THE DAILY BRIEFING

BUILDER BULLISH

Housebuilder Bellway is lining up a double-digit rise in revenues and expects halfyear housing revenues to climb 14pc to £1.3bn, as customer demand stays strong.

STAKE TALKS

Japanese investor Softbank is in talks to buy a 33pc stake in £24bn insurer Swiss Re.

PHONE LOANS

Shoppers could soon be able to buy an iPhone using finance from Goldman Sachs. The bank is in talks with tech firm Apple over offering loans to customers.

POLE POSITION

Trading titan Blackrock dominated the European investment market last year, as savers pumped £55bn into its funds.

INVESTOR FIGHT

Activist investors demanded change at 81 companies last month – up 13pc on a year earlier and the highest number since 2013, says Activist Insight Online.

SHAKE-UP CALL

Insurance lobbyists Association of British Insurers have called for fewer restrictions on foreign ownership post-Brexit so the industry can seize new opportunities outside the EU.

HACKING HEIST

Bangladesh’s central bank is suing Filipino lender

Rizal over one of the biggest heists in history. Hackers stole £58m in 2016 after hijacking an international payments system and the money disappeared without trace after being transferred to Rizal.

LINE REOPENS

The Forties Pipeline system that carries 40pc of oil and gas from the North Sea to the UK mainland has reopened after its second shutdown in three months.

SWEET SALES

Corn syrup seller Tate and Lyle says sales picked up in the three months to December 31 and profits are on track.

BANK WARNING

German central banker Andreas Dombret has warned investment banks to expect the worst on Brexit, and apply for EU licences. Ramping up the rhetoric, the Bundesbank board member said he did not believe a special deal was possible and some banks were facing disaster.

APP ROLE

Google-backed taxi app Lyft has poached Jon McNeill, who was Tesla’s global sales president, as chief operating officer.

STAFF BATTLE

Taxi company Uber has defeated a legal challenge in France that claimed a driver was an employee. It comes after Uber lost a similar tribunal in the UK.