HSBC acquires SVB UK for £1 March 13, 2023 HSBC has announced it has acquired Silicon Valley Bank Limited UK for a pound, following a weekend of round-the-clock negotiations.
London banking stocks tumble as Silicon Valley Bank shockwaves spread to HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds March 10, 2023 A crisis at US start-up lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has sent shockwaves across the Atlantic today and dragged down shares in London-listed lenders. Shares in Nasdaq-listed SVB plunged over 60 per cent yesterday after the firm announced a $1.75bn share sale on Wednesday in a bid to shore up its balance sheet and plug [...]
Amigo scrambles for survival as £45m emergency cash talks fail March 10, 2023 Beleaguered lender Amigo Loans is scrambling to find a route to survival today after the firm revealed talks to raise £45m had failed this week. In an update on an emergency cash raise this morning, Amigo said it was now “unlikely” to raise the required money before a regulator-imposed deadline of the 26th May this [...]
Start-up tax pain could scupper Rishi Sunak’s science superpower dreams, investors warn March 10, 2023 Further tax pain inflicted on the UK’s start-ups could scupper Rishi Sunak’s tech and science superpower plans, venture capital firms have warned. The warning comes as Jeremy Hunt prepares to announce his first full budget next week. Start-ups have piled pressure on Hunt to reverse changes to research and development tax credits announced in the [...]
London fintech Railsr rescued from collapse in emergency sale March 9, 2023 Embedded banking platform Railsr has been rescued from collapse after it was snapped up by a group of investors led by London-based D Squared Capital. The City-based fintech, which has been on the hunt for a buyer after running into cash troubles in the past year, said today that it had been “purchased and re-capitalised” [...]
British rent-a-bank acquires licence. What does that mean? March 9, 2023 Digital challenger bank Griffin has become the latest London-based fintech to secure a UK banking licence. Following authorisation with restrictions from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), Griffin is now the UK’s newest bank, licensed to hold up to £50,000 in deposits. The much sought-after licence leaves the company poised to encroach on big banks’ hometurf [...]
Amigo survival options ‘diminish significantly’ as lender scrambles to raise £45m emergency cash March 8, 2023 Beleaguered lender Amigo said its survival options had “diminished significantly” today as it updated on efforts to raise £45m in a bruising meeting with shareholders.
Female tech founders bag £3.6bn despite wider investment slump March 8, 2023 Venture capital investment into tech firms founded by women jumped last year despite soaring inflation and volatility sparking a slowdown in funding across the sector, new figures reveal. Female founders shrugged off the downturn that hit the UK’s tech sector last year and bagged some £3.6bn of VC, up from £2.9bn the previous year, according [...]
Exclusive: Tech chiefs look to win over pension funds on UK ‘sovereign wealth fund’ plans March 6, 2023 Tech and fintech industry chiefs have met with some of the City’s top pension funds as part of plans to create a UK “sovereign wealth fund” that could help unleash a wave of funding into the UK’s tech startups, City A.M. can reveal.
Can fintech thrive outside of London? Charlotte Crosswell talks growing the sector around the country March 2, 2023 Even as Charlotte Crosswell launched the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology in Leeds this week with a mandate to boost fintech across the UK, those in attendance were asking why it couldn’t have been in London. The Leeds event had big name backers in City minister Andrew Griffith and has full-throated support from across [...]