Meet Reeves’ outsider tasked with steering the City to growth March 3, 2026 The City has rolled out the red carpet for the banking watchdog’s new chief after Katharine Braddick, a seasoned veteran of the financial trenches, was named on Friday as the successor to Sam Woods. For a cool £314,000 a year, she’s set to take on the brief of steering the UK’s banking sector. Chancellor Rachel [...]
HSBC names ex-CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn as UK chair March 2, 2026 The former boss of Britain’s largest industry body has been appointed the next chair of HSBC UK, having served on the bank’s board for five years. The lending giant confirmed on Monday that Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, who ran the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) between 2015 and 2020, would lead its board in the UK, [...]
‘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 [...]
‘Trust me’: Jamie Dimon to defend JP Morgan’s $2bn-a-week bill February 23, 2026 Jamie Dimon is set to defend JP Morgan’s $2bn-a-week cost bill today as analysts and shareholders gather for the banking giant’s annual investor day. The bank chief – generally considered to be the world’s most influential banker – unveiled higher-than-expected plans for 2026 spend at the beginning of the year. JP Morgan told markets spending [...]
Lloyds offloads Scottish Widows Europe in £100m deal February 17, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group has offloaded its European life insurance business to FTSE 250 firm Chesnara in the latter’s second major deal with a UK bank. The FTSE 100 banking giant – which posted a hefty profit jump last month for the 2025 financial year – has inked a €110m (£96m) deal with Chesnara for Luxembourg-based [...]
Natwest and Lloyds shares lead FTSE 100 rally after bruising week February 16, 2026 Natwest led a rally across Britain’s banking giants on Monday morning as lenders patched their wounds after a bruising week on the stock market. The bank topped the FTSE 100’s risers at the starting bell, gaining over four per cent in early trading to 603.60p. Barclays was shortly behind, advancing over 2.5 per cent to [...]
Lloyds to close 95 more bank branches across UK February 11, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group is set to make a further full to its branch network with 95 sites face the shutter. The FTSE 100 banking giant announced the fresh closures on Wednesday, which will affect Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland sites. The closures will take place between May 2026 and March 2027. Lloyds will take [...]
Natwest shares sink after bank unveils £2.7bn wealth deal February 9, 2026 Natwest has beat its banking rivals to snap up wealth manager Evelyn Partners and laid out plans to kick off a new round of shareholder returns. The FTSE 100 banking giant, which returned to privatisation last year, said it had sealed a £2.7bn deal to purchase the firm from its private equity owners Permira and [...]
Barclays and Natwest set for bidding war in race to beef up wealth arms February 4, 2026 Barclays and Natwest are set for a bidding war as the banks prepare to make their play to snap up Evelyn Partners amid the race to beef up wealth management arms. The blue-chip lenders are both gearing up to table offers of over £2bn for the London-based wealth manager. A successful takeover would help enhance [...]
Lloyds shares rally after profit boost and £1.8bn buyback January 29, 2026 Shares in Lloyds Banking Group jumped on Thursday as the bank launched a £1.8bn share buyback after breezing past profit expectations in the 2025 financial year. The FTSE 100 banking giant recorded a 12 per cent jump to pre-tax profit in the full-year netting £6.7bn and easily surpassing the £6.4bn pencilled in by internal analysts. [...]