FTSE 100 Live: Bank shares surge; Gold surpasses $4,000
Good morning from the Morning Wire live blog team.
Arguably no sector has had as sensitive share movement in recent months as the banking industry.
In August, following the motor finance ruling, City banks added £7bn in market value after a major boost from the Supreme Court.
But less than a month later after the sector became ripe for tax speculation Natwest and Lloyds led a £8bn stock plunge.
The spotlight falls back on the sector this morning after the Financial Conduct Authority said it expects lenders to make 14 million payouts to individuals affected by unfair motor finance agreements, totalling around £11bn in compensation.
The watchdog estimates people would receive around £700 per agreement, on average.
It has also been calculated that around 85 per cent of eligible consumers would participate in the scheme, which would result in an estimated redress of £8.2bn (including interest).
However, if there is a 100 per cent take-up – which the regulator said is unlikely – firms would owe up to £9.7bn in redress
Elsewhere, it’s the final day of Conservative Party conference today and we have all the latest developments.
Yesterday, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride declared he would cut income tax if he was in Rachel Reeves’ position.
Stride, speaking at a fringe event at the Tory party conference in Manchester, said raising income taxes was the “cleanest” tax hike option available.
His comments will likely raise some eyebrows among Tory officials after the party made a pledge to make £47bn savings a year through cuts to the spiralling welfare bill and civil service headcounts.
Our top stories from yesterday:
- Jaguar Land Rover production to restart
- Tech and talent at risk as Reeves eyes tax hikes
- Lloyds: FTSE 100 giant’s slow wealth progress sparks takeover talk
- Regulator fines KPMG for N Brown Group audit errors
- Equity fund exodus as market highs ‘running on fumes’