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NatWest chair Howard Davies said he plans to continue leading the bank and has appointed law firm Travers Smith to investigate the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts account. “At yesterday’s board meeting, we agreed the terms of reference of an independent review led by Travers Smith into the handling of Mr Farage as a customer

Centrica has reported an almost 10-fold surge in first-half earnings at British Gas, the UK’s largest household energy supplier, threatening to reignite consumer anger at the sector’s profits at a time of high household bills. Margins at British Gas, which has about 7.5mn customers, were boosted by higher gas and electricity prices, the company said

NatWest chief executive Alison Rose has agreed to step down after she admitted to inaccurately briefing a BBC journalist about the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. Rose will leave with immediate effect, the bank said in a statement. Paul Thwaite, chief executive of the bank’s commercial and institutional business, will take over for 12

US national security officials are scrutinising an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund’s planned $3bn takeover of New York-based Fortress Investment Group amid concerns in Washington over the UAE’s ties to China, people close to the situation told the Financial Times. The review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-governmental agency

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez was trailing his conservative rival Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the country’s general election on Sunday night, but the race was unexpectedly close with more than 90 per cent of the vote counted. The preliminary results defied the predictions of most pollsters that Feijóo’s People’s party would comfortably oust the incumbent Socialist

Top US consultancies are struggling to attract business in China as Beijing’s national security raids scare away local clients and global investors pull back from dealmaking in the country. Management consultancy Bain is telling new China hires to wait until as late as 2025 to start their jobs, while roughly half of McKinsey staff do

The message of Thursday’s three UK by-elections was muddied somewhat by the Conservatives’ success in clinging on to the seat Boris Johnson vacated in outer London. But it was clear enough: this was a disastrous night for the Tories. Striking swings to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in northern and south-west England respectively confirm that

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives have narrowly held on to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat in an unexpected UK parliamentary by-election result but were poised to lose two other seats in a night of political drama. Sunak’s ruling party retained the London seat vacated by former premier Boris Johnson by fewer than 500 votes, but the

Foreign buying in Asian emerging equity markets outside China has surpassed inflows to the region’s largest economy for the first time in six years, as investor optimism about Chinese growth wanes. Over the past 12 months net foreign inflows to emerging markets in Asia “ex-China” were more than $41bn, outstripping net inflows of about $33bn

UK inflation eased more than expected to 7.9 per cent in June, providing some relief for the Bank of England ahead of its decision on interest rates next month. Annual inflation was down from 8.7 per cent in May, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. It was lower than the 8.2 per cent

Thames Water’s biggest investor slashed the value of its stake last year, raising questions about how easy it will be for the indebted UK utility to persuade shareholders to inject much needed equity.  The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, one of Canada’s biggest public sector pension funds, owns a 31 per cent stake in Thames

China’s economy lost momentum in the second quarter, with gross domestic product expanding 0.8 per cent against the previous three months as falling exports, weak retail sales and a moribund property sector weighed on growth. The difficulties facing the world’s second-largest economy will put further pressure on global growth and add to calls for Beijing

Global companies are accelerating their push to decouple China data in response to the country’s increasingly stringent data and anti-espionage laws, as relations between Washington and Beijing deteriorate. The drive for full localisation of data in China and separation of information technology systems from the rest of the world is happening as Beijing strengthens its

Three of the largest US banks reported a surge in profits from charging more for loans, as the Federal Reserve’s series of interest rate rises fattened their bottom lines. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo collectively earned $49bn in net interest income in the second quarter, the difference between what the banks pay for deposits

Rivals have poached at least 120 senior Credit Suisse investment bankers in recent months, reducing the need for big redundancy packages for UBS, which completed the takeover of its ailing Swiss neighbour in June. Deutsche Bank has hired about 40 former Credit Suisse bankers globally, while Jefferies has brought on at least 25 and Santander more

The $1.35tn US junk bond market has shrunk by almost $200bn since its all-time peak in late 2021, helping to anchor prices at levels that investors say could give false signals about the health of the world’s largest economy. A steep rise in interest rates since early last year has helped deter companies from selling

Chip designer Arm is in talks to bring in Nvidia as an anchor investor, while the SoftBank-owned company presses ahead with plans for a New York listing as soon as September, several people briefed on the talks said. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable semiconductor company, was forced last year to abandon its planned $66bn acquisition

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has tied Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s Nato bid to his country’s efforts to enter the EU, in a fresh blow to Stockholm’s attempt to join the military alliance. “I call out to those who have kept Turkey waiting at the EU door for more than 50 years, pave the way

The largest US banks are this week set to report the biggest jump in loan losses since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as rising interest rates pile mounting pressure on borrowers across the economy. The publication of second-quarter results is set to show that banks have benefited from higher interest rates to some degree,