Good morning and welcome back. In today’s newsletter:
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JPMorgan should ‘threaten’ UK over banker tax, Mandelson told Epstein
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Europe’s oil majors prepare to cut billions in shareholder payouts
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Gold and silver prices tumble as a record-breaking rally cools
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Wall Street banks and crypto companies battle over stablecoin rules
We begin with Lord Peter Mandelson, who told Jeffrey Epstein in 2009 that the boss of JPMorgan should “mildly threaten” Britain’s chancellor over a tax on banker bonuses proposed by the government in which Mandelson was serving as business secretary, according to newly released documents.
Banker bonus tax: Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson, who served under successive Labour administrations, trying to “amend” a supertax on bank bonuses announced by then chancellor Alistair Darling in December 2009.
The policy meant that bonuses over £25,000 would pay an additional 50 per cent tax rate. It was introduced in the wake of the financial crisis at a time when there was widespread public anger at the banking sector. Mandelson was business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister at the time.
Mandelson quits Labour: The revelations from the files add further pressure to Mandelson, after the FT reported that he received thousands of dollars from Epstein beginning in 2003 and that his husband also took money from the convicted sex offender. Last night Mandelson said that, in an effort to avoid causing the party “further embarrassment”, he had resigned from the Labour Party. Read the full story.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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Economic data: S&P issues manufacturing purchasing managers’ index data for the Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and US.
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AstraZeneca: Shares of the pharma company are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Results: Disney and Julius Baer report earnings.
Five more top stories
1. Europe’s biggest oil companies are poised to rein in billions of dollars of shareholder payouts in the coming weeks, signalling a turn to austerity as they brace themselves for lower oil prices and move to protect their balance sheets. Here are the groups analysts expect to slow shareholder distributions.
2. Xi Jinping has called for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency in a commentary that details the Chinese leader’s ambitions. The comments come as Beijing seeks to play a greater role in the international monetary system. Read the full story.
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Weaponising banking: Russia is exploiting anti-money laundering infrastructure to silence dissidents, writes Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
3. Exclusive: The UK Treasury is offering its officials up to £100,000 to leave voluntarily as part of plans to cut hundreds of jobs in the finance ministry. Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to slash about 300 of her department’s roughly 2,100 staff by 2030, according to people familiar with the plan.
4. Starling Bank has launched a push to sell its software to US lenders as it tries to capitalise on their outdated technology and boost its international growth. The London-based fintech plans to market its services to multiple mid-tier banks and credit unions in North America in the future.
5. Exclusive: A sale of UK accounting firm Xeinadin has collapsed after its private equity owners failed to get their desired £1bn-plus price tag. The scrapping of the sale suggests that the deal frenzy that has gripped professional services may be starting to wane. Read the full story.
The Big Read
Crypto companies and Wall Street banks are locked in a fierce battle over regulations governing stablecoins, reflecting a broader question about who will control the future of money.
We’re also reading . . .
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Capgemini divests: The French IT company will sell a US subsidiary that has come under fire for its contracts with the US immigration enforcement agency.
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Nuclear arms control: The New Start treaty, which capped the number of missiles and warheads in US and Russian arsenals, expires this week.
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Backbones wanted: The killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis is a moment for business leaders to challenge America’s direction, writes Rana Foroohar.
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Inside Moltbook: The social network where AI agents talk to each other has Elon Musk believing that we are reaching the “singularity”. Is that true?
Chart of the day
The list of countries that built their futures on trust in a US-led global order is long. But the UK is close to the very top. With that world in rupture, Martin Wolf gives us suggestions on how Britain can move forward.
Can Europe stand on its own two feet? Join FT journalists for a subscriber-only webinar on February 12 on the evolving transatlantic relationship. Register here and send us your questions.
Take a break from the news . . .
The idea of immortality is no longer confined to science fiction. But there is deep irony in our obsession with it, writes Jemima Kelly.
