News story
The Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed the Postgraduate Income Contingent Student Loans repayment threshold.
The repayment threshold for Postgraduate loans remains £21,000.
Published 25 November 2022
The Fintech Bridge builds on an agreement signed in 2016 – which will remove barriers to fintech trade by opening new regular talks between regulators and businesses, in addition to previous areas of cooperation
This will increase the cooperation and sharing of information on emerging trends in the fintech sector. It will also break down barriers to trade for UK and Singaporean fintechs, boosting growth and investment opportunities.
Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said: said:
The UK and Singapore are among the world’s leading jurisdictions for fintech investment – and today’s announcement will only accelerate growth and innovation in our respective sectors.
The MoU we’ve announced today is crucial – and I would like to thank the Monetary Authority of Singapore for their constructive engagement throughout discussions.
CEO of Innovate Finance, Janine Hirt said:
Innovate Finance welcomes this announcement. A MoU between UK and Singapore will deliver a strengthened framework for vital regulatory and policy discussions between the two countries, enable innovation across financial services, and ensure businesses based in both the UK and Singapore have the ongoing support for their ambitions for growth to be realised.
We look forward to supporting future financial dialogues and business to business activity between these markets. We are also delighted to be working with the key organisations engaged to promote the opportunities this FinTech bridge has to offer, and to welcoming FinTech businesses to IFGS and UK FinTech Week next year.
Miles Celic, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said:
The UK and Singapore are two of the world’s most dynamic and innovative FinTech markets. The FinTech Bridge will drive exciting new opportunities and greater alignment of regulatory approaches will help with the expansion of FinTechs from the UK and Singapore into each other’s markets. Greater cooperation between government, regulators and industry will boost innovation and drive better outcomes for customers.
This MoU will also further deepen the engagement and opportunities between two of the premier international financial and related professional services centres.
The existing Regulatory Cooperation Agreement signed in 2016 has enabled the UK and Singaporean fintech sectors to closely align at a regulatory level. Today’s commitment goes further in a number of areas, making clear the business support available to firms, highlight opportunities in each other’s markets and creating a clear link between challenges firms face and policy discussions.
The MoU will come into effect next week once formalities have been completed on both sides.
However, such an increase has been driven by the positive growth in investment in UK FinTech. Excluding the UK, the rest of Europe was in fact down by 2% compared to the same period in 2021.
News story
The UK has reached an agreement with Norway to secure increased opportunities for the UK fishing industry in 2023.
UK fishing vessels will have access to key fish stocks under the new deal.
The UK fishing industry will benefit from increased fishing opportunities worth nearly £5 million in 2023 after reaching an agreement with Norway to secure access to key fishing stocks for UK vessels, Defra has announced today (Friday 25 November 2022).
The deal secures quota of valuable North Sea whitefish stocks worth nearly £3 million and in arctic stocks worth nearly £2 million for 2023, and also ensures UK vessels have access to Norwegian waters to fish their own demersal and pelagic quota.
The UK and Norway negotiate annually on access to each other’s waters, quota exchanges and control and enforcement measures.
This deal builds on the close relationship and cooperation between the UK and Norway and will continue to support a sustainable and economically viable fishing industry by:
extending arrangements agreed last year on mutual access, with the UK fishing industry having access to 30,000 tonnes of whitefish stocks such as cod, haddock and hake in the North Sea.
granting access to fish up to 20,000 tonnes each of herring in our respective waters.
securing over 1,100 tonnes of quota transfers from Norway of key UK stocks.
providing 750 tonnes of cod quota for the UK to fish in Norway’s arctic waters.
Under the Fisheries Act 2020, the UK is able to negotiate deals that support a profitable and sustainable UK fishing industry, while safeguarding our marine environment for future generations.
I’m delighted to reach a deal with Norway for 2023 which gives UK fishing vessels access to key fish stocks and quota in the North Sea and Arctic, and look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Norway and other coastal States to manage fishing sustainably.
The agreement highlights both parties’ continued commitment to manage fisheries sustainably and support the long-term viability of stocks in the North Sea. It sits alongside a separate arrangement the UK has with Norway under which we expect over 5,200 tonnes of additional arctic opportunities to be transferred to the UK in 2023. In total, this should provide the UK fleet with over 6000 tonnes of fishing opportunities in arctic waters.
Throughout the negotiations, the UK Government worked closely with the devolved administrations to ensure that all fishing communities across the UK will benefit from the agreement.
Notes to editors:
Published 25 November 2022
News story
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has set a Northern Ireland Budget for 2022/23 and will bring forward legislation for this Budget in a Budget Bill in due course.
The fact that Ministers who remained in their posts during the six months from May to October 2022, have left NI’s public finances with a black hole of some £660m is hugely disappointing. I believe that if the necessary care of Northern Ireland’s public finances had been taken over the last six months, the risk of overspend could have been more easily and fully mitigated.
However we recognise the public in Northern Ireland must be protected in future by bringing the public finances under control so it is with significant regret that I am now setting a Northern Ireland Budget, as the former Executive failed to do so. I have a clear message to the parties – if they disagree with my budget, they should restore the Executive to consider and revise the departmental position I have set out.
My priority continues to be to work towards the restoration of an Executive. Difficult decisions are ahead, and I urge parties to come together and to provide the locally accountable leadership that the people of Northern Ireland deserve.
Published 25 November 2022
Singapore, 25 November 2022… The United Kingdom (UK) and Singapore held the 7th UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue in Singapore today. Both countries renewed their commitment to deepening the UK-Singapore Financial Partnership that was agreed in 2021, discussed mutual priorities such as sustainable finance, FinTech and innovation, and agreed on further cooperation in these areas.
At the Financial Dialogue, the UK and Singapore agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding on the UK-Singapore FinTech Bridge[1]. The FinTech Bridge seeks to support continued growth, investment, and technological innovation in this sector, building on active interest of FinTech players in the areas of payments, RegTech and wealth management. Both countries strongly welcomed this deepened co-operation on FinTech and the opportunities the industry can deliver in relation to financial inclusion, enhanced innovation, and improved outcomes for consumers.
Both countries recognised the importance of the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) signed earlier this year, and the principle of the free flow of data which is enshrined in it. They noted the significance of this agreement in underpinning the development of respective FinTech sectors and supporting future digital and innovation partnerships.
The UK and Singapore discussed their joint interests in sustainable finance as well as FinTech and innovation.
The UK and Singapore recognised the importance of transition plans and pathways to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C from pre-industrial levels. Both agreed to work together on transition finance. As a first step, the two countries agreed to explore collaboration opportunities, working with partners such as the UK Transition Plan Taskforce and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero’s (GFANZ) Asia Pacific office, which is based in Singapore, to drive international consistency in design and disclosure of transition plans.
The UK and Singapore affirmed their strong commitment to the implementation of International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) disclosure standards. Both countries will continue to work with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the ISSB and other international organisations to implement a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards that is interoperable with jurisdiction-specific requirements. Both countries also commit to phase in mandatory climate-related financial disclosures that provide consistent, comparable and decision-useful information for market participants and financial authorities.
The UK and Singapore discussed efforts to combat greenwashing, including in relation to sustainability disclosures and sustainable investment product labels. It was agreed that regulators should continue discussing how to adopt a global, coherent, and co-ordinated approach on regulatory oversight of ESG ratings and data products providers, grounded in IOSCO’s recommendations. Both countries recognised the importance of comparable and reliable data to underpin the net zero transition, enabled by technology solutions such as Project Greenprint, and agreed to explore further collaboration opportunities in this area.
Both countries agreed on the importance of a globally consistent framework for nature-based disclosures and exchanged views on how the efforts of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) can contribute to the ISSB’s global baseline. Both countries agreed to collaborate to build capacity and understanding of the potential for nature loss and degradation to generate financial risks and cause adverse impacts to business and society, including through engaging with academia such as the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and the Singapore Green Finance Centre, co-managed by Imperial College Business School and Singapore Management University (SMU).
Both countries shared their latest assessments of market developments, opportunities, trends, and longer-term expectations for the crypto-assets sector. They also discussed risks and challenges relating to financial stability, regulatory arbitrage, and shared their progress in strengthening rules on consumer protection and developing the regulation of stablecoins. There was strong agreement on the need to support the safe development of a digital assets ecosystem while ensuring that risks posed by digital assets are consistently managed. Both countries will continue to actively participate in the shaping of robust global regulatory practices through engagement within international multilateral fora such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and IOSCO.
Singapore provided updates on the progress of its review of e-wallet caps and expected next steps. Both countries discussed the recently released consultation, with the UK providing views on the key proposals. Singapore also updated on the new digital banks that recently launched their operations in Singapore.
The two countries agreed to a roadmap for engagements in sustainable finance, FinTech and innovation, and other areas of mutual interest, leading up to the next Dialogue scheduled to take place in London in 2023.
The UK and Singapore discussed their latest analysis of financial market developments and economic outlook, including how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted the global economy. Both countries agreed on the usefulness of ongoing exchange of information on this topic, including on financial sanctions.
The Financial Dialogue was co-chaired by Deputy Managing Director (Markets and Development) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Mr Leong Sing Chiong, and Director General (Financial Services) of HM Treasury (HMT), Ms Gwyneth Nurse. Senior officials from MAS, HMT, the Department for International Trade, Bank of England (BoE), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the British High Commission in Singapore attended the Dialogue.
Two industry-led UK-Singapore business roundtables on sustainable finance and FinTech took place on 24 November 2022. Industry participants from both countries participated in this discussion.
a. The sustainable finance Roundtable examined the implementation challenges faced by corporates in meeting their net zero targets, and how the financial industry could help to address these challenges.
b. The FinTech Roundtable discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by FinTech firms, and how these firms could better access overseas markets, including by partnering with financial institutions.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore’s central bank and integrated financial regulator. As a central bank, MAS promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth through the conduct of monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance and analysis. It manages Singapore’s exchange rate, official foreign reserves, and liquidity in the banking sector. As an integrated financial supervisor, MAS fosters a sound financial services sector through its prudential oversight of all financial institutions in Singapore – banks, insurers, capital market intermediaries, financial advisors and financial market infrastructures. It is also responsible for well-functioning financial markets, sound conduct, and investor education. MAS also works with the financial industry to promote Singapore as a dynamic international financial centre. It facilitates the development of infrastructure, adoption of technology, and upgrading of skills in the financial industry.
HM Treasury is the UK government’s economic and finance ministry, maintaining control over public spending, setting the direction of the UK’s economic policy and working to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth.
The department is responsible for:
[1] The FinTech Bridge provides a structured engagement that will aid the development of policy actions, enhance assessments of emerging issues, such as the development of distributed ledger technologies and data sharing, and support trade and investment flows between our respective markets.