The Crime Lord: Peter Capaldi on the manosphere, London and rocking out with his band as he approaches 70
‘Mortgage mayhem’: Deal lifespans hit record low as interest rate cut hopes dim Property Borrowers have been left in a “mortgage maze” after lenders frantically pulled deals due to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East leading to the lowest average shelf-life on record. The average mortgage was on the market for just eight days in March – the lowest since records began in November 2011. This marks a [...]
AI security officials test Anthropic cyber threat as Bank of England to convene chiefs Tech AI minister Kanishka Narayan has said that Anthropic’s new cyber model was the most powerful seen yet as finance chiefs from the Bank of England and Treasury are set to meet next week to discuss the threats posed to the financial sector. Narayan revealed that Claude Mythos, a new model that was held back from [...]
Bank of England: Interest rate hike predictions cool as trader sentiment resets Economics Fears of several interest rate hikes being made have eased as traders raved at the news of a ceasefire in the Middle East. Markets are now pricing in just one interest rate hike as the two-year gilt yield dropped to 4.1 per cent. The current interest rate is set at 3.75 per cent by the [...]
‘Make the process look less scary’: UK banking licence applications hit zero in 2025 April 8, 2026 The number of applicants for UK banking licences plummeted to zero in 2025, raising questions over the government and regulators’ capacity to foster competition and attract overseas investment. The fresh figures – revealed in a Freedom of Information request by financial regulation consultancy Pathlight Associates – show a steep fall from the 11 licence bids [...]
Bond traders: Bank of England gilt shake-up would ‘concentrate risks’ in market meltdown April 2, 2026 Bank of England plans to reduce the bond market’s vulnerability to a Liz Truss-style crash would fail to improve financial stability and could make stress points worse, according to gilt traders and hedge funds polled by the Bank. Responses to the central bank’s plans to overhaul its regulation of the gilt repo market showed market [...]
Bank of England: Businesses sharply raise inflation expectations April 2, 2026 Businesses’ inflation expectations shot up in March according to a closely-watched Bank of England survey, as bosses braced for a surge in energy costs as a result of the Iran war. The Banks’ decision makers’ panel, a monthly poll of thousands of execs, found that the average expected inflation rate in the next year was [...]
UK banks blast regulations for ‘penalising’ good risk management April 2, 2026 Top lenders have laid bare their frustrations with UK banking regulation in a bombshell new report that urges the removal of “excessive conservatism”. In response to the Bank of England’s review of capital requirements, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) – which represents over 150 global banks, including the UK’s Big Four – [...]
Bank of England: UK economy risks ‘large and overlapping’ shocks April 1, 2026 The Bank of England has issued a major warning that the financial system is facing increasing risks of “large, frequent and potentially overlapping shocks” amid the volatility from the Middle East war‘ and ongoing market risks’s impact on energy and global markets. In the latest meeting of the central bank’s Financial Policy Committee top officials [...]
Andy Haldane: My mission to ignite Britain’s animal spirits March 31, 2026 As the Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane had a front row seat to the maladies of UK’s sluggish economy. After a four-year stint running the RSA, he is back as president of the British Chambers of Commerce, and tells Ali Lyon business is still taxed mindlessly, over regulated, and far too risk averse. [...]
For FSCS sake: Meet the body that protects Britain’s savers in a financial crisis March 30, 2026 As echoes of 2008 percolate through the banking system, the body that serves to protect Britain in a financial crisis says it’s ready to weather any storm. A combination of fears around private credit, the “stretched” value of artificial intelligence firms and more recently, concerns around a global energy shock, have made top bankers sound [...]