Wall Street bankers’ bonuses leapfrog City in ‘less impressive’ year Banking Wall Street bankers have leapfrogged ahead of the City as the industry’s swelling bonus pot proved “far less impressive” than prior expectations. In the US, the average bonus scored was $154,344 (£114,00) in 2025, marking a 5.85 per cent uplift from the year prior. This also topped the industry average growth of 4.4 per cent. [...]
‘Make the process look less scary’: UK banking licence applications hit zero in 2025 Banking The number of applicants for UK banking licences plummeted to zero in 2025, raising questions over the government and regulators’ capacity to foster competition and attract overseas investment. The fresh figures – revealed in a Freedom of Information request by financial regulation consultancy Pathlight Associates – show a steep fall from the 11 licence bids [...]
Meet Reeves’ outsider tasked with steering the City to growth Banking 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 [...]
Bank of England names first fintech cohort for scale-up regulator February 3, 2026 The Bank of England has named the first handful of UK fintech talent which will be overseen by the new regulatory ‘Scale-Up’ unit. Small business lenders OakNorth and Allica Bank – which was named the fastest-growing fintech ever by Deloitte – were listed as two of the firms that had been accepted into the first [...]
Metro Bank handed capital boost from banking watchdog December 19, 2025 High street lender Metro Bank is set for a major capital boost after a reclassification from the banking watchdog. The FTSE 250 firm said on Friday it has received confirmation from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) that it would be listed as a transfer firm under the newly introduced MREL regime from 2026. Introduced in [...]
Banking watchdog raises customer protection to £120,000 November 18, 2025 The UK banking watchdog has raised the cap for how much a customer can be paid if their provider fails. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has hiked the limit to £120,000 from £85,000 meaning additional customer funds will be protected if their lender collapses. The limits come under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which [...]
Rachel Reeves’ banking reforms ‘unlikely to be transformative’ November 3, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ financial services growth mission faces a major blow with top City voices warning her regulatory reforms won’t be transformative. The Chancellor unveiled her Leeds Reform package intended to “rewire the financial services industry” in July this year. Whilst the moves were cheered by industry bigwigs, analysts have raised concerns the changes will fail [...]
Banking watchdog boss warns easing capital rules ‘highly risky’ October 22, 2025 The head of the UK’s banking watchdog has warned of high risk if the UK loosens its rules around lenders’ capital framework as the government pushes for economic growth. Sam Woods, the head of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), said requiring banks to no longer set aside capital for top-tier sovereign bonds would “be equivalent [...]
Fintech industry takes aim at ‘logic-defying’ banking watchdog October 20, 2025 The industry body for UK fintech will today take aim at the banking watchdog in a scathing report that will blast “logic-defying” regulation. A fresh report from Innovate Finance, seen by City AM, will accuse the Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) of “excessive” requirements that create an “uneven playing field for UK challenger banks, placing heavy [...]
Banker bonus rules are getting watered down. Will anyone shed a tear? October 16, 2025 When the European Banking Authority published its guidelines on executive pay in 2015, the report pronounced on 126 separate rules spread across 173 pages. Any banker able to get through the whole rulebook without falling asleep surely deserved every penny of the eyewatering bonus they received – provided it met the guidelines. The EBA’s voluminous [...]