European investment banks’ killer year
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address last night, Europe’s largest investment banks delivered their highest trading revenues in at least a decade in 2025, and UK self-driving start-up Wayve has raised $1.2bn in new funding. Plus, people are returning to Afghanistan in droves, but there are questions over whether the country can support this massive influx.
Mentioned in this podcast:
European traders celebrate decade-beating performance
UK AI start-up Wayve raises $1.2bn from carmakers and Big Tech
Millions of people are returning to Taliban-run Afghanistan
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Today’s FT News Briefing was hosted and edited by Marc Filippino, and produced by Fiona Symon, Victoria Craig and Sonja Hutson. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from Michael Lello and David da Silva. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s Global Head of Audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:04.2 | Today is Wednesday, February 25th, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:08.9 | European investment banks don't seem to hate a bit of chaos, and investors are riding the |
| 0:14.0 | self-driving wave. |
| 0:16.0 | Plus, people are returning to Afghanistan in droves. |
| 0:19.0 | That's not necessarily a good thing for the country. |
| 0:21.9 | Because the pie is simply not big enough for all these new people coming in. |
| 0:25.8 | But first, a recap of U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address from last night. |
| 0:31.3 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:47.9 | Thank you. need to start your day. USA chance, thunderous applause, booze from Democrats, and even the gold medal winning |
| 0:53.3 | American men's Olympic hockey team. |
| 0:55.7 | They all graced the U.S. Capitol building last night as U.S. President Donald Trump delivered |
| 0:59.9 | his state of the union address. Trump hit on a number of issues, including tariffs and his |
| 1:05.0 | frustration with the Supreme Court, which ruled them illegal last week. But Trump said he's confident |
| 1:10.0 | the individual trade deals he's made will stick. |
| 1:12.8 | Four of the nine Supreme Court justices were in attendance, |
| 1:15.6 | as was U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. |
| 1:18.6 | But the good news is that almost all countries and corporations |
| 1:22.9 | want to keep the deal that they already made, right, Scott, knowing that the legal power that I as president |
| 1:31.9 | have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore they will continue to work along |
| 1:38.9 | the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court's unfortunate involvement. |
| 1:46.7 | Trump also talked about concerns regarding artificial intelligence. |
... |
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