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The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is reportedly planning tougher reporting requirements for private credit managers as it seeks greater oversight of the fast-growing sector. Proposed reforms could require firms to provide more detailed fund-level or even loan-level data, replacing the current broader reporting template. The potential move comes amid growing global concern over risks in private credit; recent borrower failures; redemption caps at major firms including KKR, Apollo Global Management, BlackRock and Blue Owl Capital; and warnings from the Bank of England about market opacity. An FCA spokesperson told Reuters that "improving how we collect data ‌so it ⁠is timely, accurate and proportionate will maintain the UK’s position as a world-leading asset management centre," adding: "Better data means we can supervise risks effectively, support market confidence and identify opportunities for growth."

 

Reuters

X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has committed to reviewing reports of illegal hate and terrorist content within 24 hours. The pledge from X follows a compliance programme in which UK media regulator Ofcom assessed whether the biggest social media companies have adequate systems and processes for dealing with reports of illegal hate and terror material. Ofcom's online safety director, Oliver Griffiths, said the commitment from the online platform marks a "step forward" in the fight against such content. X will submit performance data to Ofcom every three months for a year, enabling the regulator to monitor whether the site is meeting the targets. The platform has also pledged to block UK access to accounts linked to banned terrorist groups.

 

BBC News

The Guardian

The Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority have warned companies to prepare for cyber risks posed by advanced AI models, saying their capabilities "are already exceeding what a ​skilled practitioner could achieve, and at a significantly higher speed, greater scale, and ​lower cost." In a joint statement, they said malicious use of frontier AI systems could threaten firms’ resilience, customers, market integrity and wider financial stability. The warning follows comments from Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England's governor, who last month highlighted concerns over AI tools which experts say could enable increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks against the banking sector.

 

Reuters

German wholesale prices rose 6.3% in April, the highest level in three years, as the Iran war disrupted energy markets and drove sharp increases in oil and raw material costs. Federal statistics office Destatis noted that petroleum prices surged 37.3% year-on-year amid disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, prompting concerns that German inflation could exceed 3% in May and increasing expectations of further European Central Bank interest rate hikes.

 

Reuters

The UK is close to finalising a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after two years of negotiations. An agreement-in-principle is expected soon, with Jasem alBudaiwi, GCC secretary-general, visiting London this week. While it primarily benefits the luxury car and financial services sectors, the overall economic impact is modest, with a projected GDP boost of £1.6bn to £3.1bn annually by 2036.

 

Bloomberg

Financial Times

France’s highest administrative court has rejected Amazon’s challenge against the country’s minimum delivery fee for books, upholding measures designed to protect independent bookstores from online competition. The Conseil d’Etat ruled against Amazon’s attempt to overturn the €3 minimum delivery charge introduced in October 2023, which applies to book orders under €35. Amazon had argued the measure was protectionist and breached European Union law, while the French government said the policy was intended to support local booksellers after Amazon had previously charged just one euro cent for deliveries. Amazon criticised the ruling, claiming the fee had cost readers more than €100m and reduced access to books, particularly for consumers living far from physical bookstores.

 

Reuters

Ernst & Young (EY) has settled a claim with the administrators of NMC Health for over £100m. The claim, filed four years ago, alleged breach of contract and negligence related to EY's audit work from 2012 to 2018. The administrators sought £2bn but reached a confidential settlement in February. A spokesman said: "NMC Health has resolved the claim it brought against its former statutory auditor . . . without admission of liability." Following the settlement, the administrators repaid nearly £48m in litigation funding. A separate fraud trial against NMC's founder is ongoing in Abu Dhabi.

 

The Times

A survey published by the ​Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says employers in the UK are prioritising cost management over growth as indicators of employer confidence hold close to record lows. Meanwhile, workers are likely ‌to see inflation eat into their pay in the year ahead. Planned pay awards were mostly around ​3% for the ​next 12 ⁠months - unchanged from levels over the past two years but below most ​forecasts for inflation growth. The ​CIPD ⁠survey of 2,049 employers was conducted between March 23 and April 23. James Cockett, senior labour market economist at the CIPD and author of the report, said: “With so much happening externally, organisations should focus on the areas they can directly influence. This means taking a proactive approach to workforce planning and ensuring investment in technologies such as AI is supported by the right mix of people, skills, and systems to deliver meaningful productivity gains.”

 

Personnel Today

Reuters

An AI agent at PocketOS, a technology platform that provides management software in the car rental sector, deleted the company's production database and backups, causing disruption for car rental firms. The firm said the bot, using Anthropic's Claude AI, was supposed to fix a bug inside its software system but acted outside its security parameters. Experts say that as companies increasingly rely on AI tools, the risk of catastrophic errors grows. A recent Deloitte report noted that 85% of businesses are considering AI agents, but only 20% have established deployment rules.

 

Daily Mail

EY has withdrawn a study on loyalty rewards amid concerns over AI hallucinations including inaccuracies and fake citations. The report included made-up data and references to a study that does not exist.

 

Financial Times

HSBC has yet to invest $4bn into its private credit fund, despite announcing plans to do so nearly a year ago. No funds have been transferred, and the bank reportedly has no plans to do so. Concerns over the US private credit market are said to have made HSBC executives hesitant. In Q1, HSBC said that its private markets exposure was 2% of its $1trn loan book, with 'pure' private credit standing at $6bn.

 

Financial Times

Daily Mail

Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith has decided to change the airline group's name following the expected acquisition of Scandinavian carrier SAS. Reports indicate that the new name will not include "Air France" or "KLM" - similar to the International Airlines Group model, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia. The group aims to secure a majority stake in SAS and also plans to add TAP Portugal to its portfolio. An Air France-KLM spokesperson said: "It is completely logical to conduct the discussion about a new name since we are planning to add new brands."

 

NL Times