Company bosses hit pause on growth plans after tariff shock May 27, 2025 Top UK business leaders have sounded the alarm on geopolitical tensions, warning that trade uncertainties are threatening their growth prospects. Nearly half of UK chief executives admitted to being “very or extremely concerned” about the impact of tariffs on their company’s operations and sales in the upcoming year. Concerns have led to company chiefs slamming [...]
The £582m plan to create new UK economic powerhouse May 21, 2025 Plans to create a new economic growth zone in the West Midlands which is tipped to provide a £582m boost to the UK have been revealed. Land on the Wolverhampton/South Staffordshire border has been earmarked for ‘The Central Edge’ project while 14,700 jobs could be created. According to project leaders, the scheme would include 16.4 [...]
Starmer meets BlackRock’s Larry Fink for growth talks May 20, 2025 The Prime Minister this morning met the boss of the world’s largest money manager, in the latest such conversation as part of ministers’ growth agenda. Sir Keir Starmer held discussions with Larry Fink, who leads the $11.6tn giant BlackRock. Fink was pictured leaving Downing Street on Tuesday morning. This follows on from the American billionaire’s [...]
Reeves must provide ‘more stable’ tax policy, finance bosses say May 20, 2025 Rachel Reeves is facing pressure to provide a “clearer, more stable tax environment,” when she delivers her growth strategy in July. The Chancellor is once again in the spotlight after a damning report from finance bosses indicated the industry was prepped to support growth ambitions, but structural barriers were holding them back. Top players in [...]
Natwest and Lloyds to cash in as Reeves hints at ring-fencing reform May 19, 2025 Rachel Reeves has told top bank bosses she is “open-minded” to ditch the ring-fencing regime imposed on major banks. The Chancellor was lobbied by the chiefs of HSBC, Lloyds, Natwest and Santander to scrap the 15-year-old legislation last month. Lenders slammed the system – which requires firms to keep their retail bank operations separate from [...]
Labour’s National Wealth Fund hounded with calls for clarity May 15, 2025 Labour’s National Wealth Fund (NWF) faced renewed pressure on Wednesday as the Treasury Committee kicked off its inquiry into the new body. The NWF’s ability to boost economic growth across the country was the subject of questions posed by MPs to investment industry leaders. Its status as a “wealth fund” came under fire against comparisons [...]
FCA to rip up insurance rules in drive for growth May 14, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has outlined plans to ditch “outdated or duplicated” insurance rules in a bid to help firms reduce costs and drive competition. The City regulator’s fresh proposals would hand firms greater responsibility over reviewing the value of their product. This would involve companies using the risks and characteristics of each individual product [...]
Zilch: UK’s fastest-growing fintech unicorn balloons customer base May 12, 2025 UK fintech darling Zilch has revealed it has topped five million customers and exceeded £4bn in total sales to date for retailers. The firm, which uses buy now pay later (BNPL) services to split consumer purchases, has also confirmed its revenue hit £145m in revenue run rate on the back of its rapid rise since [...]
UK scale-ups face crisis as growth capital hits seven-year low May 6, 2025 Growth capital has hit a seven-year low on both volume and value with the UK start-up to scale-up pipeline “broken”, a fresh report has warned. Figures seen by City AM revealed Series A funding – investments of £2m to £10m for startups looking to grow – had slumped to £2.4bn in the 12 months to [...]
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 [...]