Britain Financial News

Investing.com — European stock markets edged higher Wednesday in cautious trading, as investors awaited the U.K. Budget as well as congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, ahead of a European Central Bank rate-setting meeting later in the week.

Banking services provider Revolut has joined hands with the popular crypto wallet MetaMask, revealing Revolut Ramp.

Apple rolls out iOS 17.4 with third-party app support: 5 new features you should know With the onset of this new feature, Apple will automatically generate a transcript of a podcast soon after they are published. Users can then read the full text of an episode, easily navigate to the word or phrase they were looking for or even read along as the episode goes on.

According to its full year 2023 results, operating profits for the investment arm dropped to £274m, down from £340m the previous year, while Legal & General Retirement Institutional, focused on defined benefit pensions across the UK, US, Canada and the Netherlands, enjoyed a 10% rise in profits, up to £886m from £807m. LGIM proposes open-ended property fund restructure to hybrid model L&G Retail and L&G Capital, focused on workplace savings and alternative assets, respectively, remained largely flat year-on-year. The group pointed to the «ongoing impact of higher interest rates» to...

By Toby Sterling

Eurobank is looking to establish a presence in India and is in the process of consulting with advisors and the Reserve Bank of India to open a representative office in Mumbai, said people close to the bank. With 80.5 billion euros of assets and 540 branches across Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and UK, the bank, which has a robust corporate client-focused business in these countries, aims to serve the needs of Indian businessmen looking for a commercial presence in Europe. “Trade relations between Europe and India are on the cusp of taking off. We aim for Eurobank to become a key facilitator and the banking partner of choice for Indian businesses considering establishing a local hub in Greece or Cyprus to gain a footing in the EU market,” said Fokion Karavias, chief executive officer, Eurobank.

Rishi Sunak’s controversial deportation bill gets rejected in UK House of Lords The UK Prime Minister said, "I will be irritated if it's not made". While Murty said she is not a morning person and is "not the most organised". Further Murty said when they were studying at Stanford, she used to eat in bed and Sunak would find plates in her bed.

Emily Beecham and Clémence Poésy have joined the cast of the period drama series «King and Conqueror,» alongside James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The series, based on the Battle of Hastings, will delve into the lives of Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy.

The United States economy is powering ahead while the economies of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia are slowing from softer consumer demand caused by higher interest rates, the head of Canada’s biggest bank said Tuesday.

For tax geeks like me, the release of the annual Report on Federal Tax Expenditures is an exciting day, but I’m guessing most people don’t read this data-rich review that “reports on the estimated fiscal cost of federal tax expenditures, sets out the approach used in developing these estimates and projections, and provides detailed information on each tax expenditure.”

More Canadians are beginning to crack under the pressure of increased mortgage payments, new data on consumer credit showed today.

India and the UK are in the final stages of negotiating a free trade agreement with time running out as New Delhi gets ready to hold general elections in the next two months. A team of British trade negotiators is visiting New Delhi to iron out differences on India's demand for more visas for its workers and a social security agreement, and UK's asks for access in India's government procurement and inking a bilateral investment treaty before a trade pact. Officials said most talks have been completed at the negotiator level and a final decision on signing the FTA now rests with the two governments.

The Montreal company that operates the Just for Laughs comedy festival has cancelled this year’s edition as it seeks to avoid bankruptcy.

Binance has revealed plans to exit the Nigerian market, discontinuing all services involving the local fiat currency, the Nigerian naira (NGN). 

On a monthly basis, December also saw fewer M&A deals at 83, compared to 130 in November. However, in terms of value, M&A activity was higher than in the third quarter of 2023. According to the ONS, inward M&A — where foreign companies acquire UK firms — was £8.6bn in the fourth quarter, up from £5.3bn in the three months prior. Outward M&A — where UK companies purchase foreign businesses — stood at £3.2bn, a £1.1bn increase from the third quarter. Domestic M&A was valued at £2.7bn, around £200m higher than the previous quarter. UK M&A activity drops 17% in 2023 Lucy Stapleton, ...

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is reportedly lining up a set of pre-election giveaways on Wednesday (6 March), including cutting national insurance by 2p, and is expected to unveil proposals for a historic bond issuance, excluding Bank of England transactions, for the fiscal year beginning in April.  However, the Chancellor is also having to balance his tax cut ambitions with bond investor worries about the public finances. According to Reuters, prices of UK gilts have already fallen more than that of other countries, and there are substantial amounts of debt slated to enter the market. Fisca...

British digital bank Monzo on Tuesday raised $430 million in fresh capital from investors to help it relaunch its services in the U.S.

Houthis are targeting merchant ships belonging to either Israel, the US or the UK in the Red Sea with drones and missiles and the situation is «not very good». Describing the activities in the Red Sea as «an offshoot of the Israel-Hamas conflict», the Admiral said the Indian Navy is providing necessary protection primarily to India-flagged ships and also to other vessels that seek assistance. «Indian Navy is supporting all merchant ships in their to and fro journey between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean Region. Primarily, we are looking at the India-flagged vessels but also assisting any ship that seeks our help,» the Naval chief told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new Administrative building of Naval War College near Panaji. Admiral Kumar further said the Indian Navy has given a clear message (to attackers) that we will not tolerate such acts, [which] make the Indian Ocean unsafe".

Aston Villa insists the club is operating within the financial rules of the English Premier League despite reporting a loss of 119.6 million pounds in its latest accounts

Shares are mostly lower in Europe and Asia following a decline on Wall Street

Votes Against Slavery was set up in 2019 to coordinate the response of the investment community on the issue and to provide the necessary accountability for compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act.  The 2024 engagement, led by the Rathbones stewardship team alongside the PRI Collaboration Platform, targets 158 FTSE AIM smaller companies and FTSE 350 companies failing to publish annually-updated modern slavery statements to their UK websites. Rathbones said the focus on smaller companies was due to the fact they may have «fewer resources to devote to due diligence», making it harder ...