Exclusive: City giants tighten trans policies Business City firms are being forced to tighten up inclusion policies and prevent transgender staff from using single-sex bathrooms, after the equalities watchdog published fresh directions on enforcing the seismic Supreme Court ruling on gender last year. Square Mile giants including Admiral, Coventry Building Society and Santander have all updated their HR procedures to bar trans [...]
Kemi Badenoch pledges to wield the axe on post-financial crisis banking regulation Banking Kemi Badenoch will today step up her efforts to woo the City as she promises to wield the axe on post-financial crisis banking regulation if she manages to clinch the keys to Number 10. “London is having its lunch eaten” by overregulation, the Tory leader will proclaim as she proposes a shakeup of the financial regime that she hopes [...]
Bank of London: Peter Mandelson-backed fintech sees losses widen Banking The Bank of London’s parent company had made another steep loss in fresh accounts that were delayed for the second consecutive year. The embattled clearing bank’s parent company, Oplyse Holdings, made a loss of £46.9m in 2024, bringing the firm’s cumulative deficit to £167.7m. Fresh accounts for Oplyse Holdings – which was formerly known as [...]
Wall Street bankers’ bonuses leapfrog City in ‘less impressive’ year April 14, 2026 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 April 8, 2026 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 [...]
UK banks blast regulations for ‘penalising’ good risk management April 2, 2026 Top lenders have laid bare their frustrations with UK banking regulation in a bombshell new report that urges the removal of “excessive conservatism”. In response to the Bank of England’s review of capital requirements, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) – which represents over 150 global banks, including the UK’s Big Four – [...]
Bank of London hit with £2m fine for ‘misleading’ watchdog March 24, 2026 The Bank of London has been slapped with a hefty fine from the banking watchdog after “misleading” the regulator and “failing to act with integrity”. The embattled fintech and its parent company Oplyse Holdings are on the hook for £2m after the watchdog found it failed to be open regarding its capital position. It marks [...]
Revolut lands full UK banking licence after four-year wait March 11, 2026 Revolut has landed its full UK banking licence following a four-year wait for the permit. The $75bn fintech juggernaut has been in the mobilisation stage for over 18 months after being granted approval for the licence last July. The final green light from the banking watchdog hands the digital bank permission to formally start lending [...]
Meet Reeves’ outsider tasked with steering the City to growth March 3, 2026 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 [...]
Exclusive: Starling’s top investor withdraws support for London IPO February 4, 2026 Starling’s elusive billionaire backer has gone cold on his ambition for the digital bank to list in London, City AM can reveal, in a move that will heighten fears of the fintech heading to New York for its highly-anticipated IPO. Harald McPike had lobbied for the group to launch its initial public offering in London [...]