Author: Lily Harper

Vanguard has deposed its rival BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, from its position as manager of the second-largest exchange traded fund in the world.In a rare setback for the fund giant, BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) has been overtaken by Vanguard’s equivalent S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which had assets of $540.76bn at Friday’s close, according to data from Morningstar, marginally ahead of IVV’s $540.66bn.The reversal represents a marked change of fortunes for the two funds, given that VOO was $58bn behind IVV as recently as the start of 2022.VOO is now just $50bn behind the SPDR S&P…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The huge outflows from Franklin Templeton’s biggest subsidiary extended into October, as the $1.7tn asset manager said the group’s revenue and income would be weighed down by a regulatory probe at the unit. Western Asset Management has experienced more than $53bn in net outflows since it revealed in August that its co-chief investment officer has been put on leave and warned he was facing possible action from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The figure included nearly $28bn in September and another…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.What is the next great investment idea? And what are the chances that Warren Buffett will be the person to identify it? Wall Street likes his odds. Shares in the class B of Berkshire Hathaway are up 25 per cent so far in 2024. And the rally comes as Buffett has been rapidly paring back his blockbuster win in Apple stock.On Saturday, Berkshire Hathaway reported its third-quarter results, most notably that its cash and marketable securities balance had swelled to $325bn. A…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Spanish bank Sabadell has traded blows with US private equity group Cerberus in a €365mn London lawsuit over a soured multibillion-euro property deal.The case, which concluded on Friday, is one of the highest value banking disputes before the High Court and comes as Sabadell faces a hostile €11bn takeover bid from domestic rival BBVA.Sabadell sued Cerberus over claims the New York-based group failed to pay what it owes for the purchase about five years ago of distressed Spanish property portfolios covering tens…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Exchange traded funds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.BlackRock has joined the list of firms filing to adopt Vanguard’s ETF multi-share class structure, pitching the dual-class flexibility as bolstering ETFs’ asset base by yoking them to mutual funds within 401(k)s.In a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm became the 33rd to apply for open-ended mutual funds to list ETF shares. The filing also seeks approval to list mutual fund shares of ETFs.Sponsors including Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and T Rowe Price are among the others also…

Wall Street’s largest financial institutions have loaned more than $11bn to a niche group of tech companies based on their possession of the world’s hottest commodity: Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips.Blackstone, Pimco, Carlyle and BlackRock are among those that have created a lucrative new debt market over the past year by lending to “neocloud” companies, which provide cloud computing to tech groups building AI products.Neocloud groups such as CoreWeave, Crusoe and Lambda Labs have acquired tens of thousands of Nvidia’s high-performance computer chips, known as GPUs, that are crucial for developing generative AI models. Those Nvidia chips are now also being…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Global Economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Besides the spectacle of a UN secretary-general obsequiously paying respect to a Russian president indicted for abducting children, last month’s Brics summit in Kazan featured the more technical, but geopolitically more consequential, push “to make the international financial architecture more inclusive and just”.Brics finance ministers specified three aspirations. One: a cross-border payment system, separate from that comprising Belgian-based Swift, western correspondent banks, and the Federal Reserve and allied central banks. Two: securities settlement and depositary services. Three (which the UK as a…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.“Where are the customers’ yachts?” goes an old joke about Wall Street pay. These days, the jibes are levelled at the salaries of top lawyers. Outsize rewards in the legal profession are a sign that traditional client relationships are changing.In London, the arrival of high-paying US firms has helped push up top UK law firms’ charge-out rates by almost 40 per cent over five years, roughly two-thirds more than inflation. The trend has been driven by the rise of private equity and…

In July, Ken Griffin paid a record $45mn for a near-immaculate 11-foot tall stegosaurus skeleton called “Apex” — a fitting purchase for a billionaire that many consider the apex predator of finance. In a Sotheby’s press release announcing the sale, Griffin said: “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America”. It was a heavy hint of Republican-supporting Griffin’s thinly-veiled political ambitions, which are being bankrolled by his estimated $43bn fortune. The two companies to which he owes that wealth have similarly gargantuan aspirations — but no such geographical sensitivities. Griffin made his name through his hedge…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital is in talks to invest in UK corporate debt research start-up 9fin, in a deal that would value the privately held company at around $500mn, according to people familiar with the matter.The investment by the Middle Eastern fund would mark the latest in a flurry of high-profile transactions for businesses that provide information on niche areas of financial markets.No final agreement has been reached and may be weeks away, said the people. Other suitors including private equity giant…