Good morning and welcome back. In today’s newsletter:
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Lagarde’s move to run World Economic Forum not a ‘foregone conclusion’
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JPMorgan in talks to bank for Trump’s Board of Peace
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US recruits tech bosses to train ‘elite’ government coders
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The crypto-loving billionaire and the $400mn ‘perfect fraud’
We start with Christine Lagarde, whose expected move to run the World Economic Forum is no longer a “foregone conclusion”, according to people familiar with the organisation’s succession planning.
‘Klaus’s candidate’: Lagarde, who is expected to step down early as European Central Bank president, has been tipped to take over as the next permanent chair of the WEF. She is currently a member of its governing board.
But Lagarde has been seen within the Swiss think-tank’s board as “Klaus’s candidate” — a perceived link that may now work against her, according to four people familiar with the discussions. The forum’s founder Klaus Schwab abruptly resigned last year.
Leadership transition: The succession debate is connected to a broader struggle over the forum’s future direction, including the extent to which it tilts towards the US. Read the exclusive story in full.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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US foreign policy: US President Donald Trump convenes the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington. More below.
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Results: Accor, Airbus, Air France-KLM, Moncler, Nestlé, Pernod Ricard, Renault, Repsol, Rio Tinto, Walmart and Zurich Insurance report earnings.
How should you navigate global economic risks this year? Join us today for a live Ask an Expert Q&A with Chris Giles, the FT’s economics commentator. Post your question here.
Five more top stories
1. Exclusive: JPMorgan Chase is in talks to provide banking services to the Board of Peace, the US-led institution tasked with rebuilding Gaza that Trump is seeking to position as a rival to the UN, according to people familiar with the discussions. Read the full report.
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Chagos Islands: Trump has renewed his attack on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plan to cede ownership of the archipelago to Mauritius as the US leader says the Diego Garcia military base may be needed in any strikes on Iran.
2. Exclusive: Silicon Valley billionaires such as Elon Musk and Sam Altman will help the US administration train an “elite” cadre of government employees tasked with modernising the digital infrastructure of federal agencies. Read more on the “Tech Force” programme.
3. Exclusive: Accenture has begun monitoring staff use of its AI tools as part of how it decides top-level promotions, as consultancies push reluctant employees to adopt the technology. Read the full report.
4. The UK should replace its fiscal rules with a “traffic light” system, monitoring the country’s performance against broader objectives rather than a single number that leads to “dysfunctional” policymaking, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
5. The IMF has called for China to slash state support for industry as concerns mount about overcapacity in the world’s second-largest economy. The fund estimates Beijing spends about 4 per cent of its GDP subsidising companies in key sectors and said it should reduce that by 2 percentage points in the medium term.
The Big Read
Billionaire businessman Ricardo Salinas thought he was dealing with financial royalty when he sought to buy crypto. Instead he found himself in a transatlantic legal fight with a convicted fraudster. Paul Caruana Galizia takes a look at a case of so-called Lombard lending gone wrong.
We’re also reading . . .
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Syria’s Isis camps: Thousands of women and children have fled facilities holding alleged members of the extremist group, vanishing in convoys that would ferry them across the country.
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London muddle: Retro cafés at Hampstead Heath are fighting back against a move to modernise facilities, writes Miranda Green.
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Wall Street: A US court is set to decide if bankers can be fired for demanding at least eight hours of sleep.
Chart of the day
The US and British governments take different attitudes to their trade deficits, writes Soumaya Keynes. The Americans’ approach is like that of a dragon, spewing fire (tariffs) at alleged culprits, while Britons seem almost serene. Is the divergence in attitudes justified?
Take a break from the news . . .
The pashmina is back. The cashmere shawl had its heyday in the 1990s. Now it’s back finding favour with a younger cohort of A-listers and influencers and being deployed in imaginative ways.
