Author: Lily Harper

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.EY breached independence rules for its audits of Shell in the US and in the UK, the energy major has revealed, putting the Big Four firm in regulators’ crosshairs again. Shell said on Wednesday that the EY partner who led the audit of its 2023 and 2024 financial results had exceeded the period allowed under strict rotation rules set by American regulators, meaning the individual was not eligible to perform that role. EY also told Shell that it had breached UK rotation…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Shares of New World Development, the heavily indebted Hong Kong property group, jumped as investors welcomed the end of its refinancing talks with banks and the resignation of the founder’s grandson from his remaining board roles.Shares rose as much as 11 per cent on Wednesday to above HK$6 after the company announced on Monday evening it had secured support from banks to refinance loans of HK$88bn (US$11bn) following marathon negotiations. Hong Kong’s markets were closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.The refinancing…

The UK’s largest wealth manager St James’s Place is poised to introduce sweeping new fees next month as it seeks to rebuild a reputation that has been savaged by complaints about poor service and opaque charges.Mark FitzPatrick, who was parachuted in as chief executive at the end of 2023 to turn the group round, told the FT that the clearer charges should help customers “compare and contrast” their products with competitors. CAN WE GET A STRONGER FITZPATRICK QUOTEThe new model includes separating charges from a “bundled” cost so that customers can more clearly see individual fees for product wrappers, funds…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a professor of economics at SOAS University of LondonEurope, the joke runs in Brussels, is permanently at a crossroads. But this time, it seems existential as the region faces the challenge of fickle allies and stronger economic competitors in a world of rapid technological change. The European Commission’s way out? A triple transformative imperative: close the innovation gap, make a joint effort to decarbonise while boosting competitiveness, and reduce excessive security dependencies.Yet transformation has a price tag. The report…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Individuals should be able to invest in private assets within Isas, according to the chief executive of the Investment Association, even as some of the UK’s largest wealth managers express concerns over their suitability for retail. Chris Cummings, chief executive of the IA, which represents fund groups, wealth managers and private equity firms overseeing £9.1tn, told the Financial Times that semi-liquid private asset funds should be made more widely available in tax-efficient wrappers.This could have a “profound” effect on improving people’s retirement…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Deutsche Bank has laid out a steeper than expected capital hit from new rules on how banks calculate risk, as European lenders begin to reveal the impact of Basel IV reforms.Under the new rules, which will be fully implemented by 2033 and limit the extent to which banks can use internal models to calculate their risk-weighted assets, Deutsche’s RWAs would increase by one-third, based on figures from the lender’s latest Pillar 3 report which includes key information required from banks under the…

One scoop to start: Matthew Freud is looking at options to sell his eponymous PR consultancy after 40 years as one of London’s top spin-doctors and corporate fixers.And another scoop: Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel has been outshone by smaller rivals so far this year, as the firm was stung by the market volatility unleashed by Donald Trump’s trade war.And one more scoop: A two-year-old Swedish artificial intelligence start-up that promises to make programming an app as easy as writing a few sentences is nearing a valuation of almost $2bn, in the latest sign of investor fervour for AI coding…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ministers should ditch the pensions “triple lock” as part of a wider overhaul that is needed to prevent millions of private sector workers experiencing a sharp fall in living standards when they retire, a new study has found. Some 39 per cent of company workers will face a financial cliff-edge in retirement under current arrangements, a two-and-a-half-year study between the Institute for Fiscal Studies and asset manager Aberdeen’s financial fairness charity found. The study projected half of middle and high-earning private sector…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Palmer Luckey, the billionaire co-founder of military tech group Anduril, is preparing to launch a US bank intended to fill the gap left by Silicon Valley Bank serving start-ups, including cryptocurrency businesses. To be named Erebor, the bank would be backed by high-profile tech investors including Joe Lonsdale, the founder of venture capital firm 8VC and a co-founder of Peter Thiel’s defence group Palantir, according to people familiar with the matter. Thiel’s venture capital fund, Founders Fund, would also be among the…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the US banks myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Investors reaped the rewards of looser bank supervision as Wall Street’s biggest banks announced a flood of shareholder payouts on Tuesday after passing regulatory “stress tests” that imposed easier conditions than in years past. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and others said they would raise quarterly dividend payments to shareholders, and JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley also said they would buy back billions of dollars’ worth of their shares. Goldman said it would raise its dividend 33 per cent to…