Oil price lifted by US Houthi airstrikes and China economic hopes; Crispin Odey facing City ban and £1.8m fine – business live
FCA decides to ban Crispin Odey and fine him £1.8m
Newsflash: Britain’s City watchdog has decided to fine financier Crispin Odey £1.8m and ban him from the UK financial services industry “for a lack of integrity”.
The Financial Conduct Authority says that it believes Odey “deliberately sought to frustrate” the disciplinary processes of his hedge fund, Odey Asset Management LLP (OAM) “to protect his own interests”, following allegations of sexual harassment.
The FCA says:
Mr Odey showed reckless disregard for OAM’s governance, causing OAM to breach certain regulatory requirements. In addition, the FCA considers that Mr Odey’s behaviour towards both OAM and the FCA lacked candour.
The FCA considers Mr Odey’s conduct demonstrated that he is not a fit and proper person to perform any function related to regulated activities.
Odey has referred his Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal where he and the FCA will present their cases, meaning the FCA’s findings are provisional.
The regulator explains that Odey used his majority shareholding in OAM to remove the existing members of its executive committee, just weeks before he was due to appear for a disciplinary hearing in January 2022. Having appointed himself ExCo’s sole member, Odey decided the disciplinary hearing into his conduct would be indefinitely postponed since he said he was unable to conduct it with impartiality, the FCA explains.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said:
“A culture of silence in which allegations of misconduct are not dealt with effectively can put consumers and markets at risk. Mr Odey repeatedly sought to evade and obstruct efforts to hold him to account. His lack of integrity means he deserves to be banned from the industry.”
The FCA’s ruling follows allegations published last year by the Financial Times, with Tortoise Media, which reported claims of sexual assault and harassment against Odey from 20 women. The allegations led to him being removed from his hedge fund business, and in October 2023 OAM announced it was closing.
Odey has previously denied the allegations against him, and is suing the FT for libel, seeking at least £79m in damages.
Key events
Financial markets in Europe and the US are starting the new week on the front foot.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index is up 12 points, or 0.23%, at 5,651 points. That’ll be a welcome sight for New York traders, who have seen the S&P 500 fall almost 8% in the last month.
In London, the FTSE 100 share index has gained 0.5%, or 42 points, to 8674 points, a one-week high.
Oil lifted by US-Houthi attacks and China economic hopes
The oil price has jumped by 1% today after the US launched airstrikes against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis over the weekend, and pledged to continue them indefinitely.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, is up 70 cents per barrel to $71.23/barrel, having hit a two-week high early this morning.
US crude is up 63 cents per barrel at $67.80/barrel.
The US attacks have raised concerns that tensions in the region could escalate, with the Houthis reporting they had launched a retaliatory attack on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
The US says it will continus its attacks until the Houtis cease attacks on shipping in the Red Sea area. Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, told Fox News:
“The minute the Houthis say ‘we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones’, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”
Milad Azar, market analyst at XTB MENA, explains:
Crude oil futures rebounded amid rising tensions in the Middle East. US operations against Yemen’s Houthis could leave traders on edge. The geopolitical risks could support oil prices in the short term, but the market could remain cautious in the face of the uncertainty regarding the long-term impact.
Oil could also be benefitting from encouraging economic data from China overnight, which showed retail sales rose to 4.0% year-on-year in January and February, beating market expectations.
Consumption could also be lifted by a new “special action plan” unveiled by Beijing policymakers last weeked, as part of a drive to support the economy in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war.
Here’s a breakdown of February’s US retail sales report, from EY’s chief economist, Greg Daco:
🇺🇸 Soft rebound in Feb following January plunge
✅#Retail sales +0.2%
🟠Adj for inflation 0%✅Core +1%
✅Adj for infl 0.9%💻Online 2.4%
⚕️Health 1.7%
🛒Groc 0.4%
🏠Build mat 0.2%
🛋️Furn 0%
🎮Elec -0.3%
⚽️Sport -0.4%
🚗Auto -0.4%
👗Cloth -0.6%
⛽️Gas -1%
👩🍳Rest/bar -1.5% pic.twitter.com/N6bwrIYtwj— Gregory Daco (@GregDaco) March 17, 2025
US retail sales miss forecasts:: What the experts say
Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist at Capital Economics, has found some upsides in today’s US retail sales data:
The 0.2% m/m rise in retail sales was not as strong as the 0.6% rebound eyed by the consensus estimate, but the 0.3% gain in core sales (i.e. excluding autos) was at least a lot better than the 0.8% plunge indicated by the timelier Chicago Fed CARTS data.
The bright spots were sales at nonstore retailers and health & personal care stores, which rose by 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, food services & drinking place sales slumped by 1.5%, gasoline store sales by 1.0% and motor vehicle & parts sales by 0.4%. None of those are included in the control group sales estimate that feeds into real consumption, however, which meant that control group sales did far better than expected with a 1.0% m/m jump – all but reversing the same sized decline in January.
But… Jonathan Moyes, head of investment research at Wealth Club, fears the American consumer does not look well:
“US trade policy has dominated the news and had an unsettling effect on global financial markets. With sentiment so poor, investors will have been hoping the mighty US consumer provides reassurance that all is well on Main Street. They didn’t find it, with retail sales coming in lower than expected the US consumer is starting to look a little peaky.
This puts the Federal Reserve in a tough spot. The hard data looks weak, and forward-looking data, like consumer and business confidence surveys, show conditions are deteriorating. In the short term, trade tariffs will surely stoke inflation. The key question is whether the recent data is weak enough to warrant additional interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. The bond market reaction today suggests it is not.”
US Retail Sales come in well below expectations.
This is the last “big” US economic data point before the Fed’s policy decision this Wednesday… pic.twitter.com/zwAsqG3EoW
— Lobo Tiggre (@duediligenceguy) March 17, 2025
US retail sales growth misses forecasts
Over in America, retail sales grew rather less than expected last month – perhaps a sign that the US economy is slowing.
US retail and food services sales for February 2025 rose by 0.2% month-on-month in February, according to an advance estimate just released, weaker than the 0.6% growth expected.
Spending at motor vehicle & parts dealers fell by 0.4% in the month, while spending on gasoline was down 1%, probably due to a dip in gas prices.
Spending at food services & drinking places fell by 1.5% in February compared with January (but were 1.5% higher than a year ago), which could be an indication of consumers cutting back.
US FEB. RETAIL SALES RISE 0.2% M/M; EST. +0.6%
*US FEB. RETAIL SALES EX-AUTO RISE 0.3% M/M; EST. +0.4%*US FEB. RETAIL SALES EX AUTOS, GAS RISE 0.5% M/M; PREV. -0.5%
*US FEB. RETAIL ‘CONTROL GROUP’ SALES RISE 1% M/M; PREV. -0.8 pic.twitter.com/cwaPInjYeR— LWS Financial Research (@lwsresearch) March 17, 2025
Struggling UK utility Thames Water has won a court battle over the restructuring plan that will give it more liquidity to keep operating.
Appealas against Thames’s £3bn debt lifeline had been rejected by the Court of Appeal, allowing the company to avoid a state rescue.
Appeal court judges dismissed an appeal from environmental campaigners and a small group of Thames creditors after a three-day hearing last week.
Both groups argued that the “eye-watering” costs of the £3bn emergency loan, at interest rates of 9.75%, were not in the public interest. They said putting the ailing water company, which has debts of £19bn, into temporary nationalisation under a special administration regime would be more cost effective.
In a statement, Thames Water said its focus was now on getting onto a more stable financial footing.
Thames Water chief executive Chris Weston said in a statement:
“We continue to work closely with our creditors, enabling us to access liquidity to continue to implement our turnaround plan so we can deliver better results for our customers and the environment.”
More here:
Rewilding red tape to be torn up
Helena Horton
Red tape will be removed for conservationists who want to rewild their land under a shake up of the environmental regulators, my colleague Helena Horton reports.
Rachel Reeves and environment secretary Steve Reed will remove the need for trusted partners – conservationists who have been working on nature schemes for some time – to apply to Natural England or the Environment Agency for permission to restore nature, as part of today’s push to cut red tape.
At the moment, if conservationists want to restore rivers or dig wetland areas, for example, they have to apply to multiple regulators for approval, in what can be a time-consuming and costly process.
Defra said the new plan will allow trusted nature conservation and environmental partners “to move fast on restoring nature without applying to multiple regulators for permissions.”
Jake Fiennes, director of conservation at the Holkham Estate in North Norfolk said the current system makes it far too difficult to restore the rare chalk stream running through the national nature reserve, or to dig wetland areas for the many endangered wading birds which call the estate their home.
He said:
“The Flood Risk Activity Permits are currently a disaster. Those of us helping deliver the government’s environmental targets are regulated to death while those committing freshwater ecocide do so with near impunity.
It’s an opt-in policing system that penalises compliance and desperately needs reform. Permissions and consents can be very onerous, costly, and take a long time to come through.”
A Natural England source agreed that the system needed reform. They said:
“The present regulations slow down good things as well as potentially harmful things. The fact is that our regulatory frameworks were designed to stop bad stuff happening (very important), but now we need approaches that are more about encouraging good things.”
Reeves tells regulators ‘too much bureaucracy’ is hurting economy
Back at Downing Street, Rachel Reeves has told regulators that red tape is holding back the UK economy.
Having summoned representatives from the UK’s watchdogs (see opening post), the chancellor told them there is “too much bureaucracy” which is making it “too slow to get things done” across the UK.
Speaking as the meeting began, Reeves said:
“You know that the number one mission of this Government is to grow the economy. There are a number of things over the last decade or so that have held back growth, and one of them – if we are honest and you know better than anyone – is the regulatory landscape.
“Too much overlapping regulation, too much bureaucracy, too slow to get things done. It is something that myself and other ministers hear all the time.”
Reeves also told the regulators that their discussion will be focused on cutting duplication and bureaucracy.
She said:
“What I want to use today’s discussion is not to have an update on every regulator, because I have seen the letters and know about the discussions that have been happening.
“But some of the cross-cutting work that we could be doing across Government to reduce some of the duplication, reduce some of the bureaucracy, meet that ambitious target that the Prime Minister set last week around the administrative burden and cutting that by 25%.”
She listed useful ideas suggested by regulators, including measures on contactless payments, the “speeding up the licensing of new drugs”, and drone deliveries.
Here’s our news story on Crispin Odey facing a City ban and a £1.8m fine for deliberately attempting to “frustrate” a disciplinary process into sexual harassment allegations.
The FCA also accuses Crispin Odey of showing “a repeated disregard for standards and requirements that he was expected to meet”.
That included “deliberately frustrating” the disciplinary process conducted by his hedge fund, OAM, into his conduct, it says.
The regulator’s Decision Notice says:
Mr Odey’s behaviour towards both OAM and the Authority lacked candour. He used improper means to protect his own interests and achieve his objectives; the reasons he gave for his dismissal of ExCo, and his conduct in his dealings with the Authority also support the finding that he lacks integrity.
Mr Odey’s conduct exposed investors to the risk of harm and risked undermining the integrity of the UK financial system.
The FCA adds that it does not believe the risks Mr Odey poses have been remediated, saying:
When asked at interview by the Authority whether on reflection he would act differently, Mr Odey did not identify any different actions he would have taken, and instead sought to justify his actions.
The FCA also explain how they decided to fine Crispin Odey £1.8m.
Under its rules, the size of the penalty is determined by its severity – the most serious offence, a “level 5”, would incur a fine worth 40% of an individual’s relevant income.
Odey’s action has been classed as a “level 4” breach, which would incur a 30% penalty.
The FCA concluded that Odey’s relevant income for this period was £2,548,957 – meaning a fine of £764,687.
However, the regulator has applied a 20% increase due to. aggravating factors – namely, that Odey proceeded with the second removal of members from OAM’s executive committee, despite the regulator expressing concerns after a first group of members were removed.
That takes the fine up £917,624.
The regulator has then doubled it, “for the purposes of credible deterrence”, having concluded that a fine of £917,624 was “too small in relation to the breach” to act as a deterrent.
You can read the Decision Notice for Robin Crispin William Odey online, here.
Reminder, the findings are provisional, as Odey has referred the Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal.
Explaining the decision to ban Odey from the City, the Notice states:
During the relevant period, Mr Odey demonstrated a repeated disregard for standards and requirements that he was expected to meet, including by deliberately frustrating a disciplinary process designed to scrutinise his conduct and uphold OAM’s internal policies and procedures relevant to the performance of regulated activities.
Mr Odey’s behaviour towards both OAM and the Authority lacked candour. He used improper means to protect his own interests and achieve his objectives; the reasons he gave for his dismissal of ExCo, and his conduct in his dealings with the Authority also support the finding that he lacks integrity.
Mr Odey’s conduct exposed investors to the risk of harm and risked undermining the integrity of the UK financial system.
FCA decides to ban Crispin Odey and fine him £1.8m
Newsflash: Britain’s City watchdog has decided to fine financier Crispin Odey £1.8m and ban him from the UK financial services industry “for a lack of integrity”.
The Financial Conduct Authority says that it believes Odey “deliberately sought to frustrate” the disciplinary processes of his hedge fund, Odey Asset Management LLP (OAM) “to protect his own interests”, following allegations of sexual harassment.
The FCA says:
Mr Odey showed reckless disregard for OAM’s governance, causing OAM to breach certain regulatory requirements. In addition, the FCA considers that Mr Odey’s behaviour towards both OAM and the FCA lacked candour.
The FCA considers Mr Odey’s conduct demonstrated that he is not a fit and proper person to perform any function related to regulated activities.
Odey has referred his Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal where he and the FCA will present their cases, meaning the FCA’s findings are provisional.
The regulator explains that Odey used his majority shareholding in OAM to remove the existing members of its executive committee, just weeks before he was due to appear for a disciplinary hearing in January 2022. Having appointed himself ExCo’s sole member, Odey decided the disciplinary hearing into his conduct would be indefinitely postponed since he said he was unable to conduct it with impartiality, the FCA explains.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said:
“A culture of silence in which allegations of misconduct are not dealt with effectively can put consumers and markets at risk. Mr Odey repeatedly sought to evade and obstruct efforts to hold him to account. His lack of integrity means he deserves to be banned from the industry.”
The FCA’s ruling follows allegations published last year by the Financial Times, with Tortoise Media, which reported claims of sexual assault and harassment against Odey from 20 women. The allegations led to him being removed from his hedge fund business, and in October 2023 OAM announced it was closing.
Odey has previously denied the allegations against him, and is suing the FT for libel, seeking at least £79m in damages.
Despite the Trump trade wars, the OECD has slightly revised up its forecast for China’s growth this year.
China is now forecast to grow by 4.8% this year, up from 4.7% previously.
But, it adds:
Growth in China is projected to slow from 4.8% this year to 4.4% in 2026.
The OECD says:
These projections are based on an assumption that bilateral tariffs between Canada and the United States and between Mexico and the United States are raised by an additional 25 percentage points on almost all merchandise imports from April.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has broken off from her battle against growth-hampering regulation to respond to the OECD’s new forecasts.
She says:
“This report shows the world is changing, and increased global headwinds such as trade uncertainty are being felt across the board.
“A changing world means Britain must change too, and we are delivering a new era of stability, security and renewal, to protect working people and keep our country safe.
“This means we can better respond to global uncertainty, with the UK forecast to be Europe’s fastest growing G7 economy over the coming years – second only to the US.”
