FTSE 100 Live: Pound hits two month low after byelection, Flutter shares tumble February 27, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. We were treated to a whole host of corporate updates yesterday and investors in some of the City’s biggest blue-chips were handed plans for bumper returns. Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce revealed ambitions to dish out up to £9bn to shareholders through from 2026 to 2028. The [...]
Vanquis boss defends scrapping dividend as bank swings to profit February 26, 2026 The boss of Vanquis Bank has said he makes no apologies for a “conservative” approach to capital distribution as he launched a staunch defence of the group’s decision to axe its dividend for the second consecutive year. Ian McLaughlin, who took the helm at Vanquis in August 2023, said the bank’s “number one priority” was [...]
How HSBC and Standard Chartered are riding high on Asia’s wealth February 26, 2026 London’s banking giants are circling the UK’s wealth management pie. But two other top lenders could be carving out a feast 6,000 miles away. HSBC and Standard Chartered posted hefty bumps to their wealth divisions, driven by a strategic focus on Asia and the Middle East. In financial results shared on Wednesday, HSBC revealed bank-wide [...]
Rolls-Royce shares rally after unveiling bumper buyback plan February 26, 2026 Rolls-Royce has laid out plans to return billions to investors over the next two years after the blue-chip giant’s profit rocketed, leading to an upgrade of targets. The aerospace titan revealed plans for a £7bn to £9bn multi-year share buyback from 2026 to 2028, which comes as the firm wraps up a £1bn buyback from [...]
FTSE 100 Live: WPP sinks; LSEG, Rolls-Royce bumper buybacks February 26, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. After a few days of tariff-induced risk aversion, the FTSE 100 was back on blistering form on Wednesday, finishing the day’s trading session with a new record. London’s blue-chip index soared over one per cent to seal yet another record close at 10,806.41p. This was [...]
HSBC bonus pot swells to 14-year record despite profit hit February 25, 2026 HSBC announced its bonus pot had swelled to an over decade high on Wednesday despite the bank recording a hit in annual profit as hefty impairment charges helped offset a boom in the bank’s wealth management operations. The FTSE 100 banking titan recorded a seven per cent drop in pre-tax profit for the annual year, [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Index hits record as HSBC, St James’s stock rally February 25, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. There’s a number of factors weighing on global markets at the moment, and yet the FTSE 100 was able to close Tuesday’s session unscathed. It came despite President Donald Trump’s new 10 per cent tariffs coming into effect, sending some jitters across global indexes. But [...]
‘Vulnerable’ Lloyds and Barclays shares dip as tariff turmoil hits FTSE 100 February 24, 2026 Lloyds and Barclays shares tumbled into the red this morning as “vulnerable” City banking stocks got caught in the FTSE 100’s tariff turmoil. The FTSE 350 bank index tumbled over one per cent at open to 8,184.62 as lenders were struck with volatility at the opening bell. Barclays led the slump at over two per [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks take a dip amid tariff turmoil; Oil price soars February 24, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The good old safety net of London’s blue-chip index strikes again. The week kicked off with more tariff drama after Saturday’s announcement from President Donald Trump of a sweeping 15 per cent levy across the US’ trading partners. As cool heads prevailed in government – [...]
Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giant set to splash £1bn on shareholders February 23, 2026 City darling Rolls-Royce is gearing up plans to dish out bumper returns to investors this week as the firm delivers its annual results. The FTSE 100 giant is set to launch a buyback worth as much as £1.5bn, which will come on top of the company’s final dividend as the aircraft engineer looks to reinforce [...]