It is a phenomenon that has become known as “the flattening”: tech companies which hired middle managers in droves during the pandemic boom are now slicing out the layer as they make mass job cuts. Meta in particular is following a trend set by Elon Musk, who wiped out scores of middle management roles as
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China’s largest bank is being sued by Dutch lender ING for losses suffered in a batch of copper deals in a case that highlights the risks of servicing the scandal-plagued world of commodity trading. Amsterdam-based ING is claiming $170mn in damages from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, alleging it breached contract terms by releasing
Within the past few weeks, two rivalrous, chunky primers on the present and future of the global creator economy have landed in investors’ inboxes: one from Goldman Sachs, the other from Citigroup. Both are sublime examples of what happens when Generation X bankers try to quantify the financial opportunities for Generation Z of the offspring
US banks are becoming increasingly worried about falling commercial property valuations and the risk they pose to lenders’ balance sheets, senior executives said this week. Office valuations in particular have been pummelled by rising interest rates and many employees’ preference for working from home since the coronavirus pandemic. However, financial executives sought to reassure investors
At least nine members of Congress sold banking stocks before and during market turmoil last month, including a member of the House financial services committee who sold Silicon Valley Bank stock before it failed. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat and a member of the financial services committee since 2019, disclosed the sale of shares
The price of insuring against a US government default rose to a fresh high this week as traders began pricing in their concerns that the world’s biggest economy might not meet its financial obligations. One-year US credit default swaps — derivatives that act like insurance and pay out if a company, or country, reneges on
A lobbying firm is launching a one-year business engagement operation ahead of the next general election in what is likely to be one of multiple attempts to exploit the vacuum left by the crisis at the CBI. WPI Strategy, a public affairs group behind the imminent launch of “BizUK”, insisted that it was not trying
Semiconductor companies have signalled that the industry’s sharpest slowdown in more than a decade is lasting longer than expected, as weakening demand for automotive components compounds slumping personal computer and smartphone sales. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest chip producer, this week pushed back its expectations for a market recovery, as the industry bellwether
China has launched an urgent intervention against the Philippines’ growing military alliance with the US as Asian nations get dragged into the geopolitical rivalry between Beijing and Washington. On his first visit to Manila, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang on Saturday urged the Philippines to “continue our traditional friendship . . . keep our promises to each other . . . and inject
Switzerland’s Zürcher Kantonalbank has held takeover talks with GAM, the troubled asset manager that delayed its results as it races to find a buyer this month. ZKB, the largest of Switzerland’s state-owned cantonal banks, has had discussions with GAM in recent months about acquiring the business, according to people familiar with the situation. GAM, which
The British government is set to introduce legislation within days to establish a new regulator to police the growing dominance of big technology platforms, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook. The draft bill will put the digital markets unit within the Competition and Markets Authority, the main UK competition watchdog, on a statutory footing and
The voice of British industry is turning into a whisper. Members of the CBI are bailing out, following allegations of sexual assaults at the business lobby group. On Friday, household names including car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, retailer John Lewis and FTSE 100 insurer Aviva joined the exodus. The loss of members and access to
The writer is an FT contributing editor and co-founder of Now Teach Some years ago, shortly before I left the Financial Times, I gave a talk at a literary event in Oxford. Put up your hand, I said to the audience, if you are useless at maths — whereupon the arms of around a third of
If the CBI had been aiming to rehabilitate its battered reputation after weeks of damaging headlines, then Friday morning’s news of a second rape allegation sent the employers’ organisation into a tailspin. Within three hours of The Guardian publishing a graphic account of the alleged rape of a woman while she was working for the
Aeroplane analogies have become prevalent in markets commentary over the past year, generally focused on the extent to which Jay Powell, pilot of the US Federal Reserve, can glide to a nice soft landing in the economy. Can he engineer a slowdown in inflation without causing a crash? The passengers are getting nervous, it seems.
The writer is author of ‘Extra Time: Ten Lessons for an Ageing World’ The news this week that India’s population is forecast to overtake that of China’s is a powerful psychological moment. Not for three centuries, since the Mughal Empire outnumbered the Qing Dynasty, has India been bigger than its rival. The Chinese Communist party
They used to say you were more likely to get divorced than break up with your bank. The high street institutions we stick with for most of our adult lives are often the ones who offered us a free railcard at university. But this should no longer buy our loyalty, as the amount of interest
In 2019, after months of gruelling work, executives at Apple and Goldman Sachs were gearing up to unveil Apple Card, a landmark move for the iPhone maker’s burgeoning ambitions in financial services. As the launch date approached, the partners hit a sticking point. Apple, keen to be seen as providing unique value for customers and
Many of the biggest names in British business quit the CBI on Friday after a second allegation of rape threatened the survival of the employers’ organisation. Groups ranging from insurer Aviva and car manufacturers Jaguar Land Rover and BMW to payments company Mastercard and retailer John Lewis said they were cancelling their memberships after the
Dominic Raab ended his ministerial career on Friday with an angry volley of criticism at the way he had been driven from office and with claims his designation as a bully would “paralyse” ministers trying to do their jobs. The UK’s departing deputy prime minister will not get much sympathy from the civil service. Accounts
Private equity’s appetite for corporate Britain is back, as groups seek to revive a takeover frenzy that has seen nearly £80bn spent taking UK public companies private over the past five years. The deal-doing flurry seemed to have fizzled out in 2022, as geopolitics and rising interest rates muted takeover plans. But in the past