Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 18 May 1998.

Economic Secretary Helen Liddell today invited financial services firms to help put customers first with a new class of savings which will be simple, clear and fair. She was launching a Treasury consultation paper Making Saving Easy. It suggests voluntary standards for individual savings accounts (ISAs) to give ordinary people a straightforward way of spotting deals worth having.

Stressing the importance of giving the public a fair deal, Mrs Liddell said:

“Today we are opening a debate about how financial firms can help their customers. People want everyday good value, and we want to help them find it without hassle. We want to put the customer first.

“That means working in partnership with the industry to develop a range of no nonsense savings which are simple, clear and fair. Savings like that will be easy for people to understand and so help them avoid making poor choices.”

Making Saving Easy suggests voluntary standards which home in on three features: reasonable Cost, easy Access and decent Terms. These define the CAT standards, picking up the initials to remind people of what they are.

There will be three sets of CAT standards, one for each kind of ISA. That is, one for the cash (or deposit) ISA, one for the insurance ISA and one for the stocks and shares ISA. Once people have decided what kind of saving they want, they can have confidence that savings plans that meet the CAT standards should be a reasonable deal.

The CAT standard is not a kitemark. The Government is not giving certain products a seal of approval, still less a guarantee. What the CAT standards do offer is a simple way of judging whether savings offer decent value.

Mrs Liddell added:

“The great thing about the CAT standards is that they will take away the worry about the small print. Savers whose ISAs meet the CAT standard will not face nasty surprises or awkward catches. They can expect something very old fashioned yet very up to date – decent value.

“Best of all, the CAT standards should mean that there is more competition in the market for people with small amounts to put away. Too often they have to settle for poor value and limited choice. It is time ordinary savers were better looked after”.

There will be no compulsion for every ISA to meet the CAT standards. ISAs that do not may be good value. But savers will generally want to make sure that they are getting something extra from savings which are not CAT standard.

It will be easy to tell whether a savings vehicle meets the CAT standard because its advertising will say whether it does or does not.

The press release issued on 15 May 1998.

G7 Heads today discussed and endorsed the attached report prepared by their Finance Ministers on Strengthening the Architecture of the Global Financial System.

The Asian financial crisis has revealed the need to address potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the global financial system. In particular, G7 Heads are conscious of the serious human and social consequences of such crises when they occur.

The report sets out proposals in five key areas, to reduce the risks of crises recurring in future and to improve our techniques for responding to crises when they do occur:

i) increasing transparency

ii) helping countries prepare for integration into the global economy and for free capital flows.

iii) strengthening national financial systems

iv) ensuring that the private sector takes responsibility for its lending decisions.

v) enhancing further the role of the International Financial Institutions and cooperation between them

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 14 May 1998.

Bridging Britain’s productivity gap is the next big national challenge. This was the message today from the Chancellor Gordon Brown and the President of the Board of Trade, Margaret Beckett, as they launched a joint programme of work beginning with a seminar held today at No 11 Downing Street. This will inform the forthcoming Competitiveness White Paper and represents a first step towards the next Budget.

The Chancellor said,

“Today, Margaret Beckett and I want to set down a challenge to business, to shareholders, to Government and to employees – the challenge of working together to bridge the gap in productivity between Britain and its main competitors.

“Britain’s inherited underperformance represents not only a challenge but an opportunity. We have the chance, by working together, to raise our game, to modernise and to secure the higher productivity on which higher growth, employment and living standards depends.

“To achieve this we need a new national economic purpose. And first we need to develop a clear shared understanding of the nature of the productivity gap and of what is needed to close it. This will be a key theme of our policy thinking in the coming months and I will consider seriously proposals emerging from this work in the run-up to the next Budget.”

Mrs Beckett said,

“The McKinsey work echoes the emerging conclusions of my own Competitiveness UK consultation process.

“From investment to management decisions, and from the competition framework to training, both Government and companies have a role to play in boosting UK productivity.

“The Chancellor and I want to take this opportunity to hear your views on the most effective way of progressing our partnership with business, building on best practice to close the productivity gap.”

Independent analysis by McKinsey, the highly respected management consultants, shows that UK productivity lags some 40 per cent behind the US and by at least 20 per cent behind (west) Germany. This large productivity gap with our main competitors goes to the heart of Britain’s legacy of economic underperformance.

The Chancellor and the President today launched a programme of seminars with leading business people and others which will continue over the summer and autumn. These are intended to engage a broad range of interests and to provoke a wide- ranging debate, as well as to inform the government policy- making process.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 13 May 1998.

In a speech to the Association of British Insurers in London tonight, the Chief Secretary, Alistair Darling, reaffirmed that the Government’s plans for reform of the financial regulatory system were on course. He said:

“Having a strong and effective regulator will further enhance the UK’s reputation as one of the best regulated and attractive financial markets in the world. We are determined to maintain the UK’s position. And our reforms are already underway. The first stage, the Bank of England Act, comes into effect on 1 June. The second stage, the draft regulatory reform bill, will be published for consultation in the summer.”

He added:

“A single, efficient, transparent regulatory regime which commands the confidence of industry and its customers will be of competitive advantage to the UK’s financial services industry in the global financial services market. The global market place is becoming ever more sophisticated, changing ever more rapidly. The right regulatory structure will enhance prospects for growth in this global marketplace.”

“For the first time ever, the new regulator will have statutory objectives covering market confidence, consumer protection, consumer education and financial crime. The Government is very committed to strong consumer protection.”

“We will, as we have said, publish the new regulatory reform Bill in draft in the summer. There is now consensus over the broad framework, but it is important to get the detail right. There remains much work to be done to ensure the single regulator works. The Treasury and the FSA will not be complacent about what must be done. The consultation period for the Bill is one way in which the industry can help us make it work.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 12 May 1998.

A major economic strategy for Northern Ireland, worth 315 million Pounds, was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on a visit to Belfast today. Aimed at promoting enterprise and encouraging investment throughout Northern Ireland, the strategy consists of four Funds:

a 150m Pounds Investment Fund
of which 21m Pounds is for an Innovation and Tourism Fund
65m Pounds for an Employment and Skills Fund and
a 100m Pounds Enterprise Fund
Speaking to leading business, community and political representatives he said:

“The package that I have announced today amounts to a 315 million Pounds investment in the renewal and modernisation of Northern Ireland. The challenge we face is to build on economic and political stability, to promote enterprise and inward investment, to get people back to work and equip them with the right skills, and to build the infrastructure for a modern economy.

Having created a framework for peace, we can now create a framework for prosperity. For years we have been attempting to protect the Northern Ireland economy. From today, we can begin to build it.”

The Chancellor also announced that he would join Secretary of State Mo Mowlam in launching a 10 city tour of America in the autumn to promote Northern Ireland as a key area for inward investment.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 May 1998.

Dr Keith McCullagh has asked to step down from the chair of the Working Group on the Financing of High Technology Companies due to current pressures on his time. He remains a member of the Working Group. Dr Peter Williams (Chairman, Oxford Instruments plc) has accepted the Paymaster General’s invitation to take the chair.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 May 1998.

Action Plans to show how the G8 countries are implementing seven principles to guide employment policy agreed at the “Growth, Employability and Inclusion” conference in London in February were discussed by G8 Finance Ministers today.

Commenting on the plans, published at the meeting of G8 Finance Ministers in London today, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said:

“The Action Plans show that the G8 countries are taking the seven principles agreed in London seriously and have made good progress since we met in February.

“The London Principles – including the need for structural reforms in our labour markets and to enhance employment, education and training opportunities for young people and adults to seek to prevent them becoming long-term unemployed – are being implemented.

“During the UK Presidency, we have focussed minds on action needed in the world’s largest economies to tackle unemployment and raise employment. We have an important framework in place to guide employment policy in the future. “It is important to keep these principles at the forefront of economic thinking in all countries. We need to share our experiences to generate new ideas to tackle these key issues.”

The seven London Principles to generate new job opportunities and to tackle unemployment and exclusion are:

• sound macroeconomic policies conducive to sustained non-inflationary growth and employment;
• structural reforms where needed in our labour, capital and product markets, including tackling barriers from inappropriate taxation or regulatory frameworks;
• fostering entrepreneurship and creating a climate favourable to SMEs, including through better access to venture capital;
• enhancing employment, education or training opportunities for young people and adults with the aim of preventing their becoming long-term unemployed and measures for groups such as lone parents and disabled people;
• reforming tax/benefit systems to foster growth and employment and to encourage those people who are unemployed or excluded from the labour market to look actively for work and find suitable employment, whilst protecting vulnerable groups;
• enabling and encouraging people to learn throughout their working lives – lifelong learning – to develop their knowledge and skills and improve their employability;
• promoting equal opportunities and combatting discrimination for all workers.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 May 1998.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown today welcomed agreement with G7 Finance Ministers to conduct national studies on ways to improve cooperation between regulators and law enforcement authorities to tackle international financial crime.

Commenting on the announcement, he said:

“Financial crime exists world wide and affects all economies. It is one of the major challenges of our time.

“We can only tackle it successfully if Governments work together to combat it as effectively as increasingly sophisticated criminals work together to commit it.

“G7 Ministers today discussed how to achieve better international cooperation between financial regulators and law enforcement authorities to beat the criminals. We are aware that systems for the exchange of information are not as quick and efficient as they need to be.

“We agreed to review our national laws and procedures to see where concrete improvements can be made.”

G7 members will report back on their findings by October and come forward with recommendations at next year’s Cologne Summit. Ministers also welcomed the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to extend its mandate for a further five years, and fully support its intention to develop a world-wide anti-money laundering network.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 May 1998.

Ten Key Principles for information exchange to improve financial stability through greater international cooperation were announced by G7 Finance Ministers meeting in London today.

Commenting on the meeting, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said :

“Given the UK’s past experiences with BCCI and Barings, the UK has been a longstanding advocate of improving co-operation between supervisors of internationally active financial institutions.

“Today’s report by financial experts from all G7 countries – in a group chaired by the UK – marks a significant step towards improving financial stability. The Ten Key Principles which they have developed establishes a clear framework for international cooperation and sets standards to which G7 Ministers believe all countries should aspire and which we shall promote throughout the world.

“Recent events in Asia have highlighted the need for such cooperation and emphasised its urgency. So we are especially pleased that the G7 has made so much progress on this issue since we met in Denver a year ago.”

The Ten Key Principles set out in the report from G7 Ministers to heads of government cover :

authorisation to share supervisory information with foreign supervisors
the sharing of information by supervisors from different sectors of financial services
cooperation in identifying and monitoring the use of management and information systems, and controls, by internationally active firms
the sharing of objective information of supervisory interest about individuals such as owners, shareholders, directors, managers or employees of supervised firms
information sharing between exchanges
confidentiality of shared information
the use of formal agreements and written requests for information exchange
reciprocity requirements
the use of information for law enforcement in cases which further supervisory purposes
the removal of laws preventing supervisory information exchange.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 May 1998.

A major new initiative to tackle harmful tax competition was agreed by G7 Finance Ministers today at a meeting in London chaired by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

The G7 agreement paves the way for more international exchange of tax information to curb international tax evasion and avoidance through tax havens and preferential tax regimes. It reinforces the recommendations of the OECD Report for curbing harmful tax competition and the complementary EU Code of Conduct on business taxation.

It also commits the G7 to leading international action on tax related crime by gathering more intelligence through money laundering systems and providing for it to be shared internationally by tax authorities.

Announcing the UK inspired initiative, Mr Brown said;

“Our agreement today represents a major breakthrough in tackling the growing problems caused by harmful tax competition, and the tax evasion and avoidance it generates. This reinforces the OECD’s vital work to curb the damaging effects of tax havens and preferential tax regimes.

“We are determined to put in place strong and practical measures to tackle the growing threat of international tax crime and evasion through tax havens and preferential tax regimes. The globalisation of business and finance makes this an increasingly pressing issue.

“This initiative paves the way for co-ordinated international action to allow information to be passed to tax authorities, so that honest citizens and business do not have to pay the price of the activities of tax fraudsters. We in the G7 are committed to building practical co- operation at every level to counter these threats.”

The G7 agreement;

i) reinforces the OECD’s Report which provides a platform for tackling harmful tax competition, and for obtaining more information about transactions in tax havens and preferential tax regimes. This complements and mutually reinforces the EU Code of Conduct on Business Taxation;

ii) addresses a potential weakness in international anti-money laundering systems by ensuring that financial institutions report suspicions about the movement of criminal assets regardless of whether they believe that the criminality involved is tax related. This is partly motivated by growing evidence that criminals can evade anti money laundering systems by presenting their affairs as tax related to reassure their bankers, brokers and professional advisors;

iii) provides an important new source of intelligence to tax authorities by making it possible for suspicious transaction reports received by law enforcement agencies to be made accessible to those investigating tax related crimes domestically or overseas.

To advance this agenda the UK will attach an officer of the Inland Revenue’s Special Compliance Office to the Economic Crimes Unit of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), which is responsible for analysing and allocating reports of suspected money laundering. These arrangements will allow domestic and international money laundering intelligence to flow to the Inland Revenue for the first time.