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South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is set to receive a warm welcome in Washington this week, spending two days with his US counterpart Joe Biden on a state visit that will underline Seoul’s position on the front lines of US economic and security concerns in Asia. South Korea’s manufacturing muscle and expertise in semiconductors

The UK government borrowed £139.2bn in the 2022-23 financial year, significantly less than official forecasts, in a development that opens the way to possible tax cuts later in the year. The borrowing figure, published by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday, was £13.2bn less than forecast last month — largely because of lower than expected

Asian stocks sold off sharply on Tuesday with investors growing increasingly nervous about the extent of China’s recovery and potential US restrictions on investments in the world’s second-biggest economy. China’s CSI 300 index dropped 0.8 per cent, taking its decline since last Tuesday to more than 5 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped

UBS’s wealth business attracted $28bn of new money in the first quarter, as the Swiss bank benefited from the deepening crisis at Credit Suisse that led to its takeover of the stricken rival. In first-quarter results released on Tuesday, UBS said $7bn had flowed into its wealth arm after it agreed to rescue Credit Suisse

UK citizens trapped by the fighting in Sudan are to be offered flights out after London announced on Tuesday an evacuation operation from near the capital Khartoum. The move comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had faced mounting pressure to rescue the roughly 4,000 UK nationals caught up in fighting between two rival generals. “UK

There is a reason banks do not align the duration of assets and liabilities. First Republic’s first quarter results show a decent asset tally of assets, totalling $233bn. That was nearly 10 per cent higher than three months ago. The gross liabilities of the US regional bank made a similar jump. Its problem is the

Good morning. The EU and Japan have pushed back against a US proposal for the G7 countries to ban all exports to Russia, officials told the Financial Times, arguing that the measure is unfeasible. Today, I highlight the power of European unity on Sudan evacuations and condemnation of Chinese disrespect (but not on Ukrainian ammunition),

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have held a series of meetings with private equity bosses to discuss future investment from an industry they plan to hit with a £440mn tax raid. Starmer and Reeves have been conducting a charm offensive with senior executives from investment firms including US-based Blackstone and

A new generation of asset management chief executives have called time on a “golden decade” for their industry, warning that it is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate the competing pressures of markets, regulators and politicians. “The complexity of the demands on an asset manager are clearly increasing,” said Ali Dibadj, chief executive of Janus Henderson.

Politicos love nothing better than inventing a people. For Bill Clinton in 1996 it was “soccer moms”, the term actually popularised by a Republican consultant, Alex Castellanos, to describe the voters that the Democrats were going out of their way to woo. For Tony Blair in the same year it was “Mondeo Man”, designating former

For every problem in the world of work, it’s usually possible to dream up a policy solution. Zero-hour contracts create insecurity? Let’s ban them. People are burnt out? Let’s create a “right to disconnect”. The British public should expect lots of proposals like these in the run-up to the next election, given the main political

In 2006 the London Stock Exchange scoffed at the overseas suitors casting eyes in its direction. At the time, bourses in Europe were locked in a dizzying dance of potential marriages. Several of the biggest had already united to form Euronext. Germany was trying to position itself as a global leader. Supersized US rivals were

The Sudanese army and Sudan’s paramilitary rapid support forces agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire, the US said on Monday. US secretary of state Anthony Blinken said the temporary pause followed “intense negotiations” over the past 48 hours and he said the US would press efforts to implement a permanent halt to the fighting. The Sudanese

Customers pulled more than $100bn of deposits from First Republic last month amid wider turmoil in the banking industry, the California-based lender revealed on Monday, sending its shares down by as much 20 per cent. Deposits held by First Republic fell by $72bn during the first quarter, a decline of 40 per cent, although that

The EU and Japan have pushed back against a US proposal for G7 countries to ban all exports to Russia, as part of negotiations ahead of a summit of the world’s most advanced economies. A G7 leaders’ statement being drafted for their meeting in Hiroshima next month includes a pledge to replace the current sector-by-sector

“You are ‘online’ 24/7. No exceptions, no excuses”. “Clients expect everything to be done perfectly and delivered yesterday”. “‘I don’t know’ is never an acceptable answer”. Junior lawyers at US law firm Paul Hastings received a presentation from a more senior colleague a few weeks ago with these statements on a slide. If there were

Founder-CEOs are an elevated class in America’s tech sector. They are lauded not only as preternaturally gifted innovators, but as business geniuses too. The tech boom was partly built on the intoxicating idea that some people can see the future and bend the rest of us to their will. Now those people are leaving. Netflix

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted that UK business taxes are too high but insisted the best way to lower them would be to expand the economy. Hunt defended the decision to increase corporation tax to 25 per cent in the last Budget, arguing that lowering the burden previously had not yielded the hoped-for increase in

Britain’s economy has been unique for a number of reasons recently. The IMF expects UK growth to be the worst among large economies this year. It has also suffered the biggest decline in workforce participation of any G7 nation since the pandemic began. Another unwanted distinction is the persistence of its inflation, which has now

Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský has pitched a €1.1bn investment in heavily indebted French supermarket group Casino, in a challenge to the current controlling shareholder Jean-Charles Naouri. The surprise offer from Casino’s second-biggest shareholder comes as Naouri is already in exclusive deal talks to combine its French retail business with Teract, a smaller food retailer backed

Beijing has been forced to backtrack after its ambassador to France sparked a furore in Europe at the weekend by questioning the legal status of former Soviet states and Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea. China’s foreign ministry on Monday contradicted the comments from Lu Shaye, who had infuriated European capitals and fuelled distrust about Beijing’s ambitions