As it happened: FTSE 100 finishes higher as US-Iran talks progress and Starmer resigns; Space X shares fall after bond sale June 22, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets are set to start off the new week facing renewed threats on both the domestic and geopolitical front. Over the weekend, fractures that were forming in the US-Iran peace deal burst wide open after Iran’s top military command said it shut the Strait of Hormuz after “violations” [...]
HSBC coughs up $25m over Australian scam failures June 18, 2026 HSBC has agreed to cough up just shy of $25m after admitting to failures in protecting customers in Australia from scammers. The Australian arm of Europe’s biggest lender was investigated by the watchdog over alleged “widespread and systematic failures” to shield its customers targeted by fraudsters. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it [...]
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 [...]
Banks woo the wealthy to ace stable income streams June 17, 2026 As the great and the good prepare to gather at Wimbledon, banks are serving up glamorous treatment to woo the wealthy. In this week’s column Samuel Norman looks at the players looking to call game, set, match. If you want the Centre Court treatment from your bank, you’re going to need to arrive with a [...]
Investors ‘reluctant’ to splash cash on UK banks amid crisis in Number 10 June 15, 2026 UK banks’ stock prices are being slapped with a political risk premium, City analysts have warned, as turmoil in Downing Street threatens to rock the sector. The FTSE 350 bank index has had a choppy start to the year with financial stocks facing a hammering from the Iran war as investors trimmed their equities exposure. [...]
Revolut price tag ‘just a stepping stone’ to a trillion, says Fuse boss June 12, 2026 Revolut will become a trillion dollar company, one of its most high profile alumni has claimed, with any valuation on the road to that a mere “stepping stone”. The London-born fintech giant – which currently boasts a valuation of $75bn – is tipped to launch another secondary share sale in the second half of this [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]