Natwest hikes targets again after jump in profit Banking Natwest has upgraded its income targets for a second quarter running as the bank posted better than expected profit and dished out a bumper dividend to investors. The blue-chip lender reported a 20 per cent jump in pre-tax profit in the first six months of 2026 to £4.3bn, up from £3.6bn the year prior and [...]
Halifax ends 173-year high street run as Lloyds ditches branding Banking Lloyds Banking Group is set to ditch its Halifax brand in a move that will end the retail bank’s 173-year run on the high street. The FTSE 100 titan – whose subsidiaries also include Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows – said on Wednesday it would rebrand Halifax under the central moniker of Lloyds. Lloyds [...]
Barclays and Lloyds join banking sector plan for digital ID Banking Barclays and Lloyds are among a group of top UK lenders working on a plan that would see customers able to use digital identification tools in their banking app. The collective of banks – which also includes HSBC, Nationwide, Natwest and Santander – are working with industry body UK Finance on a process where users’ [...]
Natwest to pump £50m into branches after shuttering over a thousand June 5, 2026 Natwest is planning to beef up its branch network after being one of the leading banks to take the axe to its physical presence over the last decade. The blue-chip banking giant will pump £50m into its network over the next 18 months and has pledged not to close any branches until at least 2029. [...]
Bunq: Revolut rival eyeing up UK banking licence bid June 4, 2026 Europe’s second largest digital bank is gearing up for a bid for a UK banking licence, City AM can reveal, as the firm puts its hat in the ring in the fight to claw market share from fintech leader Revolut. Bunq – which reached 20 million users in just a decade – is understood to [...]
Lloyds Bank and Halifax customers hit with app outage June 3, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group has been rocked with another outage as thousands of customers report issues with their online services. The financial services giant was flagged with a spike on the online outage tracker Downdetector at around 11:15am on Wednesday as users reported issues. Across the group – which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland [...]
This is why the City’s fintech IPO boom hasn’t happened yet June 3, 2026 Hopes remain high for a flurry of fintech listings, in this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at whether this could come to fruition and what could be holding it up. City officials have pinned a hefty portion of their hopes for a London Stock Market revival on the nation’s fintech stars. Rachel Reeves [...]
Losses widen at UK fintech Monese in eight month delayed accounts June 2, 2026 UK fintech Monese suffered a major widening of losses as its bottom line was hit by restructuring costs amidst its takeover by pseudo-bank peer Pockit. The London-based firm – which provides mobile-only current accounts, multi-currency wallets, and money transfer services – booked a pre-tax loss of £15.9m in the 2024 financial year. Fresh accounts – [...]
Starling’s profit slides as falling interest rates bite May 21, 2026 Starling’s profit took a dip in the latest financial year as the lower interest rate environment took a chunk out of the digital bank’s bottom line. The UK fintech notched a £217m pre-tax profit, down three per cent from the £223m secured in the prior year. This came as revenue slipped 5.6 per cent to [...]
AI will ‘destroy and create jobs,’ says HSBC boss May 20, 2026 The boss of Europe’s largest bank has warned that the growth of AI will both “destroy” and “create” new jobs as the banking industry continues to be reshaped in the face of new technology. Georges Elhedery, chief executive of HSBC, warned that the bank’s staff must avoid “fighting us” as it unveiled its latest AI [...]