Author: Lily Harper

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has struck a deal with Canadian asset manager Fiera Capital to set up a fund that will invest $200mn in Qatari stocks, as it seeks to entice financiers to Doha.The Qatar Investment Authority, estimated to manage $500bn, is trying to expand Qatar’s financial centre and make it a regional hub for money managers.With lower oil prices expected to slow the economy of its larger neighbour Saudi Arabia, whose appetite for foreign deals is shrinking, financiers are eyeing an…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sachin Dev Duggal, the founder and former chief executive of the collapsed Microsoft-backed tech start-up Builder.ai, made at least $20mn through selling shares in the business.The self-described “chief wizard” of the software company, which raked in more than $500mn from investors on its promise to use artificial intelligence to revolutionise app development, also borrowed against his stake in Builder.ai, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.Duggal’s investment firm, SD Squared Ventures, made in excess of $20mn from selling shares in the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Here’s an interesting Bloomberg piece on how JPMorgan keeps sending out lists of private credit loans it’s keen on buying, and keeps getting rebuffed by the industry.Bloomberg’s Ellen Schneider and Carmen Arroyo say the lists have become a running joke — private credit firms are resolutely holding JPMorgan at bay and “have little intention of sharing the profits with those banks now that private credit is a multitrillion-dollar industry and the talk of the financial world”.However, Alphaville has a sneaking suspicion the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Brussels is poised to announce new rules for the fast-growing stablecoin market, shrugging off warnings from the European Central Bank that the standards could destabilise the region’s banks during periods of market volatility.The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is planning to issue formal guidance proposing that stablecoins issued outside the bloc are treated as interchangeable with same-branded versions allowed only on EU markets, according to people briefed on its contents. The announcement was set for the coming days, said a person…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldUS Senator Elizabeth Warren has demanded that some of the country’s biggest private investment groups give up information about their lobbying efforts to secure tax breaks in Donald Trump’s spending bill, as debate intensifies about the landmark legislation’s winners and losers.The senator from Massachusetts, one of the leaders of the Democrats’ liberal wing, called on Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital and Thoma Bravo to provide details on any lobbying and political contributions intended to maintain “special-interest tax loopholes”.“It…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Monte dei Paschi di Siena said the European Central Bank had approved its proposed takeover of larger rival Mediobanca.The Italian lender said in a statement on Wednesday that the central bank had given the deal the go-ahead with no specific thresholds.Some analysts and industry insiders had expected the regulator to set some specific take up thresholds for the deal to go ahead because of a series of cross shareholdings between investors in both Monte dei Paschi and Mediobanca. The conditions set by the…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Cryptocurrencies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Hong Kong and Dubai are expected to be the main beneficiaries of a crackdown in Singapore on crypto exchanges, with unlicensed players being forced to close or move their operations by the end of the month.The Monetary Authority of Singapore caught the crypto industry off guard in May, when it announced exchanges serving only overseas customers would have to close by June 30, unless they received a licence that is hard to attain.Market observers saw the short timeframe for registering as the financial…

US banking mergers will accelerate over the next year, executives predict, driven by a more favourable approach from regulators, intensifying competition and the need to spend more on technology.Anticipation about a surge in deals between American banks has been growing since Donald Trump won last year’s presidential election promising to cut regulation and unburden business.But the volatility stirred up by Trump’s trade war threats has kept a lid on acquisitions, with only 78 so far this year — on track for one of the lowest annual totals in decades.Banking executives, lawyers and analysts are hopeful the environment will soon turn…

I am preparing my will, following my retirement. I recently decided to invest a portion of my wealth in cryptocurrency and I plan to invest more in the coming months. I am thinking about any potential pitfalls I might need to navigate with crypto versus more traditional assets like real estate or cash. What are the tax considerations? What about the security of my wallets, for example handing down the different passwords in a secure manner? I would also like to make sure that investing in a number of different coins and passing them all on separately is the most…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Part of the US commercial insurance market is on the verge of “breakdown”, executives have warned, as insurers withdraw US casualty coverage because of a rise in payouts that industry groups blame on “legal system abuse”.The cost of US casualty insurance, which businesses buy to protect themselves against legal claims from employees, customers or others harmed by their operations or products, has climbed for 23 quarters in a row, according to the world’s largest insurance broker Marsh. Prices for the insurance segment…