Close Brothers shares soar as bank ‘well positioned’ for £320m motor finance hit April 8, 2026 Close Brothers has insisted it is “well positioned” to absorb the financial hit from the City watchdog’s motor finance redress scheme but added to speculation another legal battle could be on the horizon. The FTSE 250 lender told markets on Wednesday morning that it estimates the cost of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) redress scheme [...]
Barclays’ high street U-turn exposes a divide in British banking April 8, 2026 Bank have ditched the high street over the last decade but is a comeback on the horizon? Samuel Norman explores the changes in this week’s column. In Westminster, the news cycle is never short of drama over U-turns. Subtle tweaks or direct bait-and-switches on policy are batted away by government spokespeople as mere “pivots” as [...]
Good news at last? Financial services sector rebounds at fastest rate this century April 7, 2026 Britain’s financial services sector rebounded in the first three months of this year powered by the fastest single-quarter recovery since 1996, a closely watched survey found. According to the CBI’s industry-wide survey, sentiment among financial firms improved for the first time in nearly two years, as an uptick in profitability was aided by the uncertainty [...]
Lloyds shares slump amid questions over motor finance legal battle April 2, 2026 Lloyds shares slumped this morning even as the banking giant declared it would not have to top up its provisions following the confirmation of a motor finance redress scheme. The group – which owns the UK’s largest car finance lender Black Horse – said it had “undertaken an assessment of the implications and impact” of [...]
Motor finance compensation to ‘to fire starting gun’ on banking M&A March 31, 2026 The financial watchdog’s long-awaited motor finance redress scheme is predicted to “fire the starting gun” on a wave of deals throughout the banking sector. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched the final rules for its redress programme on Monday, with the bill for lenders expected to come in at just north of £9bn, down from [...]
Lloyds and Close Brothers shares rally as banks ‘assess’ impact of motor finance redress March 31, 2026 Shares in UK motor finance lenders had a volatile opening this morning as markets digested the final rules of the financial watchdog’s industry-wide redress scheme. Lloyds Banking Group – the owner of the nation’s largest motor finance lender Black Horse – crept up over one per cent in early trading to tip over the 92p [...]
FCA slashes banks’ motor finance payouts as compensation scheme finalised March 30, 2026 City banks are set to face a more than £9bn motor finance bill after the UK’s financial watchdog laid out plans for its long-awaited motor finance redress scheme in a major U-turn after months of backlash. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed the details of its industry-wide redress scheme for the car mis-selling saga on [...]
Arbuthnot chief: High street banks’ push into wealth is no threat March 30, 2026 One of London’s oldest private banking institutions has sounded off on the influx of the British banking giants looking to grab a slice of the wealth management pie. Andrew Salmon, the boss of Arbuthnot Latham, told City AM that when big bank rivals attempt to go “stratospheric” with their thresholds, it would benefit from its [...]
Lloyds Bank forks out compensation after tech glitch hit nearly half a million March 27, 2026 Nearly half a million Lloyds Banking Group mobile app users were hit by the firm’s major tech glitch earlier this month with the bank now dishing out compensation payments to some of those affected. Up to 447,936 customers of Lloyds and group subsidiaries Halifax and Bank of Scotland saw other rogue transactions across their accounts [...]
Revolut and Nationwide sharpen swords in battle to bank Britain March 25, 2026 The claws are out in the battle to bank Britain and in this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at the latest shots fired from Revolut and Nationwide. If you had ‘Graham Norton sitting on a horse’ on your banking bingo card, congratulations. The BBC chat show host has swapped his famous sofa with [...]