Category: 3. Business

An ex-banker who gave his wife £78m will not have to split it equally with her following their divorce, according to a supreme court ruling experts say sets a precedent for dividing up assets after a marriage ends.

In 2017, prior to their divorce, Clive Standish, 72, transferred investments worth £77.8m to his wife Anna as part of a tax planning scheme. These assets had originally been Clive’s non-matrimonial property, the court was told.

The couple married in 2005 – this was the second marriage for both – and have two children together. However, the marriage broke down in 2020.

In 2022, a high court judge split the family’s total wealth of £132m by awarding Clive £87m and Anna £45m. The former challenged this decision at the court of appeal, arguing that the majority of the money, including the transferred assets, was earned before they began living together.

Last year, court of appeal judges assessed that 75% of the near-£80m had been earned prior to the marriage and cut Anna’s share to £25m.

The supreme court has now upheld the £25m figure after five justices unanimously agreed that because most of the sum of money had been earned prior to the marriage, Clive was entitled to keep the largest share.

The landmark judgment might involve the super-wealthy but is “relevant to everyone,” said family lawyer Caroline Holley, partner at law firm Farrer & Co.

The law firm Stewarts, which represented retired banker Clive in the case, said: “Divorcing couples across England and Wales now have clearer guidance on how their assets will be categorised upon divorce.”

Legal experts suggested the judgment could increase demand among couples for prenuptial agreementsand postnuptial agreements as a way of protecting people’s interests if it all goes wrong later.

Clive Standish, being domiciled in the UK, was worried about paying millions in inheritance tax if he died with the assets in his name, Lords Burrows and Stephens explained in their ruling on Wednesday.

They said: “In short, there was no matrimonialisation of the 2017 assets because, first, the transfer was to save tax, and, secondly, it was for the benefit of the children, not the wife.

“The 2017 assets were not, therefore, being treated by the husband and wife for any period of time as an asset that was shared between them.”

Clive Standish expected his wife to use the money to set up two offshore trusts, but she did not do that and remained the sole owner of the assets when legal action began, the court heard.

Chris Lloyd-Smith, partner in the matrimonial team at law firm Anthony Collins, said: “With the judgment being in favour of Mr Standish, the court has set a precedent of firmer boundaries between personal and shared wealth.”

He said “the most important takeaway” was that transparent financial planning in relationships was crucial. “When it comes to managing expectations and reducing legal uncertainty, pre- and postnuptial agreements that are reviewed regularly are important tools to divide and protect assets with clarity. This way, you protect yourself and set your own terms, instead of relying on a court decision.”

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‘Pain of Brexit’

Challenging for consumers and dealers

Del Monte Foods, the 139-year-old company best known for its canned fruits and vegetables, is filing for bankruptcy protection as U.S. consumers increasingly bypass its products for healthier or cheaper options.

Del Monte has secured $912.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing that will allow it to operate normally as the sale progresses.

“After a thorough evaluation of all available options, we determined a court-supervised sale process is the most effective way to accelerate our turnaround and create a stronger and enduring Del Monte Foods,” CEO Greg Longstreet said in a statement.

Del Monte Foods, based in Walnut Creek, California, also owns the Contadina tomato brand, College Inn and Kitchen Basics broth brands and the Joyba bubble tea brand.

The company has seen sales growth of Joyba and broth in fiscal 2024, but not enough to offset weaker sales of Del Monte’s signature canned products.

READ MORE: What happens to DNA data of millions as 23andMe files bankruptcy?

“Consumer preferences have shifted away from preservative-laden canned food in favor of healthier alternatives,” said Sarah Foss, global head of legal and restructuring at Debtwire, a financial consultancy.

Grocery inflation also caused consumers to seek out cheaper store brands. And President Donald Trump’s 50% tariff on imported steel, which went into effect in June, will also push up the prices Del Monte and others must pay for cans.

Del Monte Foods, which is owned by Singapore’s Del Monte Pacific, was also hit with a lawsuit last year by a group of lenders that objected to the company’s debt restructuring plan. The case was settled in May with a loan that increased Del Monte’s interest expenses by $4 million annually, according to a company statement.

Del Monte said late Thursday that the bankruptcy filing is part of a planned sale of company’s assets.

New tariffs in 2025 have exposed vulnerabilities and increased uncertainty across regions and industries. The effects on information technology are real and immediate: tighter regulations, rising costs, and more complexity, particularly in China and other geofenced markets. While the pace of decoupling varies, the direction is clear: Tech environments are becoming more regionalized and risk sensitive.

For technology leaders, this means rethinking core decisions—vendor strategy, architecture, and the operating model. Tech executives will need to deliver results in a more fragmented, more expensive landscape. Understanding five key trends can help leadership teams build smarter, more resilient strategies.

• Hardware: Shifting away from China comes at a premium. As companies move production out of China, hardware costs are rising—by up to 20% in some categories. The added effort to qualify new suppliers, build buffer stock, and manage a broader vendor base is straining budgets and creating near-term supply risks.
• Data: Localization redefines architecture needs. Tougher data privacy and AI regulations increasingly require companies to store and manage data locally. That means duplicative cloud setups, region-specific security tools, and in some cases, split AI and data platforms—all of which drive up cost and complexity.
• Cloud: Fragmentation erodes scale advantages. Hyperscalers are investing in sovereign cloud, in-country AI, and multiregion infrastructure to meet local demands. While necessary, these investments are pushing up cloud computing costs and reducing the savings of a centralized model, requiring greater architectural planning and financial discipline.
• Cybersecurity: Rising geopolitical risk increases threats. As global tensions rise, so do cyberthreats—from state-sponsored attacks to vendor breaches and phishing campaigns themed around tariffs. Companies will need sharper monitoring, stronger vendor oversight, and continuous employee upskilling to stay ahead.
• Talent: Mobility constraints reshape delivery models. Limits on cross-border talent movement are pushing companies to shift toward more onshore, nearshore, or insourced teams. That means new cost structures, capability trade-offs, and a rethink of how and where tech work gets done.

Act now, plan ahead

To navigate this new terrain, tech leaders must balance near-term moves with longer-term bets. In the short run, that means managing exposure, triaging IT budgets, reassessing vendor footprints, and exploring workforce levers. Longer-term, the focus should shift to reimagining sourcing, architecture, and the operating model to thrive in a more fragmented future.

Santander’s takeover of TSB will be music to Rachel Reeves’ ears: sparing the under-pressure chancellor the potential embarrassment of having to explain why a major high street lender had given up on Britain.

On Tuesday night, Spanish-owned Santander said it would buy TSB from its fellow Spanish owner, Sabadell, for £2.65bn, ending months of speculation over the future of the British bank – and reaffirming Santander’s commitment to the UK.

Rumours had emerged in January that Santander UK could pull out of high street banking, potentially reversing gains made in stepping up its British presence with the acquisition of Abbey National two decades earlier. Bosses had started slashing 2,000 jobs months earlier, fuelling speculation that it was trying to create a leaner business that could lure potential suitors.

The chatter sparked panic, feeding into a growing existential crisis over whether allegedly burdensome regulation was driving potential investment and foreign firms away from the City – which was already losing stock market listings and floats to foreign rivals .

Publicly, Santander repeated that the UK was a core market, with 14 million customers served through 350 branches and 18,000 staff. But in Madrid, executives led by executive chair Ana Botín, were said to be increasingly frustrated over UK regulations and costs that were dampening profitability.

That included post-financial crisis rules such as ring-fencing, which protect and separate consumer deposits from riskier operations including investment banking, but are criticised as costly and complex by banks. Meanwhile, Santander’s frustrations were compounded by the car finance commission scandal, which could lead to a £1.9bn compensation bill for the bank’s aggrieved borrowers.

Reeves and her Labour government, however, appeared alive to the threats.

Months earlier, the chancellor had ordered City watchdogs to do more to promote growth and competition, including by watering down financial crisis regulation that she claimed had “gone too far”. By late January, the chancellor was attempting to intervene in a supreme court case over the car finance scandal, concerned it could curb lenders’ activities.

Days after her intervention emerged, Reeves met with Botín on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. While in the Swiss Alps, Botín declared: “We love the UK, it is a core market and will remain a core market for Santander. Punto [fullstop], that’s it.”

Speculation of its sale continued to swirl, but Santander finally put its money where its mouth is: agreeing to buy TSB from Spanish rival Sabadell in a deal that could eventually hit £2.9bn if the smaller bank’s profits meet forecasts.

For Santander, the takeover will help fend off competition from the likes of Nationwide Building Society, which has been nipping at the bank’s heels after its own £2.9bn acquisition of rival Virgin Money. It will add 5 million customers to its books, and make Santander the fourth largest mortgage provider and third largest bank in terms of personal current account deposits, behind Lloyds and NatWest.

But for TSB, the future of its 5,000 staff and 175 branches is at stake. Santander will have to consider how to strip out duplicate roles and branches and whether to scrap the 215-year history old TSB brand, which could disappear from UK high streets following the takeover.

Santander bosses told analysts on Tuesday night that they were aware of duplications, including “overlapping branches”.

Meanwhile, unions have been holding urgent talks with TSB to try to get some clarity for staff, who have been subject to a tumultuous 12 years, marked by ownership upheavals and a disastrous IT meltdown that tarnished its reputation for years.

Hived off from Lloyds Banking Group as part of state-aid rules following its £20.3bn government bailout in 2008, TSB again became a standalone brand and floated on the London stock exchange in 2014. It was delisted following its takeover by Spanish lender Sabadell in 2015, in a major cross border deal that the Treasury hailed as a “vote of confidence” in the UK.

But the party did not last. As soon as 2020, Sabadell began exploring a sale of TSB after the botched launch of a new IT system two years earlier sparked a tech meltdown, locking millions of customers out of their bank accounts. It caused a customer exodus, executive resignations, financial losses and a £48m fine from regulators.

Sabadell eventually swallowed the losses, and was heartened by TSB’s recovery, even rebuffing a £1bn approach by the Co-operative Bank in 2022.

It took a hostile bid for Sabadell by Spanish rival BBVA for the bank to reconsider a sale, with proceeds from TSB’s sale due to be distributed among shareholders who it hopes will see less benefit in agreeing to the takeover.

But Sabadell’s loss could be Santander’s gain, and provide a timely boost for Reeves as she fights to keep the trust of the City courted on the election campaign trail amid a gloomy economic outlook.

The UK’s financial watchdog is expanding bullying and harassment rules to more than 37,000 City firms, in an effort to crack down on “rolling bad apples” who avoid consequences by hopping from firm to firm.

It means that “serious, substantiated cases of poor personal behaviour” by senior managers at a range of firms including hedge funds, insurers and pension firms will have to be reported to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as well as future employers who are assessing whether new hires are fit and proper for the job.

Previously, only banks were required to report bad behaviour to the watchdog. The rules will now apply to tens of thousands of other firms across the City that are bound by the so-called senior managers and certification regime (SM&CR) that is meant to hold senior bosses accountable for wrongdoing at their firms.

The regulator said the expanded rules would help “prevent ‘rolling bad apples’ – people moving from firm to firm without appropriate action being taken or without past serious non-financial misconduct being disclosed”.

Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s deputy chief executive, said: “Too often when we see problems in the market, there are cultural failings in firms. Behaviour like bullying or harassment going unchallenged is one of the reddest flags – a culture where this occurs can raise questions about a firm’s decision-making and risk management.

“Our new rules will help drive consistency across industry and support the vast majority of firms that want to do the right thing to deepen trust in financial services.”

The expanded rules on non-financial misconduct, which also cover racism, sexual harassment and violence and intimidation, will come into force on 1 September 2026. However, they will not apply to payments and e-money firms, regulated investment exchanges or credit ratings agencies, none of which are subject to SM&CR rules.

The FCA recently won a tribunal challenge brought by the former Barclays boss Jes Staley, with judges upholding a lifetime ban against the former chief executive for misleading the regulator over the nature of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and their last point of contact.

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The new rules come despite the FCA and fellow regulators facing mounting pressure from the government to slash red tape for businesses.