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  • Where Britain went wrong

    Where Britain went wrong

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    LIVERPOOL, England — On the long picket line outside the gates of Liverpool’s Peel Port, rain-soaked dock workers warm themselves with cups of tea as they listen to 1980s pop.

    Dozens of buses, cars and trucks honk in solidarity as they pass.

    Dockers’ strikes are not new to Liverpool, nor is depravation. But this latest walk-out at Britain’s fourth-largest port is part of something much bigger, a great wave of public and private sector strikes taking place across the U.K. Railways, postal services, law courts and garbage collections are among the many public services grinding to a halt.

    The immediate cause of the discontent, as elsewhere, is the rising cost of living. Inflation in the United Kingdom breached the 10 percent mark this year, with wages failing to keep pace.

    But the U.K.’s economic woes long predate the current crisis. For more than a decade, Britain has been beset by weak economic growth, anaemic productivity, and stagnant private and public sector investment. Since 2016, its political leadership has been in a state of Brexit-induced flux.

    Half a century after U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger looked at the U.K.’s 1970s economic malaise and declared that “Britain is a tragedy,” the United Kingdom is heading to be the sick man of Europe once again.

    The immediate cause of Liverpool dockers’ discontent that brought them to strike is the rising cost of living. | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

    Here in Liverpool, the “scars run very deep,” said Paul Turking, a dock worker in his late 30s. British voters, he added, have “been misled” by politicians’ promises to “level up” the country by investing heavily in regional economies. Conservatives “will promise you the world and then pull the carpet out from under your feet,” he complained.

    “There’s no middle class no more,” said John Delij, a Peel Port veteran of 15 years. He sees the cost-of-living crisis and economic stagnation whittling away the middle rung of the economic ladder.

    “How many billionaires do we have?” Delij asked, wondering how Britain could be the sixth-largest economy in the world with a record number of billionaires when food bank use is 35 percent above its pre-pandemic level. “The workers put money back into the economy,” he said.

    What would they do if they were in charge? “Invest in affordable housing,” said Turking. “Housing and jobs.”

    Falling behind

    The British economy has been struck by particular turbulence over recent weeks. The cost of government borrowing soared in the wake of former PM Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget on September 23, with the U.K.’s central bank forced to step in and steady the bond markets.

    But while the swift installation of Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, as prime minister seems to have restored a modicum of calm, the economic backdrop remains bleak. Spending and welfare cuts are coming. Taxes are certain to rise. And the underlying problems cut deep.

    U.K. productivity growth since the financial crisis has trailed that of comparator nations such as the U.S., France and Germany. As such, people’s median incomes also lag behind neighboring countries over the same period. Only Russia is forecast to have worse economic growth among the G20 nations in 2023.

    In 1976, the U.K. — facing stagflation, a global energy crisis, a current account deficit and labor unrest — had to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund. It feels far-fetched, but today some are warning it could happen again.

    The U.K. is spluttering its way through an illness brought about in part through a series of self-inflicted wounds that have undermined the basic pillars of any economy: confidence and stability. 

    The political and economic malaise is such that it has prompted unwanted comparisons with countries whose misfortunes Britain once watched amusedly from afar.

    “The existential risk to the U.K. … is not that we’re suddenly going to go off an economic cliff, or that the country’s going to descend into civil war or whatever,” said Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London. “It’s that we will become like Italy.”

    Portes, of course, does not mean a country blessed with good weather and fine food — but an economy hobbled by persistently low growth, caught in a dysfunctional political loop that lurches between “corrupt and incompetent right-wing populists” and “well-intentioned technocrats who can’t actually seem to turn the ship around.” 

    “That’s not the future that we want in the U.K,” he said.

    Reviving the U.K.’s flatlining economy will not happen overnight. As Italy’s experience demonstrates, it’s one thing to diagnose an illness — another to cure it.

    Experts speak of an unbalanced model heavily reliant upon Britain’s services sector and beset with low productivity, a result of years of underinvestment and a flexible labor market which delivers low unemployment but often insecure and low-paid work.

    “We’re not investing in skills; businesses aren’t investing,” said Xiaowei Xu, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. “It’s not that surprising that we’re not getting productivity growth.”

    But any attempt to address the country’s ailments will require its economic stewards to understand their underlying causes — and those stretch back at least to the first truly global crisis of the 21st century. 

    Crash and burn

    The 2008 financial crisis hammered economies around the world, and the U.K. was no exception. Its economy shrunk by more than 6 percent between the first quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009. Five years passed before it returned to its pre-recession size.

    For Britain, the crisis in fact began in September 2007, a year before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, when wobbles in the U.S. subprime mortgage market sparked a run on the British bank Northern Rock.

    The U.K. discovered it was particularly vulnerable to such a shock. Over the second half of the 20th century, its manufacturing base had largely eroded as its services sector expanded, with financial and professional services and real estate among the key drivers. As the Bank of England put it: “The interconnectedness of global finance meant that the U.K. financial system had become dangerously exposed to the fall-out from the U.S. sub-prime mortgage market.”

    The crisis was a “big shock to the U.K.’s broad economic model,” said John Springford, from the Centre for European Reform. Productivity took an immediate hit as exports of financial services plunged. It never fully recovered.

    “Productivity before the crash was basically, ‘Can we create lots and lots of debt and generate lots and lots of income on the back of this? Can we invent collateralized debt obligations and trade them in vast volumes?’” said James Meadway, director of the Progressive Economy Forum and a former adviser to Labour’s left-wing former shadow chancellor, John McDonnell.

    A post-crash clampdown on City practises had an obvious impact.

    “This is a major part of the British economy, so if it’s suddenly not performing the way it used to — for good reasons — things overall are going to look a bit shaky,” Meadway added.

    The shock did not contain itself to the economy. In a pattern that would be repeated, and accentuated, in the coming years, it sent shuddering waves through the country’s political system, too.

    The 2010 election was fought on how to best repair Britain’s broken economy. In 2009, the U.K. had the second-highest budget deficit in the G7, trailing only the U.S., according to the U.K. government’s own fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

    The Conservative manifesto declared “our economy is overwhelmed by debt,” and promised to close the U.K.’s mounting budget deficit in five years with sharp public sector cuts. The incumbent Labour government responded by pledging to halve the deficit by 2014 with “deeper and tougher” cuts in public spending than the significant reductions overseen by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.  

    The election returned a hung parliament, with the Conservatives entering into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The age of austerity was ushered in.

    Austerity nation

    Defenders of then-Chancellor George Osborne’s austerity program insist it saved Britain from the sort of market-led calamity witnessed this fall, and put the U.K. economy in a condition to weather subsequent global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the war in Ukraine.

    “That hard work made policies like furlough and the energy price cap possible,” said Rupert Harrison, one of Osborne’s closest Treasury advisers.

    Pointing to the brutal market response to Truss’ freewheeling economic plans, Harrison praised the “wisdom” of the coalition in prioritizing tackling the U.K.’s debt-GDP ratio. “You never know when you will be vulnerable to a loss of credibility,” he noted.

    But Osborne’s detractors argue austerity — which saw deep cuts to community services such as libraries and adult social care; courts and prisons services; road maintenance; the police and so much more — also stripped away much of the U.K.’s social fabric, causing lasting and profound economic damage. A recent study claimed austerity was responsible for hundreds of thousands of excess deaths.

    Under Osborne’s plan, three-quarters of the fiscal consolidation was to be delivered by spending cuts. With the exception of the National Health Service, schools and aid spending, all government budgets were slashed; public sector pay was frozen; taxes (mainly VAT) rose.

    But while the government came close to delivering its fiscal tightening target for 2014-15, “the persistent underperformance of productivity and real GDP over that period meant the deficit remained higher than initially expected,” the OBR said. By his own measure, Osborne had failed, and was forced to push back his deficit-elimination target further. Austerity would have to continue into the second half of the 2010s.

    Many economists contend that the fiscal belt-tightening sucked demand out of the economy and worsened Britain’s productivity crisis by stifling investment. “That certainly did hit U.K. growth and did some permanent damage,” said King’s College London’s Portes.

    “If that investment isn’t there, other people start to find it less attractive to open businesses,” former Labour aide Meadway added. “If your railways aren’t actually very good … it does add up to a problem for businesses.”

    A 2015 study found U.K. productivity, as measured by GDP per hour worked, was now lower than in the rest of the G7 by a whopping 18 percentage points. 

    “Frankly, nobody knows the whole answer,” Osborne said of Britain’s productivity conundrum in May 2015. “But what I do know is that I’d much rather have the productivity challenge than the challenge of mass unemployment.”

    ‘Jobs miracle’

    Rising employment was indeed a signature achievement of the coalition years. Unemployment dropped below 6 percent across the U.K. by the end of the parliament in 2015, with just Germany and Austria achieving a lower rate of joblessness among the then-28 EU states. Real-term wages, however, took nearly a decade to recover to pre-crisis levels. 

    Economists like Meadway contend that the rise in employment came with a price, courtesy of Britain’s famously flexible labor market. He points to a Sports Direct warehouse in the East Midlands, where a 2015 Guardian investigation revealed the predominantly immigrant workforce was paid illegally low wages, while the working conditions were such that the facility was nicknamed “the gulag.”

    The warehouse, it emerged, was built on a former coal mine, and for Meadway the symbolism neatly charts the U.K.’s move away from traditional heavy industry toward more precarious service sector employment. “It’s not a secure job anymore,” he said. “Once you have a very flexible labor market, the pressure on employers to pay more and the capacity for workers to bargain for more is very much reduced.”

    Throughout the period, the Bank of England — the U.K.’s central bank — kept interest rates low and pursued a policy of quantitative easing. “That tends to distort what happens in the economy,” argued Meadway. QE, he said, is a “good [way of] getting money into the hands of people who already have quite a lot” and “doesn’t do much for people who depend on wage income.”

    Meanwhile — whether necessary or not — the U.K.’s austerity policies undoubtedly worsened a decades-long trend of underinvestment in skills and research and development (Britain lags only Italy in the G7 on R&D spending). At British schools, there was a 9 percent real terms fall in per-pupil spending between 2009 and 2019, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Xu. “As countries get richer, usually you start spending more on education,” Xu noted.

    Two senior ministers in the coalition government — David Gauke, who served in the Treasury throughout Osborne’s tenure, and ex-Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable — have both accepted that the government might have focused more on higher taxation and less on cuts to public spending. But both also insisted the U.K had ultimately been correct to prioritize putting its public finances on a sounder footing.

    It was February 2018 before Britain finally achieved Osborne’s goal of eliminating the deficit on its day-to-day budget.

    Austerity was coming to an end, at last. But Osborne had already left the Treasury, 18 months earlier — swept away along with Cameron in the wake of a seismic national uprising. 

    ***

    David Cameron had won the 2015 election outright, despite — or perhaps because of — the stringent spending cuts his coalition government had overseen, more of which had been pledged in his 2015 manifesto. Also promised, of course, was a public vote on Britain’s EU membership.

    The reasons for the leave vote that followed were many and complex — but few doubt that years of underinvestment in poorer parts of the U.K. were among them.

    Regardless, the 2016 EU referendum triggered a period of political acrimony and turbulence not seen in Westminster for generations. With no pre-agreed model of what Brexit should actually entail, the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU became the subject of heated and protracted debate. After years of wrangling, Britain finally left the bloc at the end of January 2020, severing ties in a more profound way than many had envisaged.

    While the twin crises of COVID and Ukraine have muddled the picture, most economists agree Brexit has already had a significant impact on the U.K. economy. The size of Britain’s trade flows relative to GDP has fallen further than other G7 countries, business investment growth trails the likes of Japan, South Korea and Italy, and the OBR has stuck by its March 2020 prediction that Brexit would reduce productivity and U.K. GDP by 4 percent.

    Perhaps more significantly, Brexit has ushered in a period of political instability. As prime ministers come and go (the U.K. is now on its fifth since 2016), economic programs get neglected, or overturned. Overseas investors look on with trepidation.

    “The evidence that the referendum outcome, and the kind of uncertainty and change in policy that it created, have led to low investment and low growth in the U.K. is fairly compelling,” said professor Stephen Millard, deputy director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

    Beyond the instability, the broader impact of the vote to leave remains contentious.

    Portes argued — as many Remain supporters also do — that much harm was done by the decision to leave the EU’s single market. “It’s the facts, not the uncertainty that in my view is responsible for most of the damage,” he said.

    Brexit supporters dismiss such claims.

    “It’s difficult statistically to find much significant effect of Brexit on anything,” said professor Patrick Minford, founder member of Economists for Brexit. “There’s so much else going on, so much volatility.”

    Minford, an economist favored by ex-PM Truss, acknowledged that “Brexit is disruptive in the short run, so it’s perfectly possible that you would get some short-run disruption.” But he added: “It was a long-term policy decision.”

    Where next?

    Plenty of economists can rattle off possible solutions, although actually delivering them has thus far evaded Britain’s political class. “It’s increasing investment, having more of a focus on the long-term, it’s having economic strategies that you set out and actually commit to over time,” says the IFS’ Xu. “As far as possible, it’s creating more certainty over economic policy.”

    But in seeking to bring stability after the brief but chaotic Truss era, new U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signaled a fresh period of austerity is on the way to plug the latest hole in the nation’s finances. Leveling Up Secretary Michael Gove told Times Radio that while, ideally, you wouldn’t want to reduce long-term capital investments, he was sure some spending on big projects “will be cut.”

    This could be bad news for many of the U.K.’s long-awaited infrastructure schemes such as the HS2 high-speed rail line, which has been in the works for almost 15 years and already faces a familiar mix of local resistance, vested interests, and a sclerotic planning system.

    “We have a real problem in the sense that the only way to really durably raise productivity growth for this country is for investments to pick up,” said Springford, from the Centre for European Reform. “And the headwinds to that are quite significant.”

    For dock workers at Liverpool’s Peel Port, the prospect of a fresh round of austerity amid a cost-of-living crisis is too much to bear. “Workers all over this country need to stand up for themselves and join a union,” insisted Delij.

    For him, it’s all about priorities — and the arguments still echo back to the great crash of 15 years ago. “They bailed the bankers out in 2007,” he said, “and can’t bail hungry people out now.”

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    Sebastian Whale and Graham Lanktree

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  • America’s Tai faces uphill battle to defuse EU trade war fears

    America’s Tai faces uphill battle to defuse EU trade war fears

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    PRAGUE — U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai traveled more than 4,000 miles to prevent a transatlantic trade war over electric vehicles, but her EU counterparts signaled on Monday that they would be a tough crowd to win round.

    The growing spat hinges on U.S. legislation that encourages consumers via tax credits to “Buy American” when it comes to choosing an electric car.

    At a time when the U.S. and Europe want to present a united front against Russia, this protectionist measure has triggered outrage in many EU countries, including France and Germany, two leading European carmaking nations. Beyond the EU, China, Japan and South Korea have also voiced concern.

    After speaking with Tai at a meeting of EU ministers in Prague, the bloc’s trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis predicted it would be difficult to resolve the dispute.

    “It will not be easy to fix it  — but fix it we must,” he said.

    Among the 27 EU countries, anxiety about the U.S. measure is growing. Sweden’s new trade minister, Johan Forssell, whose country takes over the presidency of the Council of the EU in January, told POLITICO on Sunday that aspects of the U.S. legislation were “worrying” and “not in accordance with [World Trade Organization] rules.” 

    Another senior official stressed: “It’s not only one or two member states, which are concerned … It’s also the small ones; they will have no access at all” to the U.S. market.

    French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed over lunch last week that the EU should retaliate if Washington pushed ahead with the controversial bill. Macron floated the idea of a “Buy European Act” to strike back. 

    The new tax credits for electric vehicles are part of a huge U.S. tax, climate and health care package, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed the U.S. Congress in August.

    The idea is that a U.S. consumer can claim back $7,500 of the value of an electric car from their tax bill. To qualify for that credit, however, the car needs to be assembled in North America and contain a battery with a certain percentage of the metals mined or recycled in the U.S., Canada or Mexico. 

    Czech Trade Minister Jozef Síkela, whose country currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, said that European carmakers wanted to qualify for the scheme, just as the North Americans do.  

    In its current form, the bill is “unacceptable,” and “is extremely protective against exports from Europe,” said Síkela as he walked into Monday’s meeting. “We simply expect that we will get the same status as Canada and Mexico.” 

    U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis | Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

    “But we need to be realistic,” Síkela told reporters later. “This is our starting point in the negotiations and we’ll see what we’ll manage to negotiate at the end.”

    In a bid to soothe tensions, a joint task force was set up last week by the European Commission and the U.S. The task force is supposed to meet at the end of this week, although the exact date isn’t yet fixed, according to the senior official. 

    Asked whether Brussels would retaliate should no agreement be struck with Washington, Dombrovskis took a cautious approach: “Setting up this task force is already … a response of us, raising those concerns … At this stage, we are focusing on a negotiated solution before considering what other options there may be.” 

    The midterm elections in the U.S., where President Joe Biden’s Democrats look likely to lose ground, compound the difficulties. 

    It doesn’t seem like the tensions will be eased by the next Trade and Technology Council, which takes place between U.S. and European negotiators in early December. 

    Dismay over the U.S. subsidies has overshadowed the preparatory work for the next TTC meeting, for which the EU and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic want to see rapid concrete results to avoid the perception that the format is simply a talking shop.

    Tai herself had no immediate comment in Prague, but later released a statement on her meeting with Síkela that gave no hint of a breakthrough.

    “Ambassador Tai and Minister Síkela discussed the ongoing work of the Trade and Technology Council, and the importance of achieving meaningful results for the December TTC Ministerial and beyond.  They also discussed the newly-created U.S.-EU Task Force on the Inflation Reduction Act,” the statement said.  

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  • Distressed Bitcoin Mining Assets Are Becoming Popular Investments

    Distressed Bitcoin Mining Assets Are Becoming Popular Investments

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    Bitcoin continues trading well off its record highs as the latest bear market continues, thanks to a variety of macroeconomic shocks and strains. Bitcoin miners are especially feeling the pain of a depressed market, with hash rate climbing and hash price dropping.

    Against this backdrop of doom and gloom, a growing cohort of investors are pooling capital with the intent of lending to or investing in distressed mining teams. Fresh capital injections may be just the solution to help struggling companies survive the bear market. But for others, simply throwing money at a failing venture fixes nothing. This article explores growing investor interest in distressed mining assets and discusses possible outcomes for these investments.

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  • So Rishi Sunak is the UK’s next prime minister. What happens now?

    So Rishi Sunak is the UK’s next prime minister. What happens now?

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    LONDON — It took one bruising campaign defeat and six weeks of exile — but on Tuesday, Rishi Sunak will finally become U.K. prime minister.

    He faces the toughest in-tray of any British leader since World War II, entering No. 10 Downing Street as the country hurtles into winter with energy bills, hospital waiting lists, borrowing costs and inflation all soaring.

    The challenge has been magnified by Liz Truss’ brief crash-and-burn premiership. As a result of her now-infamous mini-budget, which was scrapped almost in its entirety after causing chaos in financial markets, the Conservatives are trailing the opposition Labour Party by over 30 percentage points in opinion polls.

    On Monday, Sunak told MPs he was ready to hit the ground running as he addressed them for the first time since becoming Tory leader. Over the days and months ahead, he will need to carry out his first ministerial reshuffle without further fracturing his party; oversee the first budget since the last one wreaked havoc on the economy; and determine what support to offer voters with their energy bills past this spring.

    Prime ministers tend to think of their first 100 days as a way to set the tone for their premierships. For Sunak, who has just over two years to govern before he is required to face a general election, that first impression is going to be particularly important.  

    October 25 — Meeting with the king and first speech outside No. 10 Downing Street

    Sunak will become the prime minister Tuesday after an audience with King Charles III, where he will ask the monarch for permission to form a government.

    Sunak will then address the country for the first time as prime minister from the steps outside No. 10 Downing Street at around 11.35 a.m.

    To much of the British public, the former chancellor is a familiar face who announced the wildly-popular furlough scheme during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

    His task now will be to reassure people that the government will support them during another difficult economic period — only this time he is in a much tougher position. The popularity he gained during the pandemic has waned, and he is taking over after a major government crisis — the third Tory prime minister to hold office within three months.  

    October 25 — First reshuffle

    The first big political test for Sunak will be his Cabinet reshuffle. Tory MPs believe he will learn the lesson from Truss’ first and only one, where she divvied up roles between her allies and left almost everyone who didn’t back her out in the cold.

    “I think his reshuffle will be more unifying, bringing in people from all wings and will not be as destabilizing as Liz’s,” an MP who did not back Sunak predicted.

    Sunak’s leadership rival Penny Mordaunt is expected to be handed a major Cabinet position | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    Sunak is likely to make at least his major Cabinet appointments Tuesday afternoon, so they are in place to line up alongside him on the House of Commons’ front bench when MPs grill him during so-called prime minister’s questions (PMQs) on Wednesday.

    His biggest decision will be whether to keep Jeremy Hunt — who was drafted in by Truss in a last-ditch effort to save her premiership — as chancellor. He is also likely to hand a big job to his leadership rival Penny Mordaunt.

    Close Sunak allies who are likely to get promotions include Mel Stride, the current chairman of the Treasury select committee, Craig Williams, Claire Coutinho and Laura Trott. Tory big beast Michael Gove could see a return to Cabinet.

    October 26 — First PMQs

    Sunak will go head-to-head as prime minister with Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, for the first time on Wednesday.

    Unlike his predecessor, Sunak won’t have much to worry about from his own side — Tory MPs have largely rowed behind him since he became their leader on Monday, with many expressing relief that the perpetual state of crisis of the Truss government has ended.

    But MPs will want him to demonstrate that he can land blows against Starmer at a time when Labour is streets ahead in the polls. Sunak told Tory MPs on Tuesday that their party faced an “existential threat” as a result of its low poll ratings.

    October 28 — Deadline to form a government in Belfast

    If a power-sharing arrangement is not in place at Stormont by Friday, a fresh set of elections to the Northern Irish assembly will have to be triggered.

    Calling these elections — the second set in seven months — could be one of the Sunak government’s first acts and an indication of successive Tory prime ministers’ failure to deal with the political crisis in Northern Ireland.

    The Democratic Unionist Party issued a fresh warning on Monday night that it would not participate in the assembly unless Sunak takes action on the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol agreed with the EU.

    October 31 — First budget

    The next budget was penciled in for October 31 by Kwasi Kwarteng, the Truss-era chancellor who wanted to use it to reassure financial markets still reeling from his last one.

    The timing of the budget — widely derided by Tory MPs because of the optics of holding it on Halloween — was intended to give the Bank of England time to react before its own key meeting on November 3, where it will set interest rate levels for the weeks ahead.

    In its biggest test so far, Sunak’s government will have to decide whether to stick with that date; what actions to take to reassure the markets; and how to fill the enormous hole in the U.K. public finances.

    Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “If his chancellor is Jeremy Hunt and Sunak is comfortable with the way things are proceeding for next Monday, then going ahead has lots of advantages.

    “You get the announcement out before the Bank of England makes its next inflation figure, and you get the Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecasts out there, which helps show the markets you are serious about them.

    “The case for changing that date is much stronger if Sunak says, ‘Actually, I want to do something different to what Jeremy Hunt has been planning, and I need more time,’” Emmerson added.

    November 3 — Bank of England rates meeting

    The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is expected to raise interest rates at its meeting on November 3, triggering a fresh hike in people’s mortgages.

    This is the point when many people will realize for the first time that they will have to make much larger mortgage repayments once their current fixed-rate deals come to an end.

    Sunak made combating inflation and keeping mortgages low a central theme of his leadership campaign over the summer. Reacting to the rates decision and ensuring the government works closely with the Bank of England to combat inflation will be a key test of his premiership.

    November 6 — COP27 summit in Egypt

    Sunak made a point of telling Tory MPs on Tuesday that he is committed to the U.K.’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    The question now is whether he attends the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Truss reportedly planned to go, despite her skepticism of aspects of the net-zero agenda.

    If Sunak does go to Egypt, it could be his first foreign trip in office (unless he decides to make a quick visit to Ukraine beforehand) and his first opportunity to present himself on the world stage.

    November 8 — Boundary changes

    The Boundary Commission for England will publish its new constituency map on November 8.

    At this point, some Tory MPs will know with near certainty that their constituencies are being carved up between neighboring areas, with some forced to jostle with colleagues over who will get to stand where.

    It will be a political headache for Sunak to deal with, and any MPs whose safe seats become marginal will sense their political careers coming to an end — and will have less of an incentive to support him in key votes in the months ahead.

    November 13 — G20 meeting in Indonesia

    The next big foreign trip coming down the track is the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

    The meeting will be an opportunity for Western powers to present a united front against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and against China’s increased aggression toward Taiwan, but also to hold talks behind closed doors. There have been reports that both China’s Xi Jinping and Russian Vladimir Putin will attend.

    Sophia Gaston, the head of foreign policy at the Policy Exchange think tank, said this was shaping up to be “one of the most extraordinary summits of modern history, with a violent war raging in Ukraine and the leading protagonist, Vladimir Putin, on the guest list alongside other autocratic leaders and outraged democratic allies.”

    “As well as promoting free trade and the rules-based international order, Sunak would likely see the G20 as an opportunity to build support for his proposed ‘NATO-style’ technology alliance,” Gaston said. “He may well also debut a new U.K. message on the net-zero transition.”

    Late November or early December — Chester by-election

    Labour whips are preparing to trigger a by-election in the city of Chester in late November or December.

    The by-election is taking place because the city’s MP Christian Matheson resigned after a parliamentary watchdog recommended he be suspended for sexual misconduct.

    Matheson sits on a 6,164-vote majority, and the seat has traditionally been a swing seat flipping between the Tories and Labour. It was Conservative up until 2010.

    Based on current polling figures, Labour should win a significantly larger majority than it currently has, though by-elections do suffer from small turnouts and so unexpected results are not uncommon. A dramatic Tory defeat would set alarm bells ringing in the party.

    Another by-election could be triggered in the coming months if, as expected, Boris Johnson elevates his ally and MP Nadine Dorries to the House of Lords in his resignation honors. That would likely be the first by-election in a Tory-held seat fought with Sunak as party leader.

    December 31 — U.K. deadline for joining trans-Pacific trade bloc

    The U.K. government has said it hopes to conclude negotiations on joining the CPTPP — a trade agreement signed by 11 countries including Australia and New Zealand — by the end of the year.

    Securing this deal was one of Truss’ priorities. For Sunak it would represent both a concrete foreign policy achievement and an indication that the U.K. is successfully building closer diplomatic ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific after Brexit.

    Talks around the partnership have thrown up some diplomatic obstacles, with China reacting angrily to U.K. trade officials meeting Taiwanese counterparts. Both China and Taiwan have applied to join the CPTPP.

    December or January — Johnson’s probe concludes

    The Commons privilege committee’s probe into whether Johnson misled parliament over the so-called Partygate scandal will begin taking evidence in November and is expected to conclude in December or January — though it could drag on longer.

    There have been suggestions that the evidence against him is so damning that Johnson could face temporary suspension from parliament or even be kicked out as an MP. The inquiry may have formed part of Johnson’s decision not to stand for the Tory leadership contest.

    If the privileges committee says Johnson should be sanctioned once it concludes its inquiry, Sunak will have to judge his response and decide whether to whip Tory MPs to back its recommendations even if that provokes Johnson’s ire. There is also the risk that Sunak himself will be dragged into the probe, given he too was fined over the Partygate scandal.

    Early January — COVID inquiry takes evidence

    The independent inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic could begin gathering evidence at the start of next year.

    Among other things, the probe will examine the impact of the economic policies that Sunak designed as chancellor during the pandemic, putting his decisions under scrutiny.

    His “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme — which encouraged people to dine in restaurants during the post-lockdown summer of 2020 — could become a focus, with critics claiming it drove up coronavirus-related infections and deaths.

    February — Energy support nears its end

    By the time Sunak’s first 100 days are up, there will be pressure on the government to explain how it will support people with their energy bills past the spring if wholesale gas prices haven’t drastically fallen. Hunt has already rolled back the Truss government’s two-year guarantee and instead capped people’s energy bills at an average of £2,500 for just six months. That policy ends in April.

    The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Emmerson said: “We’ve got a big generous offer from the government through this winter — although prices are still a lot higher than they were last year, they will be nowhere near as high as they would have otherwise been.

    “The prime minister and chancellor will spend a lot of time thinking about how they replace that scheme. In some ways, it’s very similar to the kind of furlough scheme that Sunak had during the pandemic — very generous, big scheme with lots of crude edges to it,” he said.

    “It’s understandable wanting to get in place quickly to support people, but how do you get out of it? Do it too quickly and that’s too much pain for too many people — keep it in place for too long, and that’s very expensive to the government.”

    It’s just one of so many enormous decisions the new PM faces in his first 100 days.

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    Eleni Courea

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  • The Brexit cult that blew up Britain

    The Brexit cult that blew up Britain

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    LONDON — It was a revolution 11 long years in the making.

    For a small but vocal band of right-wing libertarians, Liz Truss’ appointment as U.K. prime minister on September 6 seemed the triumphant end point of an epic and improbable march that led them from the fringes of British politics to Whitehall’s grandest corridors of power.

    In the course of just over a decade, a group of little-known politicians, fringe think tanks and outspoken media figures had helped drag the Tory Party, and the nation it led, from David Cameron’s vision of so-called compassionate Conservatism — hugging huskies and all — to a Brexit-backing, free-market embracing, low-tax juggernaut.

    It took them four Tory prime ministers, four general elections and an era-defining referendum to do it — but with Truss in charge, they were finally living their dream. The country was to be remade in their image.

    It lasted 44 chaotic days, and no more.

    “They felt their moment had come at last,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University London. “This would prove that Brexit hadn’t been a ghastly mistake, but a fantastic opportunity. But of course, as it was always based on fantasy, it was always bound to collide with reality.”

    Truss was elected Conservative leader — and so U.K. prime minister — last month on the votes of just 81,000 party members, a group large enough to defeat her more centrist opponent, Rishi Sunak, but still small enough to fit comfortably inside Wembley stadium, home of the England football team.

    This band of true-blue believers had been wooed by her heady promises of a low-tax, low-regulation state that would embrace the opportunities provided by Brexit.

    But as soon as PM Truss started to put her promises into action — via a ‘mini-budget’ on September 23 which included tens of billions of pounds in unfunded tax cuts alongside a massive energy subsidy scheme — the markets began sliding into turmoil. Within days it was clear Truss had triggered an economic crisis — and one that sent the Conservative poll ratings tumbling along with the value of the pound.

    Her MPs, facing electoral oblivion, were terrified.

    In the weeks that followed, Truss was forced to sack her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and U-turn on most of their economic program in a desperate bid to stabilize the markets. This week her home secretary, Suella Braverman, followed Kwarteng out the door. Her MPs became mutinous, some publicly demanding her head. Support rapidly drained away.

    On Thursday morning, after a disastrous attempt to force her MPs to vote against their own manifesto pledge not to re-start fracking projects around the U.K., she accepted the game was up.

    Truss was forced to sack her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and U-turn on most of their economic program in a desperate bid to stabilize the markets | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

    Truss’ disastrous six weeks in power were an abject humiliation for the prime minister herself, of course — but also for the libertarian right of the Conservative movement that had fought its corner for years.

    Winners and losers

    “I’m pretty distraught about it,” said Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), one of the right-wing Westminster think tanks that inspired the Truss agenda. (He, like most of the interviewees for this article, was speaking after the abandonment of Truss’ economic program earlier this week, but before she finally resigned Thursday afternoon.)

    “It did actually appear as if we had a new government that, in very broad terms, shared the IEA analysis of the problems with our economy, and it not being market-oriented enough.” 

    But Truss botched the “political execution” rather than economic thinking, Littlewood insisted, lamenting that “if the execution goes badly wrong, it has a rebound effect on the ideas.”

    Indeed, Conservative libertarians explain the Truss debacle in various ways: She was not clear enough about what she was doing and the reasons for it; she made the announcements in the wrong sequence; she refused to match her tax cuts with spending restraint; and she failed to produce independent proof that her plans would work. There is certainly little sign of remorse.

    “The position we’re in now is that these reforms basically have not been tried,” Littlewood insisted. “Her attempts to implement change were too hurried; too rushed; not thought through; naïve in some regard.”

    Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was another right-wing libertarian who had been advocating for low-tax, small-state ideals for decades.

    “I think the hope was that the Kwarteng budget was going to mark a very significant moment,” Farage said. “That now appears to be dead. And I would have thought dead for a very, very long time. The people in the Conservative Party that I talk to, who think on my wavelength … have pretty much given up.”

    But Tories opposed to the libertarian agenda are delighted at its failure — if not the disastrous fallout, for country and party alike. “The mild flirtation with Tea Party libertarianism has been strangled at birth, and I think for the general good fortune of the Tory Party that has to be seen as a good thing,” Tory backbencher Simon Hoare told the BBC.

    One serving Cabinet minister added: “[The libertarians] are going to have to adjust to reality like the rest of us. They can’t buck the market.”

    Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was another right-wing libertarian who had been advocating for low-tax, small-state ideals for decades | Peter Summers/Getty Images

    Nicky Morgan, a former Cabinet minister who previously co-chaired the centrist ‘One Nation’ caucus of Tory MPs, said her party must now return to its former broad-church approach.

    “The task for the ‘One Nation’ wing of the party is almost to ignore the libertarian right and get on with reasserting one-nation politics, and prove to everyone from Liz Truss downward that if we want to stay in power, then being sane and sensible in the middle ground is a much stronger place to be,” she said.

    The long march

    For some on the conservative right, so-called Trussonomics was the inevitable end point of a march toward deregulation that began with the Brexit movement in the early 2010s. Farage was one of a number of Brexiteer thinkers who wanted the U.K. to leave the EU in a bid to drive up business competitiveness.

    Bale said the libertarian strain in the Conservative Party had in fact been present for decades, but that the Brexit cause emboldened it and brought it to the fore. 

    The turning point came in 2011, when a number of right-wing Conservative MPs — many of them newly-elected the previous year — rebelled against then-Prime Minister David Cameron and voted in support of a referendum on EU membership. “That was the first time they realized their strength,” Bale said. 

    Across the country, anti-EU sentiment was rising, fueled by the eurozone crisis and soaring levels of immigration.

    “There was a ‘push me, pull you’ going on,” Farage said. “The stronger UKIP got, the more emboldened the Tory Brexiteers got. 2011 was the moment when UKIP suddenly started coming second in by-elections. This group in the Tory Party, and this group outside the Tory Party — namely my group — always had very similar policy goals.”

    Cameron was spooked, and the pressure from within and without his party forced him to agree a referendum on Britain’s EU membership. It was won by the Leave-supporting side in 2016, cheered on by a highly vocal section of the right-wing U.K. press which also supports low taxes and deregulation.

    “The referendum allowed them all to coalesce around a single issue,” said David Yelland, a former editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned, Brexit-backing Sun newspaper, who now speaks out against the influence of right-wing media.

    “The right of the Conservative Party and their supporters in the media and the think tank world knew they had one go at this. They had to win Brexit, otherwise they were finished. And they did. And since then that has emboldened them.”

    Keep pushing on

    With Cameron forced from office, the group’s next battle was with his successor Theresa May, a euroskeptic Remainer who tried to negotiate a less drastic form of Brexit which would have left Britain tied to many of Brussels’ rules and regulations.

    Farage said the “loose relationship” between pro-Brexit libertarians inside and outside the Tory Party maintained its hold over the new Tory leader, ultimately blocking her proposed Brexit deal in Parliament and forcing her resignation.

    Theresa May was a euroskeptic Remainer who tried to negotiate a less drastic form of Brexit | WPA pool photo by Henry Nicholls/Getty Images

    Boris Johnson then emerged as the next prime minister, a genuine ‘Vote Leave’ campaigner who was able to push through the hard-nosed form of Brexit the group had dreamed of. But his personal brand of domestic politics was less to their taste — a sort of high-spending boosterism which appealed to millions of Tory and pro-Brexit voters, if not to the libertarian right.

    “The core Brexiteers were not ultra-libertarians,” explained former Tory MP Stewart Jackson, who lost his job as a ministerial bag carrier to vote with the pro-Brexit rebels in 2011.

    “There were a few that wanted [London to become] Singapore-on-Thames … but the bulk of Brexiteer MPs and definitely Brexiteer voters were much more what I would call communitarian.”

    But Jackson said the vacuum of ideas about how best to respond to Brexit, even among many Brexiteers, left space for the libertarians to fill. “They were the only game in town in terms of a new intellectual concept that the U.K. could consolidate on, being outside the European Union,” he said. 

    With Johnson’s departure in July following a series of personal scandals, the likes of Littlewood — as well as his brothers in arms at neighboring think tanks the Taxpayers Alliance and the Adam Smith Institute — found themselves in the ascendance.

    Their ideas found favor with Truss — who despite not being a Brexiteer at the referendum, was a follower of the libertarian cause — and her Chancellor-to-be Kwarteng. The ambitious pair were among colleagues who wrote a now infamous 2012 pamphlet named “Britannia Unchained” offering radical right-wing solutions to Britain’s economic problems.

    Less than two months after Johnson’s departure, their economic prospectus was finally put to the test — and exploded on impact.

    The arc of history

    As Truss and Kwarteng look back at the ashes of their brief Downing Street careers, the pro-Brexit right is licking its wounds and wondering where it goes next.

    Shanker Singham, another libertarian thinker who is close to Truss and the IEA, insisted it was too soon to tell whether the low-tax, ultra-competition agenda is too damaged by the Trussonomics experiment to resurface in the near future. 

    Brexit supporters march in Fulham in the final leg of the March To Leave Rally on March 29, 2019 | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    “It’s a very febrile atmosphere, and things have to settle down,” he said. “There’s a big arc of history here, and Liz Truss’ mini-budget does not suddenly transform the arc of history.”

    Littlewood insists there will be another chance to implement libertarian policies in less than a decade, given the structural economic problems Britain faces.

    “Had this [mini-budget] gone as smoothly as I had imagined it in my dreams, rather than as badly as it has gone in my living nightmare, I think we could have got quite a lot of this done now,” he said. “Unfortunately, a large amount of it is off the table now, but I think it will have to be returned to.”

    Brexiteers of a different persuasion — of which there are many — are hoping for an urgent change of direction, however.

    “The vision of Brexit as ‘Davos on Thames’, only ever held by 10 percent of the Conservative electorate, is dead,” wrote Matthew Goodwin, an academic who has charted the rise of the populist right. “The only way forward for the Conservative Party now is to get back to what Brexit was really about for the 90 percent, and to reconnect with their 2019 electorate.”

    But Bale, of Queen Mary University, believes the libertarian strain among Conservatives will forever lurk just beneath the surface, insisting their radical solutions to the nation’s ills have still not been properly tried. 

    “When the spaceship doesn’t arrive,” he said, “the cultists simply say ‘we got the date wrong’, and that it will be coming in two years’ time.”

    Additional reporting by Annabelle Dickson.

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    Emilio Casalicchio and Jack Blanchard

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  • WeSky Launches World’s Lightest 60W USB In-Seat Power Solution Boosting Commercial Aviation Efficiency

    WeSky Launches World’s Lightest 60W USB In-Seat Power Solution Boosting Commercial Aviation Efficiency

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    AVIONICS START-UP WESKY’S NEW RECHARGE PRODUCT GIVES THE COMMERCIAL AVIATION INDUSTRY A MUCH NEEDED IMPROVEMENT TO THE IN-SEAT CHARGE EXPERIENCE FOR PERSONAL ELECTRONIC DEVICES (PED). THE SAME INSTALLATIONS ALSO HELP IMPROVE AIRCRAFT OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY WHILE REDUCING AIRCRAFT CO2 EMISSIONS

    Press Release
    –

    Oct 19, 2022


    LONDON, October 19, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The ever increasing processing power of Personal Electronic Devices (PED) requires high-capacity batteries that in turn requires fast charging solutions. Existing onboard high power charging solutions on the market are heavy preventing airlines from choosing these systems due to weight budget constraints. WeSky engineers have created a smart USB in-seat fast charging product that is the lightest on the market.

    “Our new recharge™️ product is an efficient 60W USB in-seat charging solution, that weighs 70% less than current available products, yet has rapid charging. It brings many benefits to commercial airlines including a reduction in fuel consumption which also has benefits for the environment,” said WeSky Founder and CEO Vytis Petrusevicius.

    “Based on our current sales activities and request for proposals we are forecasting and already negotiating orders for over 20 million USD in revenue of recharge™️ in-seat power systems within next 24 months,” said Marius Barcas, Head of Sales.

    WeSky recently secured additional funding from US based Notarc Investment Partners in order to ramp up production of its current product line while also expanding research and development of new avionics equipment.

    “These are the kind of ventures that fit with our sustainable investment mandate and which have an immediate positive impact on the environment, industry and end user. Legacy businesses and industries must continue to evolve and innovate and we have a responsibility as investors to help speed up innovation and to do our part to support such ventures,” said Leslie C. Bethel, CEO of Notarc Management Group and recently appointed WeSky Board Member.

    About WeSky

    Among many avionics innovations, WeSky develops a smart USB in-seat power solution called recharge™️ that allow commercial airlines to provide enhanced in-flight experiences and operating efficiency through lowering aircraft weight and fuel consumption. 

    The aviation and commercial airline industry like many other transport businesses are challenged with lowering their extensive carbon footprint. WeSky was founded on the sole principle of developing aviation technology and innovation in electronics which can have a positive impact on operational efficiency while also helping legacy industries make immediate progress toward attaining their sustainable goals which is critical to our planet and survival.

    The recharge™️ is the world’s lightest and most compact 60W USB in-seat power solution, with the same weight as 15W USB charging solutions currently on the market.

    WeSky is EASA approved Part 21J Design Organisation with in-house avionics systems development, certification and integration design capabilities.

    For more information, visit https://www.wesky.aero/recharge

    About Notarc Investment Partners

    Notarc Investment Partners is an affiliate of Notarc Management Group, comprised of leading investment and asset management professionals in The UK, Europe, Panama, Asia, The Bahamas, and The United States. As an advisory and private equity firm, Notarc Management Group focuses on opportunities in real estate, hospitality, technology, logistics and infrastructure with an expanding portfolio in The Americas.

    In addition to capital, Notarc brings know-how, managerial oversight, and a network of operators and funders with a particular expertise in infrastructure, government and public policy. Notarc aligns with sovereign wealth funds, venture and private equity firms, and global family offices to invest capital via its various opportunity funds and SPVs.

    For more information, visit www.notarc.com.

    ***

    For more information contact:

    Vytis Petrusevicius
    Founder and Head of Product Design
    WeSky UAB
    vytis@wesky.aero
    +44 (0) 77 217 18545

    Website: https://www.wesky.aero/recharge

    Source: WeSky UAB

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  • Family Offices Could Teach UK Banks A Thing Or Two About Uncapped Bonuses

    Family Offices Could Teach UK Banks A Thing Or Two About Uncapped Bonuses

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    As the UK’s mini budget, second mini budget and upcoming full budget come under fire from all directions, there is one thing that everyone is talking about and that is bankers bonuses.

    Despite tax reductions being reversed, another chancellor being removed from Cabinet and a two-year energy cap, being uncapped, one thing staying firmly on the agenda is the decision to reverse a regulatory cap on bonuses in the UK banking sector and the rest of the Kingdom is questioning why.

    While the UK tries to answer that question, we explore how uncapped bonuses already work in Family Offices and the lessons that could be learned for banks once passed.

    The move was proposed by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in a bid to make London more attractive for global banks and for workers amid what is being widely described as a talent shortage. It is also thought to offer more long-term incentives to critical banking professionals, something Family Offices know a thing or two about.

    Family Offices are not regulated, therefore, nor is their compensation. This allows some Family Office professionals to walk away with extraordinary amounts of wealth every year and in return, it keeps Family Offices alive.

    82% of Family Office Executives receive a performance bonus. While this will differ from Family Office to Family Office, there is no regulatory cap in place and based on our annual research, we have found the average Chief Investment Officer receives 31% – 50% of their salary as a bonus in the UK while in the US, this often sits at the 100% mark. For Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors, this figure sits between 51% and 75% of annual salary. This means CIOs often walk away with more than $792,000 in the US while CEOs in the UK earn around $612,500 a year.

    These figures might not appear to be as high as those you see in Investment Banks today but in Family Offices, money isn’t everything. Despite boasting some of the world’s greatest wealth, working for a Family Office is very rarely about the compensation you receive. While compensation must be benchmarked and standardised and is very rarely low, it is often more about being able to make a greater impact – working in an intimate team with unlimited liquidity to achieve a shared long-term objective.

    Working in a Family Office also offers unrivalled security which we saw following the pandemic when Investment Bankers pulled 100-hour weeks in an attempt to claw back any hope of a bonus in a time broadly referred to as ‘bonus backlash’ while Family Office Professionals walked away with 100% if not 200% of their annual salary as bonus season closed a successful year for Family Offices.

    This is also not to say the average figures given above are representative of every Family Office. We work with a Family Office where the Chief Investment Officer receives a basic salary of over £2M a year without any additional bonus or incentive. He has a very meritocratic bonus structure in place to reward his entire team.

    He said: “Our bonus structure is simple. It is not dependent on the success of an individual asset class nor does it differ based on the liquid/ illiquid nature of the asset. Each employee is able to take home 100-200% of their salary as a bonus each year, dependent on the upside return and their own personal performance. We say it is discretionary as we frequently boost the figures to ensure they walk away with more than the matrix suggests. This year every single employee has walked away with 150-200% of their annual salary and we believe it is this ‘share the pot’ mentality which has awarded us a loyal and motivated team.”

    Ultimately, uncapped bonuses are used to motivate, engage and embed critical professionals into the Family Office but they are not used in isolation. The most important instrument, and one that banks can learn from, is a Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP
    TIP
    ) and how above any type of traditional bonus, when implemented effectively can engage staff, align interests and incentivise them to stay within your organisation for as long as they can – something Family Offices require to survive and something that would banks could benefit from. One of the reasons in fact cited by Kwarteng to push ahead with this move as high-base salaries and low-bonuses are creating a churn of workers and driving up costs for British banks.

    LTIPs were traditionally delivered in the form of a performance share but have evolved in the world of Family Offices to incorporate a whole host of rewards including Carried Interest, Stock Options, Co-Investing Opportunities, Forgivable Loans and Matched Investment. Professionals with longer term reward structures are most content and driven to succeed within their Family Office and according to a recent Agreus survey, believe that LTIPs are far more important than any monetary annual compensation as it helps them to feel valued.

    LTIPs also proved to be particularly useful during the pandemic when a variety of factors made rewarding bonuses alone extremely difficult.

    COVID-19 alongside the push to IPOs in some of the emerging markets, a new generation of wealth, a focus on ESG and a heightened awareness of digital assets such as cryptocurrency have all forced Family Offices to further diversify. While making the Investment Space a whole lot more interesting, it further complicated how Family Offices reward Investment Professionals, especially when it comes to bonuses.

    Family Office Investment Professionals broadly led by Chief Investment Officers are responsible for a broad range of assets under management. Each of these assets necessitate a unique set of requirements from the length of time, commitment and contribution involved, the skill set and specialism required and the level of risk it calls for. They also carry unique factors impacting level of return and ability to measure that return from holding period yields, inflation and interest to demand and economic growth. Each asset class also requires a different benchmark, which as we now know is more than half of the time based on different indexes, industries, regions and countries.

    All of these idiosyncrasies make valuing assets an individual and laborious task but awarding a bonus based on those valuations is near impossible and has only been exacerbated by the move to further diversify as well as recent Investment hiring trends.

    All of the above have further complicated the conversation around bonuses and as a result, Family Offices adopted three new rules during the pandemic. These include:

    1) The move to increase discretionary bonuses based on overall fund performance

    2) An introduction of LTIPs for critical members of staff, not just on the investment side of the business

    3) An emphasis placed on preserving as well as generating wealth

    While banks cannot follow the exact guidelines set out by Family Offices, so long as they embed LTIPs and uncapped bonuses with clear and correlating key performance indicators, they can use this reward structure to engage and retain staff while creating a successful and meritocratic organisational culture which is inherently more competitive and guarantees every employee is striving to reach the same goal.

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    Paul Westall, Contributor

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  • WeWork India makes its first investment in Bengaluru-based Zoapi

    WeWork India makes its first investment in Bengaluru-based Zoapi

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    Coworking space provider WeWork India on Thursday said it has its first investment in Bengaluru-based conferencing and collaboration platform, Zoapi. Founded in 2019, Zoapi is a unified conferencing and collaboration solution provider for enterprise companies, coworking spaces, and education centers.

    WeWork said that corporates have organically transitioned to a hybrid work model and there has been a growing demand for a sense of community and the benefits of collaboration in a workspace. “WeWork India intends to be a one-stop solution for large and small enterprises, freelancers, start-ups etc, to enhance the hybrid work experience,” it said in a statement. 

    WeWork said it has made an investment in this enterprise SaaS solution provider that combines the four basic needs of a meeting room – wireless screen sharing, video conferencing, online calendar, and room scheduler. Built as an open platform, Zoapi supports numerous video conferencing facilities and collaboration applications such as Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, Google Meet, Webex, Polycom etc, making meetings immersive and engaging. “Its hardware agnostic build and cost-effective value offering truly make it a superior SaaS service. its interactive calendar features include easy integrations and seamless conferencing experience,” the statement said.  

    WeWork India CEO Karan Virwani said that businesses are increasingly looking for a blend of physical and virtual work experience, and innovative technologies such as Zoapi have become central to this. From an adoption perspective, he said, it is affordable and compatible with numerous video conferencing platforms and devices. “With its unique capabilities, this homegrown product has the potential to grow into a global player, implemented across all industries. By combining our technologies, we wish to take Zoapi to a larger audience, and facilitate seamless communication for businesses of all sizes,” Virwani said.

    Zoapi Innovations co-founder and CEO Prashanth NS said that the company was excited to partner with WeWork India, as it’s an excellent opportunity to implement its product at scale. “Over the years, our strategic partnership with WeWork India has generated insightful data about user consumption patterns and needs. We believe that we can globally power conferences and meeting rooms, with our SaaS solution, enabling stakeholders to have effective meetings,” he said. 

    Also read: HSBC receives SEBI approval to acquire L&T Investment Management

    Also read: Economic instability, inflation a major concern for Indian workforce, Adobe warns

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  • Stash puts emphasis on long-term crypto investing

    Stash puts emphasis on long-term crypto investing

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    The investing and banking app Stash announced today that it’s launched a crypto platform for its 2 million active subscribers, providing them with access to eight coins, including Bitcoin, Ether, Avalanche, and Solana.

    While retail investing apps have exploded over the past few years, including a spate of zero-commission-trade features, co-founder and president Ed Robinson said Stash distinguishes itself by prioritizing long-term wealth building, not trading. Stash was founded in 2015 and has received over $400 million in funding from investors including T. Rowe Price and LendingTree.  

    Stash focuses on what Robinson describes as “everyday Americans,” or people looking to invest smaller amounts of money and who aren’t prioritized by large brokerage firms. The average Stash customer has a household income of $50,000 to $75,000, the average portfolio size is around $1,100, and most customers start with a deposit of around $20. Through its multi-tiered subscription system, Stash offers financial tools and education that help users decide on long-term strategies that work with smaller sums. It currently has over $3 billion in assets under management.

    Robinson said that based on internal data, more than 60% of Stash customers wanted access to crypto investments. He’s hoping to take the same slow-and-steady approach to what he acknowledges is a highly volatile market.

    “Crypto trading is absolutely crucifying everyday Americans,” Robinson told Fortune. “People get caught up in trading apps and lose their money because they’re trying to time the market—they need education, guidance, and advice on how to get started.”

    He argued that despite the risks, crypto is a good way to diversify portfolios, as long as users invest safely. Stash recommends customers don’t place more than 6% of their total assets in different cryptocurrencies, and warns customers during purchases if they are over-indexed in any particular asset.

    In its initial offering of cryptocurrencies, Stash isn’t offering meme coins. “Our customers are literally living paycheck to paycheck—is it smart for them to be throwing money into Shiba?” Robinson said. “What we do want to do is get them exposed [to crypto] and get them to start understanding their risk tolerances and what’s actually happening in the market.” 

    Despite the market downturn, Robinson argued that now is a good time to be launching the new offering, given Stash’s philosophy of long-term investing.  

    “A pullback of a couple months or six months or even a year is short when you think about the duration of your life and the number of cycles that will occur,” said Robinson. 

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    Leo Schwartz

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  • Zoe Announces Partnership With Ohio-Based Firm, Defiant Financial Services, LLC

    Zoe Announces Partnership With Ohio-Based Firm, Defiant Financial Services, LLC

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    Press Release
    –

    May 12, 2022


    NEW YORK, May 12, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Zoe, a wealth platform recently recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, announced Defiant Financial Services, LLC as one of the RIAs (Registered Investment Advisor firm) of their exclusive Advisor Network. Thanks to their rigorous vetting process, Zoe only connects clients with the top 5% of wealth advisors nationwide. 

    With over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Aaron Vaughn, J.D., CFP®, APMA®, BFA®, founded Defiant Financial Services, LLC to offer clients a life-planning pathfinder, compass, and shield. Defiant educates and guides clients on the most optimal path to navigating their financial planning, estate planning, and wealth management needs with this three-pillar approach. 

    “Clients tend to have a clear definition of their financial goals, which become the north star of their financial plan. However, it can be tough to clearly see the money decisions they must make to achieve their desired wealth situation. As one of the firms qualified to be part of the Zoe Network, Defiant Financial Services, LLC has a unique way of guiding clients through their financial journey,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA®, Zoe’s Founder and CEO. 

    Defiant’s ultimate goal is to help its pathfinding partners (how they refer to clients) live with abundance and peace of mind. To do so, the firm systematically, comprehensively, and regularly approaches clients’ financial well-being. They start by uncovering and understanding each person’s expectations and goals, then using their full picture vision and expertise to design a financial plan tailored to each client’s unique needs. 

    Defiant takes a comprehensive view of investments and leverages its wealth and tax management expertise to help clients achieve their desired financial outcomes. Through the Life Planning Pathway™ process, the firm uncovers and addresses all the potential opportunities or detours related to clients’ financial lives. 

    “Growing my firm with Zoe has been a great experience! It’s motivating to know that since our partnership started, we have been able to help several clients maintain and grow their wealth. I look forward to helping more people nationwide achieve their life goals with a clear and structured wealth plan,” said Aaron Vaughn, J.D., CFP®, APMA®, BFA®, Founder and Managing Member at Defiant Financial Services, LLC. 

    Learn more about Zoe at www.zoefin.com. 

    Apply to join the Zoe Advisor Network at www.zoefin.com/join-as-an-advisor/. 

    Learn more about Defiant Financial Services, LLC at https://www.defiantservicesllc.com/.

    About Zoe 

    Zoe was founded with one mission: to accelerate wealth creation through exceptional client experience and innovative technology. The company’s human experts, alongside powerful technology, remove the friction from the process of finding and hiring a financial advisor. Through Zoe’s Platform, you will connect with Zoe-Certified Financial Advisors across the United States based on your unique financial situation and objectives. Zoe’s thoughtfully curated Network of interest-aligned financial advisors includes only the top 5% in the country. 

    Contact: press@zoefin.com

    Source: Zoe Financial

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  • Zoe Announces 3 Years in Partnership With Metanoia Financial

    Zoe Announces 3 Years in Partnership With Metanoia Financial

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    Press Release
    –

    May 5, 2022


    NEW YORK, May 5, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Zoe, an innovative wealth platform that connects potential clients with the top 5% of wealth advisors nationwide, announced its third year in partnership with Metanoia Financial. In April 2019, after being qualified by a meticulous vetting process, the RIA was accepted into Zoe’s exclusive advisor network. 

    Registered in 2010, Metanoia Financial seeks to help clients honor their priorities, manage their assets, and structure financial plans to bless their families for generations to come. Bobby Cremins, CFA, CFP®, CKA, founded the RIA to shift the focus from shareholders and executives at large financial institutions to clients and their well-being. Metanoia advisors are clients’ long-term financial partners, helping them sort out every aspect of their financial lives without stress or confusion. 

    Metanoia helps individuals and families with a desire to make wise and informed financial decisions at the right moment. Their team of experts has over 20 years of experience guiding people through the ups and downs of financial, retirement, and tax planning. The firm currently provides advisory services for over 106 clients for whom they manage $81 million in assets. Part of the firm’s promise is to give each client the attention they need to make money decisions that will guide them to a better financial future. Clients can connect with Metanoia advisors through the Zoe platform. 

    “Trust is the most solid foundation for a successful advisor-client relationship. Since the beginning of our partnership three years ago, Metanoia Financial advisors have proven to be a great addition to our exclusive network. They take the time to learn what their clients want and then create tailored and strategic plans to achieve those goals,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA®, Zoe’s Founder and CEO. “We know that each client who gets connected to a Metanoia advisor will be meeting an interest-aligned, trustworthy, and expert advisor,” he added. 

    The Philadelphia-based firm is committed to offering an outstanding experience, ultimately geared towards becoming the household CFO (Chief Financial Officer) for each client. Their advisors are experts in all financial matters and are devoted to enabling clients to manage their wealth successfully. Metanoia advisors thrive in helping clients create strategic and unique retirement plans that cover every scenario. Their approach includes estate planning and legacy planning to ensure each client can feel stress-free about what will come next. In this way, their guidance is crucial to helping clients keep track of all the numbers, accounts, organizations, and rules that may affect their future.

    “Zoe has been a great partner for us. We enjoy working with others who stand by what we believe in, helping people achieve their life-long dreams through educated and confident money decisions. We look forward to working together to bring financial wisdom into the lives of more individuals, families, and businesses,” said Bobby Cremins, CFA, CFP®, CKA, Founder and President at Metanoia Financial. 

    Learn more about Zoe at www.zoefin.com. 

    Apply to join the Zoe Advisor Network at www.zoefin.com/join-as-an-advisor/

    Learn more about Metanoia Financial at www.metanoiafinancial.com/

    About Zoe 
    Zoe was founded with one mission: to accelerate wealth creation through exceptional client experience and innovative technology. The company’s human experts, alongside powerful technology, remove the friction from the process of finding and hiring a financial advisor. Through Zoe’s Platform, you will connect with Zoe-Certified Financial Advisors across the United States based on your unique financial situation and objectives. Zoe’s thoughtfully curated Network of interest-aligned financial advisors includes only the top 5% in the country. 

    Contact: press@zoefin.com 

    Source: Zoe Financial

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  • Zoe Announces Partnership With Michigan-Based RIA, Pathway Financial Planning

    Zoe Announces Partnership With Michigan-Based RIA, Pathway Financial Planning

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    Press Release
    –

    Apr 28, 2022


    NEW YORK, April 28, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Zoe, an innovative platform that accelerates wealth creation by connecting potential clients with the top five percent of wealth advisors nationwide, announced Pathway Financial Planning as one of the RIAs in its exclusive Network. Recently recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Zoe has a meticulous vetting process to accept the advisors who join their Network. Clients can connect with Pathway Financial Planning advisors through the Zoe Platform.

    In 2011, Greg Brown, CFP®, founded Pathway Financial Planning. With over three decades of investment experience, Brown’s purpose was to help people build wealth and plan for their future strategically. He sought to create a new type of financial planning that allows people to achieve their goals without the headache of complex jargon and the undeniable biases of hidden incentives.

    The Michigan-based firm works under the belief that with the proper guidance, a client can align their money with their goals and dreams to make them come true. With expertise in risk assessment, taxes and investment management, and retirement and financial planning, Pathway Financial Planning employs a three-step approach to removing the guesswork from their clients’ financial lives. First, they get to know their clients personally, develop a unique plan, and then help each client implement it and hold them accountable for the expected results. 

    “Sometimes, wealth management can seem overwhelming from a client standpoint. But great advisors find the right ways to simplify it and help their clients understand how making the right money decisions enables the achievement of their goals and dreams. That is exactly what Pathway Financial Planning does with each of its clients. We are happy to have them in our exclusive advisor network,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA®, Zoe’s Founder and CEO. 

    One of the firm’s core values is transparency, and they always act in the clients’ best interest. Pathway Financial Planning is a fee-only wealth management firm, which means they only work for the client and get paid by the client. They don’t receive third-party commissions for product selling. Their philosophy is to simplify people’s financial lives. To do so, Pathway provides clients with a whole support system for driving their financial lives. The advisor acts as a household CFO, serving as clients’ accountability partner, wealth coach, professional organizer, financial planner, investment advisor, and sounding board throughout their ongoing relationships.

    “It is an honor to work with Zoe to help more people build and protect their wealth. Our shared client-centricity makes them the right partner for us to scale our business growth to align with our values and what we stand for. We look forward to helping more people take the guesswork out of their financial lives,” said Greg Brown, CFP®, Founder at Pathway Financial Planning.

    Learn more about Zoe at www.zoefin.com. 

    Apply to join the Zoe Network at www.zoefin.com/join-as-an-advisor.

    Learn more about Pathway Financial Planning at https://www.pathwayplanning.com. 

    About Zoe

    Zoe was founded with one mission: to accelerate wealth creation through exceptional client experience and innovative technology. The company’s human experts, alongside powerful technology, remove the friction from the process of finding and hiring a financial advisor. Through Zoe’s Platform, you will connect with Zoe-Certified Financial Advisors across the United States based on your unique financial situation and objectives. Zoe’s thoughtfully curated Network of interest-aligned financial advisors includes only the top 5% in the country.

    Contact: press@zoefin.com

    Source: Zoe Financial

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  • Zoe Launches the 2022 Client Acquisition Best Practices Report for Wealth Advisors

    Zoe Launches the 2022 Client Acquisition Best Practices Report for Wealth Advisors

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    Press Release
    –

    Mar 30, 2022


    NEW YORK, March 30, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Zoe, a leading New York-based wealth platform, launched an insightful resource for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) looking to improve their client acquisition strategies. The 2022 Client Acquisition Best Practices Report is the culmination of a rigorous cumulative research and analysis process. Zoe reviewed over 50,000 prospective client-advisor calls, thousands of emails, and hundreds of feedback forms submitted by prospective clients and Zoe Network Advisors. 

    Zoe, recently recognized as one of Fast Company’s most innovative companies globally, accelerates wealth creation through exceptional client experience and innovative technology. To connect clients with the best interest-aligned advisors nationwide, Zoe has a rigorous vetting process to select the advisors who join their Network; only the top 5% of advisors are admitted. Wealth management firms that qualify have access to Zoe’s dedicated partnership benefits, such as pre-qualified prospects, one-on-one coaching sessions, practice analytics, exclusive content, sales enablement tools, tailored marketing tools, and more. 

    This week, the company launched its 2022 Best Practices for Client Acquisition Report. The report encompasses the entire client acquisition process and includes data, sales process suggestions, and templates for advisors to convert prospects into long-term clients effectively and efficiently. In addition, it creates a seamless roadmap for advisor success by including how to prepare before meeting new prospective clients; the ideal agenda an advisor should lay out in an introductory call; the best ways to set next steps and to follow up, as well as the dos and don’ts for the second meeting. “I can’t emphasize enough how awesome this report is. Absolutely pivotal for our business operations and client acquisition processes that we’re continually trying to improve,” said John A. Herbert, CFP®, CPFA®, Managing Partner at Bowline Financial and Zoe Certified Advisor. While some of the information in the report is exclusive to advisors in the Zoe Network, the company has made a public version of the document, granting access to advisors outside of the Network as well. 

    The company hosted an exclusive pre-release session for Zoe Certified Advisors, where they disclosed additional insights from the Report. “We’re aware of how important it is to have great advisors on our Platform, and while our due diligence process validates a large part of this, we also feel entailed to help them become better at what they do every day,” said Christy Matzen, CFP®, Director of Financial Planning at Zoe, after hosting the live session. 

    “Zoe is the premier growth partner for advisors. We take this role seriously, and we continuously find ways to help RIAs in the Zoe Network improve their business and scale their growth,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA®, Zoe’s Founder & CEO. “Our Best Practices Report is just one of the strategies we have developed to give advisors all the tools they need to deliver the high-quality service that clients deserve,” he added.

    Apply to the Zoe Network at https://zoefin.com/join-as-an-advisor/ 

    Find an Advisor at www.zoefin.com 

    About Zoe 

    Zoe was founded with one mission: to accelerate wealth creation through exceptional client experience and innovative technology. The company’s human experts, alongside powerful technology, remove the friction from the process of finding and hiring a financial advisor. Through Zoe’s Platform, you will be matched with Zoe Certified Financial Advisors across the United States, based on your unique financial situation and objectives. Zoe’s thoughtfully curated Network of interest-aligned financial advisors includes only the top 5% in the country. 

    Contact: press@zoefin.com

    Source: Zoe Financial

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  • Zoe Announces Partnership With Female-Led RIA, SignatureFD

    Zoe Announces Partnership With Female-Led RIA, SignatureFD

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    Press Release
    –

    Mar 29, 2022


    NEW YORK, March 29, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Zoe, a leading wealth platform that connects clients with objective and interest-aligned wealth advisors, announced its partnership with an Atlanta-based, independent registered investment advisory firm (RIA). SignatureFD was qualified by Zoe’s rigorous vetting process and chosen as part of the top 5% of advisory firms nationwide. This partnership enables clients to connect with SignatureFD advisors through Zoe’s Platform, recently recognized as one of Fast Company’s most innovative companies globally. 

    SignatureFD has been established since 1997. They provide advisory services to over 1,500 client families, for whom they manage $6.9 billion in investable assets. The firm uses a comprehensive approach to help clients achieve their wealth goals. SignatureFD’s philosophy consists of understanding the difference between wealth and worth, knowing that what matters most is the achievement of better, rather than just the accumulation of money to have more. Each of their advisors believes and executes their day-to-day activities based on the importance of wealth planning personalization. In addition, they take the time to understand each client’s unique perspective and mindset to help them find the shortest path to Net Worthwhile™. 

    Ranking among Barron’s List of Top RIA firms for 2021, SignatureFD is recognized for paying particular attention to everything their clients consider important, focusing on helping them make confident money decisions. Six main values guide the firm, referred to as “The 6 Gs”—Greatness, Growth, Gratitude, Grace, Grit, and Generosity. 

    “We are honored to be one of the firms in the Zoe Advisor Network. This partnership is another way we are able to continue fulfilling our mission of helping 10,000 families achieve their Net Worthwhile™,” said Heather Robertson Fortner, MS, IACCP®, Partner & CEO at SignatureFD. 

    “Clients entrust us with a great responsibility when they choose us to find them the right advisor. When we connect them with an advisor on the SignatureFD team, we are confident that they will find high-quality guidance, focused on the unique ways their wealth can help them build their future,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA®, Zoe’s Founder & CEO. 

    Learn more about Zoe at www.zoefin.com.

    Learn more about SignatureFD at https://signaturefd.com/.

    About Zoe 

    Zoe was founded with one mission: to accelerate wealth creation through exceptional client experience and innovative technology. The company’s human experts, alongside powerful technology, remove the friction from the process of finding and hiring a financial advisor. Through Zoe’s Platform, you will be matched with Zoe-Certified Financial Advisors across the United States, based on your unique financial situation and objectives. Zoe’s thoughtfully curated Network of interest-aligned financial advisors includes only the top 5% in the country. 

    Contact: press@zoefin.com

    Source: Zoe Financial

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  • ‘Suez Canal and Challenges in World Trade’ Conference Kicks Off at Expo 2020 Dubai Amid International Turnout

    ‘Suez Canal and Challenges in World Trade’ Conference Kicks Off at Expo 2020 Dubai Amid International Turnout

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    DUBAI, Arab Emirates, January 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), attended on Sunday morning the international conference the SCA organized under the title ‘The Suez Canal and Challenges in World Trade’ as part of Expo 2020 Dubai. 

    The conference discussed how to support global trade amid different challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the policies and procedures adopted to ensure the sustainability of the services the SCA offers and the continuation of the flow of global trade through the Suez Canal, which is the lifeline of supply the world over.

    Nevine Gamea, the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, participated in the seminar via videoconference. Other participants included Yehia Zaki, Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and a host of officials working in the maritime transport sector locally, regionally and globally, as well as representatives of the most prominent international commercial and maritime associations, institutions, companies, and shipping lines.

    Taking part in the international conference were: Rumaih bin Muhammad Al-Rumaih, President of the Public Transport Authority in Saudi Arabia; Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Fleet and Strategic Brands at Mærsk; Guy Platten, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Shipping; Keiji Tomoda, Vice President of the Japanese Shipowners’ Association; and Yasser Zaghloul, Group CEO of the United Arab Emirates’ National Marine Dredging Company.

    Launching the conference, Admiral Rabie welcomed the attendees, the partners in business and success, who attended the event to exchange ideas and visions that serve the interests of the global navigation community and the maritime transport industry and that are meant to shape the future of the industry in the medium and long terms. He saluted the organizers of Expo 2020 Dubai for hosting this important event, expressing his pride in the success of this edition, which has captured the world’s attention.

    In his speech, Admiral Rabie stressed the importance of the concerted efforts of all the parties in the maritime transport industry to maximize available resources to face various changes and unprecedented challenges to the global trade movement. The most prominent of these challenges is the coronavirus pandemic and its variants and climate change and its grave repercussions, which may reshape the map of global trade movement and related logistical operations for decades to come.

    Admiral Rabie stressed that the SCA is fully aware of the challenges the world has been facing over the past two decades and which still cast a large shadow on the global trade movement and the global supply chain. These challenges resulted in the biggest lockdown humanity has ever known, he added.

    The SCA chairman spoke about a number of successful experiences through which the authority was able to overcome enormous challenges and turn them into opportunities for success and growth, such as overcoming the challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis and its repercussions on global trade movement thanks to the direct support of the political leadership and the adoption of a number of thoroughly studied measures and flexible pricing and marketing policies. The SCA did all of this while supporting the global trade movement, customers, and shipping companies and lines operating in the field of maritime transport, preserving the safety of workers in the Suez Canal and ensuring that infection does not spread among them, while increasing the revenues of the canal, which is one of the most important hard currency earners for the Egyptian economy, the admiral stated.

    These marketing policies have succeeded in attracting 4,920 new ships in 2021 that had not previously passed through the Suez Canal, and achieved an increase in revenues of $1.1 billion, he pointed out.

    Admiral Rabie explained that the SCA has made great strides towards enhancing the use of digital technology as part of its ambitious strategy for 2023. The authority has succeeded in completing the design and construction of two advanced data centers in conjunction with the implementation of the comprehensive digital transformation of the electronic monitoring system and the 16 navigational guidance stations along the course of the canal. The authority has also made a unified network system that allowed the launch of five electronic services entirely directed to international shipping lines.

    Citing the success of the SCA’s digital transformation system in achieving its goals, Admiral Rabie said the authority implemented a remote reception and guidance operation, which was the first of its kind, for one of the largest cruise passenger ships in the world without the presence of an SCA guide on board, as is the procedure, due to the presence of 65 confirmed coronavirus cases on board the ship.

    The SCA chairman stressed that the authority’s development strategy also focused on the environmental dimension, which is in line with achieving the objectives of the Egypt Vision 2030 strategy and the Egyptian state’s wish to take effective steps towards achieving carbon neutrality and cementing efforts to curb the repercussions of climate change. This is the framework under which Egypt was chosen to host the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in November.

    The authority has adopted all the necessary measures and procedures to ensure the announcement of the Suez Canal as a “green canal” and to work on reducing carbon emissions for transiting ships by providing various incentives for shipping lines that observe environmental standards, he said.

    Admiral Rabie referred to the mega vessel Ever Given, sailing under the flag of Panama, that blocked the Suez Canal, as being a practical example of how the SCA overcomes crises and is able to turn challenges into opportunities. The SCA’s various specialized team members were able to float the ship safely in only six days, despite the expectations of experts in the maritime transport and global rescue sector that the flotation process would take weeks or months, rendering the incident the focus of the world’s attention.

    In her speech, Gamea, the Minister of Trade and Industry, stressed the government’s keenness to maximize the economic benefit of the Suez Canal on the regional and international levels to boost Egypt’s position as a global commercial and logistics hub. She added that the global trade movement is currently facing many challenges, the most important of which is the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a decrease in global trade growth rates as a result of lockdowns, travel restrictions, and border closures, in addition to the rising prices of energy, and subsequently the increase in the cost of freight and transportation.

    The minister stated that the Egyptian government adopted many exceptional measures that aided in the resumption of work in the industrial sector during the pandemic, which contributed to the availability of goods and services in the local market. She explained that many exceptional measures were taken to facilitate the release of goods for the continuation of trade movement and supply chains. Minister Gamea added that her ministry worked in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to raise the efficiency of customs release systems by linking the concerned authorities electronically and beginning the implementation of the system in October 2021, which contributed to reducing the time for releasing raw materials needed for industries.

    Minister Gamea explained that the Ministry of Trade and Industry has implemented a comprehensive strategy to gain access to more markets and enhance the competitiveness of Egyptian products to reach the target of $100 billion in exports annually, pointing out that the Egyptian Council for Export has been reconstituted under the leadership of H. E. President of Egypt Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Plans and policies to maximize exports were designed while activating the role of the Export Development Fund, developing a network of trade partnerships with foreign markets, and benefiting from regional integration and preferential trade agreements. 

    These measures contributed to a leap in Egyptian exports, which exceeded $31 billion in 2021, in addition to the increase in the contribution of industrial production to GDP to reach 17 percent during fiscal year 2019/2020, up from about 16 percent in fiscal year 2018/2019, the minister added. 

    Minister Gamea pointed out that the Egyptian government welcomes the promotion of joint commercial and industrial cooperation with all countries to maximize their investments in Egypt and benefit from the advantages offered by the Egyptian market. The most important of these is access to global markets through preferential trade agreements reached between Egypt and many countries and regional and international groupings, which provide nearly 2.6 billion people around the world with access to Egyptian products.

    Zaki, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, announced in his speech the launch of ship fueling and marine services in the economic zone in the coming months. The zone is adding the final touches to activate these services and to study the offers it has received, he said, pointing out that marine and fueling services are some of the goals stated in the Economic Zone Strategy 2020-2025. He added that projects for the green hydrogen industry in the zone will be announced in conjunction with Egypt’s hosting of COP27 in November.

    Zaki stated that the Suez Canal Economic Zone is a promising investment destination with a total area of 461 square kilometers, comprising four industrial zones and six seaports. It is located on the main international sea route and is an attractive platform for many industries with its comprehensive ports, logistics, and industrial areas, which enjoy world-class infrastructure and utility networks, including electric power, water desalination, water supply and wastewater treatment plants, in addition to telecommunications and natural gas.

    Zaki stressed that the Suez Canal Economic Zone has succeeded in achieving its objectives, which focused on creating opportunities to attract diversified investments, pointing out that the economic zone targeted about 15 industrial and logistical sectors, three of which have already been contracted, namely the petrochemical industries that are located in Ain Sokhna, and industries for railroad supplies, green hydrogen and marine services, in addition to participating in the Egyptian state’s plan to localize the automobile industries.

    Suez Canal sees strong growth despite challenges

    The Suez Canal has retained its importance as the most vital navigational waterway in the world for more than 150 years, thanks to its unique strategic location that places it at the heart of the global trade movement and makes it the lifeline of global supply chains, especially those related to global maritime trade. Ninety percent of the world’s seaborne trade passes through the Suez Canal.

    Despite the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, the subsequent fragility of global economic conditions, and the recent global supply chain disruptions, the SCA succeeded in overcoming these challenges after it was able to guide more than 20,000 ships with a total tonnage of more than 1 billion tons annually to cross the most important shipping lane in the world.

    For more information, please contact: angie.mahran@strategic.ae

    Source: Suez Canal and Challenges in World Trade Conference

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  • Bid4Assets to Host Forfeited Land Sale for Beaufort County

    Bid4Assets to Host Forfeited Land Sale for Beaufort County

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    The online surplus sale will begin March 18, with the county considering all offers

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Feb 19, 2019


    BEAUFORT, S.C., February 19, 2019 (Newswire.com)
    –
     Bid4Assets.com will host an online sale for forfeited land with a sealed bid format on behalf of the Beaufort County Treasurer’s Office. By moving online, the county is exposing this sale to a wider range of buyers in order to return more distressed properties to the tax rolls. Funds generated from the sale will support essential county services. Beaufort County previously held a sale on Bid4Assets in October 2018.

    “This sale will be different from our last one on Bid4Assets because of the sealed bid format,” said Kimberley Chesney, Beaufort County Tax Collector, “The county will be reviewing all offers in the hopes of returning as many properties as possible to revenue-producing status. As with before, this sale gives a new group of buyers the opportunity to own land in one of the South’s fastest-growing counties.”

    Online bidding will begin on March 18 at 10 a.m. ET with 114 parcels available. Auctions will close at staggered times on March 20 beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The sale will primarily feature vacant land properties, with the county’s highest asking price being $8,877. The format for the online auction will be sealed bid, meaning bidders will be able to submit any amount for consideration at or above $1. All sales will require approval from the Forfeited Land Commission before they can be finalized.

    “We’re excited to be hosting another online sale for Beaufort County,” said Jesse Loomis, CEO of Bid4Assets. “The sealed bid format creates tremendous opportunity for potential buyers to purchase property below market price. Bidders will have the ability to submit their best offer and Bid4Assets’ system will identify the highest bid for each property. We expect this format to draw plenty of new bidders and ultimately create more property owners in Beaufort County.”

    Bidders must register a free Bid4Assets account and fund a $785 deposit before they are able to participate in the sale. Deposits are due by March 12. View sale details, including a list of available properties, at Bid4Assets.com/Beaufort.

    About Bid4Assets

    Bid4Assets (http://www.bid4assets.com) is an online auction site based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The privately held company auctions distressed real estate for the federal government, county tax-collectors, financial institutions and real estate funds. Bid4Assets has conducted online tax sales for over 75 counties and cities nationwide, including counties in California, Washington, Virginia, Idaho, Michigan, Nevada and Missouri. Since its inception in 1999, the company has sold more than 100,000 properties nationwide and grossed over a billion dollars in auction sales.

    Media Contact:
    Sean McLaughlin
    Bid4Assets Marketing Manager

    Source: Bid4Assets Inc.

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  • Bid4Assets to Host First-Ever Online Auction for Tax-Defaulted Properties for Sacramento County

    Bid4Assets to Host First-Ever Online Auction for Tax-Defaulted Properties for Sacramento County

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    Online auction scheduled for Feb. 25, with properties starting as low as $900

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Feb 15, 2019


    SACRAMENTO, Calif., February 15, 2019 (Newswire.com)
    –
     For the first time ever, online auction site Bid4Assets will host a tax-defaulted properties sale on behalf of the Sacramento County Tax Collector’s Office. By moving online, the county is exposing this sale to a wider range of buyers in order to return more distressed properties to the tax rolls. Funds generated from the sale support essential county services, which can face shortfalls when taxes go unpaid.

    “Transitioning our tax sale process online is a natural step for Sacramento County,” said Carlos Valencia, Sacramento County assistant tax collector. “Exposing tax-defaulted properties to a nationwide database of bidders gives the county a significantly better chance of returning them to productive use. Many other California counties have found success with Bid4Assets, so their platform seems like the ideal way to achieve this.”

    Bidding opens online on Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. PT with 67 parcels available. Auctions will close at staggering times on Feb. 27 beginning at 3 p.m. PT.

    “Bid4Assets has a long history of streamlining tax sales in California and we are thrilled to be doing the same for Sacramento County,” said Jesse Loomis, CEO of Bid4Assets. “Our platform brings a tremendous number of bidders from across the country to a group of properties that were previously only available at a live auction. Online sales are cheaper and easier, return more properties to the tax rolls and generally bring higher prices. The proceeds support essential county services.”

    Bidders must register a free Bid4Assets account and fund a $5,035 deposit before they are able to participate in the sale and deposits are due by Feb.20. View the auction, including a list of the properties, at bid4assets.com/sacramento.

    About Bid4Assets

    Bid4Assets (http://www.bid4assets.com) is an online auction site based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The privately held company auctions distressed real estate for the federal government, county tax-collectors, financial institutions and real estate funds. Bid4Assets is particularly active with county governments in California, where it has conducted tax-defaulted property sales for the counties of Monterey, Humboldt, Yolo, Napa, Riverside, San Francisco, Imperial, San Diego, Siskiyou, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles, to name a few. Since its inception in 1999, the company has sold more than 100,000 properties nationwide and grossed over a billion dollars in sales.

    Media Contact:

    Sean McLaughlin
    Bid4Assets Marketing Manager
    301-562-3427
    ​sean@bid4assets.com

    Source: Bid4Assets Inc.

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  • Treasure Investments Corporation and CEO Mark Russo Strike Gold at the NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas

    Treasure Investments Corporation and CEO Mark Russo Strike Gold at the NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: Jul 23, 2018


    BATTLE GROUND, Wash., July 23, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Treasure Investments Corporation (TIC) set up a spectacular display at the 147th National Rifle Association Annual Meeting (NRAAM) in Dallas, Texas. TIC displayed in a 10’ X 20’ booth space located in one of the main conference halls.

    “Our booth space was in a good location. We also placed three separate art displays at all registration locations and that was magic, as we knew it would be hard for nearly 100,000 people attending to see all the booths considering the massive size of the conference halls,” said Mark Russo, CEO, Treasure Investments Corp.

    Nearly 100,000 people attending.

    Mark Russo, CEO, Treasure Investments Corp.

    “The three strategically placed art displays drove clients right to our booth and produced great results as we sold large collections, mainly of our eagles and patriotic themes,” says Russo.

    TIC donated one of its eagle sculptures to the NRA main auction event which raised $20,000 at the live dinner gala during the conference.

    This was TIC’s first appearance at the NRA Annual Meeting and the results were so good, the company will be attending next year’s event in Indianapolis. “We are very excited about attending next year’s event. Our booth will be even bigger and will include a larger collection of art,” says Russo.

    To learn more about the company and its work with nonprofits, visit Fineart1.com.

    About Treasure Investments Corp          

    TIC has a diverse business platform, creating and providing fine art in original sculptures from small desktop images and collectibles to larger-than-life heroic monuments. The company’s master mold collection contains hundreds of original molds from world-famous artists in the United States and Europe. For more information, visit Fineart1.com.

    Media Contact:

    Mark Russo
    Phone: 360.954.5453
    Email: mark@fineart1.com

    Source: Treasure Investments Corporation

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  • Success at Heli-Expo for Treasure Investments Corporation

    Success at Heli-Expo for Treasure Investments Corporation

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: Jul 18, 2018


    BATTLE GROUND, Wash., July 18, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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    The 2018 World Helicopter Exposition, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center and hosted by Helicopter Association International (HAI), is the world’s largest gathering of helicopter manufacturers and pilots alike. Partnering with Intermountain Turbine (IMT) and Darryl Christensen, Mark Russo, CEO of Treasure Investments Corp (TIC), presented its bronze and pure silver sculptures at the conference in early 2018.

    “I knew that if we could get a booth at the conference and showed our eagles and patriot series to over 40,000 pilots, we could have a great show. Not only did we have a great response, we sold several eagle pieces and a large block of stock in the company,” says Russo.

    We sold several eagle pieces and a large block of stock in the company.

    Mark Russo, CEO, Treasure Investments Corp

    Treasure Investments Corporation plans to attend the conference again next year in 2019 with all its newest works and a much larger booth.

    To learn more about the company and its work with nonprofits, visit Fineart1.com.

    About Treasure Investments Corp                    

    TIC has a diverse business platform, creating and providing fine art in original sculptures from small desktop images and collectibles to larger-than-life heroic monuments. The company’s master mold collection contains hundreds of original molds from world-famous artists in the United States and Europe. For more information, visit Fineart1.com.

    Media Contact:

    Mark Russo
    Phone: 360.954.5453
    Email: mark@fineart1.com

    Source: Treasure Investments Corporation

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  • Treasure Investments Corporation and Mark Russo Sizzle in Orlando at the World Money Show

    Treasure Investments Corporation and Mark Russo Sizzle in Orlando at the World Money Show

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: Jul 16, 2018


    BATTLE GROUND, Wash., July 16, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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    The Money Show, founded in 1981, is a privately held financial media company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, as a global network of investing and trading education. Money Show presents an extensive agenda of live and online events that attract over 75,000 investors, traders and financial advisors from around the world.

    Treasure Investments Corporation (TIC) was given the opportunity to attend and exhibit at the Orlando Money Show conference. “After being accepted to attend the trade show, it was a great honor for us to show our company opportunity and product to this incredible and investor-minded audience,” says Mark Russo, CEO of Treasure Investments Corporation.

    This venue is very exciting because we get to share the vision of the company.

    Mark Russo, CEO, Treasure Investments Corp

    “This venue is very exciting for us because we get to share the vision of the company, what we do, how we do it, our growth potential and the opportunity for an investor to own stock in our company,” says Russo.

    TIC set up a beautiful display showing our bronze and pure silver sculptures and was also given the opportunity to present our company offering in a breakout session explaining the business model to interested investors. “We sold product at the event and generated a lot of shareholder interest; there is nothing like our charity auction model. It was a success,” says Ricky Reed, manager for TIC.

    To learn more about the company and its work with nonprofits, visit Fineart1.com.

    About Treasure Investments Corp

    Treasure Investments Corp has a diverse business platform, creating and providing fine art in original sculptures from small desktop images and collectibles to larger-than-life heroic monuments. The company’s master mold collection contains hundreds of original molds from world-famous artists in the United States and Europe. For more information, visit Fineart1.com.

    Media Contact:

    Mark Russo
    Phone: 360.954.5453
    Email: mark@fineart1.com

    Source: Treasure Investments Corporation

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