Autumn Budget: Healey weighs slashing fiscal headroom to reduce tax hikes Politics Chancellor John Healey is debating accepting a smaller fiscal buffer in order to reduce tax hikes in next month’s Autumn Budget. The Treasury and No 10 are in active discussions over whether to set a lower buffer in the Budget than the Office for Budget Responsibility set in March, according to reports in the Financial [...]
Legal & General to cut 1,000 jobs by middle of 2027 Investing Legal and General plans to cut 1,000 jobs by the middle of next year as part of a push from chief executive Antonio Simoes to create a “leaner operation”. The UK’s largest asset manager informed staff on Wednesday on email that it has begun moves to eliminate 10 per cent of its workforce. The programme [...]
City watchdog begins legal action against loan notes firm Hunter Jones Markets The City watchdog has begun High Court proceedings against a loan notes firm and its chief executive, according to court filings, amid growing scrutiny of the high-risk instruments and their availability to retail investors. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has initiated proceedings against Osborne Baldwin, which trades as both Hunter Jones and Hunter Jones Group, [...]
Investec’s South Africa surge offsets cooling UK performance September 18, 2026 Investec doubled down on its full-year targets today after a surge in activity in South Africa helped offset a slump in the UK. The FTSE 100 lender projected earnings per share to land between 41.7p to 43.3p, a three per cent to seven per cent rise from the prior year. The growth projection was largely [...]
Gore Street Energy narrowly defeats Saba’s wind down vote September 16, 2026 Gore Street Energy Fund has survived an attempt by activist hedge fund Saba Capital to wind it down at its latest annual general meeting, after investors narrowly voted against its discontinuation. The battery fund quashed the Boaz Weinstein-run fund’s efforts to shut it down at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, but more than [...]
From due diligence to market mapping: Private capital is leaning on AI September 16, 2026 Private equity and venture capital firms are handing over administrative and back-office tasks to artificial intelligence agents in order to shift staff focus to more pressing matters. AI is becoming increasingly embedded across the UK private capital industry, with nine in ten firms now using the technology to support at least one business activity, according [...]
Use AI for investing at your own risk, warns watchdog August 27, 2026 The financial watchdog has warned Brits using AI for investment advice that they may not be protected if things go wrong as more people turn to online chatbots. Four in five inexperienced investors admitted to using AI tools for help with their investment decision, according to the latest research from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). [...]
European private credit booms as private equity firms are forced to refinance August 24, 2026 Lending by European private credit firms hit a record-high in the first half of the year as a subdued dealmaking environment forced private equity firms to pause sale processes and renegotiate their portfolio companies’ debt, new data suggests. The value of direct lending across the continent hit €63.2bn (£54.1bn) in the first six months of [...]
Burnham’s devolution drive could ‘push 90,000 jobs out of London’ August 12, 2026 Roughly 90,000 of London’s white-collar jobs could be pushed into other parts of the country as Andy Burnham accelerates his devolution drive, a top recruitment firm has predicted. Legal, banking and accounting firms could be among those to shift thousands of jobs away from the capital in a bid to capitalise on the Prime Minister’s [...]
London IPO candidate Utmost sees inflows slide August 12, 2026 A wealth soultions firm expected to IPO in London later this year has posted a fall in inflows as a boost generated by last year’s UK government tax shake up tailed off. Utmost, owned by private equity firms Oaktree Capital and Brookfield, recorded £4.4bn of inflows in the first half of the year, down from [...]