By: Maria Ward-Brennan

Professional Services Editor Maria Ward-Brennan is the Professional Services Editor at City AM, focused on law, Big Four, and other management and accounting consulting firms. She edits the Beyond The Billable newsletter and column. She was previously a litigation reporter at The Lawyer. Contact her via email at maria.ward-brennan@cityam.com or on X @MariaW_B.

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New Companies House ID rule triggers 30 per cent slump in registrations

December 29, 2025

Companies House’s new rules to prevent fraud have sparked a dramatic fall in new company registrations. As of 18 November, a new law came into effect requiring company directors to verify their identity, with failure to do so carrying enforcement risks. The new rules were part of Companies House’s new ID powers, which aim to [...]
Rolls-Royce boss ‘Turbo Tufan’ on track for record £100m payday

December 29, 2025

The boss of Rolls-Royce is expected to receive a share-based bumper that could exceed £100m, following the turnaround that has seen the engineering group’s market value surge. Tufan Erginbilgic, who took charge at the start of 2023, was awarded 8.3m shares as part of his package deal to take over the FTSE 100 giant. At [...]
BP to sell majority stake in Castrol to US investment firm

December 24, 2025

BP’s share price was slightly up on Wednesday after it announced the sale of a majority stake in its lubricant business to a US investment firm in a deal valuing the unit at $10.1bn (£7.5bn). The FTSE 100 oil giant kicked off the sale process in February, and New York-based Stonepeak has agreed to buy [...]
Lawyers warn farmers: Labour’s U-turn on IHT threshold “not an all-clear”

December 24, 2025

Lawyers warned that, despite Labour’s U-turn on the inheritance tax relief threshold for farms, many agricultural families may still be impacted, and significant tax burdens may remain for some estates. In a whiplash U-turn, the Labour government revealed on Tuesday that, after a year of backlash from rural communities, it would increase the Agricultural and [...]
Keir Starmer urges public to ‘reach out’ as he acknowledges cost-of-living struggle

December 24, 2025

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has acknowledged that many are “still struggling with the cost of living” in a Christmas message posted on Wednesday morning. He said “we should each do our bit” as he urged people to “call around to a neighbour, check in on a friend or a relative who you haven’t heard from [...]
Hedge fund tycoon Alan Howard quits UK for Switzerland

December 23, 2025

The co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, Alan Howard, is the latest wealthy individual to exit the UK following tax hikes imposed by the Labour government. The hedge fund tycoon relocated from Britain to Switzerland in early June, according to an analysis of UK registry filings by Bloomberg. Howard had previously moved from London to [...]
Decluttering after Christmas? Tax expert clarifies rules for selling unwanted gifts on eBay and Vinted

December 23, 2025

Not everyone is thrilled with their Christmas haul, after all, there are only so many novelty socks, scented candles, and mystery kitchen gadgets one household can handle before space starts to run out. Usually, as a result, apps like Vinted see a surge in activity around Christmas, with sellers hoping to offload unwanted gifts. [...]
UK home insurers brace for 2026 losses as premiums set to fall

December 23, 2025

British home insurers are set to finish 2025 in the black, but losses are expected in 2026. According to data exclusively shared with City AM by Deloitte, UK home insurers are set to make an underwriting profit in 2025, with a net combined ratio (NCR) of 98 per cent. For every £1 taken in premiums [...]
Property slump hits half of London as prime boroughs lead the decline

December 23, 2025

London has a “two-speed” market, as house prices are falling in about half of London’s boroughs, with the most expensive boroughs hit the hardest. The average house price in London for October was £547,000, down 2.4 per cent from the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The data also showed that [...]
The year in law: Scale, survival, and the surge of the transatlantic titans

December 23, 2025

From the birth of new transatlantic titans to a government-led rescue of the litigation funding market, 2025 has seen the City’s legal landscape rewritten by a relentless pursuit of scale and a newfound reliance on the machine. The legal sector started the year with US President Donald Trump attacking the industry, as Trump vs Big [...]

Serie A won’t catch the Premier League by selling its rights better

Serie A won’t catch the Premier League by selling its rights better

Lotus, Porsche and Corvette: the best sports cars to buy in 2026

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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