After Santander’s TSB takeover – who are the top players in UK banking? May 1, 2026 Santander shocked the City last years after beating out its rivals to snap up TSB Bank. Now with the takeover complete, who are the major players in the sector? The near £3bn mega-merger of Santander and TSB has finally reached completion. And with it, Spanish-owned Santander is set to significantly beef up its UK presence [...]
Three reasons AI will not replace the mortgage broker April 29, 2026 Mortgage advice has never been a simple numbers game, and it is becoming even less so. Technology is speeding up sourcing, suitability checks and paperwork. Clients are also more digitally confident than ever, and lenders are ever more competitive. But for anyone advising complex borrowers, especially in the high-net-worth space, the idea that AI will [...]
Barclays shares slide as sour loan provisions balloon to £823m April 28, 2026 Barclays made a mammoth reservation for bad loans in the first quarter led by the hostilities in the global market and a single name charge in its investment banking division. The blue-chip lender set aside £823m for potential loan losses, up from £643m in the same period last year, in a stark sign the firm [...]
‘Mortgage mayhem’: Deal lifespans hit record low as interest rate cut hopes dim April 13, 2026 Borrowers have been left in a “mortgage maze” after lenders frantically pulled deals due to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East leading to the lowest average shelf-life on record. The average mortgage was on the market for just eight days in March – the lowest since records began in November 2011. This marks a [...]
Motor finance compensation scheme set to fuel even more legal action March 31, 2026 The City watchdog has revealed its long-awaited motor finance redress scheme, but despite the bill for lenders coming in lower than predicted the scandal is not going away any time soon, as further legal action is expected. After a 2024 legal case ruled that car sales firms couldn’t lawfully receive commissions from finance firms unless they had [...]
Owner of collapsed lender MFS hit with freezing order March 19, 2026 The owner of a collapsed shadow bank has been hit with a worldwide freezing order after his firm faced fraud allegations. Paresh Raja, founder of Market Financial Solutions (MFS), has been told by courts in London and Dubai to give details of all his assets worth more than £10,000 and cannot spend more than £5,000 [...]
Oaknorth delays net zero goal as US expansion fuels lending boom March 17, 2026 UK fintech Oaknorth has slapped a ten year delay on its ambition to be a net zero bank as the firm’s expansion across the Atlantic picked up pace. The small business lender said it expects to meet net zero commitments by 2045, as opposed to previous guidance of 2035 set four years ago. Oaknorth said [...]
Grounds for expansion: Airwallex’s Europe chief bets on London in licence pursuit March 6, 2026 As payments giant Airwallex laid out plans to double down on Europe, they turned to a man with experience at a multi-billion dollar deposit holder. The $8bn cross-border specialist was looking for someone to steer the ship amid expansion plans across Europe but in that endeavour didn’t poach a veteran of Wall Street or 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 [...]
Bank to business lending growth to halve amid global tensions February 23, 2026 UK bank to businesses lending growth is forecast to halve this year as firms feel the pinch of challenging conditions amid global tensions. Net growth in the value of lending from the banking sector to businesses is tipped to slow to 3.5 per cent this year, standing at nearly half of the 6.9 per cent [...]