FirstFT: Today’s top stories | Financial Times

Large companies with insufficient cash reserves are to be barred from paying shareholder dividends and executive bonuses in an overhaul of the UK’s audit and corporate governance regime to be unveiled on Thursday.

Under the government proposals, company directors will also face fines, suspensions and the claw back of bonuses if their businesses make significant errors with accounts or leave the door open to fraud.

Directors would be required to take greater responsibility for the accuracy of company accounts, in an overhaul similar to the US Sarbanes-Oxley legislation passed after the Enron scandal.

The glacial pace of UK efforts to patch up the credibility of the audit profession will frustrate even the most dedicated of corporate governance enthusiasts, writes Helen Thomas. (FT)

Coronavirus digest

• Most primary schools in England will have their pandemic catch-up funding absorbed by a change to funding for children in hardship, according to a survey. Two cases of a variant from the Philippines have been identified in England.

• The NHS has warned of a “significant reduction” in supplies of jabs in the UK and ordered a freeze on new vaccination appointments for April.

• Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, has warned that the EU is ready to introduce emergency controls on vaccine production and distribution if needed. Australia has urged the EU to allow the export of 1m doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab to Papua New Guinea. Vaccine nationalism has underscored a decade-long retreat from the shared assumptions about the benefits of borderless supply chains, writes Philip Stephens.

• The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the US is working, according to a Financial Times analysis of official data.

• Israel’s world-beating vaccination programme has saved the country but can it save Benjamin Netanyahu’s job? The five-time premier is seeking re-election next week.

• Iceland will open its borders to vaccinated foreigners from Thursday.

• The United Arab Emirates is offering people who have shown weak immunity after two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine a third shot of the Chinese jab.

• Generation Z’s investment returns will be significantly lower than those of previous generations, a new report shows. (FT, Economist)

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In the news

Fed upgrades US growth forecast Federal Reserve officials sharply upgraded their growth forecasts for the world’s largest economy but signalled they expected to keep interest rates close to zero until at least 2024. Their median estimate predicts that the US will grow by 6.5 per cent this year, compared with 4.2 per cent in its December forecast. (FT)

Irish PM Martin: UK and EU must ‘stand by’ Brexit trade rules Micheál Martin told Joe Biden at the annual St Patrick’s day bilateral meeting that London and Brussels must “move forward with a positive relationship” on the Northern Ireland protocol, designed to prevent a hard trade border on the island of Ireland following the UK’s departure from the EU.

• The Brexit trade agreement has left the UK’s service businesses, bewildered at visa and work permit restrictions, wondering: what comes next? (FT)

Spac boom eclipses 2020 record in single quarter Blank-cheque companies have already surpassed last year’s fundraising record in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting the insatiable appetite for special purpose acquisition companies among both institutional and retail investors. (FT)

Rutte on course for election win Mark Rutte is on course to win a historic fourth term as prime minister of the Netherlands after exit polls suggested his party was on course to increase its share of the votes in a campaign dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. (FT)

Aviation industry carbon scheme flawed, EU warned The industry’s flagship carbon offsetting system risks being ineffective, poorly enforced and “undermining” the EU’s climate policies, according to an unpublished report written for the European Commission and seen by the FT. (FT)

European bond sale order books grow Investors have been toppling records this year with outsized orders for a rush of new eurozone government debt. But bankers say the scale of demand for the bonds is becoming harder to discern, after European Central Bank asset purchases inflated what was a crucial yardstick for judging investor demand. (FT)

Concerns raised over hate crimes against Asian Americans Washington lawmakers decried violence against Asian Americans on Wednesday after at least eight people were killed in shootings in Atlanta that have amplified concerns about a surge in hate crimes. The House judiciary committee will on Thursday hold a hearing on violence against Asian Americans. (FT)

The day ahead

Economic data The Bank of England must contend with how to tackle a possible resurgence in inflation in its interest rate-setting meeting on Thursday. Last week Andrew Bailey, BoE governor, said the risks of rising inflation were “increasingly two-sided”, although the bank was not about to raise rates. Norway, Turkey and Egypt also have rate decisions, while US jobless claims are near to their lowest level since the start of Covid-19. (FT, WSJ)

EMA issues AstraZeneca review The European Medicines Agency is due to issue a review of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after several European nations suspended shots citing concerns over side effects. (FT)

US-China summit in Alaska Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, and secretary of state Antony Blinken are set to meet their Chinese counterparts — Beijing’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and foreign minister Wang Yi. The two sides have set vastly different expectations for the meeting. (FT, Politico)

Earnings round-up Accenture, Dollar General, Vodafone, FedEx, Enel, Fever-Tree Drinks, Nike and National Express report results. Ocado has a trading update. (FT, Forbes)

What else we’re reading

Italian politicians learn to love Europe again The fractious world of Italian politics is experiencing an uneasy ceasefire as populist parties reconsider their anti-Brussels stance in the wake of Mario Draghi’s appointment as prime minister. But while peace has broken out for now, there are signs that hostilities will be resumed as the country nears elections. (FT)

NFTs: latest get-rich-quick scheme for ‘cryptosphere’ We are in the midst of a new mania. A species of digital asset as unsexy-sounding as the “non-fungible token” — or the only marginally sexier “NFT” — is taking over the front pages and social media, writes Jemima Kelly. But the bubble-mania will eventually burst. (FT)

EU mediation in Georgia tests clout The EU delegation that arrived in Georgia’s capital on Friday to broker a peace deal between the country’s divided political parties had hoped to be back in Brussels two days later. Almost a week on, they remain mired in fraught negotiations that have ramifications for the EU’s ability to influence events in its backyard. (FT)

Beijing’s war on the credit boom A campaign led by vice-premier Liu He to reduce the danger of uncontrolled lending in China’s once rampant shadow banking sector threatens to strangle the private sector, which has found it difficult to borrow directly from banks. Some warn that curbing the excesses of the past decade risks an overcorrection that could stifle innovative areas of financial activity and, ultimately, economic growth. (FT)

Boris Johnson must prioritise the security of women Too often violence and harassment of women are seen as a series of separate criminal justice issues rather than part of a bigger picture, writes Robert Shrimsley. The need for a new approach is clear. (FT)

Podcast of the day

The jeweller redesigning her business Claer Barrett catches up with 30-year-old jewellery designer Roseanna Croft. When they last spoke in October, her business was reeling from the impact of Covid-19. Money Clinic experts advised Roseanna on finding a new direction for her business under lockdown. Five months on, has she managed to resolve her financial issues? (FT)