Time to wrap up… here are today’s main stories, first on the UK’s Global Investment Summit:

The Metro Bank rescue:

The Bank of England….

And in other news:

A United Arab Emirates investor has been approached to take a stake in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant project in Suffolk, it has emerged.

Ministers are searching for new investors in the project, which could cost between £20bn and £44bn, after removing the Chinese state-owned CGN last year due to security concerns over UK infrastructure amid poor Anglo-Sino relations.

The Times reported on Monday that the UK government had lined up Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi fund run by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the owner of Manchester City football club, to back the energy project, with a decision due early next year.

However, a source close to Mubadala denied the fund was interested in Sizewell but said other UAE entities were interested. A separate source said that Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, which is owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, could be a good fit for the project.

More here.

Back at Hampton Court, Britain’s investment minister has revealed he is working to attract Chinese car manufacturers to build a factory in the UK.

British investment minister Dominic Johnson argued that investment from China was crucial to meeting environmental targets, Reuters reports.

Johnson told reporters:

“Chinese investment is crucial if we’re to achieve our net zero goals ... I welcome strong business collaboration between the UK and China when it comes to investing in each other’s countries.”.

He added:

“Absolutely, I have an ambition to try and attract a Chinese car manufacturer.”

UK spending on Black Friday was lower than last year, new data from Barclays shows.

Barclays reports that UK payment transactions were down 0.63% last Friday, compared to Black Friday in 2022.

Barclays attributes this to retailers increasingly spreading their deals out across November.

Marc Pettican, Head of Barclaycard Payments said:

“This dip in sales volumes year-on-year is perhaps expected given the impact of the cost-of-living on Brits’ discretionary spending and the trend towards launching discounts earlier in November.

However, Black Friday was still significantly busier than usual for retailers, with transactions up 2.7 per cent compared to the equivalent Friday in October 2023, demonstrating the continued popularity and importance of this shopping milestone.”

Newsflash: Metro Bank has just announced that its shareholders have backed its rescue deal.

Over 90% of shareholders have voted in support of all resolutions, Metro Bank says.

This eans that a deal to raise extra funds from investors and refinance debt can now go ahead.

The package consisted of a £325m capital raise, including £150m of new equity from shareholders, and £600m of debt refinancing.

The equity raise will be led by Metro’s largest shareholder, the Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal’s Spaldy Investments, which will contribute £102m. His stake will now rise from 9% to 53%, making him the controlling shareholder.

Investors had been warned earlier this month that if the package was rejected, Metro Bank would probably be judged to be unviable and placed into the resolution process for failing banks.

Reminder: as flagged earlier, Barclays is reportedly in exclusive talks to buy Metro’s mortgage book.

Britain’s recent decision to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses has been welcomed….. by the boss of one of Europe’s largest banks.

Santander executive chair Ana Botín said today she welcomed the removal of the UK’s banker bonus cap, which limited banker’s bonuses to twice their base pay.

Botín argued that a similar move in the rest of Europe would better align bankers’ interests with those of their shareholders.

Botín, whose bank is Europe’s fourth-largest by assets, said Santander would consider changing the way it paid its UK staff following the removal of the cap.

She told the Financial Times, at the first day of its Global Banking Summit,

“It’s a business where you should be compensated in a variable way, so I think it’s good news for our industry, it makes a lot of sense.

“I’m sure we will adapt to that.”

The UK’s financial regulators formally scrapped the banker bonus cap at the end of October – a move that was condemned by unions as an ‘insult to working people’

In the banking sector, Barclays is in exclusive talks to buy embattled lender Metro Bank’s £3bn portfolio of residential mortgages, according to Sky News.

Metro has been seeking a buyer for its pool of residential mortgages since early October, and Barclays now appears to be in poll position to secure the deal.

The development comes shortly before Metro Bank is due to announce whether its shareholders have overwhelmingly backed a £925m refinancing plan.

The recapitalisation, which has already won approval from bondholders, was announced last month following a weekend of intense talks about a rescue deal.

The £925m package will see the Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal becoming its majority shareholder.

Bacal built his name snapping up the assets of struggling lenders on the cheap, turning around their fortunes and selling them on for a big profit.

UK retailers are bracing for a disappointing festive period, according to a new survey which highlights the weakness of the economy.

The CBI’s latest distributive trades survey shows that retail sales volumes fell year-on-year in November for the seventh consecutive month (although at a slower pace than in October).

Firms expect sales to decline again in December, implying this Christmas will be tougher than last year, as the cost of living crisis hits spending.

Retailers also reported a reduction in headcount in the year to November, while investment is set to decline in the year ahead – not good news as the UK hosts its investment summit push.

Martin Sartorius, CBI principal economist, says:

“Retail sales have languished in negative territory for much of 2023, reflecting the impact of strained household finances on the sector’s fortunes. Though sentiment has picked up slightly, firms do not feel that a revival in activity is imminent. Given the weakness in trading conditions, it’s little surprise that firms are scaling back on their investment ambitions.”

“Retailers had hoped the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement would offer a reprieve from next year’s hike in business rates. While prioritising relief for SMEs and key sectors is understandable, many retailers are being left to contend with another increase in costs at a time when they are least able to afford them.”

Retailers also reported that they kept cutting back on orders with their suppliers, while internet sales continued to drop year-on-year.

Online sales are expected to fall again in December.

Over in China, the troubles gripping financial conglomerate Zhongzhi have deepened, after a criminal investigation into the Chinese wealth manager began.

The Chaoyang Public Security Bureau revealed over the weekend that Beijing police are investigating whether any crimes have been committed by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, which is one of China’s biggest privately-owned financial conglomerates.

In a social media post, the Bureau said authorities were looking into “many” suspects involved with the company and encouraged investors to report their losses in order to help with the ongoing investigation.

It added:

“Investors are requested to actively cooperate with the police in investigating and collecting evidence and safeguard their rights and interests through legal channels.”

The announcement comes just days after the company told investors that it is “severely insolvent.” following the departure of several senior executives. It has sizable exposure to China’s real estate sector.

Zhongzhi’s troubles first came to light when one of its trust companies, Zhongrong International Trust Co, missed payments on several investment products over the summer.

hongzhi apologised to its investors in a letter last week, which showed it has total liabilities of about 420 billion yuan to 460 billion yuan (£46bn to £51bn), compared to estimated total assets of 200 billion yuan (£22bn).

Half of the UK’s most innovative companies have an immigrant founder, Sunak says.

The “most competitive visa regime for highly-skilled international talent is right here in the UK”, he argues.

He points to the High Potential Individual visa, which lets a young person from a global top 50 university to come to the UK with their family for two years, to explore, study, or invent…

Nothing like that exists anywhere else in the world, and it tells you everything about our pro-innovation, pro-growth, pro-business philosophy.

[More generally, though, Sunak has said today that net migration was too high, and he’s determined to bring it down].

The UK has the fastest investment growth anywhere in the G7, Rishi Sunak says

This country can be the best place to invest and do business, the PM insists, citing three competitive advantages.

Our low-tax approach, our culture of innovation, and our people.

On tax, Sunak says his administration believes people and businesses make better decisions about how to spend their money than governments ever could.

I believe that allowing you to keep more of the return on your capital, our company becomes more competitive as a place to invest, grow and create jobs.

Sunak insists the govermnent is cutting taxes – citing last week’s decision to let firms write off much of their investment in full (the much-heralded ‘biggest business tax cut in modern British history).

[However, the UK tax take is still heading for a postwar high]

Badenoch then hands over to Rishi Sunak, who also welcomes investors to Hampton Court palace and the UK’s second global investment summit.

Sunak tells the audience of 200 investors and business leaders that his message is that the UK is a modern, dynamic, thriving economy.

He jokes:

Where better to prove those futuristic credentials than a 500 year old palace?

Sunak says he’ll be making a sales pitch for Britain, but also thanking investors who have helped grow the UK economy.

Sunak says:

It’s not governments who grow the economy. It’s businesses and investors like all of you.

You create jobs, drive growth, generate growth, and you even take on some of the biggest social challenges we face.

Laying it on with a butter knife, Sunak adds that it may be unfashionable, but he believes that “your success is our country’s success”.

Speaking of the Bank of England…. its executive director, Andrew Hauser, has been appointed as the new deputy governor of Australia’s central bank.

Hauser will fill the Reserve Bank of Australia’s deputy governor role that was made vacant by Michele Bullock when she became governor in mid-September.

Hauser will take up the new position ideally before the RBA holds its first interest rates meeting on 6 February next year, finance minister Jim Chalmers, said.

Hauser holds an undergraduate degree at Oxford and a masters of economics at the London School of Economics.

Hauser was also involved in the market panic after last autumn’s UK mini-budget.

He told MPs last year that pension funds were on the phone shouting to the Bank of England within two working days of the mini-budget, as the slump in bond prices created a “full-scale liquidation event” – until the BoE launched a £65bn push to prop up markets.

Rishi Sunak has declared there is “very positive momentum behind the UK economy”.

Arriving at the Global Investment Summit at Hampton Court Palace, the PM told reporters:

“My singular focus is driving growth and creating jobs across the UK. So I’m delighted that we’ve secured investments worth around £30 billion – three times the amount that was secured the last time this summit was held a little while ago.

“And that comes on the back of a very positive autumn statement where we cut taxes for those businesses that are investing in our future growth, and also the great announcements from Nissan last week, securing the future of that plant in Sunderland, building three new lines of the next generation of electric vehicles.

“So very positive momentum behind the UK economy.”

However, the most recent GDP data showed the UK economy stagnated in July-September, with no growth.

Business secretary Kemi Badenoch has said the UK economy is “doing well despite significant headwinds” ahead of today’s summit at Hampton Court Palace.

She told Sky News that the government was “really pleased” to be welcoming international investors from all over the world.

“These are all people who are investing in the UK because they believe in the UK, in the opportunity there is for them to grow their businesses, but also to create jobs and help keep our economy growing and vibrant.”

Badenoch said today’s summit was the fruition of a year’s work

“It is really important off the back of the autumn statement where the Chancellor made some of the biggest tax cuts we’ve seen for such a long time, it is important that we talk about the UK economy…

Badenoch added that some of the investors attending today have concerns about the US and French economies:

The UK economy is doing well despite significant headwinds.

We are dealing with the same problems that many other countries around the world are dealing with.

“Investors who I hosted at a reception yesterday were telling me about the concerns they have in the US, in France and so on.”

The Bank of England governor has warned that the “next leg” of a mission to reduce inflation will be hard.

Andrew Bailey has told Newcastle’s ChronicleLive that bringing inflation all the way down to the Bank’s 2% target will require restrictive monetary policy.

Bailey explained that the sharp drop in inflation in October, from 6.8% to 4.7%, was mainly due to the drop in energy prices after Ofgem lowered its price cap.

He says:

“I’ve very much used this analogy of a game of two halves. They’re not equal but a lot of what we’re seeing at the moment, including that inflation came down a bit over 2%, and that’s very good news, is the unwinding of these inflationary effects of these external shocks.

That’s a handy reminder for the prime minister, who has claimed his government have halved inflation from its peak over 11%.

Bailey predicted that inflation drop below 4% in the first quarter of next year, but tha would still leave a way to go, adding:

And the rest of it has to be done by policy and monetary policy. And policy is operating in what I call a restrictive way at the moment - it is restricting the economy. The second half, from there to two, is hard work and obviously we don’t want to see any more damage.

The behemoth Australian fund IFM Investors will sink £10bn (A$19bn) into infrastructure and energy transition projects in Britain by 2027 as part of a new memorandum of understanding with the Sunak government.

The decision by IFM – which is owned by 17 Australian industry super funds – comes as a coalition of business and environmental groups calls on the Albanese government to supercharge tax and other financial incentives to ensure Australia can attract sufficient capital to drive the domestic transition to net zero emissions.

The MoU between IFM Investors and Britain’s minister for investment will be signed at the Global Investment Summit in London. Kemi Badenoch, the UK’s business and trade secretary, characterised the commitment from IFM as “a very important investment for the UK’s innovative energy and infrastructure sectors”.

More here.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

The UK government will today try to woo hundreds of business leaders as Rishi Sunak hosts a major business event at Hampton Court.

More than 200 executives are set to attend the Global Investment Summit, including Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman and Aviva’s Amanda Blanc.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak and business & trade secretary Kemi Badenoch will be hosting, with Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Bank sponsoring the event.

With a dollop of hype, the government says the summit “marks a huge step forward for levelling up”.

This claim is based on the fact that some of the “A-list CEOs and investors” attending have collectively pledged £29.5bn in new UK projects and capital. That spending, Downing Street says, will create over 12,000 jobs.

It’s rather more than the £10bn which the UK lined up two years ago for the previous summit in 2021.

But these sums aren’t always really new money. £7bn of today’s total comes from Iberdrola, the Spanish owner of Scottish Power, which has “confirmed £7 billion of investment as part of a total £12 billion programme for 2024-28.” But, a year ago, Iberdrola did say Scottish Power would lift its capital spend to £6.7bn between 2023 and 2025.

Other deals being touted today are also focused on the energy sector, alongside tech, life sciences, infrastructure, and housing.

Australia’s IFM Investors also intend to invest £10 billion over the next four years for large-scale infrastructure and energy transition projects, the government says, adding:

IFM will sign an MoU with the Department for Business & Trade at the summit to identify commercially viable opportunities, with potential projects including Nala Renewables, a UK-based portfolio company within IFM, which is actively seeking investment opportunities in the UK as it looks to achieve a renewable capacity target of 4GW by 2025.

The gathering is part of the government’s push to boost investment in the UK and spur growth, following the tax cuts announced in last week’s autumn statement.

Attendees will get a lesson on the UK’s innovative past, as the summit will celebrate “British Ideas – Past, Present and Future”, from the steam train to quantum computing.

Get through that, and they can enjoy a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the King.

Also coming up today

The Bank of England is facing calls for reform after a House of Lords report found that the central bank’s reliance on “inadequate” forecasting models and a lack of intellectual diversity within its most senior ranks contributed to inflation sticking at among the highest levels in decades.

In a report critical of Threadneedle Street, the powerful Lords economic affairs committee said the central bank had made “errors” in its handling of the inflation shock triggered after the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While saying that all major central banks had incorrectly expected the toughest inflationary period in four decades to be “transitory”, it warned that mistakes at the Bank had fuelled a “dramatic” fall in public confidence.

More here.

The agenda

• Today: UK holds Global Investment Summit at Hampton Court

• 11am GMT: CBI distributive trends survey of UK retail

• 3pm GMT: US new home sales data for October