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The UK’s financial watchdog has summoned bank chief executives to address concerns that savings rates are lagging behind the surging cost of mortgages. Top bankers at HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays are expected to attend a meeting at the Financial Conduct Authority on Thursday amid accusations they are profiteering from rising interest rates, according to

The crisis at Thames Water could deter overseas investment into the UK, ministers and industry figures have warned, as the utility seeks to raise at least £1bn to shore up its finances. Conservative ministers maintain that concerns about the financial resilience of water companies — and “intemperate” talk of possible temporary nationalisation — could create

Rioting erupted across France for a fourth night in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver of North African origin as his family prepared to bury him on Saturday in his hometown of Nanterre. The interior ministry said 994 arrests were made overnight compared with 875 on Thursday night and suggested

One of the largest investors in Thames Water has given its support for the utility as other industry figures sought to stave off any possible nationalisation of the sector. The £90bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which has a near 20 per cent stake in Thames Water, said on Friday: “We have given our backing to

A plan to provide about twice the current number of training places for doctors and nurses in England by the end of the decade has been unveiled by the NHS, as it attempts to tackle a staffing crisis amid record waiting lists for treatment. Under the first long-term staffing strategy by the NHS for 20

The British government is on standby for the potential collapse of Thames Water and ministers are examining options including the temporary nationalisation of the debt-laden business. Defra, the environment ministry, is holding emergency talks with industry regulator Ofwat to examine contingency plans in case the country’s largest company is unable to raise private finance in

Russia dropped charges against participants in the Wagner paramilitary force’s armed insurrection and said the group had agreed to hand over its weaponry. The announcements on Tuesday came in the wake of the deal between the Kremlin and Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and appeared to mark progress towards resolving the stand-off. The FSB, Russia’s main

The head of the Wagner private military group has denied trying to overthrow the Russian government but redoubled his criticism of the country’s defence establishment in his first public comments since Saturday’s abortive march on Moscow. In an 11-minute voice recording posted on Telegram on Monday, Yevgeny Prigozhin said his goal had been to protest

Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops were withdrawing from southern Russia on Sunday after reaching a deal with Moscow to end his armed uprising after the biggest crisis of Vladimir Putin’s presidency. Prizoghin himself maintained a rare silence after calling an end to his insurrection on Saturday evening, though the Kremlin said he would

Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has said his Wagner mercenaries had abandoned their insurrection against the country’s armed forces just hours before a potential assault on Moscow, signalling a possible end to the first coup attempt in Russia for three decades. In a deal brokered by Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said his convoy of troops,

Russian strongman Yevgeny Prigozhin has been charged with organising an armed uprising after threatening to attack Russian forces in retaliation for what he claimed was an air strike against his own paramilitaries. Prigozhin, founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, said on Friday that a “huge number” of fighters had been killed in the alleged

The Bank of England has stepped up its fight against persistent inflation with a surprise half-point rise in interest rates to 5 per cent, the highest level since 2008. Voting seven to two in favour of the larger-than-expected increase, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said it was responding to “material news” in recent economic

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point to 4.75 per cent on Thursday, with increasing calls for tougher action to fight persistent high inflation. Headline inflation stuck at 8.7 per cent in May, according to worse than expected data on Wednesday, with core inflation — which excludes volatile

Corporate America is feeling the pinch from the slowdown in Wall Street’s $1.4tn market for junk-rated loans, with a growing list of companies forced either to pay more or abandon borrowing plans. Borrowers have been hit by shifts in the market for collateralised loan obligations, or CLOs, the investment vehicles that own roughly two-thirds of

UBS faces hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties over Credit Suisse’s mishandling of Archegos Capital after Swiss, US and UK regulators completed their investigations into the affair, according to people with knowledge of the probes. Credit Suisse, whose takeover by rival UBS was completed last week, suffered the biggest trading loss in its 167-year

AstraZeneca has drawn up plans to break out its China business and list it separately in Hong Kong as a way to shelter the company against mounting geopolitical tensions. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker began discussing the idea with bankers several months ago and is among a growing number of multinational companies now considering that option, according

UK households that come to the end of fixed-rate mortgage deals next year face an average £2,900 increase in annual payments, putting Rishi Sunak under pressure to defuse an election-year time bomb. The estimated increase in payments by the Resolution Foundation think-tank reflects concern that the UK has a worse inflation problem than other countries

The European Central Bank has warned Brussels against swooping to claim money from custodians of trapped Russian assets, claiming it could dent confidence in the euro as a global currency and hurt financial stability. The Frankfurt-based institution has privately told the European Commission that plans to divert payments on bonds owned by the Russian central

Boris Johnson, Britain’s former prime minister, has been condemned for lying to parliament over the Covid “partygate” scandal, in a damning report that casts doubt on whether he can ever stage a political comeback. The report by a cross-party committee of MPs published on Thursday is a searing indictment of Johnson’s conduct in high office,

Boris Johnson will be found to have committed “multiple” contempts of parliament in a report by MPs into his conduct as prime minister during the partygate scandal, according to people close to the inquiry. The House of Commons privileges committee is set to publish its long-awaited report about Johnson on Thursday morning following a 14-month