
ECB's Lagarde says euro's rise also reflects economic strength
"It's a reflection of the market conditions and assessment," Lagarde told the ECB's Conference on Central Banking. "It's also a reflection of the strength of our economy."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Conservatives will look to amend Government welfare Bill
The Conservatives will try to change the Government's welfare Bill to tighten up access to personal independence payments (Pip) and universal credit. Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the Tories are 'now the only party committed to serious welfare reform' after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer shelved plans to restrict eligibility for Pip in the face of a backbench revolt this week. Ministers have warned there will be costs to their backtracking on the plans, as Downing Street and the Treasury will be looking to cover the spending shortfall left by the decision. The Tories will look to lay amendments to the legislation – set to be renamed the Universal Credit Bill – and party leader Mrs Badenoch is due to deliver a speech on welfare on Thursday. Among the amendments the Conservatives will propose is a requirement for eligibility for Pip to be determined by a face-to-face meeting, rather than virtually. As part of the Government's reforms, the Department for Work and Pensions has proposed a new 'severe conditions criteria' for universal credit. Claimants in this category will be entitled to a higher rate of the benefit, and will not be routinely reassessed to receive money. Another of the Conservatives' amendments would prevent somebody from being classed as having a severe condition for the purpose of universal credit only by having anxiety, mild depression, or ADHD. The third amendment would block the increase in universal credit and restrict Pip for some people who are not British citizens. In her welfare speech, Mrs Badenoch is expected to say that the Conservatives are 'the only party that is prepared to take the tough decisions to get spending under control'. 'I have no doubt that, emboldened by their success in forcing Starmer to U-turn last week, Labour's backbench MPs will now be eyeing up more concessions,' she will say. The original welfare proposals had been part of a package that ministers expected would save up to £5 billion a year, and economists are now warning that tax rises are likely to plug the gap left by the concessions to rebels. On Friday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves admitted that the fallout over the Government's welfare Bill had been 'damaging' and did not rule out tax rises in the autumn budget. It came after images of the Chancellor crying during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday spooked the financial markets and led to questions about her future, although a spokesman said she was upset by a personal matter. In an interview with The Guardian, Ms Reeves said it would be 'irresponsible' to rule out the idea of tax rises and warned 'there are costs to what happened' with the welfare Bill. The Sunday Times reported that the two-child benefit cap could be unlikely to be scrapped – as many Labour backbenchers want – as ministers look to balance the finances.


Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
After wrong-footing her doubters with a £2.7bn swoop on rival TSB, meet the most powerful woman in British banking
The most powerful woman in British banking is now Ana Botin, a glamorous and hugely clever Spanish mother-of-three, and a skilled golfer. As executive chairman of Banco Santander, Spain 's number one bank, Botin is known as a winner in the poker game of finance. Last week, she entered British banking's big league after orchestrating a £2.7billion deal to buy high street bank TSB from fellow Spanish group Sabadell.


BBC News
44 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ben Sulayem removes Britain's Senate representative
Britain's representative on the FIA Senate has been removed by president Mohammed Ben Cussons - vice-president of the Royal Automobile Club - had been on the senate for three and a half years after supporting Ben Sulayem's candidature for president of motorsport's governing has been replaced by Azerbaijani Anar Alakbarov - known as a supporter and ally of Ben senate is the FIA body responsible for financial oversight and governance told BBC Sport: "I received correspondence from the president saying he was appointing my successor. He gave no reason why, and there was no timeline as to when this would happen." He said his removal had taken him by surprise, pointing out he and David Richards - the head of British motorsport's governing body, MotorsportUK - had been "staunch supporters of Mohammed in his election year and his then manifesto"."As far as I am aware, I haven't fallen out with him," he added. "I have written to him for clarification and I haven't had a reply. I'm a great believer in transparency and good governance."Cussons is in dispute with Ben Sulayem over his pushback on a requirement to sign a stricter non-disclosure agreement regarding FIA business. He says he is "awaiting a reply from the FIA" having made his position removal comes just weeks after a change to the rules governing the body's composition at the FIA general gave the FIA president power to appoint or dismiss the required four "independent and qualified" members of the the president could only propose their appointment or removal, which required confirmation by the remaining 12 reason given by the FIA for the change was to provide "more flexibility in having the expertise required for the many and varied topics [the senate] has to deal with and which may require an urgent decision".Critics said the potential requirement was already contained within other FIA rules, and that it was a transparent attempt to consolidate power in Ben Sulayem's other 12 senate members are four from the presidential team, including the president, and four elected by each of the world councils, for sport and senate is empowered to take decisions over the FIA's rules - including those governing Formula 1 - when world councils are unable to dismissal follows the removal of a series of senior figures, all apparently because they have disagreed or clashed with Ben include former senior steward Tim Mayer, who last week announced he was running against Ben Sulayem in December's presidential election, chief executive officer Natalie Robyn, FIA F1 race director Niels Wittich, compliance officer Paolo Basarri and the head of the audit committee, Bertrand Badre. Robert Reid resigned his position as the FIA vice-president for sport in March over what he described as a "standards breakdown" at the has, in recent months, been critical of changes made by Ben Sulayem to the FIA's statutes, and has been banned from attending meetings of the FIA World Council because he refused to sign a stricter non-disclosure agreement imposed on decision to impose stricter NDAs on world council members - which has also been resisted by a number of other members - followed Richards' criticisms of changes made to the statutes last FIA spokesperson said the governing body "thanked Mr Cussons for his service during his time as a member of the FIA Senate".The spokesperson did not respond to questions as to why he had been removed, whether it had been planned before the statute changes, and whether there were any plans to remove other also did not respond to a question as to whether it was right to form the conclusion this was an example of the sort of conduct warned about by opponents of the two most recent sets of statute changes, and evidence of what was described as a "weakening of the ability of the senate to perform oversight functions, and especially oversight of the president himself".The spokesperson instead explained the role of the senate, saying it "plays a crucial role in the governance of the FIA, ensuring effective oversight of its financial and administrative affairs while guiding the strategic implementation of its long-term vision across sport and mobility".They added: "The past year has marked a turning point in the federation's financial transformation, culminating with the FIA posting a significant operating profit for the first time since 2019."All proposed amendments to the FIA statutes were voted through by a super majority of FIA member clubs at the FIA general assemblies, in line with the democratic process which governs decision-making within the federation."The amendments to the FIA statutes further strengthen processes around governance and confidentiality."Alakbarov has been president of the Azerbaijan Automobile Federation since 2014 and is an assistant to the country's president, Ilham Aliyev.