WIESBADEN, GERMANY: Britain will not succeed if it tries to attract businesses by undercutting its EU neighbors on corporate tax after Brexit, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Wednesday.
“If a big country thinks that it can have the advantages of a small country, things will go wrong,” Schaeuble told a G20 conference in Wiesbaden.
“Great Britain can’t be compared with the Cayman Islands. That would be an insult to Great Britain.”
British finance minister Philip Hammond said in a German newspaper interview earlier this month that the island nation would be forced to “change our economic model” to remain competitive if it does not get the concessions it wants on access to the European single market.
Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to formally notify Brussels authorities of her country’s intention to quit the 28-member bloc by the end of March, following a hard-fought exit vote last June.
London is keen to obtain concessions from the remaining EU members to allow its companies, including manufacturers and financial services providers, continued barrier-free access to the single market.
Hammond said he wanted Britain to remain a “recognizably European-style economy with European-style taxation systems, European-style regulation systems” after Brexit.
However, London would have to change course “if we are forced,” in order to “regain competitiveness.”
While May insists that the UK must also be allowed to control immigration from the continent onto its shores, EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel say the single market’s “four freedoms” — of labor, capital, goods, and services — are indivisible.
“The rest of the world won’t allow” tax havens to benefit at the expense of other countries, Schaeuble insisted Wednesday.
Germany shrugs off UK tax haven threat
Germany shrugs off UK tax haven threat
Closing Bell: Saudi stocks slip as Tadawul falls 1% amid broad market weakness
RIYADH: Saudi stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, with the Tadawul All Share Index closing down 108.14 points, or 1.03 percent, at 10,381.51.
The broader decline was reflected across major indices. The MSCI Tadawul 30 Index slipped 0.78 percent to 1,378.00, while Nomu, the parallel market index, fell 1 percent to 23,040.79.
Market breadth was strongly negative on the main board, with 237 stocks falling compared to just 24 gainers. Trading activity remained robust, with 164.7 million shares changing hands and a total traded value of SR3.19 billion ($850.6 million).
Among the gainers, SEDCO Capital REIT Fund led, rising 2.73 percent to SR6.77, followed by Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co., which gained 2.69 percent to SR20.20.
National Medical Care Co. added 1.72 percent to close at SR141.60, while Alyamamah Steel Industries Co. and Thimar Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing Co. advanced 1.57 percent and 1.13 percent, respectively.
Losses were led by Al Masar Al Shamil Education Co., which tumbled 8.36 percent to SR24.65. Raoom Trading Co.fell 6.75 percent to SR64.20, while Alkhaleej Training and Education Co. dropped 6.60 percent to SR18.12 and Naqi Water Co. declined 5.51 percent to SR54.00. Gulf General Cooperative Insurance Co. closed 5.44 percent lower at SR3.65.
On the announcement front, Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co. signed a multiyear insurance agreement with Saudi Electricity Co. to provide various coverages, expected to positively impact its financial results over the 2025–2026 period. The deal will run for three years and two months and is within the company’s normal course of business.
Meanwhile, Bupa Arabia for Cooperative Insurance Co. announced a one-year health insurance contract with Saudi National Bank, valued at SR330.2 million, covering the bank’s employees and their families from January 2026. Despite the sizable contract, Bupa Arabia shares fell 0.8 percent to close at SR137, weighed down by the broader market weakness.
In contrast, United Cooperative Assurance Co. revealed an extension of its engineering insurance agreement with Saudi Binladin Group for the Grand Mosque expansion in Makkah. The contract value exceeds 20 percent of the company’s gross written premiums based on its latest audited financials and is expected to support results through 2026. However, the stock came under selling pressure, ending the session down 4.51 percent at SR3.39.
