UK City firms report fastest turnaround in fortunes in 30 years
Britain’s financial services companies have reported a strong recovery in activity at the start of the year, in a surprise boost to the government after a gloomy end to 2025.Banks, insurers and investment managers said their businesses were growing, with a positive balance of nearly two-thirds noting an expansion, according to a long-running survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), a lobby group.That contrasted with the negative balance of 38% in December, despite the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.It was the fastest turnaround in the sector’s fortunes in 30 years, since December 1996, the group said.Financial services companies such as banks, insurers and investors have been performing well in recent quarters.
Strong profits pushed bank share prices to their highest since before the global financial crisis in the early months of the year, in part thanks to higher interest rates and despite the £11bn financial redress scheme for car loan customers.A stronger performance from the UK financial sector would be welcomed by Rachel Reeves, who has put the industry at the heart of efforts to increase GDP growth, calling it the “crown jewel” of the economy.The banks successfully argued against tax increases at last year’s budget, and Reeves has urged regulators to consider growth, as well as consumer protection, in policing the sector.John Cronin, a banking analyst at SeaPoint Insights, said: “The strength of activity observed in the first quarter is underpinned by supply-side factors in terms of improved credit availability and demand-side factors in the context of strong household and business financial resilience, in my view.However, conditions can change rapidly and the impact of the Middle East turmoil could quickly impact on the improved sentiments noted in the survey.
”The survey ended on 18 March, after the start of the Iran war.However, respondents may not have appreciated at that point that the war would last more than a month and cause a global energy crisis, because of the prolonged closure of the strait of Hormuz.The Bank of England has warned that the war could hit mortgage rates, which could dent demand for loans.Nevertheless, the surveyed companies said they expected business to continue growing at a rapid, though more moderate, pace in the next quarter.Alpesh Paleja, the CBI deputy chief economist, said: “Financial services firms saw a sharp recovery in business volumes at the start of 2026, which helped drive a rebound in sentiment.
”He added, “the sector still appears to be digesting the implications of conflict in the Middle East.This is not surprising given that financial services firms are at the epicentre of volatile market moves, and that the economic impact of the conflict is still crystallising.”The CBI survey only had 58 respondents.However, the banks, building societies, insurers and investment managers that responded are likely to include some of the UK’s largest companies.The CBI still works with many of the UK’s biggest businesses, including the big four UK-headquartered banks: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group.
The CBI has worked to retain and rebuild its influence and membership after an existential crisis in 2023 prompted by the Guardian’s reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct by former staff members.
Court dismisses former WhatsApp security chief’s lawsuit against Meta
A US court has dismissed a lawsuit from WhatsApp’s former security chief, who alleged that parent company Meta ignored internal flaws he flagged about the messaging app’s digital defenses.Abdullah Baig, who claims he was fired in retaliation for raising these concerns, had alleged that billions of users had been put at risk because of these vulnerabilities. Thousands of employees could view sensitive user data, including profile photos and location, Baig claimed in the lawsuit filed in September. A judge ruled he had not presented enough evidence to move forward.The US district court in northern California ruled last month to dismiss Baig’s claims, with the judge, Laurel Beeler, writing on 19 March that “the complaint does not contain sufficient facts to show that the plaintiff reported violations of SEC rules or regulations
Goodbye mrbrightside416: Google allows users to alter quirky Gmail addresses
Did your McLovin!1976!@gmail.com email address seem funny at the time but less so now you are applying for dozens of jobs?Google has said it is giving US users a chance to appear more professional by letting them change their Google account username – whatever appears before @gmail.com in an email address – without losing access to their account.However, the tech company will limit the name changes to one per 12 months. In an example shared online by Google, the email address sk8tergrl123
Pupils in England are losing their thinking skills because of AI, survey suggests
Pupils using artificial intelligence are losing their capacity for critical thinking, according to a survey of secondary school teachers in England.Two-thirds said they had observed the decline among children who they also said no longer felt the need to spell because of voice-to-text technology.“Students are losing core skills – thinking, creativity, writing, even how to have a conversation,” one teacher told the National Education Union poll.“AI is destroying what ‘learning’ – problem-solving, critical thinking and collaborative effort – is,” said another. A third anonymous contributor added: “Children no longer feel the need to spell as voice-to-text replaces knowledge
Claude’s code: Anthropic leaks source code for AI software engineering tool
Anthropic accidentally released part of the internal source code for its AI-powered coding assistant, Claude Code, due to “human error”, the company said on Tuesday.An internal-use file mistakenly included in a software update pointed to an archive containing nearly 2,000 files and 500,000 lines of code, which were quickly copied to developer platform GitHub. A post on X sharing a link to the leaked code had more than 29m views early on Wednesday, and a rewritten version of the source code quickly became GitHub’s fastest-ever downloaded repository. Anthropic issued copyright takedown requests to try to contain the code’s spread. Within the code, users spotted blueprints for a Tamagotchi-esque coding assistant and an always-on AI agent, per the Verge
SpaceX confidentially files to go public at $1.75tn, reports say
SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering on the US stock market, according to reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. The IPO is set to be one of the most closely watched and highly valued listings in market history.Elon Musk’s company, which has become a dominant power in both space travel and satellite communications, could potentially seek a valuation upwards of $1.75tn. The confidential filing will give regulators a period to review and discuss the company’s financial disclosures before investors and the public are able to view them
‘System malfunction’ causes robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China
A “system malfunction” has caused several self-driving robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China, police have confirmed, after distressed riders were stranded for hours.Local authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said they began receiving calls “one after another” on Tuesday night from riders reporting that autonomous vehicles operated by the Chinese internet company Baidu had frozen.“Multiple Apollo Go cars stopped in the middle of the road, unable to move,” police said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to Baidu’s driverless taxi service. “After investigation, preliminary findings suggest the cause was system malfunction.”Baidu has a fleet of more than 500 driverless cars in Wuhan
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