Big Boss Interview

The Halifax brand is being retired after more than 180 years — and Charlie Nunn says artificial intelligence is the reason why.

The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group told the Big Boss Interview that the way customers discover financial products has fundamentally changed. Increasingly, people are asking AI tools and large language models to find the best mortgage or savings account, making multiple banking brands less rel...

AI and drone warfare will force a “complete reimagining” of how conflict risk is calculated and insured, the chief executive of Lloyd’s of London has warned, because traditional assumptions about how wars escalate may no longer hold.

Patrick Tiernan, who runs the 337-year-old insurance marketplace, told the Big Boss Interview that autonomous weapons and AI-driven decision-making could remove the warning signs and d...

Britain should stop taxing workers and start taxing robots, according to the chief executive of one of the country's biggest recruitment firms, who says the UK's tax system is pointing in entirely the wrong direction at the worst possible moment.

James Reed, CEO of Reed Recruitment, told the Big Boss Interview that the government is taxing employers who hire young people "to pick up beer glasses in gardens" whilst letting AI and aut...

Mondelēz International, the company behind Cadbury, Oreo, Toblerone and Ritz, has warned that future European investment could bypass the UK if regulatory instability persists.

Chief executive Dirk Van de Put says the UK is the company’s second-biggest market globally and contributes more than £2.3 billion to the economy each year, supporting 12,000 jobs and spending £1.3 billion with more than 1,000 UK suppliers. But he is sh...

The next great wave of demand for artificial intelligence chips could come not from chatbots, but from humanoid robots caring for ageing populations. That is the prediction of Wendell Huang, chief financial officer of TSMC, the Taiwanese company that manufactures the world’s most advanced semiconductors. As countries grapple with rapidly ageing societies, Huang sees robot carers and autonomous vehicles as major commercial fro...

Debenhams was once one of the biggest names on the British high street. Founded in 1778, it collapsed into administration before being rescued in 2024 and rebuilt as a digital-only marketplace. Now, under chief executive Dan Finley, Debenhams Group is back to growth after reporting a £350 million loss in the year to February 2025. Finley argues the business is now one of the biggest turnarounds in recent UK retail history, with the...

Jackie Jantos, CEO of Hinge, says the cost of living is reshaping dating habits, with daytime meet-ups becoming more common and traditional drinks dates becoming less popular as younger people look for cheaper ways to meet in person.

She argues that AI should help users express themselves rather than speak on their behalf, rejecting suggestions that AI is making online dating less authentic. Hinge has introduced a range of AI-powere...

David Thomas, the outgoing chief executive of Barratt Redrow, says bricklaying robots are already being deployed on commercial building sites and predicts a revolution in how homes are built over the next decade.

Factory-built timber frames, off-site manufacturing and “brick-simulation” cladding are beginning to reshape the construction industry, reducing the amount of labour required on site and changing how development...

Lord Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next and a Conservative peer, warns Britain is facing a crisis in entry-level employment. Applicants for every shop vacancy at Next have almost doubled from 10 to 19 in just two years — a trend he describes as “indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment.” Across retail and the wider economy, he says there has been “a dramatic fall in entry-level employment...

Amazon's UK boss has called for work experience to be made mandatory for everyone aged sixteen and over, describing it as "the most transformative thing" he has seen for young people entering the workforce. John Boumphrey argues that the education system is not producing work-ready school leavers and that the blame should fall on the system rather than on young people themselves.

The cost of living crisis and its effect on retail pr...

Eben Upton, founder and chief executive of Raspberry Pi, joins the Big Boss Interview to discuss artificial intelligence, British manufacturing, semiconductors and why he believes there is a growing tendency to overestimate what AI tools can currently do. AI tools are “genuinely incredible”, Upton says, and he uses them regularly himself. But he warns against assuming they remove the need for human judgment, engineering...

Andy Briggs, chief executive of Standard Life, joins the Big Boss Interview to discuss the war in Iran, pension reform,and the growing risk that millions of people are not putting enough aside for later life.

Briggs says pension savers should not panic about the conflict in the Middle East, arguing that most economists expect short-term volatility rather than lasting structural damage to investments. Standard Life, which looks after...

Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England for financial stability, joins Big Boss Interview to discuss risks in the global financial system, the rapid growth of private credit, and whether markets are prepared for the next economic shock.

She tells BBC Business Editor, Simon Jack the private credit market has grown to around $2.5 trillion in less than two decades, and says the BoE is watching the sector closely. She warn...

Pano Christou, CEO of Pret, joins Sean Farrington for this episode of Big Boss Interview to discuss fuel volatility, salads, and subscriptions.

Pret is starting to see inflation from the war in the Middle East, with fuel price volatility affecting the business. Prices aren’t currently set to rise, but he says they may have to if disruption continues. Some exports into the Middle East business are taking longer, but that’...

Nathan Coe, CEO of Autotrader, joins Sean Farrington for this episode of Big Boss Interview to discuss how rising fuel prices, the rapid growth of Chinese carmakers and advances in AI are reshaping the UK car market.

Coe says the recent spike in petrol prices has triggered an immediate shift towards electric vehicles, with enquiries on Autotrader up 30% month-on-month. He says higher fuel costs are pushing more buyers to reconsider ...

Wholesale gas prices have roughly doubled in three weeks amid instability in the Middle East, and Greg Jackson, co-founder and Chief Executive of Octopus Energy, the UK's biggest household energy supplier, says it is "very likely" that energy bills will rise from July. The energy price cap is set to fall in April due to government tax cuts on electricity, but Jackson warns that fixed tariffs and business tariffs are expected to cli...

Larry Fink, is Chairman and CEO of BlackRock - the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing more than $14 trillion in investments on behalf of governments, pension funds and individual investors globally.

He tells BBC Business Editor Simon Jack that oil prices could remain above $100 a barrel for years — and rise to $150 — if the Iranian conflict is not resolved, a scenario he says would trigger a “stark an...

Mark Neale, founder and chief executive of Mountain Warehouse - the outdoor clothing company - joins Will Bain for this episode of Big Boss Interview to discuss how conflict in the Middle East, tariff volatility and UK economic policy are affecting retailers and the wider economy.

Disruption to global shipping routes is already pushing up costs for businesses importing goods from Asia. Prior to the latest US/Isarael war against Iran...

Marco Amitrano, European boss of PwC, joins the Big Boss Interview to discuss the UK economy, artificial intelligence, business confidence and the case for loosening the government’s fiscal rules to unlock infrastructure investment.

Amitrano makes a direct appeal to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider the government’s borrowing limits, arguing that strict fiscal rules risk preventing the investment needed for long-ter...