Will fintech banks survive falling interest rates? June 13, 2025 Fintech lenders have accelerated their swing to profitability after interest rates spiked. The UK’s neobanks pocketed record revenues in the last 12 months. Revolut’s takings grew 72 per cent topping £3.1bn. Meanwhile Monzo’s revenue hit £1bn for the first time. But this came as interest rates maintained a post-financial crisis high of 5.25 per cent [...]
UK economy shrinks more than expected in blow to Reeves June 12, 2025 The UK economy shrank more than expected in April, official data has shown, suggesting momentum built up in the beginning of this year has already worn away. New figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing a 0.3 per cent contraction come off the back of a strong 0.7 per cent growth in [...]
FTSE 100 narrowly misses record high after housebuilders rally June 10, 2025 The FTSE 100 closed just short of a record high on Tuesday after fresh economic data fuelled hopes of further interest rate cuts from the Bank of England. The UK’s flagship market inched up 0.24 per cent to 8853.08p after a rally from homebuilders. This narrowly missed March’s record close of 8,871.31p. Builders Persimmon and [...]
Unemployment creeps up as firms cut jobs following Reeves tax raid June 10, 2025 The unemployment rate has crept up to 4.6 per cent from 4.5 per cent, official data has revealed, putting Chancellor Reeves’ ambition of growing the UK economy and getting people into work under threat. It is the highest unemployment rate in three years, with the UK economy then recovering from the pandemic. Figures released by [...]
Will the Bank of England’s quantitative tightening torpedo Reeves’ fiscal rules? June 5, 2025 Rachel Reeves is in a pickle. At under £10bn, the Chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal headroom – the Treasury’s wiggle room within its fiscal rules – is already wafer-thin by historic standards. And it is under intense strain, given a recent slew of billion-pound government spending pledges such as reversing winter fuel payments cuts and scrapping the [...]
UK finance salaries drop as workers ‘actively develop’ tech skills June 4, 2025 UK finance salaries dropped by three per cent in 2025, new data has found, prompting more workers to look for new jobs and develop more tech skills to prop up their pay. Average pay in one of the UK’s richest sectors is now around £102,300, lower than the USA but still higher than Germany and [...]
Foreign companies drive £19bn M&A surge as UK firms ‘attractively valued’ June 3, 2025 Takeovers of British firms reached the highest level in nearly three years as several multi-billion pound transactions made by foreign companies pushed up the value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), official data has shown. Inward M&A deals in the first three months of the year exceeded £19bn, nearly four times that seen in the last [...]
Bank of England warns pace of rate cuts ‘shrouded in uncertainty’ June 3, 2025 The pace of UK interest rate cuts is “shrouded in a lot more uncertainty” due to the “unpredictable” global economic situation, the governor of the Bank of England has said. Andrew Bailey told MPs during a Treasury Committee session that while rates are on a “glide path” downwards the Bank had “genuine concerns” about escalating [...]
Water industry requires fundamental reset, review finds June 3, 2025 There is no single change radical enough to deliver the “fundamental reset” needed by the UK’s water industry, a much-anticipated review into the sector has found. The Cunliffe review has been led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir John Cunliffe and is the largest since the sector was privatised in the late 1980s. [...]
Mortgage lending plummets in April as estate agents cross fingers for rate cut June 2, 2025 Mortgage lending dropped in April after the market ‘reset’ following the end of the stamp duty holiday, according to new figures. Net borrowing of mortgage debt decreased sharply by £13.7bn to -£0.8bn in April, according to the Bank of England’s latest data. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases also fell for the third consecutive month, [...]