Noel Quinn stepping down from HSBC after just five years, following John Flint’s short stint, both under chair Mark Tucker. Who will he look to appoint next? Georges Elhedery probably waiting in the wings

Noel Quinn stepping down as CEO of HSBC after five years…. ft.com/content/f96485…

Martin Gilbert faces a backlash from shareholders over his role as executive chair and its all-male board. It is one of the only U.K. listed companies with no women on the board ft.com/content/7cbb1e…

Fallen star fund manager Neil Woodford had a “defective” understanding of his responsibilities in the run-up to the collapse of his £3.7bn Equity Income Fund, Financial Conduct Authority says. via Emma Dunkley ft.com/content/c61865…

Abrdn’s shareholders are being urged to reject its pay plan over new CFO’s £675k salary. But much discussion over whether such salaries are crucial for attracting talented managers to run U.K. companies ft.com/content/2ea3ae…

Very enjoyable lunch with Sony Music boss Rob Stringer talking about the past and future of music, TikTok and taking his friend Harry Styles to watch Luton Town FC ft.com/content/6e4334… via @ft

Nationwide pushes ahead with £2.9bn deal to acquire Virgin Money. So much for VM (formerly CYBG) being the big consolidator among challenger banks. They might have failed to tackle Big Four’s dominance, but they’ve done great things for customer services ft.com/content/f68884…

Scoop: Liontrust approached Artemis about a potential acquisition. Comes in the wake of its failure to acquire GAM ft.com/content/a0e894… with Harriet Agnew Ivan Levingston

Scoop from Emma Dunkley and me⁩ this morning - Jupiter is considering dumping £1bn of its own funds when Ben Whitmore leaves
on.ft.com/3T6w1qD

Excl: Jupiter considers offloading £1bn in its own funds, as star manager Ben Whitmore prepares to leave firm ft.com/content/9e527a…

Punchy for Nationwide: the UK's largest building society, led by Debbie Crosbie, has agreed to buy Virgin Money, where she used to work, in a £2.9bn deal ft.com/content/db451d…

This is a fascinating read by Harriet Agnew

For Americans who follow markets, it is worth reading this to see just how behind UK providers, technology and culture is on this stuff

Hargreaves Lansdown: a former upstart targeted by new digital rivals ft.com/content/9065e3…

Active managers’ attacks on sustainable passives miss their mark ft.com/content/db8198… via @ft

The Independent in talks to take control of BuzzFeed UK and Huffington Post in UK - scoop on Financial Times - ft.com/content/f99185…

Let them eat crackers and cake

bbc.co.uk/news/business-…

Since Andrea Orcel took over at Unicredit, its share +240% and the bank has returned €17.6bn to shareholders

Wonder what Ana Botín is thinking right about now...

ft.com/content/822161…

How Iran was able to use accounts at Lloyds and Santander UK to get around sanctions. Story with Stephen Morris and Lucy Fisher

ft.com/content/aac08c…

“The financier turning China’s noodle joints and karaoke bars into a data goldmine”

Beyond fascinating piece from Kaye Wiggins, Cheng Leng & Hudson Lockett IV 康河信 on the former head of the Hong Kong stock exchange who is securitising small business revenues ft.com/content/f74904…