Author: Arabian Media staff

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UK insurer Legal & General has struck a private credit partnership with Blackstone that the US alternative assets giant said could be worth up to $20bn by the end of the decade.Blackstone will source private credit deals for the FTSE 100 company’s annuities business, in the latest example of European insurance and pension groups tapping US private capital groups to increase their exposure to a fast-growing asset class.RecommendedUnder the agreement, L&G’s annuities business will use Blackstone to originate investment-grade private credit assets,…

Image credit: WAM/ Website The European Union has officially removed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from its list of high-risk third countries for money laundering and terrorist financing—a move hailed by the UAE’s top financial regulator as a major national achievement. Read-EU to remove UAE from AML/CFT ‘high-risk’ list, adds Algeria, Lebanon Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and Chairman of the National Committee for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations, called the decision a reflection of the country’s “wise leadership” and long-term vision, a WAM report said. Diplomatic…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK energy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The UK government has confirmed it will ditch a controversial plan to split Britain’s wholesale electricity market into zones, which could have resulted in the south of England paying more for electricity than Scotland. Ministers announced on Thursday they would not push ahead with so-called zonal pricing, ending a long-running debate that has divided the energy industry. The proposals were part of a package of potential reforms to the electricity market that has been considered in government for several years to try…

Image: Supplied The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) officially launched the 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, marking the start of the world’s largest competitive gaming festival. Running from July 10 until August 24, the event features 25 tournaments across 24 leading game titles and brings together more than 2,000 elite players from around the globe, competing for a record-breaking prize pool of over $70m Described by organisers as the biggest esports event ever staged, EWC 2025 introduces a pioneering cross-title ‘Club Championship’ format. Esports World Cup 2025: Format and prize money The competition sees the world’s top 200…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Sovereign bonds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Dutch pension funds are set to put pressure on European government bond markets later this year as they start to sell around €125bn of long-dated bonds because of a substantial reform of the retirement sector. Between 2025 and 2028 the €1.5tn Dutch pension industry is transitioning from a system in which final payouts to pensioners are guaranteed to a defined contribution framework, in which employers are only tied to the amount they put in. That will mean holding much less long-term sovereign debt…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Having just passed his 45th anniversary, which is ancient in gaming years, you might expect Pac-Man to be considering retirement. Perhaps he has finally buried the hatchet with his ghost nemeses. Maybe he spends his days with his wife, trundling around a nice hedge maze in the country on a mobility scooter.But game characters don’t get to retire. And judging by the yellow guy’s latest game, he is going in the opposite direction. The first hint that Pac-Man has gone feral is…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UBS may have been handed an early win in its battle to moderate stringent new capital requirements imposed by the Swiss government. Who to thank? The pragmatic and slow-moving Swiss political system. The fierce debate between the Swiss lender and the government over how much more money it should hold in reserve domestically for its overseas branches has been raging for months. By Swiss standards, it has all become quite emotional.Many Swiss citizens remain rightfully angered by the collapse of Credit Suisse…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.WPP has named top Microsoft executive Cindy Rose as its chief executive, tasking her with leading the turnaround efforts of the struggling London-based advertising agency.Rose will replace Mark Read, who announced his departure in June after a thirty-year career with the agency.WPP shares are languishing at a sixteen-year low as the group has lost key clients to rivals such as Publicis, which overtook WPP as the world’s largest ad agency by revenue last year.Rose is chief operating officer for global enterprise at…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Accounting & Consulting services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Grant Thornton’s UK and US businesses are vying to take over their German sister firm, in a private equity-fuelled race to secure a greater share of the accounting firm’s global network.Grant Thornton Germany is reviewing bids from Grant Thornton US and Grant Thornton UK, according to people familiar with the talks.The competition underlines a new dynamic between the firms following their recent injection of private capital. Grant Thornton’s US arm has been on an acquisition spree after selling a majority…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A biodiesel plant in northern England is set to close in the latest blow for UK industry following the collapse of an oil refinery in the same area last week. Greenergy, owned by global commodities trading giant Trafigura, said on Thursday that it planned to end biodiesel production in Immingham, in north-east Lincolnshire. The product is blended into normal diesel to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport.  The company blamed difficult market conditions due to competition from US imports and insufficiently ambitious mandates for…