Football clubs suffering from too few directors, report warns July 30, 2025 All professional football clubs in England should be mandated to have at least three directors to prevent governance failings that threaten their existence, a new report warns today. The report, by LCP’s Sports Analytics and Advisory practice and governance specialists LawDeb, highlights worryingly small boards at many clubs in the top five divisions. Fourteen clubs [...]
HSBC boss: Rachel Reeves hiking bank tax would dent growth July 30, 2025 The boss of FTSE 100 juggernaut HSBC has become the latest banking voice to warn Rachel Reeves against raising taxes on banks over fears it would harm economic growth. Georges Elhedery, HSBC’s chief executive, said on Wednesday any further financial pressures on lenders could spark trouble for the UK economy. “Additional taxation on banks runs [...]
UK backs global AI safety plan with AWS and Anthropic July 30, 2025 The UK has launched a new global research coalition aimed at tackling one of the most pressing but least understood problems in artificial intelligence – ensuring that advanced AI systems behave in ways aligned with human values. Backed by £15m in funding and a wide-ranging group of partners, the so-called ‘Alignment Project’ was unveiled on [...]
Can a global minimum tax survive Trump? July 30, 2025 As the G7 exempts the US from the global minimum tax – otherwise known as Pillar 2 – experts are asking when a global tax stops being global? Say Tim Sarson Last month I opened this column talking about an announcement from the German government about a proposal to cut their federal corporation tax rate. [...]
Donald Trump slams North Sea oil taxes that ‘make no sense’ July 29, 2025 US President Donald Trump has slammed the UK for its high taxes on North Sea oil, which he described as a “TREASURE CHEST” for the UK. In an early morning post on Truth Social, Trump said the UK could cash in its oil reserves near Scotland, where Trump opened a new 18-hole course at the [...]
Vodafone boss faces renewed backlash over £85m franchise dispute July 29, 2025 Former franchisees accused telecoms giant Vodafone of driving small business owners to the brink at its annual general meeting on Tuesday, amid a deepening £85m legal dispute over its former retail partner model. At the meeting in Newbury, several claimants involved in the lawsuit directly challenged chief executive Margherita Della Valle and chairman Jean-François van [...]
Mortgages rebound in lift for housing market July 29, 2025 Britons’ borrowing of mortgages and consumer credit rose at a faster pace in June, fresh Bank of England data has revealed, in signs that the recovery in the housing market is “well underway”. In monthly statistics released by the Bank to signal trends in the UK banking system, it was revealed that net borrowing of [...]
Metlen confirms £5.5bn London listing date July 29, 2025 Greek industrial giant Metlen Energy and Metals has confirmed it will list on the London Stock Exchange next week, in a much-needed boost to the UK’s listing-starved public markets. The mining and energy firm confirmed on Tuesday it had completed its voluntary Share Exchange Offer (SEO) with an acceptance rate of over 90 per cent, [...]
Barclays joins FTSE 100 peers in warning against bank tax hike July 29, 2025 Barclays has become the latest banking giant to send a firm warning to Rachel Reeves to avoid bank tax hike as the Chancellor scrambles to maintain her wafer-thin fiscal headroom. The FTSE 100 giant’s boss CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, said the government’s mission for growth would not align with slapping a tax increase on [...]
As charities struggle, well-off City firms have a responsibility to give back July 29, 2025 City firms have a responsibility to use their resources to help struggling charities, writes Bloomberg's Jemma Read.