New York Times (October 5)
The Brexit “reality is that Britain has a lot to lose in leaving the union, and that putting a two-year limit on the negotiations further weakens an already shaky hand.” Following Prime Minister May’s announcement of a timetable for withdrawal, “the prompt plunge of the British currency to a 31-year low against the dollar provided a far louder response than the misguided cheers of her fellow Conservative Party members.”
Financial Times (October 3)
“By announcing that she will start the formal negotiations for Britain to leave the EU by March 2017, the prime minister has walked into a trap. She has given away what little leverage Britain has in the negotiations — without receiving any of the assurances that she needs to achieve a successful outcome.” This will allow the EU to “simply run the clock down — knowing that the UK will be in an increasingly difficult situation.”
Tags: Assurances, Britain, EU, Leverage, May, Negotiations, Outcome, Prime minister
Financial Times (July 26)
“There is a welcome sense among the world’s policymakers—at least, those outside the UK—that life is returning to the pre-EU referendum normal. The tasks of the Fed and the BoJ are not easy, particularly for the latter. But at least the challenges and the risks involved are looking a great deal more familiar.”
Tags: BOJ, Brexit, Challenges, EU, Fed, Policymakers, Referendum, Risks, UK
New York Times (July 6)
“The financial strains from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union are starting to show, as worries ripple through the country’s real estate market” causing three real estate funds to suspend withdrawals. Ultimately, “the reverberations could test whether, since the global financial crisis, officials have put in place the necessary measures to protect the broader system from a shock.”
Tags: EU, Financial, Financial Crisis, Funds, Officials, Real estate, Reverberations, Strains, UK, Withdrawals
Financial Times (June 30)
“The UK’s decision to leave the EU will not have any immediate, direct negative consequences for the ratings of states and major banks across Asia Pacific,” according to Fitch Ratings who also warned that “Japan could prove the exception…given the yen’s haven status and resultant strengthening posing a risk to policymakers’ planning.”
Tags: APAC, Banks, Brexit, Consequences, EU, Fitch, Haven Risk, Japan, Negative, Ratings, Sovereigns, UK, Yen
Institutional Investor (June 23)
“The referendum on U.K. membership in the European Union continues to dominate market risk narratives, with both equity futures and the pound sterling strengthening in early trading, suggestion a degree of confidence among investors that the nation will remain in the EU.”
Tags: Confidence, Equity futures, EU, Investors, Market risk, Membership, Referendum, Sterling, Trading, U.K.
The Economist (June 18)
“A vote to quit the European Union on June 23rd…would do grave and lasting harm to the politics and economy of Britain. The loss of one of the EU’s biggest members would gouge a deep wound in the rest of Europe. And… it would mark a defeat for the liberal order that has underpinned the West’s prosperity.”
Tags: Britain, Defeat, Economy, EU, Liberal order, Politics, Prosperity, Vote
Financial Times (June 16)
“This is no time to revert to Little England. We are Great Britain. We have a contribution to make to a more prosperous, safer world. The vote must be ‘Remain’.”
Tags: Brexit, EU, Great Britain, Little England, Prosperous, Remain, Safe, Vote
Financial Times (May 10)
The auditing sector is undergoing a “pitch battle” with new EU regulations that require companies at least tender their audits every 10 years and change auditors every 20 years. “So far the result has been a merry-go-round of audits swapping between the Big Four—PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG—which handle 98 per cent of FTSE 350 audits and 95 per cent of those for Fortune 500 companies.”
Tags: Auditors, Audits, Big Four, Deloitte, EU, EY, Fortune 500, FTSE 350, KPMG, PwC, Regulations, Tenders
Washington Post (May 1)
“Countries usually don’t knowingly commit economic suicide, but in Britain, millions seem ready to give it a try.” If, on June 23, the United Kingdom votes to leave European Union, a “28-nation economic bloc with a population of 508 million and a gross domestic product of almost $17 trillion,” it would be nothing less than “an act of national insanity.”
Tags: Britain, Economic suicide, EU, GDP, June 23, National insanity, UK