UK businesses turn to overseas talent and AI as Reeves’ taxes bite February 9, 2026 British businesses are facing a “trade off” as rising costs for employers push firms into investing in overseas talent and leveraging AI. Whilst businesses are ditching the “wait-and-see” approach that engulfed firms amidst the tax uncertainty ahead of November’s Budget, this has not translated into a hiring upswing, the latest KPMG and REC jobs report [...]
Exclusive: Lloyd’s of London quietly shelves Blueprint Two to rethink strategy February 6, 2026 After years of delays, Lloyd’s of London’s ambitious strategy to digitalise the marketplace has been shelved, as new management under Patrick Tiernan seeks to rethink the approach. Blueprint Two, launched seven years ago, was a programme pitched as delivering a “profound” change in the London specialist and reinsurance market through digitalisation. Lloyd’s, together with the [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Starmer unease rattles markets; Big tech sell-off February 6, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Speculation over Keir Starmer’s future has unleashed a fresh round of market unease as investors dumped the pound, UK equities and long-dated government bonds amid rising political uncertainty. The gulf in price between the UK’s short- and long-term debt – known as the yield curve – reached [...]
China ties force co-founder exit at UK AI startup Fractile February 5, 2026 Co-founder of British AI chip startup Fractile left the company after concerns were raised internally about his links to China amid growing scrutiny of national security risks across the UK’s strategic tech sector. Yuhang Song, Fractile’s former chief technology officer, departed the business in May 2024 following questions over his academic background and earlier ties [...]
Court ruling tests Britain’s £1bn data centre power plans – and energy policy February 5, 2026 A High Court challenge to a £1bn data centre beside the M25 has exposed a glaring issue for Britain’s ambitious AI build out. Power hungry projects are effectively being approved before anyone is sure where the power will come from. The government has accepted that planning permission for a 90MW hyperscale facility at Iver in [...]
Anthropic’s new tool raises bar for legal AI startups February 5, 2026 A dramatic shift is underway in the legal tech landscape as AI advancements disrupt traditional industry leaders. This comes as the traditional research and analytics software businesses saw billions wiped out from their market share this week after Anthropic announced its new AI. San Francisco-based AI giant Anthropic, the firm behind chatbot Claude, revealed on [...]
Mark Kleinman: South East Water’s excuses have run dry February 5, 2026 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column South East Water’s excuses have run dry How the water industry could do with the raising of a Mervyn King eyebrow. While governor of the Bank of England in 2012, Lord King defenestrated Bob Diamond as [...]
Nick Train’s Finsbury fund slides further as AI triggers jitters February 4, 2026 Nick Train’s Finsbury Growth and Income Trust (FGIT) has endured another torrid few days after being caught up in the sell-off in data and software stocks. The trust is heavily exposed to London’s leading listed software companies, all of which have faced heavy pressure since the launch of Anthropic’s legal productivity tool on Monday. At [...]
Musk’s mega merger raises stakes for SpaceX IPO February 4, 2026 Musk’s decision to absorb xAI into SpaceX may strengthen its growth narrative ahead of a mooted IPO. Or, it could add a trifecta of complexity, regulatory exposure and executive risk at a particularly sensitive moment. The all-stock deal values the combined group at around $1.25 trillion (£910bn), making it the world’s most valuable private company [...]
‘Investors are nervous’ – will Google and OpenAI follow Anthropic with legal tools? February 4, 2026 Anthropic’s release of a legal plugin was “inevitable,” says the CEO of legal AI firm Wexler, who adds that investors’ surprising reaction may be due to nerves and a desire to find a reason to sell. Tech giant Anthropic unveiled a new tool aimed directly at in-house lawyers on Tuesday, but the move rattled investors, [...]