Good afternoon all, it’s Alison here, seamlessly receiving the baton from Rich last week and providing your occasional west coast update from the lang cat.   

Glasgow this week is filling up with people from all over the world who look like Greek gods, at the peak of fitness and ready to give the performance of their lives. No, it’s not another lang cat event at the Science Centre (although funnily enough we do have another event for which you can sign up here) but the Commonwealth Games.  

The Opening Ceremony is on 23 July and I’ve been providing volunteer support at the rehearsals. I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement which means I can’t tell you anything at all about what’s happening or Very Bad Things will happen to me, so you’ll have to wait until Thursday for that (live on Channel 5, folks!).  

But I can share one fascinating fact. The Hydro, which is where the ceremony takes place, is a circular venue with exits all the way around labelled VOM1, VOM2 etc. When I asked what it stood for I was told ‘vomitorium’. The name literally hasn’t changed since the days of the Coliseum in Rome – the idea being that people ‘spew forth’ from the exits into the street. So there you have it, sorry if you’re having your lunch. 

I can tell you that the Royal Box is in place, and King Charles and Queen Camilla will be there. What’s not yet clear yet is whether the new Prime Minister will be attending, or if he’s too busy choosing wallpaper for Number 10. You would like to think that he and his new Chancellor John Healey would be busy working on their plans for government.  

In her final Mansion House Speech last week Rachel Reeves was keen to point out the progress the government has made in ‘turning household savers into investors’, encouraging pension funds into private markets and more investment in the UK. Her successor, and his boss, are former Treasury Ministers from the days of Gordon Brown. Healey has a reputation as a Serious Person. His appointment after the markets closed means we can’t immediately tell what they think of him, but he seems to have been received with cautious optimism.  

In other appointments, Torsten Bell, at the time of writing, is still in place as Pensions Minister, although you wouldn’t rule out a reorganisation of ministerial responsibilities at some point. Possibly more interesting is the return to the Treasury of Emma Reynolds, former Pensions Minister and senior lobbyist for CityUK. Which means the PM, the Chancellor, and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury posts are all held by people with previous Treasury experience, so should know their way around Horse Guards Road. Whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen. 

The big question for financial services is how deeply committed the new PM and Chancellor are to the growth agenda which has become embedded in everything the regulators have to do these days. The word features in the FCA’s latest annual report and accounts, no fewer than 51 times. Andy Burnham’s first speech in Downing Street didn’t mention it once, focusing instead on regaining stability and renewed national purpose. It’s unlikely the commitment to growth will be dropped entirely, but the focus may shift, or it may come to mean different things. It also seems unlikely that the regulators will be receiving letters on Christmas Eve demanding to know what they’re going to do about promoting growth.  

Words that weren’t ‘growth’ in the FCA Annual Report and Accounts highlighted that the regulator claims to have delivered a startling £5.6bn in benefits to consumers, firms and the wider economy in the first year of its 5-year strategy. It’s particularly pleased about cracking down on illegal financial promotions and market abuse, including 350 social media takedowns. And it estimates that there has been £157m in annual savings for consumers via Consumer Duty fair-value rules on monthly insurance premiums alone. Whether the claim to have cut processing time for less complex supervisory cases from 4 hours to 6 minutes is entirely a good thing I’m not sure, that doesn’t sound a very outcomes-focused metric to me, but perhaps I’m being churlish.  

One thing that’s certain is that the usual summer break for Westminster policy people won’t be happening this year, as the new bums settle into their new seats. Although we do have a promised ‘listening tour’ of the UK from the new Prime Minister to look forward to next month. There are rumours that he’s visiting Port Talbot and Aberdeen. If you do see him, can you ask what his plans are for retail financial services? 

In line with the Commonwealth theme, this week’s music choice is from a man who was bigger than Elvis in South Africa but didn’t even know. If you can track down the film Searching for Sugar Man which tells his story I highly recommend it. In the meantime, have a listen to Sugar Man by Sixto Rodriguez.  

Right, now I’m off to get tickets for the bowls and the weightlifting. I hear there are some left.  

Alison