London ousted by Amsterdam

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London loses crown

Amsterdam has overtaken London as Europe’s trading hub, with the City losing business after Brexit. The Dutch capital handled €9.2 billion of trades in January, while London’s trading volumes fell sharply to €8.6 billion. It’s mainly a symbolic moment - the economic impact of the lost business is pretty small.

Banks locked out?

UK banks could be locked out of the EU banking market* leading to higher prices for mortgages, insurance, and other finance. We’re still in talks to sort out a permanent post-Brexit deal for financial services. But Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said there are signs the EU intends to cut the UK off.

Record Christmas

Royal Mail had its busiest Christmas ever, delivering 496 million parcels in the last 3 months of last year. That’s 30% more than the same period in 2019. It struggled to deliver all those parcels on time thanks to disruptions in the run up to Christmas with staff off sick or self isolating.

Don’t book a holiday?

Confusion is mounting over whether summer holidays will be possible. With stricter border measures coming into force to try and keep coronavirus variants out of the country, many are booking breaks in the UK. But Boris Johnson reckons we should hold off, saying it’s too early to know what we’ll be able to do.