FCA spares Amigo £72.9m fine to ensure burnt customers get redress February 14, 2023 The City watchdog has publicly censured beleaguered lender Amigo for a loan mis-selling scandal this morning but spared it a £72.9m fine, saying it would prevent the firm from paying out compensation to customers.
Fintech trading platform Plus500 to put $100m back in shareholders’ pockets after bumper year February 14, 2023 Fintech trading platform Plus500 topped market expectations for the year today and announced it would put £82m ($100m) back in shareholders’ pockets after cashing in on “higher value” customers last year. In its preliminary full year results, the London-listed Israeli firm announced it would kick off a new $70m share buyback programme alongside a $30m [...]
Buy-now pay-later firms braced for clampdown as Treasury looks to grant regulator new powers February 13, 2023 The government said it will give City watchdogs the power to “clamp down” on buy-now pay-later firms this year as it prepares to publish a much-delayed update on the scope of regulation around the sector tomorrow morning. The Treasury will lay out the details of regulation that will include plans to bring firms like Klarna, [...]
Natwest: Pensions fintech bought by bank in £144m deal which will ‘shake up savings’ February 13, 2023 Natwest is to buy pensions fintech Cushon for £144m in a move the bank says will bolster its offerings of “financial wellbeing” products. The FTSE 100 lender said it would take an 85 per cent stake in the London-based fintech while the company’s existing management would retain the remaining 15 per cent. The chief of [...]
ESG: City firms feel pressure of rule changes as clampdown on greenwashing expanded by regulators February 13, 2023 City firms are feeling the pressure of impending environmental, social and governance (ESG) rules this year as regulators expand plans to clampdown on greenwashing, new research has found. Financial firms in the UK have pointed to rules on sustainability as the main pinch point facing them for a second year running, ahead of a major [...]
Crypto venture capital dries up as investors flee after FTX turmoil February 13, 2023 Investment into cryptocurrency startups collapsed at the end of 2022 as the market was shaken by the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange FTX and a string of high-profile bankruptcies, new research has revealed. The flow of cash into crypto start-ups fell to $2.5bn in the final three months of 2022 – down 75 per cent [...]
Home REIT’s top tenant looking to offload leases as cash troubles continue February 13, 2023 The biggest tenant of beleaguered property investor Home REIT is looking to offload its leases to other housing providers after warning it can no longer pay rent to the firm, City A.M. has learned.
London-based Osmosis wins $4.5bn ESG mandate from Dutch pension fund February 12, 2023 London-based asset manager Osmosis has won a $4.5bn sustainable investment mandate from a top Dutch pension fund looking to slash the environmental impact of its investment portfolio.
How crisis has become the norm for the UK’s small businesses, Tide chief February 9, 2023 Economic crises have rocked the UK’s smaller firms over the past three years – now they’re becoming par for the course, boss of small business banking firm Tide tells City.A.M.’s Charlie Conchie Small business banking has played a strangely starring role in the national drama of the past three years. When Covid first began to [...]
Astrazeneca’s shares rise, as cancer drug uptake offsets fall in sales of pharma giant’s Covid-19 vaccine February 9, 2023 Astrazeneca has posted what it claimed were “strong” financial results for the full year 2022 as surging demand for cancer medicines offset a fall in Covid vaccine revenues. Shares in Astrazeneca jumped on the news as the firm said it expects another year of double-digit revenue growth in 2023. The British firm’s strong results came [...]