Business

The executive who presided over a bitter “cruises and cufflinks” row at one of Britain’s biggest wealth managers is preparing to step down. Sky News has learnt that St James’s Place, the FTSE-100 group which oversees more than £150bn of client assets, has kicked off a search to replace Andrew Croft. City sources said on

The government finds its hands somewhat tied at present on measures it can take to boost economic growth. The parlous state of public finances – the government borrowed £25bn alone in April – means that neither meaningful tax cuts nor increases in public spending that lift productivity are feasible just now. So it is no

Britain’s largest building society has made some mortgages more expensive as the Bank of England’s interest rate is now expected to rise higher than previously thought. Nationwide has said interest rates on new fixed-rate mortgages will rise 0.45 percentage points. It follows moves by lenders such as Halifax, Santander and Atom Bank who also upped

Retail sales have returned to growth after a month of contraction that was larger than first thought, according to a closely-watched measure of consumer confidence. Official figures showed retail sales volumes grew by 0.5% in April – more than the 0.3% expected by economists – after a fall in March that was worse than first

Jeremy Hunt has told Sky News he is comfortable with Britain being plunged into recession if that’s what it takes to bring down inflation. The chancellor said that he would fully support the Bank of England raising interest rates higher, potentially towards 5.5%, as it battled higher-than-expected prices. Asked by Sky News whether he was

The chancellor has said he “is willing to do what it takes” and increase support for households if energy bills rise again this autumn. Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway asked the chancellor if he could guarantee he would step in if energy bills start rising again. “All I can say is that I

Microsoft will on Wednesday lodge a formal appeal against British regulators’ decision to block its $75bn takeover of Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty maker. Sky News understands that the technology behemoth will file its complaint with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) within hours, sparking the next phase of its fight to secure one of

Netflix has expanded its crackdown on password sharing, telling users worldwide their accounts cannot be shared for free outside their households. The streaming service has been looking for new revenue streams amid fears of market saturation, with efforts including limits on password borrowing and a new advert-supported option. On Tuesday, the company said it was

The head of the Bank of England has said there are “very big lessons” to learn about how the central bank has dealt with the economic shocks that have resulted in persistent double digit inflation and a cost of living crisis. Governor Andrew Bailey’s comments represent a tone change from the Bank, away from defending

Britain is no longer expected to suffer a recession this year, nor will it have the weakest economic growth in the group of seven leading industrialised economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today. Unveiling a dramatic upgrade to its outlook for Britain, the Fund, which previously predicted Britain would face the worst 2023 of

A growing number of skilled workers from Africa and Asia are moving to Britain to plug crippling staff shortages, according to new figures that reveal the changing picture of migration. Businesses are making use of the new post-Brexit migration system to bring in IT professionals, nurses and accountants. Since January 2021, the new system has

The owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook has been slapped with a record fine of €1.2bn (£1.04bn) by the Irish data protection regulator. It’s the biggest fine ever levied for breach of the general data protection regulations (GDPR). Meta has incurred the fine for transferring EU citizens data to the United States for processing and

England captain Leah Williamson has said it’s important sportswomen have another qualification in their locker “in case anything goes wrong”. The Lioness, who led her side to glory in the European Championships last year, is training to be an accountant, having decided to pursue it as a potential back-up career. “Originally, when I started it,

Executives including a former director of world motorsport’s governing body and the Nectar loyalty scheme founder Sir Keith Mills are in talks to raise $100m (£80m) to finance the rebirth of A1GP, the motor racing series contested by national teams from around the globe. Sky News has learnt that heavyweight names from the sporting and

Stars such as Harry Styles, Adele and Dua Lipa sit among self-made entrepreneurs and aristocrats on The Sunday Times Young Rich List. Top of the newspaper’s “35 richest people under 35” is the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor – Prince George‘s godfather. The 32-year-old inherited his title and 300 acres of land across London’s Belgravia

The energy price cap is set to remain more than £1,000 higher than the average bill before the COVID pandemic, according to a closely-watched forecast. Ahead of the industry regulator’s determination on the price cap level due next week, energy research specialist Cornwall Insight said it saw the cap for a typical household at the