Billionaire exodus should not be UK’s headline concern May 20, 2026 Billionaires are good for headlines, but it's what's happening lower down the corporate food chain that interests Susannah Streeter.
Bank of England’s Breeden: Digital gilt will bring down borrowing costs May 20, 2026 The Bank of England’s plans to help launch a digital gilt will make Britain’s sovereign debt more appealing to a wider pool of investors and help bring down government borrowing costs, its deputy governor has said. Speaking to City AM at the City Week conference, Sarah Breeden hailed the central bank’s efforts to help the [...]
Unemployment back up as UK job vacancies fall May 19, 2026 Unemployment crept back up despite a fall in last month’s data as it was shown that the UK jobs market weakened in the last quarter. The Office for National Statistics said the UK unemployment rate was five per cent in the three months to March 2026. The unemployment rate had dropped to 4.9 per cent [...]
Inflation, not Andy Burnham, is the culprit behind high Gilt yields May 19, 2026 Gilt Yields have more to do with inflation than the future of the Labour Party, says Tomasz Wieladek The debate about the future of the Labour Party’s leadership has revived a familiar narrative: that high Gilt yields are the verdict of financial markets on prospective changes to the government’s fiscal plans. The implication is that [...]
Burnham calls for UK to abandon ‘40 years of neoliberalism’ May 18, 2026 Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has called for the UK to abandon “40 years of neoliberalism” as he claimed that Westminster politics had failed northern communities. In what is being widely interpreted as Burnham’s Labour leadership launch speech, he said that the upcoming by-election in Makerfield was a chance for a “much bigger debate about [...]
ETF demand surges and cash appetite grows amid Iran conflict May 18, 2026 Demand for ETFs has surged in the first quarter of the financial year as investors look to further diversify their portfolios to avoid market concentration and the fallout of the Iran war, with some increasing their cash holdings. The average exchange traded-funds (ETFs) holding has doubled in the past five years, increasing from six per [...]
IMF tells Reeves to drop triple lock pension and make ‘fundamental’ tax reform May 18, 2026 The UN’s global financial fund has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to drop the triple lock pension and draw up “contingency” tax measures to ensure that public debt is reduced as a share of GDP. The International Monetary Fund has said that there are “risks” around spending forecasts and tax receipts, criticising the Chancellor for [...]
Emergency lifeline for collapsed banks doubled to £3bn May 18, 2026 The emergency credit fund that serves as a lifeline for collapsed lenders has been doubled as a result of “recent regulatory and operational developments”. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) – working in tandem with the Treasury and Bank of England – has hiked its revolving credit facility capacity to £3bn from £1.45bn previously. The [...]
Andrew Bailey steers push for Anthropic to meet global watchdog over Mythos May 18, 2026 The global financial watchdog is set to discuss the capabilities of the Mythos tool with Anthropic following a push from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. The Financial Stability Board, which brings together finance bigwigs from across the G20 nations, will be briefed on the vulnerabilities in the global financial system identified by Mythos. It [...]
As it happened: IMF lifts UK GDP and stocks reverse losses as bonds warned of ‘correction’ May 18, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The bond market is taking a breathe after mountains of pressure on Friday. The UK’s borrowing costs hit their highest since 2008, charging to 5.17 per cent during one part of the day’s trading session. This was topped once more on Monday morning, but since then yields have [...]