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The EU proposal would digitise some A1 and health-insurance documents and create new qualification tools. Current national procedures remain in place until the measures are adopted and phased in.
American Express and TRS consented to a Federal Reserve cease-and-desist order that requires three written plans within 90 days and quarterly progress reports, with no civil money penalty. A companion OCC order against American Express National Bank carries a $350 million penalty.
The ONS October 2026 update records four areas of work on UK trade statistics: revisions and uncertainty in services estimates, trade asymmetries, consolidated quality information, and rebuilt production systems. Most of the changes concern how much users can trust the numbers rather than new headline figures.
The Federal Reserve released the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances on 9 October 2026, showing real median family income up 7 per cent to $82,200 while real mean income fell 6 per cent to $145,200, and real median net worth up 2 per cent to $215,900. Among families with debt, 19.6 per cent reported being late on a payment, up from 12.2 per cent in 2022, and the share whose debt payments exceed 40 per cent of income rose to 8.6 per cent.
UK public sector net borrowing was £18.3 billion in August 2026, £2.9 billion more than a year earlier and £3.5 billion above the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast, while borrowing for the financial year to August was £2.2 billion below the same period last year but £8.1 billion above forecast. Net debt was provisionally estimated at £2,985.5 billion, or 93.8% of GDP, five weeks before the Budget on 28 October.
The Office for National Statistics published a methodology article on 21 September 2026 setting out how it will build an artificial intelligence thematic account for the UK national accounts, using the System of National Accounts 2025 definition and 23 product categories, with a prototype window in 2027 and an experimental account targeted for March 2028. Its own surveys show AI use by businesses with 10 or more employees rising from about 12% in 2023 to around 35% in the June 2026 wave, which the ONS says is still a large step from a value-based estimate.
The Office for National Statistics revised UK business investment growth up to 1.8% for April to June 2026 from 1.7%, while whole economy investment was revised down to 0.9% from 1.2% because central government investment fell 2.9%. Business investment was revised by 0.6 percentage points on average each quarter since early 2025, and the next release on 12 November 2026 can move the figures again.
Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the 2026 economics prize for work behind New Keynesian models. Their research helps explain how central banks respond to supply shocks.
