1 More than £2 billion has been knocked from the stock market valuation of NatWest after the taxpayer-backed bank revealed it had been hit hard by savers chasing higher interest rates. Yesterday shares in the lender suffered their biggest one-day fall since the Brexit vote in 2016.
2 Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur whose trading exchange went bankrupt after an alleged theft of billions of dollars from customer accounts, told a court in New York yesterday that he had made a number of “large mistakes” but never committed fraud.
3 Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, is to sell stock in the investment bank for the first time since he joined 18 years ago. The 67-year-old banking veteran intends to sell one million shares, worth about $140 million at present market prices, for “financial diversification and tax-planning purposes”.
4 A record summer delivering tourists on their holidays and on its transatlantic routes has helped the finances of British Airways and its parent group IAG bounce back to better than pre-pandemic levels. The recovery has come despite BA’s lucrative routes to China and the Far East still being 60 per cent down on 2019 levels.
5 The Barclay family face a possible government inquiry into their £1 billion bid to regain control of the Telegraph titles. Sir Frederick and his twin, the late Sir David Barclay, bought The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph in 2004 but lost control of the newspapers after a dispute over debt with their lender Lloyds Bank.
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6 Interest rates will remain at 5.25 per cent when the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meets on Thursday, according to latest forecasts that offer respite to homeowners. The base rate has been lifted from a low of 0.1 per cent in December 2021 to a 15-year high of 5.25 per cent through 14 consecutive rises.
7 Russia’s central bank yesterday raised its key interest rate by a higher-than-expected 200 basis points to 15 per cent, lifting borrowing costs for the fourth consecutive meeting in response to a weak rouble and stubborn inflation pressure.
8 Frasers Group has been accused of ignoring refund requests as customers struggle to obtain money owed for missing deliveries and unwanted purchases.
9 ExxonMobil and Chevron have both reported third-quarter profits sharply down after oil and gas prices receded from last year’s highs.
10 Wilko shops are to return to high streets before Christmas under plans set out by the brand’s new owner, which said that “public reaction to the loss of Wilko stores was undeniable”.
