Metro Bank sobers up and attracts a suitor | Nils Pratley

Some departures from the shrinking London stock market hurt more than others. It is doubtful that Metro Bank, if it’s about to fall to an approach from a London private equity firm, will be mourned by those shareholders on the wrong end of the wild ride for the shares from £20 at listing in 2016, to £40 two years later, to a plunge and painful recapitalisation at just 30p in 2023.In the overhyped early years, Metro said it was going to revolutionise high street banking via the novel strategy of opening expensive branches while the fuddy-duddy old guard were closing them. The party ended in an arduous tale of an accounting blunder, run-ins with regulators and a need for more capital, factors that inevitably weighed more heavily than the bank’s gimmicks such as giving free dog biscuits to the customers’ canines.But – surprise, surprise – Metro these days is not an enfeebled lender waiting to be put out of its misery

Oxford Street will be pedestrianised as soon as possible, says London mayor

Sadiq Khan has said he will pedestrianise Oxford Street “as quickly as possible”, after two in three respondents to a public consultation backed plans to ban traffic from London’s central shopping area.The mayor’s office said there was “overwhelming public and business support” for the proposals to regenerate the street, whose lustre is slowly returning as department stores muscle back among the sweet and souvenir shops of dubious repute.More than 6,600 businesses, individuals and groups responded to the formal consultation on plans announced last year that included full pedestrianisation of a 0.7-mile strip west from Great Portland Street; improving the area; and allowing street cafes and outdoor events.Khan said: “Oxford Street has suffered over many years, so urgent action is needed to give our nation’s high street a new lease of life

Trump says UK is protected from tariffs ‘because I like them’ as trade deal is signed off

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have signed off a UK-US trade deal at the G7 summit in Canada, with the US president saying Britain would have protection against future tariffs “because I like them”.The two leaders presented the deal, which covers aerospace and the auto sector, at the G7 venue in Kananaskis, Alberta.When reporters asked about steel, Trump said: “We’re going to let you have that information in a little while.”Under details released by the Department for Business and Trade, the UK aerospace sector will face no tariffs at all from the US, while the auto industry will have 10% tariffs, down from 25%.The steel industry still faces 25% tariffs for now, although this is less than the US’s global rate of 50% on steel and aluminium

Nationwide draws up bonus plan that could give CEO £7m payday

Nationwide’s chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, could land a maximum pay package of nearly £7m as part of a new bonus plan that has been criticised as “borderline hypocritical” for a UK building society.The pay policy, which will be put to its customers next month, would raise Crosbie’s maximum payout by 43% to £6.9m.She had previously been allowed to earn up to £4.8m under the building society’s remuneration guidelines

FTSE 100 closes near record high, and oil price falls, on reports Iran seeks talks with Israel – as it happened

The FTSE 100 has crept closer to a new closing high today, but fallen just short, as investors’ anxiety over the Middle East crisis faded today.London’s index of leading blue-chip shares has ended the day up 24.5 points, or 0.28%, at 8875 points. That leaves the FTSE 100 slightly short of the record closing high, 8884

Iran and Israel crisis: what does it mean for the price of oil?

The escalating crisis between Israel and Iran has already triggered the largest single-day oil price surge in the last three years, and the question for many is how much higher the oil markets might climb.The price of Brent crude has jumped by about $10 a barrel since the start of June to a high of $78 a barrel on Friday, amid growing concerns that the conflict could wipe out Iran’s oil exports or cut flows of crude from the wider Middle East region to the global market.For now, oil prices have cooled to about $72 a barrel and remain well below the peak of $115 a barrel following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which is one of the world’s biggest oil and gas exporters.But banks and market forecasters have warned that the trajectory of oil prices will depend on how far the unfolding military and humanitarian crisis between Israel and Iran escalates.At the upper end, oil prices could spiral to $120 a barrel, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank, surpassing the highs reached in the wake of the Ukraine crisis