Ewan Potts

The UK's financial technology sector attracted just shy of $11 billion last year, down from about $13.5 billion in 2024.

The numbers come from a KPMG report citing PitchBook data.

In total, 418 fintech deals closed last year, with a blockbuster $4 billion fundraising by Revolut at a valuation of $75 billion, making up a big chunk of the total raised.

The UK's fintech sector was dwarfed by the US, which accounted for close to half of all cash raised globally.

But to underline the country's relevance, UK fintechs attracted more funding than those in France, Germany, Belgium, the Nordics, Ireland, China and Brazil combined.

In London, I'm Ewan Potts, Bloomberg Radio.

High rents and low pay mean work is no longer a route out of poverty for millions of families in the UK.

That's the conclusion of a report called Unsung Britain from the Resolution Foundation.

It says incomes of poorer families are set to grow just 0.5% a year across the 2020s.

In the 40 years up to the mid-2000s, the typical disposable incomes of working-age families in the poorest half of Britain doubled, growing by 1.8% a year in real terms.

The report says that for many, in-work poverty has become a bigger issue than worklessness.

In London, I'm Ewan Potts, Bloomberg Radio.

A first-of-its-kind security briefing was held for officials from all UK political parties last week, led by the director of MI5 and the head of the National Cyber Security Centre.

According to the Cabinet Office, political leaders were told how foreign players can deploy funding and investment as tools to gain influence while hiding their true motives, as well as using other tactics including coercion and sex.

The briefing comes amid growing concerns about the vulnerability of the UK's democracy to foreign donations and bribes.

In London, I'm Ewan Potts, Bloomberg Radio.

Today's talks in Muscat mark the first public meeting between Iranian and US officials since Tehran's violent suppression of mass protests in the country last month.

The summit comes as President Trump calls for another nuclear agreement, a new deal between the US and Russia.

This after the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START, signed in 2010, expired yesterday.

Trump says the existing treaty was a badly negotiated deal, which was being, in his words, grossly violated.