Motor finance: ‘Nothing is certain’ as banks await historic ruling July 30, 2025 The Supreme Court will hand down what could be the “most consequential ruling for lenders” in recent history on Friday in the dramatic culmination of the motor finance saga. In a twist, the highest court in the land surprised the market last Friday evening after updating its system with the information that it will announce [...]
Barclays joins FTSE 100 peers in warning against bank tax hike July 29, 2025 Barclays has become the latest banking giant to send a firm warning to Rachel Reeves to avoid bank tax hike as the Chancellor scrambles to maintain her wafer-thin fiscal headroom. The FTSE 100 giant’s boss CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, said the government’s mission for growth would not align with slapping a tax increase on [...]
Barclays investment bank powers £1bn profit jump in first half July 29, 2025 Barclays rounded off the first half of 2025 with a major bump in profit as its all-important investment banking arm rallied on global markets turmoil. The FTSE 100 bank delivered a 28 per cent increase in profit before tax as it topped £5.2bn for the first six months of the year. The firm’s investment bank [...]
Natwest and Lloyds: What to expect from FTSE 100 bank earnings next week July 21, 2025 The FTSE 100’s banking titans, Natwest, Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC are gearing up for what promises to be an interesting half-year reporting season. Lloyds and Natwest will kick off earnings on July 24 and July 25 followed by peers Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered the following week. The first quarter was defined by President Donald Trump’s [...]
Financial services firms dealt tens of millions in regulatory fines July 17, 2025 While deregulation may be the political mood, UK watchdogs are sharpening their swords as banking giants bleed millions in regulatory fines. In under just ten days, the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England handed out £74.9m worth of fines to a trio of UK financial services firms. Leading the pack, and most recently, was [...]
Barclays battles to take down scam impersonation website July 16, 2025 Barclays has battled to take down a scam impersonation website that could have stolen millions from its customers. The website, which called itself “Barclays Finance”, featured the Barclays logo and included “Barclays” in its domain name, was identified by City AM on Monday and claimed to be able to process money transfer payments on behalf [...]
Barclays slapped with £42m fine for financial crime failings July 16, 2025 Barclays has been hit with a £42m fine by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for separate instances where the bank failed in its financial crime risk management. The City watchdog blasted Barclays for failing to check it had gathered “sufficient information to understand the money laundering risk” before it opened a client money account for [...]
Reeves seeks to spark retail investor revolution July 15, 2025 High street banks Barclays and Lloyds will lead an advertising campaign to encourage more Brits into retail investing as part of a wider effort to get savers to boost the UK economy. In rallying calls to financial services, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled a campaign to encourage savers to invest in stocks and bonds, drawing [...]
First-time buyer demand for furniture and the ‘lipstick effect’ boost June sales July 15, 2025 Demand for furniture and beauty goods caused retail sales to rise in June, boosted by good weather and slowly-recovering consumer confidence. Sales in the UK rose 3.1 per cent year on year in June, against a decline of 0.2 per cent in June 2024, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). “Retailers will [...]
Natwest boss: No path to growth without financial services July 14, 2025 The boss of banking juggernaut Natwest has issued a final plea to Rachel Reeves on the eve of her Mansion House speech, urging the Chancellor to fully unleash financial services’ growth potential. Paul Thwaite, Natwest’s chief executive, said there was “no path to growth without [financial services]” as he called for Reeves to make key [...]