Author: Lily Harper

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Former Wall Street trader Bill Hwang has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, capping an extraordinary fall from grace for the Archegos founder who was earlier this year found guilty of orchestrating a massive market deception that cost big banks billions of dollars.Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Wednesday said the actions of the 60-year-old, who was convicted of fraud and market manipulation in July, warranted “serious punishment”, and compared the scale of his crimes to those of FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, who was…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Grant Thornton UK, the country’s sixth largest accounting firm by revenue, has agreed to sell a stake to the buyout group Cinven, marking the most significant private equity investment to date in the UK accounting sector.Cinven beat rival offers from other private equity groups including Sweden’s EQT, and from Grant Thornton’s sister firm in the US, which had proposed a transatlantic merger. The size of the stake and the price that Cinven has agreed to pay could not immediately be learned. Grant…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A top executive at US hedge fund Bridgewater Associates has bought a $12.2mn home in one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, in a move cheered by a government official as a sign of international confidence in the territory. Bob Prince, co-chief investment officer of one of the world’s largest hedge funds, bought the property in Hong Kong’s Kadoorie Hill, which has for decades been home to some of the area’s wealthiest families, for HK$95mn in July. Albert Goh, a senior official at…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK property myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.UK rent growth accelerated in October with London registering the largest increase, according to official data that suggests more pain for tenants after two years of rising costs.Average private rents increased by 8.7 per cent in the 12 months to October 2024, up from 8.4 per cent in the 12 months to September 2024 and the fastest pace since April, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Rent growth last month was only marginally below the record high annual rise of…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.More than two decades since the release of Lost in Translation, the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where the movie is set, is back in the spotlight. This time it is an activist investor calling for its sale that has put the focus back on the renowned hotel.Shares of Tokyo Gas, the owner of the Park Hyatt Tokyo, rose as much as 15 per cent on Wednesday after Elliott Management said it now held a 5 per cent stake in the company and may…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Santander UK has set aside £295mn to cover the potential costs of a British court ruling on unlawful commissions that banks paid to car dealerships.The lender on Wednesday became the largest institution to announce such a provision since the Court of Appeal ruled last month on the mis-selling of car loans.The figure was published with Santander UK’s full third-quarter results, which the bank delayed last month in order to calculate the potential cost of the ruling.The court said it was illegal for…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.My husband and I separated a few years ago. A key aspect of our divorce was agreeing how the education for our twin girls would be paid for. A school fees order was set up, to which my ex-husband contributes significantly, but he claims that with 20 per cent VAT, which the independent school has said will be added, he cannot afford his share. I am desperate to avoid disruption to my children’s education. Is there anything I can do?Lisa Greggains, senior…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Investment Banking myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Wall Street’s “Trump bump” has lifted the value of star dealmaker Paul Taubman’s stake in PJT Partners above $1bn for the first time, as the decade-old boutique positions itself to benefit from an expected post-election surge in corporate activity. Shares in PJT have risen by almost a tenth since Donald Trump’s re-election earlier this month, as bankers and investors gear up for a burst of dealmaking during the next presidency.The jump adds to a more than fivefold run-up in the investment bank’s…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Exchange traded funds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Latest news on ETFsVisit our ETF Hub to find out more and to explore our in-depth data and comparison toolsBlackRock and Amundi are lining up heavily concentrated US “mega-cap” exchange traded funds in Europe, going against the flow of money into strategies intended to protect investors from overconcentration.The Central Bank of Ireland recently granted approval for the Amundi MSCI USA Mega Cap Ucits ETF and iShares S&P 500 Top 20 Ucits ETF, which are both designed to track the largest companies…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Daniel Harrison experienced life in an entrepreneurial financial services company from a young age when he joined his father’s advisory business, Positive Solutions, at just 17.Less than a decade later, in 2007, he helped his father to launch True Potential, a provider of technology and support services to independent financial advisers. And a key part of their strategy was that True Potential would build its own technology.“A lot of the thinking behind True Potential was a recognition that we had to own…