Finance

UK finance minister to revive regular economic talks with China in January trip, sources says

Published

1 year ago

December 20, 2024

UK finance minister to revive regular economic talks with China in January trip, sources says

By Joe Cash

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves will visit China on a two-day trip in January to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019, three people with knowledge of the plan said.

Reeves is scheduled to meet China’s vice premier He Lifeng, the country’s economy tsar, on Jan. 11 in Beijing to restart what had been annual talks known as the Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD), they said.

If those discussions show progress, the two sides could look to re-launch what had been a regular and wider meeting known as the Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) later next year, the sources said.

British businesses have also pressed to restart meetings of the UK-China CEO Council, a group established by then-Prime Minister Theresa May and then-Premier Li Keqiang in 2018, one of the sources added.

Reuters reported on Thursday that HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker will lead a business delegation that will visit China next month in a bid to boost trade and investment with a particular focus on financial services.

Reeves will also go to Shanghai, where she will meet with British companies operating in China on Jan. 12, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the plans.

Britain decided to suspend most economic dialogues with China in 2020 after Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong, the former British colony. Since then, spying allegations, the war in Ukraine, and the sanctioning of lawmakers have increased tensions between the two countries.

The Labour government, in power in Britain since July, has made improving ties with China one of its main foreign policy goals after a period under successive Conservative governments when relations plunged to their lowest in decades.

In 2022, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Conservative, declared the end of a “golden era” of relations with China that one of his predecessors, David Cameron, had championed.

Over the preceding decade, British and Chinese officials had met annually for high-level trade and investment talks, holding an EFD almost every year and a JETCO every two years.

Those talks resulted in the London-Shanghai stock connect scheme, Britain joining the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and joint investment into green technologies, including the UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.

(Reporting by Joe Cash)

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Finance

Crunch Fitness, Petland could get a new neighbor at Pensacola Square

Published

3 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Crunch Fitness, Petland could get a new neighbor at Pensacola Square

The Pensacola Square shopping plaza, which includes businesses such as Hobby Lobby, Books-A-Million and Crunch Fitness, may be getting a new tenant.

Alabama-based loan agency Regional Finance is looking to open its first Florida branch at unit 117 of Pensacola Square.

Regional Finance has over 350 branch locations across 19 U.S. states at this time, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina, and they provide a range of services to their clients, ranging from personal and auto repair loans to furniture, appliance and travel loans.

They submitted an application to the city in order to conduct alterations on the space, which is located next to Petland inside the plaza, and the plans are still under review by city officials at the time of writing.

moved onto a new chapter with the addition of national gym franchise Crunch Fitness, which is bringing flocks of people into the southern half of the plaza since it opened off North Davis Highway.

Plans submitted to the city of Pensacola show it could get a new tenant soon. However, this addition may not appeal to as many potential customers as its neighbors.

If the plans for their first Florida branch are approved, the loan agency will join a plaza with multiple popular businesses, including Hobby Lobby, Beall’s and Petland, that still has room to grow.

Trader Joe’s even showed interest in leasing a space inside the plaza at one point, according to a showcase of the property by Cushman & Wakefield.

Crunch Fitness, a gym that signed a 15-year lease for its space, is has help revitalizing interest in Pensacola Square, along with recent additions like Fuji Sushi & Grill & Hotspot as well as incoming tenants like Concentra.

Concentra, one of the top occupational health services providers in the U.S., will open inside the former home of Rainbow clothing.

While the address for the project is 6235 N. Davis Hwy, the alterations won’t be carried out on the Hobby Lobby and Books-A-Million chunk of the plaza.

That section was purchased last year for $7 million by Destiny Worship Center, a not-for-profit corporation based in Destin with locations in Crestview, Freeport, Fort Walton Beach and Panama City Beach but none in Pensacola, sparking concern that the businesses would be replaced by a new church.

Rob Bell, senior advisor and asset manager for Bellcore Commercial, who represented Destiny Worship Center in the sale, emphasized this week that it’s still unlikely Hobby Lobby will leave the plaza anytime soon because they still hold a long-term lease inside the building.

Finance

State aims to reclaim $850K from campaign finance vendor

Published

15 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

State aims to reclaim 0K from campaign finance vendor

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The state is now looking to recoup around $850,000 from a company they said didn’t meet deadlines to create a campaign finance website.

It’s The Guardian and was supposed to be up and running in October, but that didn’t happen. The Guardian is the name of the state’s online campaign finance reporting system.

“They were unable to deliver a compliant system,” said Ethics Commission Executive Director Leeanne Bruce Boone during their meeting on Friday.

The company at the center of it all is RFD and Associates, based in Austin, Texas. They were hired in December 2024 to begin the project of creating The Guardian 2.0.

The previous company, according to the commission, was with Civix. However, problems arose between the state and that company, so they had to shift and find a new vendor.

The commission appropriated around $2.2 million for the endeavor.

Months went by, and according to the commission’s timeline, deadlines were missed altogether.

Dates in June were missed, and in August, the company received a warning from the Ethics Commission. The Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) had to get involved in October and conduct an independent technical assessment.

The October date was proposed by the company, but it wasn’t met. In November, a formal notice of system failures and vendor non-compliance was noted.

“None of the milestones were met,” said Bruce Boone during the meeting. “Extensive corrective steps over many months. Written warnings were sent.”

At the Friday meeting, the commission voted to cut the contract with the company, and a contract with the previous one was then sent out.

“Terminate the contract and proceed with legal action,” said Bruce Boone.

Bruce Boone said that in total $850,000 was actually spent throughout this process on RFD. The new contract with Civix, she said, is estimated to cost over $230,000 and should last for three years. The effort is needed ahead of the 2026 election.

Now the commission has decided to bring in the Attorney General’s Office to see if they can get the money back.

“I take very seriously my role to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent fairly and appropriately,” AG Drummond said in a statement. “My office stands ready to take legal action to recover damages, hold those responsible accountable, and work with the Ethics Commission to ensure the public has a reliable means to access campaign finance reports.”

News 4 attempted to get a statement out of the Chief Operating Officer of RFD and Associates, who had been in the meeting but quickly left after the commission voted.

“No comment,” said COO Scott Glover.

What would you say to taxpayers about that?

In response, he said, “I don’t agree with the ethics commission’s decision. That’s all I have to say.”

The Guardian had been delayed by several months, but the commission did respond appropriately and timely manner to requests made for documents.

The Guardian was back online Friday afternoon.

Finance

One.funding and MV Commercial launch MV Asset Finance

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

One.funding and MV Commercial launch MV Asset Finance

Representatives from One.funding worked closely with MV Commercial’s team. Credit: M Isolation photo / Shutterstock.com.

One.funding has partnered with UK-based MV Commercial to introduce MV Asset Finance, which offers an alternative method for MV Commercial’s customers to secure finance, according to a LinkedIn post.

In developing MV Asset Finance, representatives from One.funding worked closely with MV Commercial’s team to better understand business priorities and the requirements of their customer base.

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According to the post, the service aims to remove friction, ensure complete transparency, and enable a seamless process from initial engagement to completion by integrating support within MV Commercial’s operations and presenting it under their brand.

MV Commercial supplies fleet solutions for vehicles within the UK.

The company’s offerings include trucks, trailers, and light commercial vehicles that are available for sale, rental, or contract hire.

Its current rental and Ready to Go fleets consist of 2,000 specialist trucks, vans, and trailers across various depots in Airdrie, Grantham, Livingston, Oxford, Haydock, and London Luton.

One.funding CEO Lee Schofield said: “At One.funding, we’ve 20 years of experience in building point-of-sale finance that fits naturally into how businesses sell. MV Asset Finance shows what’s possible when that experience is embedded into the MV Commercial journey, making it easier for their customers to keep moving and keep growing.”

A recent example involved AMK Plant & Tipper Hire, which added a DAF FAD XD450 Construction eight-by-four tipper truck to its fleet, the company’s first DAF tipper purchase.

The transaction was finalised in three weeks; MV Commercial supplied the vehicle while financing was arranged through the newly launched MV Asset Finance framework.