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SoftBank has moved to sell almost all of its remaining shareholding in Alibaba, limiting its exposure to China and raising cash as the market downturn pummels the value of its technology investments. The Japanese group, led by billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, has sold about $7.2bn worth of Alibaba shares this year through prepaid forward contracts,

Brussels is set to unveil plans to better shield taxpayers from bank failure by strengthening its rules for struggling lenders. The European Commission is in the process of finalising draft legislation that makes it easier to transfer depositors’ cash to healthy institutions from troubled lenders, or to wind down a problem bank without drawing on

Andrew Bailey has said the Bank of England is working on reform of Britain’s bank deposit insurance guarantee scheme, raising the prospect of increased protection for customers. Speaking in response to high-profile bank failures on both sides of the Atlantic, the BoE governor suggested the UK might need to increase its limit for guaranteed deposits

Carmine Di Sibio was derided by some colleagues as a mere “caretaker” when he was appointed as global boss of EY in 2019. The Italy-born executive confounded expectations by attempting a once-in-a-generation break-up of the Big Four firm. But after months of internal arguments and delays, the deal’s collapse has pitched the firm into fresh

China’s luxury market has begun to rebound from the downturn it experienced during the country’s draconian zero-Covid policies, but the pace of sales growth in the US — luxury’s biggest market — has plateaued, according to LVMH. The world’s biggest luxury group, which is controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, reported global sales for the first

For a group that specialises in corporate restructuring, EY might have done a better job of executing its own. The global accountancy partnership could not scale its Project Everest — a plan to split its audit and consultancy activities. The exertion has left its leaders red-faced, and a tad lost strategically. EY’s ambition was sound.

Joe Biden vowed the US would be a “partner for peace” in Northern Ireland, as he called on political leaders in the region to restore power-sharing at Stormont at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Speaking at Ulster University in Belfast on Wednesday afternoon, the US president celebrated the 1998

US inflation eased last month to its lowest level in nearly two years but an uptick in core prices will keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to press ahead with another interest rate increase in May. The consumer price index for March rose by 5 per cent year on year, according to data published by

Local elections are routinely heralded for their broader political significance, though they are often a poor predictor of general elections. Next month’s English council contests will be pored over by pundits seeking to divine the next prime minister in the entrails of the electoral data. The future will be seen in the portents from Swindon.

The US president’s favourite word is “malarkey” — an Irish-Americanism that means nonsense. His top poet is Ireland’s late Seamus Heaney. The holiday he most relishes is St Patrick’s Day. It should thus be no surprise — even to Britain’s King Charles III, whose coronation Biden will miss next month — that Biden is spending

China made a rare backtrack on Wednesday over plans to block some of the world’s busiest airspace near Taiwan for three days, causing confusion over Beijing’s priorities in handling its stand-off with Taipei and Washington. The Chinese government had notified Taiwan and several other countries on Tuesday that it would impose the no-flight zone between

EY’s US business will embark on a $500mn cost-saving programme after its opposition torpedoed plans for a historic split of the Big Four firm. US leaders outlined a new strategy in a memo to partners sent shortly after EY’s global executive committee said on Tuesday it was abandoning ambitions to spin off its consulting and

European stocks inched higher and Wall Street futures were steady on Wednesday ahead of closely watched US inflation data that will heavily influence the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision. The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 opened 0.1 per cent higher. Germany’s Dax and London’s FTSE 100 both gained 0.2 per cent. Contracts tracking Wall Street’s

British banknote printer De La Rue has warned that its profits will miss full-year forecasts as demand for fresh cash fell to its weakest level in 20-years, pushing shares to record lows on Wednesday. In its third profit warning since January 2022, the currency and passport maker cautioned that it faced “significant uncertainty” and low

Silicon Valley investors are touring the Middle East, seeking to build long-term ties with sovereign wealth funds during the worst funding crunch for venture capital firms in almost a decade. Top technology VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global and IVP have jetted teams of executives to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar

If there is one ally the US can be excused for spying on, it is the Republic of Korea. This is not because the two countries do not have a close relationship. Nor is it because South Korea is any more or less reliable a partner than anybody else. It is because the stakes are

Tens of thousands of Hongkongers who moved to the UK are being blocked from accessing as much as £2.2bn of pension assets, as activists accuse the city’s government of retaliating against those deemed “unpatriotic” following a political crackdown. The figures, released by UK advocacy group Hong Kong Watch on the eve of the first visit

HSBC has hired more than 40 investment bankers who used to work at Silicon Valley Bank, the latest move by the British lender to scoop up parts of the failed tech-focused bank. A month after HSBC acquired SVB’s UK subsidiary for £1, the bank is now hiring several dozen of its US bankers from First

HSBC has hired more than 40 investment bankers who used to work at Silicon Valley Bank, the latest move by the British lender to scoop up parts of the failed tech-focused bank. A month after HSBC acquired SVB’s UK subsidiary for £1, the bank is now hiring several dozen of its US bankers from First

The sacking of CBI director-general Tony Danker on Tuesday was intended to draw a line under weeks of bruising allegations of sexual misconduct, but within hours Britain’s leading business lobby group was facing questions over the decision to appoint an insider to restore its reputation. Rain Newton-Smith, who served as the CBI’s chief economist until

EY has called off the plan to break up its audit and consulting businesses after months of internal disagreement and opposition from executives in the US. The Big Four firm communicated the decision on Tuesday in a note to partners, which was seen by the Financial Times. The plan, code named “Project Everest”, was approved