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    Helen Thomas

    Business columnist

    Helen Thomas writes about British business and finance for the FT. She has previously written for the Lex column, for FT Alphaville as well as covering M&A and the mining sector. From 2013, she worked at the Wall Street Journal and at BBC Newsnight before rejoining the FT in 2021.
    Email Helen Thomas @helentbiz  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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    • Wednesday, 22 March, 2023
      UK politics & policy
      How to spark up a Green Day revolution with no cash

      UK’s best option may be as an aggressive regulator — something the government needs to come to terms with

    • Monday, 20 March, 2023
      Banks
      How ‘competitive’ would you like your bank regulation now? 

      Unravelling of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank gives whip hand to those in favour of tough oversight

    • Wednesday, 15 March, 2023
      UK Budget
      Endless innovating when it comes to R&D policy can only be unhelpful

      With the latest credit for research intensive businesses, the government is picking winners by the back door

    • Wednesday, 15 March, 2023
      UK banks
      Why crummy bank IT is a looming regulatory risk

      Lenders will not get a pass on the digital challenges around new consumer protection rules

    • Monday, 13 March, 2023
      Tech start-ups
      Let’s hope the start-up world remembers this Great British Tech Rescue

      The UK tech sector has been backed up and bailed out by a country it sometimes appears impatient to escape

    • Thursday, 9 March, 2023
      WANdisco PLC
      No dancing around it: WANdisco kicks London when it’s down

      Aim-listed software group has followed plans to add a US listing with revelations of ‘potentially fraudulent irregularities’

    • Wednesday, 8 March, 2023
      Competition & Markets Authority
      Is the UK really becoming ‘Death Valley’ for global tech?

      Microsoft’s $75bn Activision Blizzard deal needs to clear hurdles around the world

    • Tuesday, 7 March, 2023
      Financial & markets regulation
      Don’t just blame the regulator for London’s failed American dreams

      Tweaking the rules for each big listing that comes along would be pathetic

    • Friday, 3 March, 2023
      London fights for its future
      This Brexit breakthrough doesn’t move the dial for the City

      Only reforms will stop the decline of London’s equity market

    • Wednesday, 1 March, 2023
      Corporate governance
      Why Europe is the next battleground for investor control

      ISS has moved against companies with unequal voting rights, opening a new front in the conflict over shareholder powers

    • Friday, 24 February, 2023
      Private equity
      Return of private equity suggests revival of London’s salad days

      Being picked over by investors looking for a bargain feels like progress in this market

    • Tuesday, 21 February, 2023
      Corporate governance
      Linda Evangelista moment: how the £100mn pay club went wrong

      Biggest CEO incentive packages don’t always lead to the best performance

    • Thursday, 9 February, 2023
      Oil & Gas industry
      BP’s shift leaves a bigger question on credibility than climate

      Retreat on commitments is also a pivot born out of higher oil price forecasts

    • Wednesday, 8 February, 2023
      UK banks
      UK banks have rarely had it so good (and it won’t last)

      From July, there will be more scrutiny of how actively they shepherd customers towards better interest rates

    • Tuesday, 7 February, 2023
      Financial services
      Is there a pot of pension money to rehabilitate UK plc?

      Even if there is, suitable infrastructure projects to invest in are lacking

    • Thursday, 2 February, 2023
      Energy sector
      Shell is having a use-of-cash flow crisis

      How the energy group and others should spend their spoils is a tricky question

    • Thursday, 2 February, 2023
      Digital currencies
      The UK finds its way to a tougher line on crypto

      The recent rout has done us a favour: the worst of the political salivating over the industry has dried up

    • Wednesday, 1 February, 2023
      Cyber Security
      The corporate world is losing its grip on cyber risk

      Reasonably priced cyber insurance that also improves resilience seems still beyond our reach

    • Friday, 27 January, 2023
      Financial services
      The UK led the world in open banking — and then got left behind

      A genuine tale of innovative success risks stagnating as global imitators push adoption harder

    • Wednesday, 25 January, 2023
      White collar crime
      Are we really making headway in holding corporate villains to account?

      A proliferation of offences that aren’t prosecuted seems unhelpful for everyone

    • Tuesday, 24 January, 2023
      Corporate governance
      It is time for a boardroom entente at UK plc

      Tension between FTSE boards and their investors seems more symptom than cause of the London market’s woes

    • Friday, 20 January, 2023
      Legal services
      Watch law firms, not banks, to judge the City’s deep freeze

      For now, the strategy is to wait and see. But recent poaching and bidding up of salaries will not help

    • Wednesday, 18 January, 2023
      Technology regulation
      Where the UK’s ‘world-leading’ online rules lost their way

      What is left looks like a regulatory hodgepodge, something that parliament could yet address

    • Tuesday, 17 January, 2023
      Retail sector
      Is this the high street’s last stand?

      Bricks and mortar retail has shown signs of a revival but hailing the triumph of square footage over pixels would be wishful thinking

    • Friday, 13 January, 2023
      Pensions crisis
      Can we talk more about my pension this year?

      Comfortable world of defined benefit schemes has dominated UK news — what about the rest of us?

    Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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