Deal fever: Banking giants plot takeovers to ramp up market share June 18, 2025 British banking is poised for a major shake-up as top names go on the hunt for fresh acquisitions. Lenders have been scouting new deals that would send shockwaves across the industry. Much of the prospective dealmaking involves London lender Shawbrook, whose private equity owners have been circling high street bank Metro. Ahead of this, Shawbrook [...]
Financial services firms expected to dump green finance and DEI June 18, 2025 The financial services industry is taking a dramatic step back from green finance and diversity policies. Over half of UK senior financial professionals believe their leadership will place less focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies in the coming years. Meanwhile, a similar proportion, 54 per cent, believe diversity, equality and inclusion commitments will [...]
High street banks ramp up SME lending to highest since 2022 June 16, 2025 High street banks are scaling up their lending to small businesses, with the first quarter of 2022 hitting the highest amount since 2022. Lenders issued £4.6bn worth of loans in the first three months of the year marking a 14 per cent year-on-year jump. The rise was driven by a surge of lending to agriculture, [...]
FCA: Motor finance redress scheme must keep market afloat June 5, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has pledged any redress scheme it may implement on the motor finance industry must keep the market afloat. The watchdog said ensuring the integrity of the motor finance market, so it works well for future consumers, would be crucial framework for a redress scheme. The Supreme Court is expected to give [...]
Exec behind Lloyds mass affluent push quits within days of launch June 4, 2025 A Lloyds exec behind the bank’s push to attract “mass affluent” customers has departed within days of the launch of its new service. Jo Harris, who has been with the FTSE 100 bank for more than a decade, would be leaving at the end of the month, according to an internal memo seen by the [...]
Lloyds Bank boss: No evidence of harm in motor finance scandal May 20, 2025 Lloyds Banking Group’s chief executive faced a grilling from the Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday over the lender’s historical exposure to the motor finance market. Charlie Nunn, the bank’s boss, said there was “no evidence of harm” from the firm’s operations in the car financing market. The scandal in the sector headed to the Supreme [...]
FTSE 100 banks Lloyds and Natwest set to profit despite lower interest rates May 13, 2025 Amidst a backdrop of waning interest rates, FTSE 100 banking giants such as Lloyds and Natwest look set to continue to profit, according to analysts. Lenders’ takings from net interest income (NII) remained steady in the first quarter, even after the Bank of England chopped interest rates four times to 4.5 per cent. Since then, [...]
Lloyds costs soar as lender increases provisions after tariff turmoil May 1, 2025 Lloyds Banking Group’s profit took a hit in the first three months of the year as the domestic-focused bank’s operating costs soared. The FTSE 100 giant, which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, met analyst expectations for pre-tax profit at £1.5bn – marking a seven per cent drop from the first quarter of 2024. [...]
Lloyds sends 200 senior staff to Cambridge University for AI bootcamp March 28, 2025 Lloyds Banking Group has set out plans to send over 200 senior employees on an 80-hour AI bootcamp at the University of Cambridge. The FTSE 100 lender has joined with education technology firm Cambridge Spark for a “bespoke six-month training programme” to enhance AI capabilities across its management. The first cohort of 30 Lloyds leaders [...]
IT outages: Are UK banks failing to modernise? March 20, 2025 Imagine it’s payday, and you’re trying to pay your bills or make a critical purchase, only to discover that your bank’s system has gone down. For millions of customers at Britain’s major banks, this nightmare is all too familiar. Over the past two years, nine of the UK’s banks were offline for more than 800 [...]