Time is of the Essence

If you are resident in the UK you can't fail to be confronted with the country's economic uncertainty.

17:21 26 February 2019

And it seems the news is updating as Mrs May attempts to strike a deal over Brexit.

In such uncertain times as companies like Honda pull out of Britain and increasing numbers of high-street stores warn that their doors will be closing causing job losses then it is somewhat refreshing to hear that one Bank, Barclays has reported a profit of £3.5 billion for 2018.

At the same time as announcing this profit Barclays also announced a provision of £150 million for the ‘anticipated economic uncertainty’ that directly relates to Brexit.

Even at this late stage with Jean-Claud Juncker still ‘not very optimistic’ about avoiding a ‘no deal’ Brexit. It is thought the ‘no deal’ option would be disastrous for both Britain and the EU concluding with the British economy suffering after the UK’s departure.

The extra allowance should help Barclays cover such costs like rising bad debts.

Barclays CEO Jes Staley reported that 2018 has been a very significant year that resolved several issues one of them being it took charges of £2.2 billion in order to cover legal issues and fines which included a massive settlement with US regulators and of course, in the UK, a great deal of compensation given out to former and existing customers over PPI.

Barclays of course, is not the only bank that is warning about possible negative impacts of Brexit on the economy with the Royal Bank of Scotland's Ross McEwan warning that the UK economy is now facing a heightened level of uncertainty directly related to the ongoing discussions over Brexit.

But as some larger corporations do pause in their investments, so the smaller businesses and individuals will lose out.

The UK gambling sector is also watching closely alongside the rest of the UK being one of the favourite pastimes of British residents.

In fact, gambling makes up a vast piece of the country’s economy which currently is worth in excess of £15 billion with the value of the gambling sector rising in the region of 8% year on year.

Online gambling has seen its market share rise over several years, and now online casino sites and top bingo sites in the UK make up a significant percentage (40%) of the whole UK market, yet could possibly be the sector which is expected to be most affected by upcoming Brexit.

Online casinos are popular for a number of reasons, and one of the main ones is they are convenient. In today’s society where lives are busy, players want to be able to enjoy their favourite games whenever and wherever they choose, and this has led to a massive surge to online sites.

As the UK banks raise their provisions and other industries and businesses hold their breath, we can only wait and see what Theresa May can achieve in Brussels.