Lloyds sends 200 senior staff to Cambridge University for AI bootcamp March 28, 2025 Lloyds Banking Group has set out plans to send over 200 senior employees on an 80-hour AI bootcamp at the University of Cambridge. The FTSE 100 lender has joined with education technology firm Cambridge Spark for a “bespoke six-month training programme” to enhance AI capabilities across its management. The first cohort of 30 Lloyds leaders [...]
Shawbrook Bank reports profit slump despite loan book growth March 27, 2025 Shawbrook Bank announced a boost to its deposit and loan book in its annual results, driven by commercial and retail markets. The bank’s loan book grew 16 per cent to £15.2bn in 2024, compared to the £13.3bn recorded in 2023. Despite this, profit before tax dipped to £294m, a minor drop from the £302m booked [...]
Banks turn to AI to lead fraud prevention efforts March 23, 2025 As Britain’s biggest banks scale up their technology, lenders are turning to AI to fight fraud, a new report has found. NTT Data’s ‘Banking Trends 2025’ report found over half of UK banks thought generative AI was key to fraud prevention. Lenders have been urged to up their consumer protection abilities after Chair of the [...]
TSB’s new boss takes helm amidst parent company’s uncertainty March 21, 2025 UK retail bank TSB announced on Friday that Marc Armengol had taken over as its new chief executive officer. Armengol, who previously served as corporate strategy director at the lender, was tapped for the role in November 2024. His appointment follows the retirement of former boss Robin Bulloch. Before joining TSB, Armengol worked at the [...]
Natwest partners with OpenAI as FTSE giant scales up tech March 20, 2025 Natwest announced on Thursday it has entered a partnership with OpenAI to focus on “bank-wide simplification”. The FTSE 100 lender said it would leverage AI to meet customers’ needs faster and more effectively, whilst increasing productivity and efficiency across operations. The firm said it would deploy “some of the latest and most powerful developments in [...]
Investec expects profit bounce in full-year results March 20, 2025 Investec has said it expects adjusted operating profit to be ahead of last year’s figures, coming in as high as £956m. In a trading statement, the FTSE 250 bank and wealth manager said adjusted operating profit for the year was forecast to come in between £888m and £956m, compared to last year’s figure of £884.5m. [...]
London closes in on New York as top financial hub but risks remain March 20, 2025 London has edged closer to becoming the world’s top financial centre, fresh research shows, but concerns have been raised over the City’s future competitiveness. The 37th edition of Z/Yen Group’s Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37) showed London maintained its second-place ranking amongst the world’s top financial centres, whilst climbing 12 points from its last [...]
AI adoption at UK banks lags behind US rivals March 17, 2025 UK banks are playing catch up to their US and European counterparts on AI adoption, new research has revealed. Evident Insight’s latest Responsible AI Report showed US banks led the way for AI specialists, with 20 positions alone at JPMorganChase – three times the average lender. Co-founder and co-chief executive of Evident Insights Alexandra Mousavizadeh [...]
Phoenix Group shares soar after upgrading outlooks March 17, 2025 Shares in Phoenix Group rallied over six per cent on Monday morning after the firm smashed its cash generation target and upgraded its future guidance. The FTSE 100 company, which owns insurer Standard Life, recorded a 31 per cent increase in operating profit for 2024, which hit £825m. The group met its 2026 target of [...]
Atom Bank wants to inspire staff back to the office March 10, 2025 The boss of Atom Bank said he wants to inspire his staff back to the office as he announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Newcastle. Chief executive Mark Mullen has confirmed plans to move its head office from The Rivergreen Centre in Durham to The Pattern Shop in Newcastle. The Pattern Shop was where [...]