Lloyds shares surge past 100p to 17-year high January 6, 2026 Shares in Lloyds Banking Group surged past 100p on Tuesday morning amidst a wider rally in the London stock market’s blue-chips. The FTSE 100 banking giant jumped over one per cent at the opening bell to 101.30p marking a 17-year High before parring back some gains to close 0.8 per cent higher at 100.75. Lloyds’ [...]
Legacy banks must ‘radically modernise’ or lose to fintech stars, says former Barclays boss January 1, 2026 A decade ago, Antony Jenkins was ousted from his role as chief executive of Barclays and months later warned the banking sector was reaching an “Uber moment”. Jenkins declared technology would be an “unstoppable force” in the banking sector and could lead to hundreds of branch closures and potentially slash the industry’s workforce by half. [...]
Regulators show their teeth – financial services fines in 2025 December 24, 2025 UK watchdogs sharpened their sword in 2025 and slapped a handful of financial services firms with hefty fines and a thorough dressing down. In just under a week alone in July, the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England handed out £74.9m worth of fines to a trio of financial services giants. But it was [...]
HSBC follows Nationwide with branch pledge in bid to woo customers December 12, 2025 HSBC has promised it will not shut any branches in the UK until at least 2027 as the bank ramps up its efforts to appeal to customers. The FTSE 100 titan, which is Europe’s biggest lender, will invest £55.8m into its 327 branches in 2026, a 30 per cent increase on the £42m it spent [...]
How Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC fired up the FTSE 100 in 2025 December 9, 2025 If 2025 was supposed to be the year of the AI bubble, nobody told Britain’s banking giants. Amidst the noise of the US tech boom, the UK’s FTSE 100 banking heavyweights, Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC, have staged a formidable, if understated, rally. Lloyds delivered an astonishing 75.8 per cent gain, while Barclays surged 65 [...]
Lloyds boss: Forcing banks to hoard capital is slowing UK growth December 4, 2025 The boss of Lloyds Banking Group has called on the government to take its deregulation mission further to ramp up economic growth. Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, welcomed recent regulatory progress, including the Chancellor’s Leeds Reforms package, but added “they are just at the start – there is more to do”. “The [...]
Strap a rocket to UK banks or watch the City drift, shadow chancellor warns December 4, 2025 Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has called for a tearing down of burdensome City regulation to power up the financial services sector and avoid it losing status. The Tory MP said the pendulum has swung “too far in favour of trying to iron… [and] squeeze risk out of the system”. Stride called for a “bonfire of [...]
Is HSBC’s chair hunt really over? December 4, 2025 Safe, but surprising – that was the verdict across the City as Britain’s biggest bank unveiled its new chair after a twist-and-turn search. Brendan Nelson will take the post at HSBC, succeeding Sir Mark Tucker, whose exit in September left the bank without a permanent chair for weeks. Except for Nelson. Indeed, the seasoned accountant [...]
Birthday cookies and fine dining: Inside the law firm aiming for 5-Star service December 4, 2025 There are not many office buildings in the City where, just five feet in the door, you receive a personalised greeting, but Addleshaw Goddard’s client services team would put The Ritz to shame. How to stand out in a crowded field? That is the question plaguing most law firms as they battle to grow in [...]
FCA launches ‘safe space’ for AI as City firms rush to deploy new tech December 3, 2025 The City’s top regulator has opened the doors to its first-ever ‘AI live testing‘ scheme, giving major financial firms a controlled environment to trial AI without fear of tripping regulatory wires. NatWest, Monzo, Santander, Scottish Widows, Gain Credit, Homeprotect and fintech Snorkl are among those in the inaugural cohort. The FCA says the scheme is [...]