The anatomy of a bank tax: what can the UK learn from Europe? Banking With days to go until John Healey delivers a Budget expected to target banks with a cash raid, Samuel Norman looks at the UK bank tax framework and other experiments across Europe. For years City lobbyists managed to bat away demands for a bank tax hike. As Chancellor, despite delivering two tax-heavy Budgets, Rachel Reeves [...]
Revolut to take fight to high street banks with UK personal loans Fintech Revolut is ramping up its battle with high street banking giants with the launch of personal loans in the UK market. The digital bank said on Monday it would begin offering loans between £2,000 and £25,000, which will be repayable over one to five years. The firm has insisted loans will have “transparent terms” and [...]
Union fury at Natwest plans for staff to attend the office TWO DAYS a week Business Natwest is facing backlash from trade union Unite over a new plan to require workers to attend the office for a mandatory two days a week. On Tuesday Unite, which represents over 1 million workers across private, public, and voluntary sectors, including some Natwest employees, said the lender’s decision was “out of touch with the [...]
Midday Markets: The one tax you could bank on October 16, 2026 The Midday Market report is a new newsletter from City AM, giving you fresh analysis on the biggest stories in the City straight into your inbox every lunchtime. Today, Ali Lyon, chews over the government’s plans for a windfall tax on banks. Sign up to the City AM News Updates newsletter here. It was, in [...]
Healey’s ‘mixed messages’ on bank tax leave City blindsided October 16, 2026 The City was left reeling on Friday following reports that John Healey was drawing up plans to tax banks in the forthcoming Budget. Industry heavyweights across the UK have fired warning shots as Healey weighs up different options to target the banking industry with a hefty cash raid. One City figure told City AM a [...]
Lloyds and Barclays shares fall as Healey ‘poised’ to hike bank tax October 16, 2026 Shares in Britain’s banking giants tumbled this morning after new reports suggested John Healey is set to raise taxes on lenders when he delivers his first Budget at the end of the month. Natwest dropped two per cent to 660.40p, while Lloyds was down around 2.5 per cent to 103.40p. Barclays slid 0.4 per cent [...]
‘It’s hard to call the peak’: Wall Street banks land $22bn trading haul October 14, 2026 Traders at Wall Street’s biggest banks kept their blockbuster winning streak alive in the third-quarter as they made hay on volatility triggered by the war in Iran and swinging AI stocks. Equity trading divisions at the big six US banks – JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo – [...]
City chiefs warn Healey bank tax hike could drive businesses out of UK October 9, 2026 Top finance industry chiefs have warned the Chancellor that hiking taxes on the banking sector in the forthcoming Budget could drive businesses and capital out of the UK. Bosses of the City’s biggest industry bodies – including UK Finance, TheCityUK and the CBI – have written to John Healey calling for him to avoid raising [...]
Stages of tax grief: Is it time for bankers to bargain? October 7, 2026 Banks are in the firing line at the Budget and in a meeting with bosses on Tuesday chancellor John Healey played coy on any increased rates. In this week’s column Samuel Norman looks at what trade-off could be made. Also on the cards, fresh data shows fintechs are lurching ahead of the incumbents on customer [...]
UK bank bosses and John Healey set for tax showdown October 5, 2026 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 [...]