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 [...]
Post Office extends banks’ cash deal as MPs call for mandated acceptance May 1, 2025 The Post Office has reached a five-year banking deal with lenders and building societies to keep cash services running amid a continued retreat of banks from the high street. This renewed deal follows research commissioned by the company, which found nine in ten people believe it is important to maintain access to cash. The partnership [...]
Lloyds’ finance boss slams ring-fencing amid waning growth forecast May 1, 2025 Lloyds‘ finance boss raised the alarm on lenders’ ability to help drive growth due to restrictions from the ring-fencing regime. The bank trimmed its UK GDP expectations and has projected a rise in unemployment in the latest warning sign for the health of the British economy. The FTSE 100 giant pencilled in 0.2 per cent [...]
Lloyds costs soar as lender increases provisions after tariff turmoil May 1, 2025 Lloyds Banking Group’s profit took a hit in the first three months of the year as the domestic-focused bank’s operating costs soared. The FTSE 100 giant, which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, met analyst expectations for pre-tax profit at £1.5bn – marking a seven per cent drop from the first quarter of 2024. [...]
Labour to be handed ‘spying powers’ on bank accounts in Fraud Bill April 30, 2025 Labour is facing fresh questions over its Fraud Bill, which has been slammed for handing the government “spying powers”. The legislation, which passed in the Commons on Wednesday, bulks up the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) ability to recover money directly from fraudsters’ bank accounts. The DWP pledged the reforms would deliver “the biggest [...]
Barclays boss breaks from FTSE 100 peers on Reeves lobbying April 30, 2025 The chief executive of Barclays has defended the ring-fencing regulation facing British banks, despite his FTSE 100 peers calling on the Chancellor to abolish it. CS Venkatakrishnan told Sky News on Wednesday morning that the benefits of protection offered by the rules outweigh the costs of implementing and administering the system. The UK’s ring-fencing regime [...]
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 [...]
Santander to spin off motor finance division from UK business April 22, 2025 Santander is poised to spin off its litigation-hit motor finance division as part of a major overhaul of its UK operations. The Spanish lender has sought permission from regulators to separate its car loan business, which is facing a near-£300m payout as part of the ongoing motor finance scandal, from the rest of its British [...]