UK bank bosses and John Healey set for tax showdown Banking When banking lobbyists geared up for an offensive ahead of the 2025 Budget, a tax cut barely made the wishlist. Modest in their ambitions, advocates were preparing to settle for anything that didn’t see their already eye-wateringly high tax bill rise. That is until, City AM understands, officials advised them to make a cut a [...]
‘Disastrous’: Average five-year fixed mortgage rate surges to six per cent Banking The average five-year fixed mortgage rate has broken the six per cent mark for the first time in three years after a fresh raft of lenders hiked prices. The typical five-year agreement has hit six per cent, according to Moneyfacts, while the average two-year is a whisker behind at 5.98 per cent. It is the [...]
Aldermore puts jobs at risk in retreat from invoice finance market Banking Aldermore is weighing a round of layoffs as it consults on plans to scale back its invoice finance business ahead of a sale, City AM can reveal. The Reading-headquartered lender is discussing plans to shrink its invoice finance division and slash the amount of customers it serves in the market, sources told City AM. The [...]
UK house prices fall at fastest rate since May as mortgage rates weigh on demand October 1, 2026 UK house prices fell at their fastest pace since May as expensive mortgages and uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget fuelled caution among buyers. Prices fell 0.2 per cent during September, faster than economists had expected and reversing August’s 0.2 per cent increase, according to data from Nationwide. The average UK home was valued at [...]
Aldermore’s sale interest shows banks are over motor finance September 17, 2026 Lloyds, Nationwide and Investec are all tipped to be circling Aldemore as its South African over prepares a sale. Samuel Norman takes a look at the runners and riders and what it could do for the market. Has the banking industry finally moved on from motor finance? The number of suiters circling Aldermore suggest as [...]
Exclusive: Nationwide and Investec set to bid for alternative lender Aldermore September 15, 2026 Investec and Nationwide are set to bid for alternative lender Aldermore as its South African owner Firstrand fields offers for the company, City AM can reveal. London-listed Investec and building society Nationwide were both weighing bids to buy the UK bank ahead of a deadline for first round offers on Tuesday, sources said. First Rand [...]
Nationwide warns returns from corporate AI are still hard to measure August 21, 2026 Nationwide has warned that the financial returns from workplace AI remain difficult to quantify, even as the building society rolls out the technology to around 16,000 staff. Around 1,000 employees across the combined Nationwide and Virgin Money finance team now have premium Microsoft 365 Copilot licences, while some 2,500 engineers are using Github Copilot. Paul [...]
House prices slump as Iran war and interest rates hit demand July 31, 2026 House prices slumped in July after the Iran war and higher interest rates squeezed demand and triggered a slowdown in sales. Annual house price growth slowed to 1.8 last month, down from 2.2 per cent the prior month. Month on month, average house prices remained broadly flat, rising by just £58 to reach £277,542, up [...]
Mark Kleinman: Nationwide’s pride should be dented by member election bid July 9, 2026 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his City AM column Nationwide’s pride should be dented by member election bid ‘Proud to be different’, ran the long-running Nationwide advertising slogan. Well, quite: it’s hard to see any of Britain’s big high street banks making quite the same mess [...]
Nationwide rebel claims he was offered sweetener to drop boardroom bid July 6, 2026 A rebel Nationwide customer vying for a board seat at Britain’s biggest building society claimed it offered to help him land a directorship at another firm if he dropped his boardroom bid. James Sherwin-Smith, who is on the ballot at next week’s annual general meeting to join Nationwide’s board, told City AM he had a [...]