Author: Lily Harper

Massimo Tononi, chair of Milan-based Banco BPM, received a call late on Sunday evening from an unexpected caller: Andrea Orcel, chief executive of its crosstown rival UniCredit. Orcel had picked up the phone to inform Tononi that UniCredit would announce an unsolicited €10.1bn takeover bid for his bank first thing on Monday morning. The surprise move has propelled Orcel to the centre of Italy’s banking consolidation, and suggests his takeover priorities are in flux after UniCredit’s advances to German lender Commerzbank encountered fierce opposition in recent months. Orcel on Monday told analysts UniCredit could not miss out on looming mergers…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Canadian financial services group Canaccord Genuity is working with bankers to run a strategic review of its UK wealth management business, in a move that could lead to a sale of the C$63bn ($45bn) in assets division.Canaccord and London-based boutique investment bank Fenchurch Advisory are assessing the future of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management UK, according to two people familiar with the situation. The strategic review was in its early stages and outcomes could include everything from an outright sale of the business to bringing…

Latest news on ETFsVisit our ETF Hub to find out more and to explore our in-depth data and comparison toolsFund managers that have converted out-of-favour mutual funds into exchange traded funds are typically being rewarded with a jump in inflows, according to research by Bank of America.The trend, which has seen 121 actively managed US funds with total assets of $125bn switch structure in the past five years, offers hope to under-fire active managers that have seen persistent outflows in recent years as investors have increasingly adopted low-cost index-tracking funds.“It’s a pretty remarkable result,” said Jared Woodard, investment and ETF…

US investment bank Jefferies was happy to help out Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s business empire after it was hit with damaging fraud allegations last year, brokering a $1.9bn capital boost for the infrastructure group and cheering it on social media.Since then it has been the only US bank that has helped the Indian group’s companies raise equity, according to public data.It is a relationship that helped propel Jefferies’ rapid expansion in India — but one that now puts the New York-based bank in a potentially tricky position following Adani’s separate indictment by US authorities over an alleged $256mn bribery scheme.People with…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Well-known bond investor Ken Leech was charged with criminal fraud on Monday for allegedly orchestrating a $600mn “cherry-picking” scheme that improperly allocated trades to particular portfolios at Western Asset Management.The US Department of Justice alleged in a criminal indictment that Leech, then Western Asset Management’s co-chief investment officer, placed trades with brokers between January 2021 and October 2023, and then waited until later in the day to assign them to specific portfolios. That resulted in $600mn net gains for his Macro Opportunities…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Four years after the UK government approved a flood defence scheme at Tenbury Wells, the West Midlands town remained at the mercy of Storm Bert as it swept across England.The town, which is built on the banks of the River Teme in Worcestershire, has regularly flooded over the past two decades. On Sunday it was again inundated when an old wall adjoining a brook collapsed, sending torrents of muddy water down the high street.Storm Bert has wreaked havoc in parts of Wales,…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Pensions industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The push to get UK pension funds to invest more in private markets would boost returns by just 2 per cent over a 30-year period, according to the government’s own forecasts.In her Mansion House speech earlier this month, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced proposals to create a series of “megafunds” across the UK’s £1.3tn defined contribution and local authority pension industry to drive more investment into UK infrastructure projects and start-ups. Policymakers have also argued that larger pension funds with higher exposure to private…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK financial regulation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The writer is the author of several books on the City and Wall Street“This sector is the crown jewel in our economy,” chancellor Rachel Reeves told a City audience at this month’s Mansion House dinner. Crown jewel or not, the UK financial services industry still has an ability to deliver nasty surprises. The recent Court of Appeal motor loans judgment poses awkward questions for the sector, its regulators and the government’s pro-City approach. The court has ruled that car dealers must disclose…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.An arm of Abu Dhabi’s state investment fund is buying Canadian asset manager CI Financial in one of the largest direct investments into North America by energy-rich Middle Eastern buyers as they increase their investment plans in the region.Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of the $302bn-in-assets state-backed investment fund, has agreed to pay C$32 a share for CI Financial, representing a 33 per cent premium to its Friday closing price.The deal ascribes the Toronto-based investment manager, which has more than C$500bn…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Swedish consumer lender Klarna has reported a profit for the third quarter as it benefited from an expansion in the US that increased payment volumes but also pushed up credit losses.The provider of short-term consumer credit posted a net profit of SKr216mn ($20mn) in the three months to the end of September. However, it remained lossmaking overall in the first nine months of the year, reporting a net loss of SKr116mn. For these nine months from January to September, revenues rose 23…