The Government is today publishing the Finance Bill, which will enact tax measures announced in last week’s Budget and in the March 2011 Budget.
The Bill includes measures which maintain the Government’s strategy to reduce the deficit, while promoting far-reaching tax reform, supporting growth and rewarding work:
• increasing the tax-free personal allowance to £8,105 from April

Four new lenders have been accredited to offer loans to small businesses under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme, the Government announced today.
The EFG gives vital funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that lack the collateral or credit history to secure a normal bank loan.
The four new accredited lenders are:
• Metro Bank
• Hull Business

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard-setter in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, has today agreed a new set of standards aimed at combating the global threat of money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The UK supports these new standards and the

The Government has today published legislation which will fundamentally transform and strengthen financial regulation in the United Kingdom, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, has announced. The new regime sets out a clear, coherent and comprehensive regulatory framework, replacing the uncertainty and inadequacy of the previous structure, and helping to mitigate against future risks

Mark Hoban, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, today announced the creation of a new steering group tasked with devising a suite of ‘simple’ financial products that will help consumers navigate the financial services market. The steering group will be chaired by Carol Sergeant (former Chief Risk Officer, Lloyds Banking Group) and include representatives from Government,

GE Capital has acquired the UK accounts receivable financing subsidiary of Eurofactor S.A (part of Credit Agricole Leasing and Factoring) for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will build GE Capital’s UK commercial and corporate lending business and the company’s strategic focus on providing financial solutions to the UK’s SME community.
Credit Agricole Commercial Finance UK, formerly

Leading global market maker GETCO, Friday announced that it has acquired 100% ownership of Automat, a proprietary trading firm. The terms of the transaction were however not disclosed.
Based in London, Automat is authorized and regulated by the UK’s Financial Services Authority ((FSA) and focuses on the exchange-traded derivatives and Spot foreign exchange markets.
GETCO is a

Synova Capital (Synova), a UK private equity fund focused on the lower mid-market, acquired Actimax PLC. Actimax is a leading UK supplier of IT and Telecoms infrastructure services to the underserved SME market including the provision of VOIP, systems maintenance, data services, mobile and hosting services.
With over 500 customers and high levels of recurring revenue,

AnaCap Financial Partners, the European private equity firm that specializes in the financial services sector, acquired Cabot Financial, from Citi. Cabot Financial is a consumer debt purchasing firm.
The purchase will create the UK’s biggest debt purchasing and collection business as AnaCap will integrate Cabot Financial with Apex Credit Management, another market leading debt purchasing and

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, a comprehensive regulatory compliance and risk management business, has acquired Spring Programs Ltd (Spring). Spring is an independent provider of financial regulatory reporting solutions in the UK banking market. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services will undertake the investment via its FRSGlobal business.
Wolters’ FRSGlobal business provides a unified regulatory reporting and risk management