FirstFT: EU and UK strike Brexit deal

Good morning. We begin today with the news that Britain and the EU have clinched a deal to settle their toxic dispute over Northern Ireland trading rules in a turning point after years of post-Brexit tensions.

Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, and Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, sealed the agreement in the shadow of Windsor Castle, with both talking of a “new chapter” in relations. Sunak and von der Leyen hope the deal to smooth trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK will end years of grim post-Brexit ties between London and Brussels.

“We have made a decisive breakthrough,” Sunak said at a press conference with von der Leyen, as the two hailed an agreement to reform the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, dubbed “the Windsor framework”.

The protocol was established to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. But Sunak’s next task will be selling the deal to its critics, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party and Eurosceptic Tory MPs.

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Five more stories in the news

1. Congress to examine operations of US companies in China The US congressional panel created to focus on threats from Beijing plans to look at the role of private equity, venture capital and Wall Street firms in China as it prepares to launch its first hearing featuring witnesses such as Matt Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser during the Trump administration, and former national security adviser HR McMaster.

2. Two Abu Dhabi state funds agree 1MDB settlement The International Petroleum Investment Company and Aabar, both mired in the 1MDB financial fraud, have agreed a $1.8bn settlement with the Malaysian sovereign fund and the ministry of finance to end a legal dispute in London.

3. JPMorgan slashes China weighting in proposed Asia bond index The new version of the JPMorgan Asia Credit index would seek to compensate for a lack of new dollar bond sales by Chinese property groups by adding corporate debt from other Asia-Pacific countries, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. China’s weighting would decrease from about 43 per cent to roughly 30 per cent, the person said.

4. EY China staff encouraged to wear Communist party badges Communist party members at EY China in Beijing have been asked to wear their party badges to show their political loyalty while they are at work. A Communist party branch committee at the company made the demand just ahead of China’s annual parliamentary meetings, a time of high political sensitivity in the country.

5. Investcorp opens Tokyo office to target Japan deals The Bahrain-based alternative investment manager that once owned Tiffany and controlled Gucci is opening an office in Tokyo to raise funds and pursue acquisitions of high-end Japanese manufacturers and other hidden gems. The move represents the debut of major, private Middle Eastern funds in Japan.

The day ahead

Peace Memorial day Taiwan will observe the final day of the Peace Memorial day holiday weekend. The Taiwan Stock Exchange remains closed today.

India GDP figures India’s gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter of 2022 will be released today. Economists expect growth to have slipped to an annual 4.6%, according to a Reuters poll.

Earnings Companies reporting results today include abrdn, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Bayer, Duolingo, Man Group, Moncler, Ocado, Schrodinger, Serco, Target, and Universal Health Services. More in our Week Ahead newsletter.

Join the FT and the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign on March 8 at 9pm HKT for an hour of financial empowerment in the key areas affecting women in all relationships as well as those without any ties. Register free.

What else we’re reading

Battle of Asia hubs: how Singapore stacks up against Hong Kong Hong Kong has lost ground to regional rival Singapore, according to an FT analysis of real estate prices, air traffic and other indicators, underlining the challenge the Chinese territory faces as it reopens to the world after years of pandemic controls.

The war in Ukraine forced the EU to rewrite defence policy Decades of engagement with Moscow, through trade, investment and diplomacy, in the belief that it would stop the Kremlin threatening the continent’s security, has been exposed as a monumental error since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A generation of individual government cuts to defence spending has been replaced by an unprecedented rush to re-arm.

Opinion: The inherent flaws of corporate bond ETFs ETFs are supposed to be ultra-simple products — cheap, easy-to-use funds that invest in a broad range of shares, bonds or other assets, spreading risk for inexpert investors. But as with so much of modern finance, the reality is very different from the appearance, writes Patrick Jenkins.

The art of getting over an office faux pas There are two sorts of people in the world, writes Pilita Clark. Those who know how to recover from a faux pas at work and those who do not. In her latest column, the FT’s business columnist offers examples of both.

‘I do not see us having a problem getting to Mars’ Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to undertake a spacewalk, is convinced that humans will live on the Red Planet. But freshly retired from European Space Agency m missions, Peake sits down for an interview with FT’s Henry Mance.

Take a break from the news

For the best Japanese food in London, use our guide, written by Nikkei’s Joshua Ogawa. Discover hidden gems between and behind red-brick buildings that serve excellent, and sometimes creative, Japanese cuisine.