Rishi Sunak’s campaign is under fire this afternoon as the former chancellor is mocked online and accused of “pointless posturing” in a campaign video focused on shredding EU regulations which has been likened to a parody.

The Tory leadership candidate vowed to use his first 100 days if elected prime minister to “review or repeal post-Brexit EU laws”.

Sunak tweeted: “A new Brexit delivery unit. Reviewing every EU law on our statute book. Starting in my first 100 days. Let’s keep Brexit safe”.

Newcastle Building Society said it is in exclusive talks with Manchester Building Society over potentially merging the two.

The pair plan to “explore the possibility” of transferring Manchester’s business to Newcastle, but discussions are at an early stage, they said.

“There can be no certainty that any merger will occur, nor as to the terms or timing of any such merger,” the two said in a statement.

The merger could be completed at the earliest in the middle of next year if it gets the go-ahead.

Newcastle has 336,000 members, 31 branches and £4.9 billion in assets, making it the country’s eighth largest building society.

Manchester only has 11,000 members, no branches and around £200 million in assets. It is the 41st largest.

Jupiter Fund Management has halved its stake in the e-commerce retailer THG.

In an announcement published on the London Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon, the fund said it had reduced its holding from 8.94 per cent to 4.97 per cent.

The fund manages shares in THG for BNP Paribas, Northern Trust and Citigroup.

The Manchester-based retailer, which owns brands including Cult Beauty, ESPA and Illamasqua, has seen its share price sink some 89 per cent in the past year.

Jupiter’s announcement comes after the troubled online retailer cancelled a partnership with a division of SoftBank last week, citing “global macroeconomic conditions.”

A call option with the Japanese conglomerate to pump an extra $1.6bn into technology unit THG Ingenuity has been scrapped and will “cease to be capable” of being exercised.  

An option and collaboration agreement was terminated by mutual agreement with immediate effect.

The plan would...

M&C Saatchi and suitor Next Fifteen have postponed talks over the proposed £310 million deal for the advertising company.

Shares in M&C Saatchi dipped as its possible acquisition by the media business hit another roadblock.

In May, M&C Saatchi originally agreed to a takeover deal by Next Fifteen, but a month later said it no longer considered the move to be “fair and reasonable” after the suitor’s share price slid heavily, knocking the value of the deal.

The two parties agreed to conduct meetings on August 19, but this has been pushed back “until such time as the regulatory conditions to the acquisition have been satisfied”, Next Fifteen said.

A new campaign backed by Sadiq Khan to increase green foreign direct investment into London post-Brexit has today been launched.

The £500,000 Opportunity London campaign – which has been partially funded by City Hall, the City of London Corporation and the 32 borough councils – aims to “showcase London as one of the very best places in the world to invest” through a series of domestic and international summits.

The campaign, which is being organised by the New London Architecture lobby group, is set to target investment into the capital’s real estate and infrastructure.

Figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that foreign direct investment into the UK, as a share of total GDP, plummeted in the wake of the 2016 Brexit vote.

Investment levels have been slow to recover in the past few years as Covid-19 and overlapping economic crises hit the West’s advanced economies.

Khan said that “to maintain London’s place as a...

The UK property market is still running hot despite the Bank of England’s rapid interest rate hike cycle, according to research by City A.M.

House purchases dipped around four per cent in June compared to December when the Bank’s first rate rise landed, dropping to 95,420 from 99,560, according to HMRC data.

Governor Andrew Bailey and co have lifted rates 165 basis points since in around nine months, taking them to 1.75 per cent, the highest level since December 2008.

Those rate hikes have been passed on by banks through charging more for mortgages, which typically cools demand for homes by squeezing affordability.

The average rate on a five-year mortgage has climbed 10 months in a row to 4.08 per cent this month, the highest level in nearly eight years, according to data provider Moneyfacts.

The number of products available to would-be buyers has also fallen sharply to 4,400 this month from 5,315 last December, when the first rate...

Savills has hiked its five-year forecast for the prime London rental market, with rents set to continue rising to new heights.

The capital had suffered an exodus of international students and business folk, as well as Brits seeking greener pastures, during Covid-19 restrictions, which resulted in plummeting rental costs.

The estate agency now anticipates prime London rents to rise by 12 per cent this year and a total of 18.3 per cent over the next five years.

Rental growth hit 13.5 per cent in the year to June, according to Savills, its highest recorded annual increase in more than two decades.

The explosion in rental costs has been spurred by a post-lockdown spike in demand but exacerbated by a trickling supply of rental properties.

Stock levels in June were more than a third below the same month in 2019, however, applicant demand is up over 70 per cent.   

“The ongoing acute lack of stock, continued strong demand...

“No central bank has ever published as negative an economic forecast” as the Bank of England did last week, according to a top Wall Street bank.

Governor Andrew Bailey and co’s prediction that the UK will tip into the longest recession since the financial crisis at the end of this year is the gloomiest of any of the world’s top monetary authorities ever, Goldman Sachs said today.

A more than 13 per cent inflation peak driven by wild upward swings in gas prices leading to higher household energy bills is set to grind the economy into a protracted slump that will last at least five consecutive quarters, the Bank said last week.

Under the projections, households will suffer two straight years of falling spending power, amounting to the largest cumulative fall in living standards since records began in the 1960s.

Despite the softening economy, another 50 basis point interest rate hike will land next month, Goldman said, followed by two more 25...

London trading company XTX Markets is suing accountancy firm Mazars over claims it discriminated against its founder, Alexander Gerko, by refusing to work with the firm due to Gerko’s Russian citizenship.

The algorithmic trading firm filed its case against Mazars over the accounting firm’s refusal to provide payroll services to its subsidiary, XTX Markets Technologies, due to it being owned by Russian-British billionaire Alexander Gerko, according to the Financial Times.

Gerko is not currently subject to any international sanctions and has lived and worked in the UK since 2006.

The Russian-born mathematician continues to own a controlling stake in XTX after first establishing the algorithmic trading firm in 2015.    

The company founder has previously committed £40.6m in humanitarian relief to Ukraine and spoken out against the Russian government, including in calling on the UK to expand its sanctions list.

XTX Markets...

France has temporarily lifted environmental rules to ensure five of its nuclear power plants can stay running as the country grapples with a deepening energy crisis.

The country’s nuclear regulator has approved a request to keep the power stations in operation, even if the water they emit exceeds permitted temperature limits.

Under French rules, energy giant EDF must cut down or even halt nuclear output when river temperatures reach certain levels to ensure the water used to cool the plants will not harm the environment when put back into the waterways.

High river temperatures have in recent weeks have threatened to jeopardise France’s already low nuclear output at a time when nearly half its reactors are offline because of corrosion problems and maintenance.

This threatened to exacerbate the crisis sparked by Russia’s gas cuts, with temperatures expected to climb into the mid to high 30s this week across much of France.

The latest...

Just under £300bn has been wiped off the value of UK corporate bonds since the start of this year following a major sell-off in the bond market in what is considered the biggest collapse in two decades.

In the first six months of this year, the total outstanding value of UK corporate bonds has fallen by 13.3% from £2.237 trillion to £1.940 trillion, a fall of £297.5 billion.

This compares to a fall of 3% for the FTSE100 over the same period, digital asset manager Collidr told City A.M. this morning.

Bond prices have been hit by rising interest rates and rising inflation since the start of the year, in response to central banks tightening monetary policy to control inflation.

Collidr’s research shows that £283.8bn has also been wiped off the value of Gilts (UK government bonds) since the start of the year.

Gilts have fallen by 14.8%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.

The collapse in bond prices has been a major challenge for...

Severing ties between the European Union and China would cost Germany six times as much as Brexit, reveals a new study published today.

The country’s automotive industry, among the biggest contributors to Germany’s top line GDP, would shrink nearly nine per cent if the EU cut trade links with Beijing, according to the IFO Institute.

Western countries have been exploring opportunities to relocate supply chains to countries where diplomatic relations are stronger, a process known as “friend-shoring”, to reduce the risk of geopolitical tensions gumming up trade flows.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, coupled with China sticking to its “zero?Covid” policy, has encouraged policy makers and businesses to explore ways to shorten supply chains.

That trend has raised the likelihood of the likes of Germany and other rich economies watering down reliance on China to produce goods and services.

“If Germany, as an export nation, wants to...

British and Welsh government have been accused of being a “mess” in deciding on the sale of the UK’s largest chipmaker, Newport Wafer Fab.

Both governments missed the chance to halt the £63m sale of Newport Wafer to Chinese-owned Nexperia in 2021.

The National Security and Investment law, introduced in January, sought to give minister greater powers in blocking deals surrounding critical infrastructure, or which could breach national security.

Decision-making around the deal was a “mess” and showed a “lack of foresight”, a Whitehall insider told The Times today, as the government reviews its strategy of semiconductors, which are used in most of today’s electronics.

Newport Wafer was reportedly pushed towards the takeover amid a worsening financial situation, having failed to access UK government funds and Covid schemes.

Should the British government find security concerns with the deal, due to Nexperia’s ties to China, it could force...

Shares in Hargreaves Lansdown surged nearly 10 per cent today after the retail investment platform beat analyst estimates last week with pre-tax profits of £269.2m.

Shares hit a two and a half month high on Friday after the firm announced half-year results, before continuing their climb to rise the fastest of the FTSE-100 today, currently trading at 959p per share.

The profits beat prompted analysts at Barclays to hike their forecasts for the firm on Friday, as they lifted earnings per share estimates by 15 per cent and the target price for the stock to 1225p. 

The share price boost comes despite Hargreaves being rocked by volatility and suffering a nine per cent drop in assets under administration to £123.8bn, with revenues slumping eight per cent year-on-year to £583m .

Profits topped a company compiled consensus of analysts by five per cent, but fell 26 per cent on last year when the firm was buoyed by a frenzy of retail...

Japan has revealed it will keep hold of its stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia, despite Western energy giants abandoning projects in the country.

Industry minister Koichi Hagiuda argued the project was key to diversifying Japan’s energy supply.

He said: “Sakhalin-1 is a valuable non-Middle East source for Japan, which depends on the Middle East for 90 per cent of its crude oil imports. There is no change in maintaining the interests of Japanese companies in it.”

Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development, a Japanese consortium, owns 30 per cent of Sakhalin-1.

Russia has banned investors from so-called unfriendly countries from selling shares in banks and key energy projects, including Sakhalin-1, until the end of the year.

This is despite firms such as Shell and BP unilaterally ditching stakes in projects situated in the country following the invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has been ramping up sanctions against the...

Data from CryptoCompare shows that the price of Bitcoin started last week around the $23,000 mark and moved sideways throughout most of it, before surging past the $24,000 mark for the first time in eight weeks over the weekend.

Ethereum’s Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, moved steadily upward throughout the week from around $1,650 to nearly $1,800 at the time of writing, as the network approaches a major upgrade called the Merge.

Headlines in the cryptocurrency space last week showed that various large organisations were diving deeper into the cryptocurrency space during this bear market, despite falling prices. Meta, formerly Facebook, has for example, revealed it’s rolling out non-fungible token (NFT) support across 100 countries in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and the Americas. The move includes adding support for Coinbase Wallet and Dapper.

The initial rollout will be done for the popular social...

The UK government is drafting plans to “significantly” boost the number of overseas staff in the NHS to avert a winter crisis, according to the health secretary today.

In a bid to combat worsening delays in the NHS, health secretary Steve Barclay told the Telegraph: “I have been working at pace over recent weeks to accelerate our contingency plans, to look at specific levers such as increasing significantly our international recruitment.

“A big part of my focus has been giving a lot more ministerial time to looking at the issues on delayed discharge, on social care recruitment. If there’s pressure on the system and that requires more beds in the community, those beds need the workforce to go with them.”

There are currently 105,000 vacancies in the social care sector, according to government figures. More than a third of doctors joining the health service last year came from abroad, up from 18 per cent in 2014, data from NHS Digital found.

In a disagreement over the company’s future, the chairman of an investment fund founded by Brooklyn Beckham’s father-in-law has been ousted by rebel shareholders.

A small majority of investors voted for a motion to remove Chris Sherwell from his position on the Trian Investors 1 board.

“At a requisitioned EGM (extraordinary general meeting) of the company, the resolution to remove Chris Sherwell as a director was passed,” the investment fund said.

“The company thanks Sherwell for his contributions and wishes him well for the future.”

Investors with a large portion of the shares had already said they disagreed with parts of the company’s future planning.

Just under £300bn has been wiped off the value of UK corporate bonds since the start of this year following a major sell-off in the bond market in what is considered the biggest collapse in two decades.

In the first six months of this year, the total outstanding value of UK corporate bonds has fallen by 13.3% from £2.237 trillion to £1.940 trillion, a fall of £297.5 billion.

This compares to a fall of 3% for the FTSE100 over the same period, digital asset manager Collidr told City A.M. this morning.

Bond prices have been hit by rising interest rates and rising inflation since the start of the year, in response to central banks tightening monetary policy to control inflation.

Collidr’s research shows that £283.8bn has also been wiped off the value of Gilts (UK government bonds) since the start of the year.

Gilts have fallen by 14.8%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.

The collapse in bond prices has been a major challenge for...

The strike at the Port of Felixstowe could lead to significant disruption, Maersk said. 

In a notice published today, the shipping giant warned customers to expect “significant operational delays,” urging them to have contingency plans ready.

“Our teams continue working hard on planning appropriate contingencies and expect to share concrete details and actions we are taking,” Maersk said. 

Talks between dock workers and the port operator resumed today – in a last-minute bid to avoid major disruption to Britain’s logistics and supply chain sectors.

Felixstowe is the UK’s biggest freight port, as 48 per cent of all containers brought into the UK pass through it.

Around 1,900 members of the union Unite are said to walk out for eight days – from 21 to 29 August – after they turned down a 7 per cent pay rise on Friday on the basis it was “significantly below” the current retail price index.

The port said it continued to...

If you were along the Thames this morning, this might’ve noticed a giant pirate ship-esque vessel smoothly sliding through Tower Bridge.

It made quite the storm on social media, where workers and tourists stopped for a moment to film the pristine transition of the ship from one side of the bridge to the other.

Japanese investment giant SoftBank crashed to a $23.1bn loss in the second quarter of the year as its flagship Vision Funds were battered by the rout on global markets.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund investment arm, which was among the most prolific tech investment divisions in the world last year amid a global frenzy of venture capital deals, was hit by its second-largest quarterly loss ever as technology stocks continue to be hammered globally.

Billionaire chief Masayoshi Son admitted in a press conference today he had got carried away in some of the splashy bets the firm had made, saying he was “ashamed” for being so elated by “big profits in the past”. 

“If we had been a little more selective and invested properly, it would not have hurt as much,” said Son.

SoftBank is now poised for a programme of “dramatic” cost-cutting in a bid to stem its losses, having already weathered a sharp fall to earth this year after it posted a record $26.2bn...