In Downing Street, they talk about the narrow “landing strip” on to which Rishi Sunak might steer his party to victory at the next election. Millions of undecided voters, they hope, will have appreciated Jeremy Hunt’s assured performance at this week’s Budget, and Sunak’s deals on Northern Ireland with the EU, and on submarines with
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The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, the lender taken over by US regulators last week, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a federal court in New York. The move by SVB Financial Group is an attempt to salvage value from two units — a broker-dealer and a technology investing business — that are
Michael Heseltine is a little late, his car detained by a slow-moving “handmaid’s march” protest in Piccadilly, staged by red-caped women. When he enters the restaurant, tall, unstooped, his famous mane swept back, diners’ heads turn. Hezza, “Tarzan”, Margaret Thatcher’s nemesis, is about to turn 90 but you wouldn’t guess it. “A glass of Chablis,
The writer is the author of several books on the City and Wall Street Last weekend’s rescue of SVB UK was a win for HSBC and the City of London at a time when both needed it. Under pressure from Chinese insurer Ping An to split its Asian and western operations, HSBC used the confidence
It was a particularly bloody day for technology companies when Greg Becker, then the chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank, appeared on CNBC in late August. The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index was down 2 per cent that session alone. Yet Becker was his usual reassuring presence. The market correction would ultimately be healthy for the
A rally in European stocks eased in morning trade on Friday, as investors’ concerns over the region’s banks ate away at the boost of the US rescue package to shore up struggling lender First Republic Bank. The region-wide Stoxx 600 was up 0.6 per cent, while Germany’s Dax rose 0.6 per cent and France’s Cac
Chinese president Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday in a move that will reaffirm the leaders’ strong ties despite western condemnation of Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. China’s foreign ministry said Xi and Putin would have “in-depth exchanges on bilateral relations and important international and regional issues
Wall Street chief executives are occasionally willing to come together to support a good cause. The gathering organised by Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve boss Jay Powell on Thursday was not quite a traditional charity event, however. The US’s biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Well Fargo, Bank of America and several others
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s sweeping boost to UK pension tax breaks looks set to benefit many higher earners, including doctors, lawyers and bankers. But this week’s announcements raise as many questions as they give answers. Pensioners and pension savers alike are trying to work out what it means for them. Tax planners have been flooded with
Housing shortages, affordability crises and Nimbyism are growing problems in many countries, but it’s remarkable how much worse things have become in the English-speaking world. Forty years ago, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland had roughly 400 homes per 1,000 residents, level with developed continental European countries. Since then the two groups
At the start of this week, I thought nothing could be more darkly funny than a libertarian-tinged entity called Silicon Valley Bank requiring a rescue by regulators. But I was wrong. Something could be funnier — namely, an attempt to blame the bank’s collapse on the diverse make-up of its board. Silicon Valley Bank, critics
Top Republicans are urging the White House to crack down on nuclear co-operation between Russia and China following reports that Moscow’s state-owned nuclear energy company is providing highly enriched uranium to Beijing. In a letter sent to US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, the chairs of the House armed services, foreign affairs and
Activist investor Carl Icahn has urged the Federal Reserve to stay the course in the fight against the “disease of inflation” despite the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and two other banks last week. “I think you have to stamp out the disease of inflation,” Icahn told the Financial Times. “[Jay] Powell is completely right,”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has abandoned plans to make sovereign wealth funds pay corporation tax on property and commercial enterprises after cabinet warnings that the move would hit inward investment and depress growth. Kemi Badenoch, business and trade secretary, led pressure on the Treasury to drop the proposals after warnings that SWFs, which include some of
When a package of emergency measures following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank failed to stop the plunge in US regional banking stocks this week, Washington’s officials turned to Jamie Dimon, the last remaining veteran of the 2008 banking crisis still heading a large lender. Over multiple phone calls on Tuesday, US Treasury secretary Janet
Investors have funnelled cash to US money market funds over the past week amid concerns over the safety of some bank deposits after the collapse of two large lenders. The funds had more than $120bn of net inflows in the week to Wednesday, according data from the Investment Company Institute, the largest net weekly inflow
Total usage of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities swelled by $160bn in the week ended March 15, underscoring the pressure facing financial institutions following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Banks flocked to the Fed’s discount window, which offers a standing facility for banks to access support, tapping it for $148.3bn. That sent it to
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, failed a critical parliamentary test on Thursday and chose to override lawmakers to pass his unpopular plan to raise the retirement age, risking a political crisis and backlash on the streets. The decision shows the government was unable to convince opposition MPs to back the reform to raise the retirement
Credit Suisse’s bonds slid further on Thursday, leaving them firmly in distressed territory even after the beleaguered lender turned to the Swiss central bank for support and said it would buy back SFr3bn ($3.2bn) in debt. A Credit Suisse dollar bond maturing in 2027 gave up gains from earlier in the session to trade down
One week, two very different banking crises on either side of the Atlantic. The travails of Credit Suisse, the 167-year-old behemoth that has lurched from scandal to scandal, look poles apart from those of Silicon Valley Bank, a US lender considered until very recently the darling of the tech world. SVB began the month with
The $54bn lifeline Credit Suisse negotiated from the Swiss central bank on Wednesday night was meant to act as a “circuit breaker” on the stricken lender’s woes, according to people involved in the talks. But by close of play on Thursday, the bank’s shares still traded 11 per cent below where they started the day