Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group is seeking a loan of up to 40 billion USD to finance its growing investment in artificial intelligence developer OpenAI, according to reports citing people familiar with the negotiations. The planned borrowing would represent the company’s largest dollar-denominated loan to date and reflects a broader strategy by founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son to deepen…
Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves has moved to scale back a generous pensions tax break used mainly by higher earners, in a measure the government’s fiscal watchdog expects will generate billions in extra revenue. The change, unveiled alongside the 2025 budget on 26 November 2025, targets so-called salary sacrifice arrangements, under which workers agree to give up part of their…
Swiss private bank Julius Baer has booked fresh loan-loss allowances of 149 million Swiss francs (about $184 million), drawing a line under a review of its credit portfolio launched after losses on real estate exposure. The new charge, announced on November 24, 2025, is tied mainly to income-producing residential and commercial property loans and marks what the bank describes as…
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), is reworking its redevelopment plans for the landmark HSBC tower in London’s Canary Wharf, shifting back toward a more traditional office-led scheme. According to people familiar with the project, the fund is now considering keeping up to 80% of the 45-storey skyscraper as offices after HSBC vacates the building in 2027,…
European lenders face an “unprecedentedly high” likelihood of severe external shocks, the European Central Bank (ECB) warned on Tuesday. In its supervisory priorities, the central bank highlighted that the convergence of geopolitical instability, shifting trade dynamics, and technological disruption has created a volatile environment where “tail risks”, extreme events with historically low probability, are becoming increasingly plausible. Claudia Buch, Chair…
The surge in artificial intelligence stocks has created what Stefan Hoops, chief executive of Deutsche Bank’s asset management unit DWS, sees as a powerful but potentially unstable phase for global markets. The firm manages about 1.1 trillion euros in assets and is analysing whether the AI boom could unwind faster than previous technology cycles, given how concentrated recent gains have…
The Bank of England (BoE) said the broader benefits of its government bond-buying program help counterbalance the sizable losses now crystallizing on its balance sheet, a politically sensitive issue because His Majesty’s Treasury indemnifies those losses. The BoE revised its standard estimate of the net lifetime loss arising directly from quantitative easing (QE) to a range of £60 billion to…
