Labour U-turns on inheritance tax raid after year of farmer protests December 23, 2025 The Labour government will raise the inheritance tax relief threshold for farms in another dramatic U-turn following a year of backlash from rural communities. On Tuesday, the Treasury and Department for Food and Rural Affairs said it would increase the Agricultural and Business Property Reliefs threshold to £2.5m from £1m when it is introduced in [...]
Hedge fund tycoon Alan Howard quits UK for Switzerland December 23, 2025 The co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, Alan Howard, is the latest wealthy individual to exit the UK following tax hikes imposed by the Labour government. The hedge fund tycoon relocated from Britain to Switzerland in early June, according to an analysis of UK registry filings by Bloomberg. Howard had previously moved from London to [...]
Quant firm G-Research owner pays out £106m in wages to 49 staff December 23, 2025 A parent company to secretive quant trading firm G-Research has posted a £106m wage bill to pay its 49 staff over eight months, the firm’s latest accounts show. Braunford LLP, which was incorporated last year for “the provision of staff and agent services” and shares an address with G-Research, has posted its inaugural set of [...]
UK home insurers brace for 2026 losses as premiums set to fall December 23, 2025 British home insurers are set to finish 2025 in the black, but losses are expected in 2026. According to data exclusively shared with City PM by Deloitte, UK home insurers are set to make an underwriting profit in 2025, with a net combined ratio (NCR) of 98 per cent. For every £1 taken in premiums [...]
Is it time to invest in Asia in 2026? December 23, 2025 Over the last few months, investors and portfolio managers have taken renewed interest in Asia amid fears of an AI crash, seeking to diversify away from the highly concentrated Nasdaq, home to the Magnificent Seven stocks. With a large number of analysts remaining bullish on AI’s prospects for the next financial year, citing the sector’s [...]
Mothercare shares dive as firm warns future in ‘significant doubt’ December 23, 2025 Shares in retailer Mothercare plunged by 10 per cent on Tuesday after the group cast “significant doubt” over its future on Tuesday. In a trading update it said it had breached an emergency loan agreement leaving the firm on the hook for millions of pounds. The AIM-listed company was set to repay an £8m loan [...]
Property slump hits half of London as prime boroughs lead the decline December 23, 2025 London has a “two-speed” market, as house prices are falling in about half of London’s boroughs, with the most expensive boroughs hit the hardest. The average house price in London for October was £547,000, down 2.4 per cent from the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The data also showed that [...]
The year in law: Scale, survival, and the surge of the transatlantic titans December 23, 2025 From the birth of new transatlantic titans to a government-led rescue of the litigation funding market, 2025 has seen the City’s legal landscape rewritten by a relentless pursuit of scale and a newfound reliance on the machine. The legal sector started the year with US President Donald Trump attacking the industry, as Trump vs Big [...]
Business confidence ticked up after Budget, Lloyds Bank says December 23, 2025 Business confidence inched up at the end of 2025, according to a new survey, as firms were brought some relief and clarity after the Autumn Budget. Lloyds Banking Group’s latest Business Barometer found business confidence etched up 10 points by the end of 2025 when compared with the beginning of the year. Half of this [...]
‘Spectre of recession’ looms with growth set to dim in 2026 December 22, 2025 The government is facing a critical warning over the looming “spectre of recession” after economic growth stalled in the second half of 2025 and is expected to wane in the new year. On Monday, fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) downgraded the economy’s second quarter expansion to a sluggish 0.2 per cent [...]
