now going….

Can’t trade so that Royal London might lose. Trading would be more possible with other providers

Just be aware that you don’t switch at today’s prices, but at a set date, usually a couple of days after, so you can’t game the system.

And, if you get 40% relief on the way in, you will be able to pay 20% on the way out on some/all.