Author: Lily Harper

One scoop to start: A former top German central banker is set to lead the supervisory board of the country’s most valuable fintech N26 as part of a leadership reshuffle that aims to resolve a conflict between investors and founders.Welcome to Due Diligence, your briefing on dealmaking, private equity and corporate finance. This article is an on-site version of the newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Tuesday to Friday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters. Get in touch with us anytime: Due.Diligence@ft.comIn today’s newsletter: OpenAI’s thorny restructuringOpenAI’s position…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Investment chiefs at the world’s best performing sovereign wealth fund are betting that European stocks will outshine their transatlantic rivals over the coming decade, in a sign that some global asset owners are losing confidence in the long-term outlook for US equities. Brad Dunstan and Will Goodwin, co-chief investment officers at New Zealand’s NZ$76bn ($44bn) Super Fund, told the Financial Times in an interview that the European stock market was the fund’s largest “overweight” position versus its reference portfolio, as it takes tactical…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A former top German central banker is set to lead the supervisory board of the country’s most valuable fintech N26 as part of a leadership reshuffle that aims to resolve a conflict between investors and founders.Andreas Dombret, a one-time Bundesbank executive board member, “is to be nominated by the founders and several investors” as the new chair of N26’s supervisory board, the bank told the Financial Times, adding that it would convene “an extraordinary general meeting in the near future to formalise…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UBS has ordered bankers to scale back sales of complex currency derivatives after clients suffered heavy losses linked to Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcements.The Swiss bank told advisers to stop pitching the structured FX products — known as Range Target Profit Forwards (RTPFs) — to many clients, according to three people familiar with the discussions, amid growing concerns about sales practices and whether the products were suitable.UBS has already made more than 100 “goodwill” payments to customers who lost money when…

This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Yesterday morning it was reported that Donald Trump met congressional Republicans to discuss firing Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell. Markets freaked. In less than an hour, 2-year Treasury yields fell 6 basis points, the S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent and the dollar dropped. The president then denied the whole thing and markets recovered. We’re not sure what game the president is playing. While…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The chief executive of Canada’s largest bank has warned the UK government against introducing a new wealth tax, saying it would compound the exodus of rich people from the country following the abolition of the non-dom regime. Dave McKay, the boss of Royal Bank of Canada, which has a large wealth management business in the UK, said that increasing the tax burden on the wealthy would “100 per cent” result in people leaving for “a lower tax jurisdiction”. “If you put in…

Even hedge fund royalty Bobby Jain is having a hard time starting a firm to compete with the industry’s giants.The former co-chief investment officer at Millennium Management tried to pull off the world’s largest hedge fund launch last year. He had to settle for the largest launch since 2018 with $5.3bn in commitments from investors, after falling short of the initial fundraising target of $8bn-$10bn.A year on from the start of trading, high costs and a slow build-up mean Jain Global is at the bottom of the pack of so-called multi-managers that it is seeking to challenge. “This is a…

One scoop to start: Diageo chief executive Debra Crew has quit with immediate effect, confirming an earlier report by the FT that she was to be replaced. The Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner is struggling with falling alcohol sales and waning investor confidence.And another thing: Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard has withdrawn its record-breaking $46bn proposal to acquire Japan’s Seven & i Holdings, bringing an end to its year-long campaign to pull the 7-Eleven owner to the negotiating table on friendly terms.Welcome to Due Diligence, your briefing on dealmaking, private equity and corporate finance. This article is an on-site version of the…

Global central banks face a dilemma over whether to embrace stablecoins or promote alternatives to the new technology, as the US’s aggressive backing of privately issued tokens thrusts the fast-growing sector into the financial mainstream.This week, politicians in Washington are advancing legislation to ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital currency and provide a regulatory framework for privately issued stablecoins. For the Trump administration, such tokens, which are mostly backed by dollar assets, offer a vehicle to project the strength of the greenback globally. But the Bank for International Settlements, the umbrella body for central banks, last month warned…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Investment Banking myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Citigroup is stepping up its poaching of senior dealmakers from JPMorgan, signalling the ambitions of its new banking chief Viswas Raghavan after restrictions on hiring from his old bank recently expired. Citi hired Raghavan as head of banking in February 2024 to bolster its position in investment banking, taking him from JPMorgan, where he had led the dealmaking division.Raghavan has hired at least five senior bankers from JPMorgan as he begins to build out his team, including recruiting his former colleague Achintya…