Tony Danker claims he was ‘shocked’ by CBI dismissal after conduct complaints – business live

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Tony Danker says he was ‘shocked’ to learn he has been dismissed by the CBI this morning.

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Danker has tweeted that he was appalled to learn last week about the “revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office”.

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He adds he was “shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed”.

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I recognise the intense publicity the CBI has suffered following the revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office. I was appalled to learn about them for the first time last week…

&mdash; Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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..I was nevertheless shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed. Many of the allegations against me have been distorted, but..

&mdash; Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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Danker also says he is “truly sorry” to have unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable, and wishes his former colleagues every success.

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..I recognise that I unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable and I am truly sorry about that. I want to wish my former CBI colleagues every success.

&mdash; Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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Deal news: The US private equity investor KKR has bought a 30% stake in financial PR firm FGS Global.

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The deal values FGS Global at around $1.4bn, as had been rumoured last week.

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Existing investor Golden Gate Capital is selling its entire stake to KKR. The group is also buying shares from senior employees at the firm and its largest investors, including London-based advertising giant WPP (which will still hold a majority stake), Reuters reports.

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FGS was formed in 2020 through the merger of London’s Finsbury, Germany’s Hering Schuppener, and the Glover Park Group, before then buying US-based Sard Verbinnen in October 2021 (updated).

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Finsbury was founded in 1994 by Roland Rudd, the brother of the former UK home secretary Amber Rudd and a leading campaigner against Brexit, who now chairs FGS Global.

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Mark Read, CEO of WPP, says KKR’s transaction “recognizes the tremendous value of the business and its potential for continued strong growth.”

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As we reported last week:

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Investment firms have made a series of deals in recent years for stakes in public relations companies, who advise big corporate clients on how to communicate with journalists on issues ranging from regular financial results to crisis management.

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Tony Danker, the boss of the Confederation of British Industry, has been dismissed with immediate effect after an investigation into complaints about his conduct in the workplace.

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The CBI hired a law firm to investigate him after the Guardian approached the business group about a formal complaint that was made in January, as well a number of alleged informal reports of concerns over his behaviour.

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The business lobby group said it wanted to make clear that Danker was not the subject of other complaints recently reported by the Guardian. Those other claims by more than a dozen women allege various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the organisation.

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However, the board of the CBI added they had determined that Danker’s conduct “fell short of that expected of the director general”.

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Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s new director-general, is rejoining the business group from Barclays, where she recently became managing director for Strategy and Policy, Sustainability and ESG at Barclays.

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Newton-Smith, who worked as the CBI’s chief economist from summer 2014 until this March, says:

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“It’s a huge privilege to be asked to return to the CBI to serve as its Director-General. I passionately believe in the power of business to transform our society. I want the CBI to be an organisation of which we can all be proud. I am grateful and determined to lead the team through this challenging time.

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I look forward to working with the team, our members and stakeholders as we work together to achieve sustainable growth.”

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Tony Danker, the head of the boss of the Confederation of British Industry, has been fired after an investigation into his conduct.

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The board of the CBI has announced that Danker had been dismissed with immediate effect following the independent investigation into specific complaints of workplace misconduct against him.

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He will be replaced by Rain Newton-Smith, a former CBI chief economist.

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The business group’s board says:

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The Board wishes to make clear he is not the subject of any of the more recent allegations in The Guardian but has determined that his own conduct fell short of that expected of the Director General.

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The CBI adds that three other CBI employees are now suspended pending further investigation into a number of ongoing allegations.

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Danker stepped aside as CBI chief in early March, after the Guardian approached the CBI about a formal complaint about his conduct that had been made in January.

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Earlier this month, we reported that more than a dozen women have claimed to have been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the Confederation of British Industry, including one who alleges she was raped at a staff party on a boat on the River Thames.

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The CBI adds that:

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While Fox Williams continues with the next phase of its inquiry, the CBI is liaising with the police and has made clear its intention to cooperate fully with any police investigations.

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The CBI’s board says today:

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The allegations that have been made over recent weeks about the CBI have been devastating. While investigations continue into a number of these, it is already clear to all of us that there have been serious failings in how we have acted as an organisation. We must do better, and we must be better.

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We apologise to the victims of this organisational failure, including those impacted by the revulsion we have all felt at hearing their stories. Nobody should feel unsafe in their workplace

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Bitcoin has hit a 10-month high this morning, as the crypto currency continues to rally.

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Bitcoin has climbed to above $30,000 for the first time since last June, which is almost double the lows hit hit last autumn.

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However, it’s still over 50% below the record highs set in November 2021, before sliding through 2022.

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Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, predicts the rally will continue, saying:

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\n

Bitcoin’s crypto winter is finally gone today, as the price has broken above a critical barrier level of $30,000. Bitcoin has already recovered about half of its losses from its all-time high, and it is up more than 100% from the crypto winter lows.

\n

The present price pattern is expected to generate a lot of attention, as well as FOMO among investors, many of whom have already missed out as the price has regained its significant losses. Yet, we do feel that the moment has come to be a strategic investor in cryptocurrency, since we believe that the path of least resistance for Bitcoin is skewed to the upside and that the present surge is simply the beginning of what is to come.

\n

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Bill Blain, market strategist at Shard Capital, says he doesn’t have faith in crypto, citing its “zero legal utility”, regulatory vulnerability, and instability.

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But, Blain writes, other traders who bought into bitcoin at the start of the year are sitting on profits, having concluded it was cheap at the start of the year.

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\n

I had my moment of market epiphany Sunday afternoon on the sailing club deck…. A chum told me he’s nearly doubled his money buying Bitcoin since buying in January at £13.75k and its now trading around £24.3k – he’s going to hold (“Hodl”) his sizeable bottom-fished position, confident it’s going to hit a new record high this year – at which point he will buy a new car. Nice.

\n

Another sailing mate then told me he follows the candle charts, and reckons there are some seriously bullish signals revealed by “Bollinger Band” analysis of the Bitcoin price action – it’s going to break higher he confidently told me. Neither is a professional investor; they are smart guys watching the markets, looking to make some money. They know its going higher!

\n

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European stock markets have opened higher today, as traders digest the IMF’s forecast that interest rates will fall back.

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In London, the FTSE 100 index has jumped by 54 points, or 0.7%, to 7795 points, its highest level in over four weeks, as trading resumes after the Easter break.

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Investors are also cheered by the fall in China’s inflation, and factory prices, overnight.

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⏰ Early Morning Call ⏰

FTSE100 opens higher as BRC retail sales rise more than anticipated pic.twitter.com/uDdBvCu63w

&mdash; IG (@IGcom) April 11, 2023

\n","url":"https://twitter.com/IGcom/status/1645682831736045568","id":"1645682831736045568","hasMedia":false,"role":"inline","isThirdPartyTracking":false,"source":"Twitter","elementId":"6ce964b6-7683-4163-b7a8-7b099e05c57c"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1681197108000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"08.11 BST","blockLastUpdated":1681198153000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"08.29 BST","blockFirstPublished":1681198153000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"08.29 BST","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"08.29","title":"FTSE 100 hits one-month high","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Tue 11 Apr 2023 13.17 BST","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Tue 11 Apr 2023 07.48 BST"},{"id":"643503c58f08156fb81ecc3b","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

Not all economists agree with the IMF’s view that the natural rate of interest will fall back to pre-Covid levels, once the inflation shock has abated.

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Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has predicted that rates will be substantially higher on average in the years ahead.

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Last month, Summers suggested the real neutral rate might be in the range of 1.5% to 2% going forward. He believes that increased government borrowing, partly to fund defense spending, will keep borrowing costs higher.

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Indeed, the IMF’s team of economists agrees there are a few reasons why its assumptions could be wrong.

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For example, they say, government support may be difficult to withdraw, increasing public debt. Second, the costs of the green energy transition could also push up deficits. Thirdly, “deglobalization forces could intensify”, leading to both trade and financial fragmentation and pushing up the cost of borrowing.

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The head of the World Bank has revealed that it has lifted its growth forecast for this year.

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Reuters has the details:

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\n

World Bank Group President David Malpass said on Monday that the lender has revised its 2023 global growth outlook slightly upward to 2% from a January forecast of 1.7% but the slowdown from stronger 2022 growth will increase debt distress for developing countries.

\n

Malpass told a media briefing that the upward revision was due to an improved outlook for China’s recovery from COVID-19 lockdowns, with growth now pegged at 5.1% this year compared to 4.3% in the bank’s January Global Economic Prospects report.

\n

Advanced economies, including the U.S. and in Europe, are also doing a bit better than the World Bank anticipated in January, Malpass said as the World Bank’s and International Monetary Fund’s Spring Meetings week kicked off.

\n

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While this is a growth upgrade for this year, it’s still weaker than the 3% growth which the World Bank expected nine months ago.

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Malpass also warned that the recent turmoil in the banking sector and higher oil prices could weigh on growth prospects in the second half of this year.

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🌎 World Bank chief raises 2023 global growth outlook slightly, eyes debt progress – Reutershttps://t.co/R8YUE1kbPU

&mdash; Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) April 10, 2023

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

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Interest rates are set to fall back to levels seen before the outbreak of Covid-19 once inflation has been tamed.

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That’s the message from the International Monetary Fund this morning, as top economists and central bankers head to Washington DC for its Spring meeting.

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A team of IMF economists have examined the ‘natural rate of interest’ – the interest rate which keeps inflation on target while neither stimulating nor hampering economic growth.

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Their conclusion: the recent increases in real interest rates are “likely to be temporary”, due to factors such as sluggish productivity growth and aging populations.

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They predict the natural rates in advanced economies “will likely remain low”, while those in emerging markets are likely to drop towards those levels.

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That would mean interest rates would fall towards the lows seen in the pandemic. In the UK, interest rates were cut from 0.75% to just 0.1% in early 2020 (they’re currently 4.25%).

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The IMF say:

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When inflation is brought back under control, advanced economies’ central banks are likely to ease monetary policy and bring real interest rates back towards pre-pandemic levels. How close to those levels will depend on whether alternative scenarios involving persistently higher government debt and deficits, or financial fragmentation materialize.

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In large emerging markets, conservative projections of future demographic and productivity trends suggest a gradual convergence towards advanced economies’ real interest rates.

\n

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The recent uptick in interest rates is likely to be temporary. Our latest World Economic Outlook blog explains why. https://t.co/6wzvAgnamL #WEO pic.twitter.com/Oxup4Q72cW

&mdash; IMF (@IMFNews) April 10, 2023

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The natural rate is an important anchor for monetary policy, as central bankers try to set interest rates to keep rising prices in check without driving people out of work.

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So if the IMF are right, it’s a boost for borrowers such as households struggling with mortgage payments. But, it would suggest central bankers could be left with less firepower to fight the next downturn, if major economies are saddled with chronically weak productivity and smaller workforces due to demographic changes.

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The work is part of the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, which will be released later today. The Fund will also release a new Global Financial Stability Report as part of its annual spring meetings with the World Bank in Washington.

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Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, warned last week that the global economy is heading for the weakest period of growth since 1990, as the surge in interest rates to fight inflation hits the global economy.

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As the #IMFMeetings kick off, it’s a valuable opportunity for the global community to come together to discuss not only urgent economic issues, but a chance to discuss the way forward to promote economic prosperity for all. https://t.co/zAIA9ZLUQZ pic.twitter.com/PLEsecNX4t

&mdash; IMF (@IMFNews) April 11, 2023

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The agenda

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• 9am BST: China’s new yuan loans for March

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• 10am BST: Eurozone retail sales for February

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• 11am BST: NFIB index of small US business optimism

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• 2pm BST: IMF publishes latest World Economic Outlook

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• 3.30pm BST: IMF publishes latest Global Financial Stability Report

\n

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Key events

Labour’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said developments at the CBI were “incredibly concerning”, PA Media reports.

Responding to the sacking of Tony Danker, the head of the business organisation, Labour’s shadow chancellor told broadcasters during a visit to Brighton:

“Obviously what is happening at the CBI is incredibly concerning and it’s important that these reviews are able to take their course.

“Labour, like the Government, have cut our ties and are not currently doing any engagement with the CBI whilst these inquiries are ongoing.”

Meetings between ministers and the Confederation of British Industry remain paused while the organisation continues its investigation into misconduct allegations, Downing Street has said.

The dismissal of CBI chief Tony Danker will not end the move by ministers and officials to cancel engagements with the organisation, a Number 10 spokesman told reporters.

The spokesman said:

“His departure is a matter for the CBI, but we continue to expect any allegations to be taken seriously and for appropriate action to be taken in response.”

“While the CBI continues to investigate we will pause engagement by ministers and senior officials with the CBI.”

The government suspended its relationship with the Confederation of British Industry last week, after the Guardian revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by the lobby group’s staff.

As well as launching “a root-and-branch review” of its culture, governance and processes, the CBI is to create a new position of Chief People Officer. They will sit on its executive committee and report directly to the CBI’s board on all matters of workplace conduct and culture.

The CBI HR director, Lauren Adams, will fill the role on an interim basis while a “wide-ranging external recruitment process” is conducted.

The CBI’s board added this morning that:

The current independent and confidential channel outside the CBI for people to come forward with concerns and complaints about workplace conduct will be made permanent.

We also recognise the enormous strain this experience has placed on all our people and will continue to offer support to anyone who needs it.

The Financial Times reports that a former female CBI staffer who had previously raised a complaint over an inappropriate comment about her appearance by a senior CBI figure, welcomed the appointment of the new director-general to replace Tony Danker.

She said:

“The board finally found its guts. Rain Newton-Smith will have the confidence of the staff and the members who know her to be on the right side of sexual misconduct issues.”

Newton-Smith, the CBI’s former chief economist for over eight years, spent her early career as an economist at the Bank of England, and then Oxford Economics. She left the CBI in March to join Barclays as managing director for Strategy and Policy, Sustainability and ESG.

Danker: shocked by dismissed from the CBI

Tony Danker says he was ‘shocked’ to learn he has been dismissed by the CBI this morning.

Danker has tweeted that he was appalled to learn last week about the “revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office”.

He adds he was “shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed”.

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I recognise the intense publicity the CBI has suffered following the revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office. I was appalled to learn about them for the first time last week…

&mdash; Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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I recognise the intense publicity the CBI has suffered following the revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office. I was appalled to learn about them for the first time last week…

— Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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..I was nevertheless shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed. Many of the allegations against me have been distorted, but..

&mdash; Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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..I was nevertheless shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed. Many of the allegations against me have been distorted, but..

— Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

Danker also says he is “truly sorry” to have unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable, and wishes his former colleagues every success.

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..I recognise that I unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable and I am truly sorry about that. I want to wish my former CBI colleagues every success.

&mdash; Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

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..I recognise that I unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable and I am truly sorry about that. I want to wish my former CBI colleagues every success.

— Tony Danker (@tonydanker) April 11, 2023

Elizabeth Gardiner, CEO at UK Whistleblowing charity Protect, says the CBI’s new director-general,Rain Newton-Smith, has an opportunity to address and change the organisation’s whistleblowing procedures.

Gardiner explains:

What CBI should be doing is reviewing its current arrangements, regular training of managers on how to be good recipients of bad news, and checking that staff are aware of and confident in the processes.

Whistleblowers provide employers a gift of information – an early warning that something is wrong. Failure to listen can lead to harm to individuals, organisations and the public interest.

Confidence among small US firms has dipped, as the inflation continues to worry business owners.

The US small business confidence index produced by NFIB (the National Federation of Independent Business) has fallen by 0.8 points to 90.1 in March, from 90.9.

This is the 15th month running that the index has been below its long-term average of 90%.

NFIB says twenty-four percent of owners reported inflation as their single most important business problem, down four points from last month.

The ratio of small business owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months remain at a net negative 47%.

NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg says:

“Small business owners are cynical about future economic conditions.

Hiring plans fell to their lowest level since May 2020, but strong consumer spending has kept Main Street alive and supported strong labor demand.”

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1/n
March NFIB 90.1 (est 89.8, last 90.9).
Index was better than expected but some sub components show momentum is slowing down further. Nothing flagging a severe recession, nor a buoyant economy.

Job market seems finally cooling even among SMEs, despite remains tight pic.twitter.com/yC1JKSHZ59

&mdash; Mario Cavaggioni (@CavaggioniMario) April 11, 2023

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1/n
March NFIB 90.1 (est 89.8, last 90.9).
Index was better than expected but some sub components show momentum is slowing down further. Nothing flagging a severe recession, nor a buoyant economy.

Job market seems finally cooling even among SMEs, despite remains tight pic.twitter.com/yC1JKSHZ59

— Mario Cavaggioni (@CavaggioniMario) April 11, 2023

Over in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the situation on the currency market with Russia’s central bank chief and finance minister later on Tuesday, the Kremlin says.

The meeting comes as the Russian rouble dropped near a one-year low against the US dollar and the euro.

The rouble has lost almost 1% today to around 82.2 to the dollar, having last week hit its lowest level since March 2022.

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PUTIN TO DISCUSS CURRENCY MARKET WITH TOP ECONOMIC ADVISORS AS ROUBLE FALLS

&mdash; First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) April 11, 2023

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PUTIN TO DISCUSS CURRENCY MARKET WITH TOP ECONOMIC ADVISORS AS ROUBLE FALLS

— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) April 11, 2023

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the rouble slumped to 120/$, but then recovered as capital controls were imposed to prop up the currency.

KKR buys stake in communications firm FGS Global

Deal news: The US private equity investor KKR has bought a 30% stake in financial PR firm FGS Global.

The deal values FGS Global at around $1.4bn, as had been rumoured last week.

Existing investor Golden Gate Capital is selling its entire stake to KKR. The group is also buying shares from senior employees at the firm and its largest investors, including London-based advertising giant WPP (which will still hold a majority stake), Reuters reports.

FGS was formed in 2020 through the merger of London’s Finsbury, Germany’s Hering Schuppener, and the Glover Park Group, before then buying US-based Sard Verbinnen in October 2021 (updated).

Finsbury was founded in 1994 by Roland Rudd, the brother of the former UK home secretary Amber Rudd and a leading campaigner against Brexit, who now chairs FGS Global.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, says KKR’s transaction “recognizes the tremendous value of the business and its potential for continued strong growth.”

As we reported last week:

Investment firms have made a series of deals in recent years for stakes in public relations companies, who advise big corporate clients on how to communicate with journalists on issues ranging from regular financial results to crisis management.

Here’s an explanation, published last weekend, about the allegations of misconduct by senior managers at the Confederation of British Industry:

The allegations have led some CBI members to consider whether they should leave the lobbying group:

Last week the Uk government suspended its relationship with the CBI, while the investigation into these fresh allegations was conducted.

Central banks will probably start cutting interest rates soon, predicts Professor Costas Milas, of the Management School at the University of Liverpool.

He tells us:

IMF predictions that Central Banks will cut interest rates soon will most likely materialize sooner than the Fund expects.

Why? The very latest movements in the Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) which predicts inflation movements quite well (as I explain here) indicate that inflation pressures are receding extremely fast.

In fact, supply chain pressures have collapsed! This suggests to me that Central Banks will be “forced” to cut interest rates quite soon.

Back to economics… and investor morale in the euro zone has improved this month.

Research institute Sentix’s gauge of current conditions in the eurozone has hit its highest level in over a year, rising to -8.7 points for April after dipping to -11.1 in March.

However, Sentix’s economic expectations index remained at -13.0.

Sentix says its latest data is “better, but still not good”, and shows that the Eurozone economy continues to recover at the beginning of April.

They explain:

“There is no doubt that the euro zone economy has weathered the winter months better than many feared in the fall.

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Eurozone April Sentix -8.7 (est -10.1, last -11.1)

So far seems that consumers are not affected by banking turmoil pic.twitter.com/i4FrHT1UQM

&mdash; Mario Cavaggioni (@CavaggioniMario) April 11, 2023

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&quot;Resilient.&quot; @ClausVistesen on Sentix, Eurozone, April #PantheonMacro

&mdash; Pantheon Macro (@PantheonMacro) April 11, 2023

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Full story: CBI dismisses director general Tony Danker after conduct complaints

Joanna Partridge

Tony Danker, the boss of the Confederation of British Industry, has been dismissed with immediate effect after an investigation into complaints about his conduct in the workplace.

The CBI hired a law firm to investigate him after the Guardian approached the business group about a formal complaint that was made in January, as well a number of alleged informal reports of concerns over his behaviour.

The business lobby group said it wanted to make clear that Danker was not the subject of other complaints recently reported by the Guardian. Those other claims by more than a dozen women allege various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the organisation.

However, the board of the CBI added they had determined that Danker’s conduct “fell short of that expected of the director general”.

The CBI’s plight is a warning to other UK organisations, and an opportunity to look at their own internal culture, writes journalist and broadcaster Josie Cox today.

She says the allegations of misconduct at the business lobbying group are another reminder that wherever there is money there is power… and that “where there is power, abuse – in some form – is frequently still rife”.

Cox explains:

Despite ostensible efforts by some of Britain’s biggest companies to create equal opportunities and appropriate representation for all genders and races within the workplace, businesses remain stubbornly skewed.

They’re predominantly led by white men and blighted by the pay gap and the authority gap, in which women find it more difficult to be taken seriously at work.

As a function of these chasms, troubling power dynamics allow for cultures of sexism and, in some cases, toxic masculinity to prevail.

More here:

Brian McBride, CBI President, says:

Rain is well-known and highly respected at the CBI, and by its membership. She is the right leader for the organisation, possessing deep knowledge of the challenges facing businesses who are trying to grow in these challenging economic times.

I have every confidence that she will provide the clear-sighted leadership that the CBI and UK business needs.”

Newton-Smith pledges to lead CBI through ‘challenging time’

Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s new director-general, is rejoining the business group from Barclays, where she recently became managing director for Strategy and Policy, Sustainability and ESG at Barclays.

Newton-Smith, who worked as the CBI’s chief economist from summer 2014 until this March, says:

“It’s a huge privilege to be asked to return to the CBI to serve as its Director-General. I passionately believe in the power of business to transform our society. I want the CBI to be an organisation of which we can all be proud. I am grateful and determined to lead the team through this challenging time.

I look forward to working with the team, our members and stakeholders as we work together to achieve sustainable growth.”

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