Today’s need-to-know storiesDimon warns UK against raising bank taxes
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has warned UK chancellor John Healey that higher taxes on banks could push jobs and investment overseas, as the country’s financial sector prepares to lobby ahead of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s October Budget.
Dimon told Healey during a call on Thursday that heavier taxation had contributed to a material decline in finance jobs in New York, according to an FT report citing people briefed on the conversation.
UK lenders are concerned they could become a target for higher taxation after several years of strong profits. The Trades Union Congress, the national centre for UK trade unions, has urged the government to increase the corporation tax surcharge on banks to help fund support for household energy bills.
Several other bank chiefs have already pushed back against the prospect of a heavier tax burden on the sector.
Santander executive chair Ana Botín told the FT in June that the UK’s bank tax regime made “no economic sense”, adding: “If policymakers are looking for sectors earning outsized returns, there are other places to start.”
Citigroup chief executive Jane Fraser, responding to a question from The Banker, also warned that a windfall tax on banks could damage London’s competitiveness and drive investment to rival financial centres.
Trump’s World Liberty Financial wins preliminary US banking licence
World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, has secured conditional approval for a national trust bank charter, clearing the way for an expansion of its stablecoin operations.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a letter on Friday that it had granted preliminary approval to World Liberty Trust Company. Once approved, the charter will allow the business to issue its USD1 stablecoin directly and hold the US dollar assets backing it, as well as provide custody, settlement and other services to institutional clients.
Unlike a traditional bank, the trust would not generally be permitted to take deposits or make loans.
USD1 is the world’s fifth largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, according to data from crypto analytics platform DefiLlama, at just over $4bn.
Reuters estimates that the Trump family earned about $50mn from USD1 by the end of June 2026, while more than $1.6bn had flowed from World Liberty Financial to the US president and his family as of April.
The move comes as crypto companies increasingly seek federal banking licences, with Ripple, Circle and Coinbase among those to have secured preliminary approval from the OCC.
RBI cuts short foreign currency push
The Reserve Bank of India has ended its push for foreign currency deposits from non-resident Indians a month early.
The central bank has recorded inflows of $52bn over the past two months, surpassing expectations. The foreign currency non-resident (bank) swap facility was introduced as part of a range of measures to prop up the rupee, which had fallen to record lows in May. FCNR (B) will now end on 31 August.
RBI stated in August that FX reserves had reached a four-month high, rising to $707bn.
The swap facility was designed to bear hedging costs for banks raising three- to five-year deposits from non-resident Indians through FCNR (B) accounts, with caps on interest offered on such deposits temporarily waived.
Banks are offering rates of up to 7 per cent on FCNR (B) deposits, and the interest earned is also exempt from tax. There have been concerns raised that it could increase future costs for the banks when the swaps mature.
India looks to banking sector reform
India is to announce reforms to the banking sector as part of the country’s evolution into a developed economy, the finance minister has said.
Nirmala Sitharaman told an event attended by heads of public sector banks and financial institutions that the country is to launch a high-powered committee to put together the recommendations, which the government is then prepared to enact to “rev up the Indian economy”.
She added that the country’s banks are currently the strongest they have been: “Your NPAs are at the lowest ever Indian banking has seen, and therefore there cannot be a better position of strength with which you can take on reforms.”
The committee was first proposed in February, with Sitharaman saying it will “comprehensively review the sector and align it with India’s next phase of growth while safeguarding financial stability, inclusion and consumer protection”.
The plans form part of India’s ongoing Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, which aims to make the country a developed nation on its 100th anniversary of independence.