Author: Lily Harper

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Revolut has allowed some of its early investors to cash out at least $300mn as part of a share sale backed by wealthy Goldman Sachs clients, following a similar transaction that mainly enabled employees to sell the UK fintech’s stock.Early investors in Revolut sold between $300mn and $500mn worth of shares, according to three people familiar with the matter. The transaction maintained Revolut’s valuation at $45bn.About $100mn worth of shares were sold to Goldman Sachs’ growth equity unit on behalf of private…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK financial watchdog has criticised life insurers for processing bereavement claims too slowly, urging them to digitise more of the process to save time and to improve their monitoring of response times. The Financial Conduct Authority said “firms have more work to do in respect to poor and slow service” after carrying out a review of how life insurers handled bereavement claims — an area where it said customers are more likely to be vulnerable.The review, based on data from 15 insurers…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the US & Canadian companies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The growth of private credit presents an opportunity rather than a threat to Wall Street’s biggest banks, according to Wall Street’s biggest banks, some of whose recent deep dives on the topic nevertheless betray more than a hint of worry.Bank of America analysts got the ball rolling in early October, penning more than 10,000 words on why still-dominant traditional lenders and upstart private credit vehicles like KKR and Apollo (which account for a fifth of the global leveraged finance market) should…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Investments myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Hedge fund bosses are well remunerated. The average established fund charges clients a 1.8 per cent annual management fee on top of taking 22 per cent of the profits (after clearing a hurdle rate), according to law firm Seward & Kissel.To earn those sorts of fees, they often have to make some pretty bold calls and have the conviction to stick with them even when things are looking a little rough.Take Camelot Capital Partners, for instance. The California-based fund founded by William Barker…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Brookfield has agreed to provide a £900mn backstop for Canary Wharf’s debts, as the docklands landlord seeks bondholders’ approval for its plans to refinance upcoming maturities with new loans secured against its retail portfolio. Canary Wharf Group (CWG), which owns and manages a large part of the east London financial district, has asked bondholders for approval to allow it to raise new debt secured against its retail portfolio, according to a statement on Friday. Brookfield, the Canadian asset manager that co-owns CWG with the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Shoppers who have saved a high number of Nectar points are being warned to check their balance after a spate of stolen points scams prompted the introduction of extra security measures. More than 18mn people in the UK are members of the loyalty scheme operated by supermarket J Sainsbury, collecting points on the Nectar app or card when they spend on groceries, in Argos, or at Esso petrol stations.Points can be spent in store, or converted into Avios to spend on British…

The Venn diagram overlap of people obsessively interested in both exchange traded funds and the risk parity investment strategy isn’t huge, but it includes at least one of the people at FT Alphaville Towers. So here are some more, hopefully semi-coherent, thoughts on the news that State Street Global Advisors is partnering with Bridgewater to launch an ETF powered by the hedge fund group’s “All Weather” risk parity strategy.Admittedly this content won’t be for everyone, but we’re told that niches are the future of journalism, so: This is a weird time to be launching a risk parity productState Street has…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Lindsay, Oklahoma, is 1,600 miles from Santa Clara, California. For some depositors of the First National Bank of Lindsay that distance might feel like a couple of worlds away. But the failure of First National, which collapsed a month ago and was acquired by nearby rival First Bank & Trust, means Lindsay and Santa Clara are twinned in a rather unusual way. As befits US bank failures, the First National Bank transfer to its new owner should be seamless for most customers.…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Eurozone economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Eurozone business activity fell sharply in November, increasing the odds of a half-point cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank next month.Hamburg Commercial Bank’s composite Eurozone purchasing managers’ index unexpectedly fell to a 10-month low of 48.1 points, sinking below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction, according to a flash estimate published on Friday.Analysts had expected no change from last month’s reading of 50.“The Eurozone’s manufacturing sector is sinking deeper into recession, and now the services sector is…

“To the 12,750 people who ordered a single takeaway on Valentine’s Day. You OK, hun?”Stuck up on London underground trains by Revolut in 2019, the damning question was the fintech’s tongue-in-cheek attempt to show off its close relationship with customers. The ad sparked a backlash, with many taking to social media to call out not only its patronising, “single-shaming” tone, but the fact that Revolut’s private bank transaction data could be so casually publicised.The PR disaster serves as a cautionary tale of the sensitivities around customer data in financial services, where trust and privacy are paramount to the client relationship.…