High street banks’ SME lending comeback won’t rattle challengers June 20, 2025 High street banks are flocking back to small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending but face a battle against fintechs which have captured their spot. The Big Four banks have shed their market stronghold in SME lending. Research from the British Business Bank in March revealed challenger banks make up around 60 per cent of gross [...]
Peel Hunt: Bonuses scrapped for third year running June 18, 2025 Peel Hunt has scrapped bonuses for its top executives for a third year running as losses at the investment bank continued. Chief executive Steven Fine took home a pay packet of £465,000 for the year to 31 March, 2025, while chief financial and operating officer Sunil Dhall received £316,000, according to its latest annual report. [...]
Starling Bank: The rise and fall of a fintech darling May 30, 2025 Over a decade ago three fintechs entered the banking scene and set their sights on reshaping its landscape. Starling, Monzo and Revolut rapidly expanded as they leveraged modern tech to streamline banking operations, enhance consumer experience and disrupt traditional financial models. The trio of fintech darlings ballooned customer bases in record numbers. But as two [...]
HSBC UK to slash bonuses for staff not turning up to office May 21, 2025 HSBC has told its UK-based retail workers that failing to show up to the office could see their bonuses slashed. Europe’s biggest bank informed staff in the retail and domestic commercial arm that if they are not following the firm’s three-day minimum requirement to work in office they could be paid less as a result. [...]
Is HSBC turning its back on Europe? May 20, 2025 When Georges Elhedery took the helm at HSBC, he wasted no time making his mark on the firm. Elhedery plotted a “simpler, more dynamic and agile organisation” in his sweeping restructure first announced in October 2024. One significant change introduced by the new bank chief was splitting the business into “eastern markets” covering the Asia-pacific [...]
Sweeney should get RFU bonus if he earned it. He didn’t, so shouldn’t February 18, 2025 England Rugby’s CEO Bill Sweeney should get a hefty pay package, but only if the numbers add up. They don’t, so he shouldn’t, argues Matt Hardy Should the chief executive of a major organisation receive a bonus for the work they do? For some it will depend on where they stand on the morality of [...]
UK proposes earlier banker bonuses in bid to boost competition November 26, 2024 UK regulators have officially laid out plans for the country’s top bankers to get their bonuses years earlier in a bid to boost competition with rival jurisdictions. The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published proposals on Tuesday to reduce the bonus deferral period for most [...]
Citi removes EU-imposed bonus cap for top London bankers August 14, 2024 Citigroup has become the latest Wall Street bank to scrap an EU-imposed bonus cap, paving the way for it to award bigger payouts to some of its top London staff.
Bonus cap: Bankers and nurses both work hard, but you shouldn’t compare their pay August 13, 2024 As UK banks start scrapping the bonus cap, Emma Revell argues why this is a good thing – and what the NHS could learn from it People hate bankers almost as much as they love the NHS. So unsurprisingly, the return of big bonuses to City pay packets is not without controversy. In what may [...]
Barclays chair says ‘plenty of evidence’ it will meet climate targets as protesters removed from AGM May 9, 2024 Barclays' chair has defended its record on climate change, saying there is "plenty of concrete evidence" it is on track to meet its financed emissions targets, at a feisty annual meeting that saw a number of protestors removed.