Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Two more senior city council officials heading for the exit
Two leading figures in Aberdeen’s multi-million-pound regeneration masterplan are poised to exit the local authority soon after the chief executive.
City regeneration executive director Gale Beattie and her chief strategic place planning officer David Dunne are both due to leave the council, only weeks after ex-CEO Angela Scott quit to become principal of Dundee University.
The P&J reports that Mrs Beattie, who rose through the council ranks having started as a trainee planner, is retiring.
Meanwhile, Mr Dunne, who was the brains behind the Aberdeen city centre bus gate scheme and Covid social distancing roadworks, is understood to have taken a top job with the Scottish Government.
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Bank shares lose £18bn after Healey summons bosses to meeting
More than £18bn was wiped off the value of Britain’s four biggest listed banks on Thursday on investors’ worries that lenders will be hit with tax rises in the budget.
The sell-off started in early trading when bank investors fretted about the impact of surging government bond yields and accelerated during the afternoon after it emerged that the bosses of the leading lenders had been called to a meeting with the chancellor.
The talks, which are planned for Tuesday, fuelled stock market worries that John Healey is preparing to increase levies on the banking industry at his first budget on October 28. Barclays closed down 4.1 per cent, HSBC fell 4.1 per cent, Lloyds lost 4.5 per cent and NatWest finished 5.4 per cent lower. Most of the value was lost by HSBC because of its size. More than £10bn was knocked from its market capitalisation to leave it worth about £246bn.
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Scotland's Maternity Crisis: Nearly 500 serious adverse events over past three years
Nearly 500 high-level incidents which led to deaths, falls, and the sudden deterioration of patients in maternity and neonatal services have been recorded across Scotland over the past three years.
In a damning overview of the frequency with which the most serious flashpoints are occurring across maternity and neonatal units at the nation’s 14 health boards, at least 490 serious adverse events took place between 2023/24 and 2025/26.
They include scores of neonatal deaths, as well as the deaths of mothers, fetal and neonatal injuries, and numerous other incidents described by health boards as “extreme” or “major.”
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BDO auditors face inquiry over Manchester City cheating scandal
The accounting industry regulator is “making inquiries” into the behaviour of accountants and auditors working with Manchester City, the football club at the centre of a financial scandal.
The Financial Reporting Council has not opened a formal investigation into BDO, Manchester City’s long-time auditor, but it has the power to should it see fit. The Times understands officials are deliberating behind the scenes if or when to get involved.
It is not just BDO that could face scrutiny, but also Manchester City executives, although the FRC can only pursue senior directors who are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) or another professional body.
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