February showers dampen hospitality sales March 18, 2026 February’s wet weather kept Brits at home as hospitality sales fell compared to last year, extending a poor start to the year for the sector. The rainy month meant total like-for-like sales were 0.2 per cent lower than in February 2025, with sales having dropped 0.1 per cent year on year in January, according to [...]
Janus Henderson Special Committee Confirms Receipt of Revised Unsolicited, Non-Binding Proposal from Victory Capital March 17, 2026 Janus Henderson Group plc (NYSE: JHG; “JHG, ” “Janus Henderson, ” or the “Company”) today confirmed that on March 17, 2026, the Special Committee (the “Special Committee”) of the Janus Henderson Board of Directors (the “Board”) received a revised unsolicited non-binding proposal from Victory Capital. In consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors and [...]
Moody’s Ratings Becomes First Credit Rating Agency to Bring Independent Credit Analysis to Blockchain Financial Infrastructure March 17, 2026 Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) today announced that Moody’s Ratings has launched its network-agnostic Token Integration Engine™ (TIE), becoming the first credit rating agency to ingest analytical data and share credit insights on-chain. As an inaugural step, it is the first rating agency to operate a node on the Canton Network. The milestone marks a significant [...]
Reeves pledges ‘strategic state’ amid end of globalisation March 17, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to create an “active and strategic” state as she warned that “globalisation as we once knew it is dead”. In a flagship lecture at the Bayes Business School on her growth agenda, Reeves suggested the size of the state had been expanded since Labour took office as part of a [...]
Energy bills bailout speculation sparks bond sell-off fears March 17, 2026 An unfunded government intervention to subsidise household energy bills would trigger a gilt market rout likely to push the UK’s long-term borrowing costs to the highest they have been since 1997, bond investors and economists have warned. David Zahn, head of European fixed income at Franklin Templeton, told City AM that the prospect of ministers [...]
Bank of England ‘should wait’ before cutting interest rates, City AM Shadow MPC says March 17, 2026 The Bank of England should “wait and see” how long the war in Iran goes on for before cutting interest rates again, leading economists on City AM’s Shadow Monetary Policy Committee have said. The crisis in the Middle East has pushed up energy prices and heightened fears that the UK economy is heading for a [...]
Oaknorth delays net zero goal as US expansion fuels lending boom March 17, 2026 UK fintech Oaknorth has slapped a ten year delay on its ambition to be a net zero bank as the firm’s expansion across the Atlantic picked up pace. The small business lender said it expects to meet net zero commitments by 2045, as opposed to previous guidance of 2035 set four years ago. Oaknorth said [...]
BearingPoint and autobiz partner to strengthen transparency and robustness in automotive asset-based financing across Europe March 17, 2026 Two leading European companies announce a partnership aimed at residual value management in the context of asset-based funding for banks, captives, and leasing companies across Europe. By combining autobiz’s automotive market and residual value expertise with BearingPoint’s end-to-end asset-based funding platform, the two companies provide their clients with enhanced transparency, consistency, and risk control in the structuring and monitoring of automotive portfolios.
Syngenta Builds World-Leading Research Center for Agricultural Bioscience – Powered by Advanced Technology and AI March 17, 2026 New USD 130 million facility to focus on next-generation, sustainable solutions for farming Enhanced commitment to UK as a key hub for global R&D and innovation
UK fintech Pockit borrows cash from Spanish railway architect March 17, 2026 Pockit has borrowed money from an award-winning Spanish railway architect in one of the most unusual debt raises completed by a British fintech. The Cardiff-based business, which offers prepaid accounts to customers without a credit score, has signed a debenture agreement with Anchorgate Management, a British Virgin Islands company controlled by architect Santiago Calatrava, company [...]