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There has been a surge in the number of people in the west and emerging markets who view the US as a threat, according to polling for the Munich Security Conference. Europe’s main defence-related forum said in a report that US President Trump is helping destroy the postwar international order. The world has entered an era of “wrecking ball politics,” a team of conference staff wrote in their 2026 Munich Security Report. This year’s conference opens today, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading a large US delegation, a year after Vice President JD Vance stunned the conference with a verbal assault on many of America’s closest allies in Europe.

 

AP News

Financial Times

New York Times

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is considering easing capital requirements for large electronic trading firms, arguing that because they do not take deposits, their failure poses less systemic risk than banks. Options proposed by the FCA include replacing the current European approach with a net capital rule and streamlining requirements for firms wishing to use their own internal risk models. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) argues that a blanket reduction of capital requirements "does not reflect the systemic risks posed by large investment firms," with Jeanie Watson, its director for capital and risk management, saying: "Market risk standards should be calibrated to the activities and systemic footprint of a firm, rather than the legal form or the presence of retail deposits." Banks contend that even without depositors, the collapse of a major trading firm could harm retail investors and destabilise key markets, including UK government bonds and ETFs. The European Principal Traders Association has welcomed the FCA's proposals, saying that existing rules are "not fit for purpose" as they are designed for banks. 

 

Bloomberg

The EU has approved Google’s $32bn acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz without conditions, saying it would not harm competition. "Google stands behind Amazon and Microsoft in terms of market shares in cloud infrastructure, and our assessment confirmed that customers will continue to have credible alternatives and the ability to switch providers," EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said.

 

Reuters

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has said it has asked social media firms and app stores to restrict access to crypto exchange HTX for UK consumers, urging Google and Apple to remove its apps and block related social accounts. The FCA says HTX illegally promoted crypto services to Britons on major platforms despite being unauthorised, and it filed a High Court lawsuit last October. The FCA's Steve Smart said HTX’s conduct is “in stark contrast” to firms seeking compliance.

 

Reuters

Four partners have left EY following compliance failures in its audit of Shell which led to the energy company dropping the Big Four firm as its auditor. The partners left in December as EY sought to manage the fallout. In a July filing, Shell indicated that EY breached rules requiring a change of lead audit partner every five to seven years. The Financial Reporting Council has launched an investigation into EY's audit practices regarding Shell's 2024 financial statements. Shell has appointed PwC as its new auditor, effective from 2027. 

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Hong Kong Standard

The Times

The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is reviewing the integrity of approximately 20 cases after dropping its prosecution against former London Mining executives Graeme Hossie, Rachel Rhodes and Ariel Armon, concluding a decade-long investigation into alleged bribery in Sierra Leone. The decision follows issues with its document discovery system, Autonomy, which affected evidence availability. The SFO, which had already discovered an issue with its old disclosure system, identified another problem where some material may not have been available for review. The SFO said: "We take our obligations as a responsible prosecutor very seriously and we recognise that, although we have not seen any evidence of this, we need to satisfy ourselves that no relevant and disclosable material was missed."

 

Reuters

The Times

Belgian police have raided the European Commission as part of an investigation into potential irregularities in the sale of EU properties. The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) is leading the probe, which involves 23 buildings sold to the Belgian sovereign wealth fund, SFPIM, for €900m in 2024. The European Court of Auditors previously flagged the sale for irregularities, noting that SFPIM was the only bidder and that the evaluation committee lacked independence.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Louis Vuitton's Dutch branch has agreed to pay €500,000 ($594,000) in an out-of-court settlement related to a money laundering investigation. Prosecutors said the company failed to comply with the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act. The woman at the centre of the case allegedly used various names to spend over €2m in criminal proceeds on luxury goods.

 

DutchNews.nl

New York Times

UK fund giant Schroders has announced its £9.9bn acquisition by Chicago-headquartered asset manager Nuveen, part of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, a retirement savings group. Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, commented: "With yet another big name turning private, it will be a blow to the London Stock Exchange . . . With global whales swallowing big fish in the UK pond, it limits the availability of listed assets for funds." Nuveen CEO William Hufman said: "This transaction is about unlocking new growth opportunities for wealth and institutional investors around the world by giving our leading, differentiated public-to-private platform a broader global presence."

 

Financial Times

The Daily Telegraph

Sanofi has replaced chief executive Paul Hudson with Belén Garijo, the head of German drugmaker Merck KGaA, after the French drugmaker struggled to develop new treatments under his leadership. "Belen Garijo's brilliant international career attests to her strategic vision and her ability to drive profound and value-creating transformations," board chairman Frederic Oudea said. "She has the experience and profile to accelerate the pace, strengthen the quality of execution of strategy and lead the next growth cycle of the company, which is essential to build the group's future."

 

France 24

Financial Times

Chainlink has been selected as one of 18 participants in the Bank of England’s Synchronisation Lab, an experimental platform aiming to test how blockchain technology can help settle tokenised assets alongside central bank money.

 

Coin Law

Shares in Magnum Ice Cream fell nearly 14% yesterday morning after the newly spun-off company reported a 48.4% drop in full-year net profit to €307m and weaker-than-expected sales and volume growth in its first results since separating from Unilever. Revenue was broadly flat at €7.9bn, while adjusted EBITDA margin declined 100 basis points to 15.9%. Free cash flow fell sharply to €38m from €803m, largely due to demerger-related costs and new financing expenses. Despite the weak market reaction, Magnum maintained its 2026 outlook for 3%–5% organic sales growth and margin improvement.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

The Business Desk

The European Union will exempt Volkswagen’s China-built Cupra Tavascan from the 20.7% countervailing import tariff under a new mechanism meant to ease EU-China trade frictions. The European Commission said it had accepted an application from Volkswagen (Anhui) Automotive to sell the model at or above a proposed minimum import price. VW also agreed to an import quota and pledged “significant battery EV-related projects” investment in the EU. The exemption is the first approved under the EU’s new system allowing carmakers to seek tariff relief on each Chinese-made EV model they import, potentially creating a template for others. 

 

Bloomberg

Switzerland is to hold a referendum in June on whether to cap its population at 10m until 2050 by limiting immigration. The referendum has been triggered automatically because more than 100,000 citizens have signed a petition in support of a vote. Opponents of the move say it could threaten crucial agreements with the European Union and make it harder to attract foreign workers to fill labour shortages. The petition was promoted by the Swiss People’s Party, a right-wing party that holds roughly a third of seats in the Swiss Parliament.

 

Financial Times

Luxembourg Times

New York Times

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, can only be safely restarted if returned to Ukrainian control, Pavlo Kovtoniuk, head of Energoatom, has said. The plant has been shut down since Russian forces seized it. Kovtoniuk noted that Russia lacks essential equipment and spare parts, increasing the risk of a nuclear accident. Referencing Chornobyl, he warned that any attempt by Russia to restart the plant without Ukrainian expertise could lead to disaster. The plant's operational capacity is crucial for Ukraine's electricity supply and remains a key issue in ongoing peace talks.

 

U.S. News