Author: Lily Harper

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Cryptocurrencies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Brandon Lutnick, son of US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, is partnering with SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex to capitalise on a cryptocurrency revival under US President Donald Trump. The consortium is creating a multibillion-dollar bitcoin acquisition vehicle that will absorb billions in cryptocurrency from the other partners and use the funds in an attempt to replicate the success of MicroStrategy, a one-time software company that surged after pivoting to cryptocurrency investing, according to three people briefed on the matter. The vehicle is an attempt…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Nomura has agreed to buy Macquarie’s US and European public asset management business as part of its strategy to take advantage of a generational shift in Japanese investment habits.The $1.8bn all-cash deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, will entail Nomura buying a business with about $180bn in assets under management across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies.The acquisition will expand Nomura’s existing investment management division to roughly $770bn, with more than 35 per cent being managed…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK financial regulation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The UK government plans to water down rules for private equity and hedge funds by introducing a lighter regulatory regime for smaller groups to encourage more investment.The Treasury is expected to announce on Monday that it is lifting the size threshold for which alternative asset managers are subjected to the main rules for the sector, from £100mn of funds under management to £5bn.A new, less onerous regime will be introduced for groups with less than £5bn of assets, which the Treasury…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Large institutional investors are studying options to shed stakes in illiquid private equity funds after the rout in global financial markets pummelled their portfolios, according to top private capital advisers.The calls by pensions and endowments seeking ways to exit their investments, probably at discounts to their stated value, is a bad sign for the $4tn buyout industry. Industry giants such as Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle all saw their stocks plunge by about a fifth in value last week.The race to find liquidity…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Citigroup has cut bonuses for 250 top employees under a programme that tied their pay to a turnaround effort aimed at boosting shareholder returns and fixing compliance shortcomings at the US bank. Citi’s so-called transformation bonus programme was put in place three years ago to incentivise senior staff to boost the group’s financial performance and improve its risk and control systems following an order by regulators to take action after a high-profile blunder in which it accidentally wired $900mn to a group…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldThe Trump administration is considering selling the Washington headquarters of the FBI and the Department of Justice as it presses ahead with its aggressive government cost-cutting agenda.The General Services Administration, which manages US federal buildings, on Tuesday published a list of more than 440 properties it deemed “not core to government operations”.In addition to the FBI and DoJ buildings, those of the departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development were also on the list.“GSA…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman took home more than $1bn in 2024 as the private equity titan saw his income rise due to a rebound in investment activity at the world’s largest alternative investment group, according to the company’s annual report released late Friday.Schwarzman’s income marked a 9 per cent increase from the prior year, fuelled entirely by rising dividend payments from his enormous Blackstone shareholding. The Blackstone co-founder owns 19 per cent of the New York-based investment group and has for…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ministers are examining proposals to grant banks access to all of the accounts of benefit claimants, as they try to crack down on fraud to fix a “gaping hole” in the UK welfare system.Officials in the Department for Work and Pensions have been asked to investigate the proposal as a possible means to ensure welfare recipients do not hold more funds than they claim to, according to people briefed on the matter.“We are looking at whether it would be possible to get…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the ESG investing myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.BlackRock has cancelled meetings with companies in the middle of shareholder battles because it fears that it could violate guidance on investor activism that the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued last week.BlackRock and other asset managers typically talk with companies about voting ahead of activism campaigns and also about routine proxy ballot issues at annual shareholder meetings. But that practice has been called into question by the SEC’s guidance, which has been widely interpreted as an attack on using environmental, social…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Oil & Gas industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Activist hedge fund Elliott Management has built a stake in struggling UK oil major BP, according to two people with knowledge of the move.The exact size of Elliott’s stake could not be learned but the $70bn assets under management hedge fund has adjusted its activist strategy in recent years to increase the size of its individual bets, while reducing the number of situations it focuses on. BP’s shares have fallen nearly 9 per cent over the past year, compared with…