Citi hit with £5m fine for violating UK sanctions on Russia Banking Citi has been hit with a fine of nearly £5m after regulators found it violated the UK’s sanctions regime on Russia. The Wall Street giant’s London branch was found to have processed £19.7m in illicit transactions spanning 970 payments. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ruled that, in one instance, Citi failed to freeze [...]
Can OSB’s new boss cut through the noise? Banking A FTSE 250 bank has a new boss and plenty of challenges to confront . In this week’s column, Samuel Norman looks at what could be next for OSB. Enrique Labiano confronted a tricky inheritance when he got his feet under the desk on his first day at the helm of OSB on Tuesday. The [...]
How the Treasury got ‘fed up’ with the Bank of England’s payments plan Fintech The government moved to more closely monitor the Bank of England’s overhaul of the UK’s payments system after growing frustrated with the sluggish pace of the plans, industry figures have said. The Treasury revealed last week it would begin tracking the central bank’s progress on payments and digital currencies by introducing a new secondary objective [...]
FCA ‘worked backwards’ to justify motor finance redress, say lenders September 1, 2026 A trio of motor finance lenders have accused the City watchdog of “working backwards” to justify its redress scheme that is set to cost the industry billions. In new documents, Mercedes-Benz’s financial services arm, which has set aside as much as £400m in payouts for the car mis-selling scandal, said the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) [...]
Treasury sought to cap motor finance payouts, court filings claim September 1, 2026 The government sought to cap payouts in the motor finance scandal at a level lenders could absorb and the City regulator acted “unlawfully” in failing to protect consumers, new court filings seen by City AM allege. Both the Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are facing fresh scrutiny over the motor finance redress scheme as [...]
Government pushes Bank of England to innovate on payments and digital currencies August 27, 2026 The Bank of England will be tracked on its progress on UK payments regulation after it was handed a new objective by ministers. The central bank will be given a new secondary objective to support innovation in payment systems and new forms of digital currencies alongside its main goals of financial stability. The Treasury is [...]
Lloyds and Natwest flaunt social credentials as fears grow of Burnham tax grab August 26, 2026 Lloyds and Natwest are flaunting their community credentials and pledging a raft of new social investment initiatives as fears grow that Prime Minister Andy Burnham will launch a punishing tax raid on the sector with the government’s first Budget. The two lenders are among a group of top UK banks looking to prove they can [...]
Natwest wins approval to beef up US presence August 25, 2026 Natwest has landed approval from the US Federal Reserve to beef up its presence on the other side of the Atlantic. The British banking giant has been granted permission to set up a “representative office” in Connecticut that will “act as a liaison with current and prospective US customers of the bank”. The approval document [...]
‘We have been ignored for most of our life,’ says FTSE 100’s newest bank August 17, 2026 Lion Finance thought of itself as the London Stock Exchange’s wallflower. But after its promotion the the market’s blue-chip index earlier this year, the bank is finally getting noticed. Shares in the group formerly known as Bank of Georgia have enjoyed a quiet ascent since the beginning of 2022. In that four-year window the stock [...]
JP Morgan boss issues bank tax warning to John Healey August 17, 2026 The boss of JP Morgan has issued a bank tax warning to John Healey as the Chancellor gears up to deliver his first Budget in October. Jamie Dimon, who has led Wall Street’s biggest bank since 2006, held a call with Healey on Thursday where the bank chief emphasised “getting public policy right” as crucial [...]