Revealed: Natwest banked company used by MFS founder to ‘siphon off’ funds August 12, 2026 Natwest provided banking services to a company allegedly used by the founder of collapsed property lender MFS to divert investors’ cash and “siphon off” funds, City AM can reveal. The bank held the day-to-day account for Twinwin, a company that was allegedly used by Market Financial Solutions founder Paresh Raja to generate fees from clients’ [...]
The European fintech American dream is being called into question August 12, 2026 A double US banking application blow has called into question the fintech dream of landing on Wall Street. In this week’s column, Samuel Norman takes a look at the expansion roadmap for Europe’s top fintechs as well as the latest response to the booming profits in UK banks half-year reports. Denied, denied, withdrawn. That is [...]
World Cup leads UK spending boost as confidence rebounds August 11, 2026 Consumer spending across the UK jumped in July as Brits’ splurged on a summer of sport and sunshine, fresh data from Barclays has shown. Card spending jumped two per cent to its highest level in 12 months following a surge in transactions at pubs, bars and clubs during England’s World Cup run. Overall hospitality and [...]
Revolut lands fresh banking licence after wrestling with Europe friction August 10, 2026 Revolut has been granted a new full-fat banking licence with approval from the European Central Bank following previous friction with the prudential regulator. The $75bn fintech giant – which is currently undergoing a secondary share sale expected to value it at $115bn – revealed on Monday its European arm will accelerate its continental push under [...]
As it happened: Stocks rise despite new tensions in Strait of Hormuz; Oil price climbs August 7, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. New tensions in the Strait of Hormuz this morning are leaving markets on edge and handing a blow to earlier optimism around a peace deal between the US and Iran. Oil is moving higher, reversing some of the drawback from the beginning of this week, after an attack [...]
As it happened: Stocks fall into red as oil fluctuates over Middle East developments August 6, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Oil prices have fluctuated around the $80 mark over the last 24 hours following mixed developments coming out of the Middle East. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – was heading towards $79 per barrel on Thursday morning, holding up a near 10 per cent [...]
‘Social value’ procurement rules are an absurd waste of time and money August 6, 2026 Procurement is not a sexy topic, but stay with me here. The public sector spends around £400bn a year buying goods and services from the private sector. You can imagine the scale: NHS equipment and Ministry of Defence gear, police cars and IT infrastructure, immigration processing centres, security guards, construction projects and fax machines. It’s [...]
Starling plans to ‘come out swinging’ in diversification bid August 6, 2026 Bernadette Smith has a spring in her step as she sits down in Starling’s headquarters to discuss her new role. The fintech’s new banking boss is buzzing with energy that she wants to pass onto customers and investors. “I want everyone to be talking about us,” she says, envisaging how she will measure success in [...]
Big bank bosses on alert as tax noise gets louder under Burnham August 5, 2026 Banks have delivered booming profits for the first half of the year. In this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at how the calls for a tax rise on the sector will get louder under the new Prime Minister. “The saxophones are getting louder” is the internet’s new saying to depict growing anxiety. If you [...]
HSBC kicks off $1bn share buyback after profit smashes forecast August 4, 2026 HSBC has resumed its share buyback programme after profit soared past expectations in the second quarter of 2026. The FTSE 100 bank – whose market cap of £274bn makes it the London Stock Exchange’s most valuable company – posted $10.1bn (£7.5bn) in pre-tax profit for the last three months, surging past an internal forecast of [...]