UK Currency Falls As Selloff Deepens

The British pound fell to its lowest level in over a year on concerns that the Labor government will struggle to keep the deficit in check as borrowing costs rise. Investors have been irritated by the government’s escalating debt burden and persistently high inflation for months. As a global sell-off picked up this week, UK assets quickly took the lead. Britain still has lower debt than the United States, France, Italy and Japan, but investors say the sale of British assets is a culmination of worst-case scenarios right now: persistent price pressures, a pile of sovereign debt and tepid economic growth. Banks including Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank said there is room for the pound to fall further as investors unwind long positions and the Bank of England cuts interest rates.

Global banks will cut back as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years as artificial intelligence encroaches on tasks currently performed by human workers, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence. Back office, middle office and operations are likely to be most at risk, while customer service could see changes as bots manage client functions. The results point to far-reaching changes in the industry that translate into improved earnings. By 2027, banks could see pre-tax profits 12% to 17% higher than they otherwise would have been — adding as much as $180 billion to their overall bottom line — as AI drives an increase in productivity