The purpose of Bank Overground is to share our internal analysis. Each bite-sized post summarises a piece of analysis that supported a policy or operational decision.
Since the Easter Weekend, Marks & Spencer (M&S), one the United Kingdom’s biggest high street retailers, has been managing the fallout of a cyber-attack on its business operations. This has forced the company to suspend online orders, led to shortages on shelves, increased working demands on staff, and wiped £750m off the share value. Left: Dr Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez. Right: Luna Rohland. Even three weeks later, there is still no indication…
Upstream oil and gas producers and oilfield service companies are facing new uncertainties from recently imposed federal tariffs. In early 2025, the US expanded tariffs on a broad range of imports, suddenly increasing costs for critical equipment and materials. These abrupt governmental actions raise a pivotal question for the industry: Can newly imposed tariffs qualify as force majeure events under Texas law, thereby excusing delays or non-performance in oil and…
For years, McKinsey has tracked the steady rise of female-controlled assets and analyzed its potential implications in the United States and in Europe. McKinsey recently surveyed more than 13,000 US and European investors, of whom almost half were female financial decision-makers. The team also interviewed wealth managers in the United States and Europe to better understand the challenges involved in attracting and retaining female clients. The survey and interview responses…
Today, the central commemorative event of Victory Day celebrations in Russia is the military parade. The main parade traditionally takes place on Red Square in Moscow, with additional military parades being held simultaneously in numerous other cities across the Russian Federation. Historically, the first Victory Parade took place on Red Square one and a half months after the end of the war in Europe – on June 24, 1945. It…
People are asked to update the operating systems on their phones all the time. What if leaders applied that same kind of polishing and bug fixing to themselves? McKinsey research shows that executives who periodically review and revise their priorities, roles, time, and energy tend to be more productive, work more consciously, and drive change more effectively. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Arne Gast joins McKinsey…
On April 16, 2025, the Government of Ontario announced that it was launching the $50M Ontario Together Trade Fund (OTTF) to support Ontario’s small and medium businesses with near-term investments to better serve interprovincial customers, develop new interprovincial markets and reshore critical supply chains in response to U.S. tariffs. On April 23, 2025, the Government of Ontario published guidelines (the Guidelines) to assist applicants with submitting their application to the…
The biopharmaceutical industry is experiencing a surge in demand for large molecules, driven by advances in biotechnology and the need for innovative treatments for complex diseases. With an annual growth rate of around 6 percent, the sector's role in global healthcare is more critical than ever. However, existing production capacities are struggling to keep up, even though the pharmaceutical industry is spending around $57 billion every year on new facilities.…
In this year’s Citizenship in the 21st Century course, students explored political differences by talking openly with each other.It sounds simple. But in a world where polarization is deep and emotions are high, finding spaces for meaningful conversations across divides can be difficult. What if it didn’t have to be?Providing students with the setting and the skills to engage in rigorous, intellectual discussions on topics that can be contentious –…
Today, we revisit one of our most thought-provoking conversations, this time with Dr. Megan Ma. Since she joined us on the podcast, Dr. Ma has co-founded and become the Executive Director of the Stanford Legal Innovation through Frontier Technology Lab—otherwise known as liftlab. With a rich background in political science, economics, health law, and economic law, Dr. Ma brings a truly interdisciplinary lens to the future of legal education and…
Quick Hits President Trump nominated Brittany Panuccio, an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, to serve as an EEOC commissioner. The EEOC currently has only two commissioners, one less than needed for a quorum. Once the EEOC has a quorum, it will be able to engage in rulemaking, policymaking, and issuing (and, in some instances, rescinding) official guidance that advances the administration’s agenda. By statute, the EEOC is composed of five…
On April 29, 2025, The U.S. President signed a Proclamation and an Executive Order providing some relief from the 25 per cent tariffs on imported auto parts and automobiles, effective retroactively from April 3, 2025. These measures offer some temporary tariff relief in the form of an “import adjustment offset” for parts used in vehicles assembled in the United States. The new adjustments follow Canada's recent measures to aid Canadian…
As we approach a major anniversary, 80 years since the defeat of fascism, a strange silence hangs over my country, Macedonia, and the broader region we now call the “territory of former Yugoslavia.” National authorities have been under sustained external (Western) pressure for years: May 9 must no longer be associated with the victory over fascism. Year after year, in both public memory and the education system, May 9 has…
8 May 2025By Oscar Arce, Agostino Consolo, António Dias da Silva and Marco WeisslerForeign workers play an increasingly important role in the euro area labour markets. This ECB blog analyses the effects migrants had on growth across the largest countries in recent years. It also discusses changing labour market participation patterns among foreign workers.Sluggish productivity growth and weak capital accumulation have hampered post-pandemic recovery in the euro area.[1] Amid this…
May 1st is International Workers’ Day. Hooray! I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful and grateful for my overseas team members. They are the wheels that keep this company moving forward! Now that that’s out of my system, let’s talk about you. Whether you have remote international workers, or local workers who are remote or hybrid, this flexible work option can create some problems for your culture…
Latin America is consolidating as the world’s fastest-growing and most profitable region for insurance. Insights from McKinsey’s Global Insurance Report 2025 find that while it accounts for just 3 percent of the world’s insurance market, gross written premiums grew at 11 percent annually from 2019 to 2024, and the region retains significant room to grow. Penetration levels across Latin America remain lower than in other major markets (Exhibit 1). Claim levels have…
Resilience is critical in today’s organizations, given the state of uncertainty and permacrisis in which most teams and individuals operate. Yet McKinsey research suggests that many leaders and organizations aren’t spending enough time building that resilience. A full 84 percent of leaders report feeling underprepared for future disruptions, and 60 percent of board members say their companies are not ready for the next major event. Discussions with global CEOs reveal…
Women with certain variants of the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 have a high risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. These women are recommended to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed at a relatively early age – between the ages 35 and 40 years for BRCA1 carriers, and between the ages 40 and 45 for BRCA2 carriers.Previously, BSO has been shown to lead to an 80% reduction in the…
In June 2022, Health Canada introduced new nutrition labelling regulations for prepackaged foods. A key feature of these regulations is the mandatory use of a front-of-package (FOP) nutrition symbol on products high in saturated fat, sugars, or sodium. This symbol is intended to help Canadians quickly identify less healthy food options, encouraging informed choices and reducing health risks associated with overconsumption of these nutrients. Although the regulations came into effect…
If you’ve ever been denied a promotion or award you believed you earned, you know the sting can linger—as can the glow of unexpectedly receiving recognition. In fact, such instances of misrecognition may influence how you evaluate others in the future, according to new research from Yale SOM’s Tristan L. Botelho, with co-authors Mabel Abraham of Columbia and James T. Carter of Cornell. The researchers found that, whether positive…
A team of patients, clinicians, researchers and charity representatives, led by the University of Cambridge and the British Society of Audiology, surveyed over 550 people who are deaf or have hearing loss about their experiences with the NHS – making it the largest study of its kind. Their findings, reported in the journal PLOS One, highlight systemic failures and suggest changes and recommendations for improving deaf-aware communication in the NHS.“The…
Now that the second quarter of 2025 is fully underway, it is increasingly evident that China’s consumer market has settled into a “new reality” characterized by single-digit consumption growth. Citing Chinese consumers’ “lack of confidence” and “trading down” behavior, market analysts continue to raise a series of challenging questions: Have pockets of growth narrowed? Has lower sentiment dampened spending intent? Our latest research reveals that, while challenges do remain, the…
It appears that the Victory of May 8th and 9th in France is more and more viewed by the present generations as a US victory, as if memory and history had been defeated by another, more powerful, level of “consciousness”: fame, Olivier Roqueplo writes. May 9th is Victory Day in Russia and it should unite most Europeans. But unfortunately, even in victorious France, history, real memory and the public imagination…
In the “Research Matters” series, we visit labs across campus to hear directly from Stanford scientists about what they’re working on, how it could advance human health and well-being, and why universities are critical players in the nation’s innovation ecosystem. The following are Justin and Erica Sonnenberg’s own words, edited and condensed for clarity. Their responses have been combined into a unified voice, with their approval.When we first joined microbiome…
May 5, 2025 – Seyfarth Shaw LLP has appointed Giovanna (“Gina”) Ferrari as chair of the firm’s Litigation Department and Andrew Lucano as the next Corporate Department chair. “Gina and Andrew are outstanding leaders whose appointments reflect Seyfarth’s commitment to deepening client service, strengthening collaboration, and advancing our strategic growth,” said Lorie Almon, chair and managing partner of Seyfarth. “As we continue to expand the breadth and depth of the…
On May 1, 2025, the province expanded “strong mayor” powers and duties to a further 169 municipalities in Ontario, identified as those single and lower-tier municipalities with councils of six members or more. This means that out of the 444 municipalities in Ontario, almost half of them will be subject to strong mayor powers. Prior to the most recent amendments, a total of 46 municipalities in the province had permanently…
The popular yarns about “work from home” and “return to the office” tend to be absolutist. First, there’s the notion that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was in the office every day. Next, the idea is that during and after the pandemic, no one went in at all. Lately, the story goes that offices are packing up to the rafters yet again. The truth, underscored by the findings from…
On May 6, 2025, the Valdai Club presented a Valdai Paper titled “Immortal Letters of Victory” on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in the Second World War. It included previously unpublished handwritten materials from the war – fragments of the front-line diary of Guard Sergeant Petr Nosov, letters from partisan Tamara Avalyan, orphanage worker Nina Mayer, and senior lieutenant Vasily Lazarevsky. Oleg Barabanov, the moderator…
The telecommunications (telco) industry has become an indispensable driver of economic growth worldwide. Mobile phones have transcended their traditional role as communication devices and developed into powerful tools that drive social and economic progress. From facilitating remote education and healthcare to empowering small businesses and boosting agricultural productivity, the impact of mobile technology is far-reaching—and expanding—especially in Africa. While African operators face headwinds, including regulatory complexities and infrastructure gaps, the…
Quick Hits MDHR has revised multiple compliance-related documents for Minnesota government contractors. Key changes include new terminology, workforce certificate application form signature requirements, and more structured reporting periods for annual compliance reports. An annual compliance report must be submitted to MDHR each year, even if the Minnesota contractor does not currently hold a state government contract. Background Companies contracting with Minnesota state departments and agencies, certain metropolitan agencies, and the…
The president of the United States announced, in a Sunday afternoon social media post, his intent to declare incentives by its trading partners to their film industries a “national security threat” to the United States. In his social media posts, the president authorized the Department of the Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to institute a 100% tariff on “any and all Movies coming into our Country that are…
By London & Capital | 06 May, 2025 The strategic hire comes as the merged firms prepare to formally unite under a single brand, W1M, in June. London & Capital and Waverton Investment Management the newly merged wealth and investment management firm, which is formally rebranding to W1M in June is pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Hammond as Head of Private Wealth and US Private Wealth. Reporting to…
There is an adage that people don’t leave their jobs; they leave their managers. This reality is particularly critical given how important managers are to the overall success of an organization and its people. Indeed, middle managers are the heart of any organization, deeply influencing talent, culture, and employee experience. They are the face of leadership for the front lines and the bridge from executive strategy to implementation. Middle manager performance…
This commentary was adapted from episode 172 of the Health & Veritas podcast. The views expressed are the author’s own. Subscribe for weekly doses of expert insight on health and the healthcare industry. The Papanicolaou test, or Pap smear, was introduced in the 1940s. Its use over the eight decades since has saved many lives from cervical cancer. Our progress against this disease, which kills hundreds of thousands worldwide. accelerated…
Remembering Donna Robertson, longtime staff member who engaged Stanford’s most generous alumni and friends | Stanford Report Skip to content
Seven CO2RE Artists have been hand-picked to create a diverse range of works designed to engage the public in the potential of Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR), with funding provided by the UKRI backed-initiative.Our hopes for CO2RE Arts expand beyond the projects we’ve funded, as CO2RE believes science and engineering, including their conceptualisation, design and delivery, as well as innovations that follow, are cultural practices. Meaning that artists, creative practitioners and the arts…
We’re incredibly proud to share that Q5 has been awarded a prestigious King’s Award for International Trade in recognition of our ongoing commitment to helping businesses thrive across the globe. This year marks the 59th edition of the King’s Awards for Enterprise, celebrating exceptional UK businesses that are achieving remarkable growth and innovation. This award only goes out to the select few, and we are one of just 197 organisations…
On May 1, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that it would not hear an appeal of the Court of Appeal for Ontario’s landmark decision in Mathur v. Ontario, 2024 ONCA 762. The Court of Appeal unanimously found that a Charter challenge to Ontario’s greenhouse gas emission (GHG) target was not a “positive rights” claim imposing freestanding positive obligations on the provincial government - because Ontario voluntarily assumed a…
Turned yellow over time, soldier’s letters – pieces of paper folded into triangular shapes sent from the frontlines with field post office postmarks – and diaries are unique witnesses of the unparalleled feat. They still hold the warmth of our compatriots’ hands, their faith in and hopes for peaceful life, and the truth of 1,418 sleepless nights. Simple, and occasionally sad, these documents, imbued with the spirit of heroism, have…
In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Roberta Fusaro speaks with McKinsey Partner Tim Koller about the latest edition of the seminal practitioner guide, Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies (Wiley, May 2025), coauthored with Marc Goedhart and David Wessels. Now in its eighth edition, Valuation has been a trusted resource for executives, financial professionals, and others seeking a deeper understanding of the valuation process and…