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Bank of England keeps rates steady after a narrow Monetary Policy Committee vote. The decision highlights deepening divisions among policymakers, reassures lenders and investors, and signals that interest rate cuts remain possible later this year.
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Large enterprises overestimate payroll readiness despite automation, AI, and integration ambitions. New research from CloudPay shows budget constraints, legacy systems, and governance barriers are slowing real-world deployment across enterprise payroll operations.
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January’s US M&A opened 2026 with cash, speed, and scale. From streaming to medtech and power, buyers chased certainty and category leverage. Five headline deals, led by Netflix’s $82.7bn Warner Bros. push, signalled a market willing to pay up for assets that shorten timelines, widen moats, or lock in demand.
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Midlands angel network Minerva refocuses to connect growth-stage start-ups and investors. Marking its 30th anniversary, the University of Warwick-linked network is tightening its remit to support companies raising up to £500,000, with a renewed emphasis on hands-on angel involvement and deeper founder-investor collaboration.
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January’s UK M&A signalled confidence, but buyers stayed disciplined overall. A £7.7bn approach for Beazley set the tone, while EQT’s Coller deal and Accenture’s Faculty acquisition underscored private markets’ pull. Healthcare remained strategic, and take-private logic persisted. For leaders, readiness, clarity, and integration discipline mattered more than bravado this month.
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SpaceX has completed the largest technology acquisition ever recorded globally. Elon Musk’s aerospace company has acquired his artificial intelligence venture xAI in a transaction valuing the combined business at roughly $1.25tn, unifying two of the entrepreneur’s most ambitious projects under a single corporate structure.
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January reopened Europe’s deal engine, with scale back in focus. From Zurich’s £7.67bn approach to Beazley to Deutsche Börse’s €5.35bn Allfunds agreement, buyers prioritised distribution, fee resilience, and control. Private markets consolidation accelerated, while mining mega-merger talks reminded boards that 2026 could still deliver surprises. Across the continent, scrutiny intensified.
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Zevero acquires Inhabit to enhance sustainability advisory services. Carbon accounting startup Zevero has acquired Inhabit, a provider of sustainability solutions, to bolster its advisory capabilities. The transaction will integrate Inhabit’s tools and services, enhancing Zevero’s platform with advanced automation and data visualisation.
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Data privacy is enterprise’s next big competitive battlefield in 2026. Data Privacy Day has expanded into a full week as AI adoption, supply chain scrutiny, and shifting regulation push privacy from compliance into core operations. Leaders now need evidence, not policies, to sustain trust.
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Hargreaves Lansdown reduces fees for half its customers. The UK’s largest DIY investment platform, Hargreaves Lansdown, is set to cut fees for around half of its clients, introducing new charges for fund trading amidst increasing industry competition.
