Business

The head of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has effectively been forced out of the role after losing the confidence of its board amid growing government pressure on economic watchdogs. Sky News understands that Abby Thomas, whose departure was announced earlier on Thursday, was at the centre of several disputes with fellow directors over issues

The Bank of England has cut interest rates by another quarter percentage point, bringing down the cost of borrowing to 4.5%. And in a sign that households can expect more cuts in the months to come, two members of the Bank‘s Monetary Policy Committee said they would have preferred to reduce rates even more, by

Let’s start with the simple bit: interest rates have been cut – down by another quarter percentage point to 4.5%. But what happens next? Not long ago, the answer was quite simple: the Bank of England would carry on cutting borrowing costs, one quarter point cut every three months, until they reached, say, 3.5%. That,

HSBC Holdings is to hand its new chief executive a pay package potentially worth more than £15m as part of an overhaul of its bosses’ remuneration triggered by the government’s scrapping of the EU bonus cap. Sky News has learnt that Europe’s biggest lender, which has a market capitalisation of more than £147bn, is putting

Planning rules will be ripped up to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors and create thousands of highly skilled jobs, the government has announced. The reforms are the latest in a series of proposals designed to “get Britain building” to help grow the economy, after powers for environmental quangos to delay infrastructure projects

Barclays says an IT glitch that left some customers locked out of their accounts has been resolved after the disruption entered a third day. The bank said the “technical issue” has been fixed and delayed payments processed. In a statement on Sunday, Barclays said: “We are working on bringing balances up to date for some

Donald Trump has said he will place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China from Saturday. The move raises fears of price increases for US consumers as the US president suggested he would try to blunt the impact on oil imports. He has been threatening the tariffs

The UK’s benchmark stock index has reached another all-time high, in a month of record breaking. The FTSE 100 index of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange closed at 8,666.65, breaking the record set on Thursday night after four consecutive days of rises. January has been the best month in more than two

India’s richest family has clinched a landmark deal to buy a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles in a deal that will unite the London-based team with the ownership of the Indian Premier League’s Mumbai Indians. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Ambani family, who have a fortune estimated to be tens of billions

Shares in Microsoft have fallen sharply after investment spending came in higher than expected in its latest results, released just days after the DeepSeek market shock for tech stocks. The company, which has received reprimands from shareholders previously over AI-related bills, had already let it be known it expected to spend $80bn this year ahead

Lidl has been given approval by a High Court to open its first ever pub in Northern Ireland. The German supermarket chain will be able to move forward with the plan to open a bar inside its store in Dundonald, near Belfast, after a judge dismissed an appeal brought by another trader. Making the ruling

Don’t, whatever you do, call it a “relaunch”. When the chancellor stands up and delivers her much-anticipated speech on Wednesday – with all sorts of exciting schemes for new infrastructure and growth-friendly reforms – she will cast it as part of the new government’s long-standing economic strategy. Having begun the job of repairing the public

Quiz Clothing, the troubled fashion business, is close to collapsing into administration days after its shares were delisted from the London stock market. Sky News has learnt that Quiz, which is chaired by the former JD Sports chief Peter Cowgill, is lining up Teneo as administrator in a move expected to take place before the

The average asking price to rent a home outside London has fallen for the first time since before the COVID pandemic, according to a property website. Rightmove credited improved levels of rental properties for the welcome shift, but declared that advertised private rents in the capital continued to tick up, for a 13th consecutive quarter,

One of Britain’s biggest luxury boat manufacturers has collapsed into administration less than two months after it was sold to new investors. Sky News has learnt that Fairline Yachts, which is based in Oundle, Northamptonshire, had fallen into insolvency proceedings after DF Capital, the company’s main lender, triggered the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal (A&M)

The owner of Hobbycraft is among a pack of suitors circling WH Smith, the 233-year-old high street chain which has been put up for sale. Sky News has learnt that Modella Capital, whose executives have previously been involved in retailers including Paperchase and Tie Rack, is one of a handful of parties to have held

A producer of robotics software spun out of the University of Sheffield will this week unveil a multimillion-pound fundraising led by the investment vehicle chaired by the former Treasury minister Lord O’Neill. Sky News understands that BOW – which stands for Bettering Our Worlds – will announce on Tuesday a £4m seed round led by

Marks & Spencer has issued an urgent recall of two of its chicken products in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after salmonella was found in them. The “Crispy Southern Fried Chicken Burgers” and “2 Chicken Kyivs” started being recalled on Friday, with Marks & Spencer (M&S) telling customers to avoid eating them and

Each Monday, our Money team speaks to someone from a different profession to discover what it’s really like. This week we chat to James Davies, a specialist orthodontist at Quayside Orthodontics in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire… People think my job is… something they would not want to do. Looking in people’s mouths all day! What I’d say

Profits at Europe’s biggest airline are nearly ten times higher than the same time last year as more passengers paid more expensive airfares. Ryanair‘s profit after tax rose to €149m (£125.36m) in the three months from October to December, up from €15m (£12.62m) the same time a year earlier. Money blog: Dentist reveals how you