Natwest shares jump as stamp duty rush and market chaos boost income May 2, 2025 Natwest beat analysts’ first-quarter profit expectations after market volatility and a rush to beat stamp duty boosted takings. The FTSE 100 giant booked a £1.8bn pre-tax profit, surpassing the £1.6bn pencilled in by analysts. Shares in the lender rose over three per cent during early trading on Friday. Total income rose 3.8 per cent to [...]
HSBC on hunt for new chair as Mark Tucker to retire by year-end May 1, 2025 HSBC chair Mark Tucker will retire by the end of 2025 after an eight-year stint at the lender, the bank has said. Europe’s biggest lender said Tucker would continue as a strategic adviser to Georges Elhedery, the lender’s chief executive, in his retirement. The Board’s Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee said it is already on [...]
Santander UK’s provisions surge after branch closure backlash April 30, 2025 Santander UK was struck with a surge in provisions in its first-quarter report as backlash mounted to its branch closure operation. The Spanish-headquartered lender’s provisions for liabilities and charges rose 69 per cent to £140m. The firm said £42m of this was driven by “charges relating to changes to our branch network”. This comes as [...]
Tandem Bank: ‘Greener’ UK fintech bolsters profit April 24, 2025 Digital bank Tandem reported its third year of profitability in the 2024 financial year. The fintech – which brands itself as “the UK’s greener digital bank” – recorded a 40 per cent jump in underlying profit to £24.1m. This was up from £17.2m in 2023. Tandem’s assets under management topped £1.5bn at the end of [...]
City bonuses beat Wall Street after cap scrapped April 22, 2025 UK financial services handed out the industry’s highest bonuses last year after taking advantage of the lifting of pay restrictions. Workers pocketed an average $149k (£114k) bonus in 2024, according to fresh data from jobs platform eFinancialCareers. This marked a 25.7 per cent jump from 2023 and sent the UK above North America, which rose [...]
Clearbank, Allica, Atom: The fast-growing future of UK fintech April 19, 2025 Fintech has planted its flag firmly in the Square Mile. Industry giants Monzo and Starling have become household names, helping London to established itself as a leading global fintech hub. KPMG’s bi-annual fintech report showed UK fintech investment was at £7.9bn last year. And now young firms are growing faster than ever, promising to send a [...]
Third of 18 to 21-year-olds ‘worry about money every day,’ says Santander April 19, 2025 More than a third (35 per cent) of Gen-Z adults aged 18 to 21 worry about their finances every day, according to research for a major bank. But only a fifth (20 per cent) of young adults said they would be interested in learning about debt management, the survey for Santander UK found. Just over [...]
Financial Conduct Authority: Lenders ‘unclear’ on bereavement policy April 14, 2025 Lenders “can improve” their treatment of bereaved customers, the Financial Conduct Authority has said. The City watchdog has published a framework outlining good and poor practice to help firms “provide the right support” to consumers who are facing difficult times. The FCA said the introduction of the Consumer Duty in July 2023 has helped provide [...]
Barclays shares explode higher as FTSE 100 rebounds April 10, 2025 Shares in FTSE 100 giant Barclays rocketed in early trading after Trump rolled back his ‘Liberation Day’ levies. The bank’s stock shot up over 20 per cent as markets opened, before falling back to a 15 per cent gain. The firm topped the blue-chip index’s risers. The gains helped reverse the lender’s losses in the [...]
Bank of England asks lenders about clients’ stability as Reeves brands system ‘resilient’ April 8, 2025 The Bank of England has asked lenders about their clients’ financial well-being after Trump’s tariff onslaught triggered chaos across financial markets. The central bank asked firms for information about market liquidity and whether any of their clients were having funding problems, according to the Financial Times. The Prudential Regulation Authority, which is responsible for the [...]