Today’s agenda: Citi’s raid on JPMorgan staff; private equity and insurance; Spanish wildfires; HR and AI; and the new Square Mile.
Good morning. We begin in Washington, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders will travel today and call on Donald Trump to spell out his security guarantees for Ukraine as Vladimir Putin demands that Kyiv concede land to reach a truce with Russia.
What to know: The hastily arranged meeting at the White House comes after the Ukrainian president and European leaders dashed to find common ground with the US at the weekend, after Trump dropped his demand for an immediate ceasefire following his meeting with the Russian president in Alaska on Friday.
Securing Ukraine’s future: Zelenskyy found some encouragement in the US president’s apparent willingness to provide security guarantees for Ukraine after the war ends, to prevent another attack by Russia. Washington’s exact position remains unclear, but US special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN yesterday that Putin had agreed to allow the US and allies to give Kyiv a guarantee similar to Nato’s collective defence mandate.
Who is joining Zelenskyy in Washington? European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte confirmed they would attend the Washington talks.
Read more on Zelenskyy’s Oval Office mission.
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Opinion: European leaders need to get Trump off the dangerous path laid out for him by Putin, writes Gideon Rachman.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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Economic data: The EU releases trade balance for June. UK Finance releases card spending statistics.
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Results: US cyber security company Palo Alto Networks reports earnings.
Five more top stories
1. Citigroup’s banking chief Vis Raghavan has accelerated a hiring spree of former JPMorgan Chase colleagues, with at least 10 senior investment bankers having now agreed to join the rival US bank. More on Citi’s raid on top JPMorgan staff.
2. Exclusive: Apollo has hit back against criticism of the close ties between its asset management arm and in-house insurer in an investor filing that instead points the finger at its chief rivals. US life insurers’ related-party assets have come under scrutiny from regulators as private equity has piled into the sector.
3. Wildfires have triggered the largest ever deployment of the EU firefighting force, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, as the country battles blazes across several regions. Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record amid repeated heatwaves.
4. Solar power generation in Britain so far this year has surpassed the total for 2024 as panels are rapidly installed and amid favourable weather, underlining renewable energy’s increasing importance to the grid. The terawatt hours of electricity produced so far this year were enough to power the London Underground for more than a decade.
5. The crossbench peer who played a key role in shaping new landmark UK rules to protect children online has defended the legislation and its age-verification requirements, saying its success should “give us confidence” to go further. Read the interview with longtime child-safety campaigner Baroness Beeban Kidron.
The Big Read
More US companies are using artificial intelligence, with human resources enjoying the most savings from AI use. But as the technology transforms the nature of work, executives must resolve the tension between the need to comply with such top-down corporate productivity goals and the risk that AI could hollow out vital operations.
We’re also reading . . .
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‘Acqui-hires’: Big tech companies are paying billions of dollars for start-ups to scoop up their talent. That is bad for competition, writes Jonathan Kanter, former assistant attorney-general at the US Department of Justice.
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Marriage penalty: A push in Switzerland to end tax rules that penalise married couples when both partners work is facing resistance from conservative groups.
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Russian crude: India’s oil lobby is funding Putin’s war machine. That has to stop, writes Peter Navarro, White House counsellor for trade and manufacturing.
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Soho House: The London club that turned exclusivity into a global business is nearing a $1.8bn take-private deal led by one of the biggest US hotel owners.
Chart of the day
The first of a series on the new Square Mile takes a look at the dearth of public listings in London, which is forcing investment banks to broaden their horizons. In the first half of this year, just £8.8bn was raised through IPOs and follow-on issuance, the lowest volume for 30 years, when adjusted for inflation.
Take a break from the news . . .
FT journalists have narrowed down more than 500 entries to a longlist of 16 for the best business book of the year award. Among those vying for the prize are tales of geoeconomics and growth — plus a rare novel.
Read the full article here