EY compiles women-dominated shortlist for top UK post
EY, the big four auditor, has assembled a female-dominated shortlist to become the firm’s new UK and Ireland managing partner, paving the way for it to elect a woman to its top British executive position for the first time.
Sky News has learnt that EY partners were briefed on Tuesday that one of Anna Anthony, its managing partner for UK financial services; Kath Barrow, UK and Ireland assurance managing partner; and Stuart Gregory, UK and Ireland managing partner, finance and transformation, will be picked as Hywel Ball’s successor.
The firm is splitting the role of chair and managing partner in accordance with changes to the governance code laid down by the Financial Reporting Council, the audit regulator.
Mr Ball, whose term has been extended on two occasions, said in June that it was time for him to “hand on the baton”.
Insiders said that an elected partner forum comprising a dozen partner representatives would effectively be responsible for nominating the UK&I managing partner.
A separate process will take place to appoint a chair.
In a statement issued to Sky News, an EY spokesperson said: “We have exceptional leaders across our business and have a comprehensive process, run by our elected Partner Forum, to select the next EY UK & Ireland Managing Partner.”
The firm declined to comment on the identities of the three shortlisted candidates.
EY has more than 1,700 partners in the UK, 930 of whom are equity partners in the firm.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The process to identify Mr Ball’s successor follows the abandonment of Project Everest, a radical plan that would have formally separated EY’s audit and consulting arms globally.
It was blocked amid opposition from EY partners.
While EY has never before had a female boss in the UK, it recently saw the arrival of Janet Truncale as its global chief executive.
Business
UK interest rates an outlier after decision to hold but Bank of England forecasts inflation rise to 2.5%
There has been no change to the UK interest rate despite the US and European central banks all moving to cut in the last week.
The Bank of England has kept the interest rate at 5% as official figures this week showed some measures of price rises grew.
It follows the first cut in more than four years.
The rate set by the Bank impacts how much lenders charge to borrow money, so it affects how expensive mortgages or credit card bills are.
But there was no consensus on the decision. One of the nine rate decision-makers voted for a cut.
There were signals of the Bank’s direction of travel from governor Andrew Bailey.
Where to next?
If the economy continues to progress in line with its expectations “we should be able to reduce rates gradually over time”, he said.
But, he said, “we need to be careful not to cut too fast or by too much”.
Money blog: UK’s cheapest and most expensive cities to rent
Market expectations are currently for a cut at the next meeting in November followed by a further one in December.
The latest forecasts from the Bank are for inflation to rise again, reaching 2.5% by the end of the year.
How did we get here?
Interest rates were brought to a high last seen during the 2008 global financial crash in an effort to bring down spiralling inflation.
More expensive borrowing can choke economic demand and slow price rises.
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Bank of England holds interest rates
The Bank is tasked with bringing inflation down to 2%. It currently stands at 2.2%.
The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, brought interest rates down by 0.5 percentage points to 4.75% to 5% on Wednesday and the European Central Bank (ECB) reduced borrowing costs last week to 3.5%.
Unlike the UK, the US interest rate is a range to guide lenders rather than a single percentage.
Reaction
Sterling strengthened, following the news and against a weakened dollar a pound bought $1.33, the highest amount in more than two years.
Business
Why Bank of England is in no rush to lower interest rates – even though some think decision to wait is dangerous
Slowly does it.
That’s the overarching message to take away from the Bank of England‘s latest monetary policy decision. Unlike the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, which decided yesterday to cut interest rates by half a percentage point – more than many had expected – the Bank wanted to signal today that it’s in no rush.
Money blog: UK’s cheapest and most expensive cities to rent
Alongside the decision to leave borrowing costs on hold at 5%, the Bank’s governor also signalled that he and the rest of the Monetary Policy Committee were in no rush to cut them again. Provided there aren’t any inflation surprises, he said, “we should be able to reduce rates gradually over time”. He added: “But it’s vital that inflation stays low, so we need to be careful not to cut too fast or by too much.”
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The Bank of England has held the base interest rate at 5%
Even so, the Bank is expected to carry on cutting rates in the coming months. Indeed, economists think the Bank will cut rates in November by at least a quarter percentage point, followed by more cuts next year, taking borrowing costs down towards 3% by next summer.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
That’s largely because inflation is now considerably lower than in recent years, and because there is evidence that high interest rates are starting to weigh down economic activity. The longer those rates stay high, the bigger the depressive impact they have on the UK.
But that raises another issue. For some economists, the Bank of England’s gradualist approach is dangerous. They worry that higher rates, which deter companies and individuals from spending and investing, are causing unnecessary damage.
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Tupperware files for bankruptcy
That helps explain why one of the MPC members, Swati Dhingra, voted to reduce rates at this meeting.
But the rest of the committee was of one mind – no point in rushing.
Whether they are right is something we’ll find out in the coming months.
There has been no change to the UK interest rate despite the US and European central banks all moving to cut in the last week.
The Bank of England has kept the interest rate at 5% as official figures this week showed some measures of price rises grew.
It follows the first cut in more than four years.
The rate set by the Bank impacts how much lenders charge to borrow money, so it affects how expensive mortgages or credit card bills are.
But there was no consensus on the decision. One of the nine rate decision-makers voted for a cut.
Where to next?
There were signals of the Bank’s direction of travel from governor Andrew Bailey.
If the economy continues to progress in line with its expectations “we should be able to reduce rates gradually over time”, he said.
But, he said, “we need to be careful not to cut too fast or by too much”.
Market expectations are currently for a cut at the next meeting in November followed by a further one in December.
How did we get here?
Interest rates were brought to a high last seen during the 2008 global financial crash in an effort to bring down spiralling inflation.
More expensive borrowing can choke economic demand and slow price rises.
The Banks is tasked with bringing inflation down to 2%. It currently stands at 2.2%.
The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, brought interest rates down by 0.5 percentage points to 4.75% to 5% on Wednesday and the European Central Bank (ECB) reduced borrowing costs last week to 3.5%.
Unlike the UK, the US interest rate is a range to guide lenders rather than a single percentage.
Reaction
Sterling strengthened, following the news and against a weakened dollar a pound bought $1.33, the highest amount in more than two years.
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