Motor finance revs up City watchdog’s PR spend June 22, 2026 The motor finance scandal has helped rev up the financial watchdog’s spend on public relations agencies as it fought to warn consumers of the risks of using claims management firms. The car mis-selling saga – where City banks have been put on the hook for billions in compensation over the use of ‘secret’ car deals [...]
Kemi Badenoch pledges to wield the axe on post-financial crisis banking regulation June 18, 2026 Kemi Badenoch will today step up her efforts to woo the City as she promises to wield the axe on post-financial crisis banking regulation if she manages to clinch the keys to Number 10. “London is having its lunch eaten” by overregulation, the Tory leader will proclaim as she proposes a shakeup of the financial regime that she hopes [...]
Kemi Badenoch can still woo the City June 17, 2026 Just under a year ago I sat down with Kemi Badenoch to talk through her plans to win over the City. I left the interview with little to report back. “We are looking at everything,” Badenoch told me at the time. “Our policy renewal programme is trying to get us to a place where we [...]
HSBC targets $100m in savings with Google Cloud AI tie-up June 17, 2026 Europe’s biggest lender HSBC has sealed a a tech tie-up with Google where it aims to use AI to scout priority projects that could bank the firm $100m in “efficiency gains”. The FTSE 100 giant is planning to roll out Google Cloud across its operations in a deal that the bank says will allow 200 [...]
Barclays pays £180m for loss-making UK fintech Gohenry June 12, 2026 Barclays has snapped up the UK arm of money management app Gohenry in a bid to “turbocharge” its ambitions for youth banking and the mass affluent market. The blue-chip lender revealed on Friday it had bought the fintech firm from its parent company, Acorns, for an undisclosed sum in a deal that is expected to [...]
For all their charm, digital banks still leave me tearing my hair out June 10, 2026 I admire London’s digital banks. But three events in the past month have made me realise I’m not parting ways with my high street bank any time soon. The first was dodgy transactions that started showing up on my Revolut account. I was being charged for random TfL tube journeys. I had a feeling this [...]
From mild to wild: What impact will AI have on banking jobs? June 10, 2026 Top banking bosses have issued their AI verdict after Standard Chartered stunned the sector with plans for sweeping job cuts last month. In this week’s column Samuel Norman looks at whether a reckoning could be on the horizon. The big-name banker must have known how the conversation would go when he arrived for lunch with [...]
Lloyds taps $160bn fintech giant to boost small business tech June 9, 2026 Lloyds Bank has sealed a partnership with a $160bn (£119bn) fintech giant to ramp up its payments tech for small-business clients. The blue-chip banking giant has agreed a tie-up with Stripe that will see Lloyds leverage the fintech’s payment infrastructure to provide a suite of tools for its small-business customers. The new offering, named Lloyds Accept, [...]
Soaring petrol prices and Devil Wears Prada 2 help consumer spending return to growth June 9, 2026 Soaring fuel prices and box office hits helped consumer spending return to growth in May, according to fresh data from Barclays. Consumer card spending was up 0.8 per cent year-on-year last month, following a 0.1 per cent dip in April. The rise came as essential spending jumped 0.7 per cent, led by a near 12 [...]
Banks call for ‘political mandate’ to bolster European defence June 8, 2026 The banking industry has issued a rallying call for a “political mandate” from the UK and EU in a bid to get regulators to open the taps to a fresh flood of defence financing. A new report from UK Finance – which represents the nation’s financial services giants from Lloyds to Revolut – has called [...]