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Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, has urged governments to enhance testing of frontier AI models before public release, saying this is "essential if we are to understand the behaviour of increasingly complex systems." He highlighted the risks posed by advanced AI to banking, financial markets and payment systems, saying that the "closed loop" nature of these technologies limits oversight. The Bank's Financial Policy Committee has warned that rapidly growing AI-related debt, complex financing arrangements and links between technology firms could amplify losses and increase financial stability risks if expectations about AI’s economic benefits weaken.

 

Financial Times

The Times

The Daily Telegraph

Basel Committee on ‌Banking Supervision chair Erik Thedéen has warned that fragmenting international cooperation could make it more difficult for regulators to identify and manage risks that increasingly span jurisdictions. "Geopolitical tensions are increasingly clouding the outlook," he said in a speech to the ‌24th ⁠International Conference of Banking Supervisors in Bali. "Fragmentation in supervision would ultimately contribute to fragmentation in finance. ​Information gaps would widen. Opportunities for arbitrage would grow. Cross-border risks ​would become harder to identify and manage."

 

Reuters

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has dropped plans to make listed companies publish mandatory climate risk disclosures, following concerns from businesses over implementation costs and international competitiveness. Instead, companies will retain a “comply or explain” approach to the UK’s climate reporting standard, UK SRS S2. The decision follows the European Union watering down its climate disclosure rules and the United States abandoning similar plans. The FCA said 92% of FTSE 350 companies complied with existing climate disclosure requirements in their 2025 annual reports.

 

Reuters

Isabel Schnabel, a member of the European Central Bank's executive board, has warned that rate-setters must act swiftly to combat rising inflation driven by energy prices.

 

Financial Times

Volkswagen has terminated most of its collective bargaining framework from December 1, in a move which could precipitate the renegotiation of costly labour benefits for the carmaker's German workers, raising the risks of strike action. Thorsten Groeger, a representative for IG Metall, Germany's top industrial union, said the terminations were "a despicable blow to the workforce . . . We will not accept this. Anyone who tries to reach into the employees' pockets must ​expect a fight." Arne Meiswinkel, the human resources chief of VW's core brand, said terminating the agreements "gives us room to negotiate ‌so that ⁠we can then agree on the necessary measures . . . We must continue to work on our cost structures."

 

Reuters

Barclays has revised its return-to-office policy in the UK following employee backlash. The bank will now allow staff to delay compliance with the new requirement until 2027, provided they obtain permission from their line manager. Initially, Barclays mandated that its 45,000 UK employees return to the office for at least three days a week as of October 5. In a staff memo, the bank's executive committee said it was extending the implementation period "to ensure colleagues have the right support as we move through the transition . . . We are also reviewing our flexible working policy." A Barclays spokesperson said the company had listened to feedback "to ensure colleagues have the right support while enabling us to deliver the benefits of working together in person."

 

Financial Times

The Guardian

The Times

President Trump has called for “tremendous self-regulation” of artificial intelligence at a White House summit with tech leaders including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, XAI’s Elon Musk and Google’s Sundar Pichai, who agreed to a “morally binding” set of principles for the technology. “We automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that. But the self-regulation is very important,” Trump said.  Six of the CEOs signed a one-page document titled the “White House Accord on Super Intelligence: Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities.” Trump told reporters: “It’s almost like a constitution in a way,” adding: “The biggest people in the world signed that, and I signed it as president, and it really is a form of protection . . . I think it’s morally binding.”

 

New York Post

NBC News

Forbes

The New York Times has seen emails in which OpenAI staff made known their concerns that the San Francisco company's newest AI models were not being appropriately monitored during testing to gauge the technology's sophistication and to secure them. Executives responded by saying that the tests needed to be expedited to release the AI models on time. The employees said no additional security protocols were put in place. The ChatGPT maker's models later broke out of their testing environments and attacked the AI startup Hugging Face. The previously unreported email exchanges were indicative of the company's approach to security, according to employees and independent security researchers.

 

New York Times

North Korean hacking group WaterPlum is exploiting job advertisements to gather sensitive information from applicants worldwide. Authorities from the US, Japan, Germany, and Australia reported that the group has infiltrated over 30,000 devices, stealing $US10.71m in cryptocurrency. WaterPlum posed as employers, targeting IT professionals and using AI face-swapping software during fake interviews. Dr Andrew Cullen from the University of Melbourne said it was difficult to understand the scale of the problem, especially as it related to workers infiltrating companies, because that information was rarely disclosed. "It's really hard for governments and cybersecurity organisations to try and collect this large-scale data to show how much of a problem it is across the economy," he said.

 

ABC Online

Russia has intensified pressure on European companies operating in the country, placing the Russian assets of Nestlé, Metro, and Auchan under temporary management as Moscow responds to EU sanctions and support for Ukraine. A senior Russian government source suggested more European businesses, potentially including UniCredit and Raiffeisen, could face similar action. The Kremlin said the measures were linked to European countries’ alleged involvement in the war in Ukraine and could be reversed. Since the war began, Russia has imposed temporary administration on 135 firms affiliated with foreign companies, most from the EU, while the number of European businesses operating in Russia has continued to decline. The latest escalation follows the EU’s renewal of sanctions on more than 3,000 individuals and entities and comes amid tensions over roughly €210bn ($238bn) of frozen Russian sovereign assets.

 

Reuters

Etihad Airways is contemplating legal action against the Premier League following a ruling that implicated the airline in alleged inflated sponsorship deals linked to Manchester City. The Premier League's independent panel found that the club disguised over £830m in funding from its owners between 2009 and 2018. Etihad, which has sponsored City since 2009, said it "categorically rejects" the findings and claims it was not given a chance to respond during the investigation.

 

Daily Mail

Red Bull has successfully challenged an Indian food regulator’s order requiring it to stop describing its products as “energy drinks”, with the Delhi High Court ruling that the company had not been given an opportunity to present its views before the decision was made. India introduced the restriction in June for high-caffeine beverages, prompting concerns from Red Bull, Pepsi, Monster Beverage, and Reliance that removing the established category description could damage their brands. Red Bull argued that the abrupt prohibition created significant regulatory uncertainty and could affect its existing and planned investments in India, where the energy drinks market is expected to reach $1.6bn by 2028.

 

Reuters

China has warned it will retaliate if the European Union introduces broad tariffs on Chinese goods, arguing that the proposed measures could undermine ongoing trade negotiations and disrupt China-EU trade and global supply chains. EU officials are preparing a package for leaders to consider in October that could include measures encouraging companies to reduce their reliance on Chinese suppliers and a new tariff mechanism modelled on the US Section 301 framework, which would allow the bloc to impose tariffs across entire industries more quickly than under existing rules. China’s Commerce Ministry described the potential mechanism as protectionist and warned against imposing discriminatory restrictions on Chinese companies or products. The intervention comes ahead of planned talks between EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on October 8th-9th.

 

Bloomberg

South China Morning Post