FCA to rip up insurance rules in drive for growth May 14, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has outlined plans to ditch “outdated or duplicated” insurance rules in a bid to help firms reduce costs and drive competition. The City regulator’s fresh proposals would hand firms greater responsibility over reviewing the value of their product. This would involve companies using the risks and characteristics of each individual product [...]
Financial Conduct Authority plans to ‘put public back in IPO’ May 13, 2025 After a torrid few years for the London Stock Exchange, the Financial Conduct Authority is opening new avenues to boost initial public offerings (IPOs). The City regulator told industry stakeholders at the London Stock Exchange’s annual IPO Forum last week, it would “put the P back into IPO,” sources attending the event told City AM. [...]
Pension funds that don’t back UK assets should be named and shamed, Phoenix boss says May 12, 2025 Pension funds that don’t invest in UK assets should be named and shamed, the architect of the Mansion House Compact has said, as he called for “bold” action to address problems in London’s capital markets. Sir Nicholas Lyons, chairman of Phoenix Group, said transparency was the best way to catalyse more investment into the UK [...]
Only radical thinking can break Britain out of its doom loop May 8, 2025 While the lucky few left Tuesday night’s City AM Awards with a gleaming trophy, the evening’s other takeaway came in the form of a stimulating and provocative speech by Andy Haldane. The former Bank of England Chief Economist said that two decades of economic and social shocks – from the financial crash and subsequent Euro [...]
FTSE 100 lenders cash in on market turmoil but provisions climb May 5, 2025 FTSE 100 banking giants saw trading income spike in the first quarter as investors sold-off stocks in the face of geopolitical tensions, but tariff threats continued to weigh on future earnings. HSBC kicked off reporting season pocketing a $9.5bn (£7.1bn) pre-tax profit, which surged ahead of the $7.8bn pencilled in by analysts. Barclays and Natwest [...]
Lloyds’ finance boss slams ring-fencing amid waning growth forecast May 1, 2025 Lloyds‘ finance boss raised the alarm on lenders’ ability to help drive growth due to restrictions from the ring-fencing regime. The bank trimmed its UK GDP expectations and has projected a rise in unemployment in the latest warning sign for the health of the British economy. The FTSE 100 giant pencilled in 0.2 per cent [...]
Rate setter calls for market digitalisation and touts Bank of England’s flexibility April 29, 2025 Bank of England rate setter Dave Ramsden has called for bold action on digitalisation in a rebuke of concerns that the Bank’s prescriptive rules were stifling innovation. Speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit on Tuesday, the central bank Deputy Governor said widespread innovation in wholesale financial markets from authorities and industry would boost the [...]
OpenAI cuts safety tests in ‘reckless’ AI push April 11, 2025 OpenAI has slashed the time it will spend testing its most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models, raising concern that the $300bn company is prioritising speed over safety in the global AI arms race. Once known for its rigorous approach to AI risk, OpenAI is now giving safety evaluators just days – sometimes even less than [...]
Nikhil Rathi reappointed FCA chief April 10, 2025 Nikhil Rathi will be chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for another five years, leading it on its new directive from the government to slash unnecessary and duplicated regulation, the Chancellor has confirmed. Rathi—a former Treasury mandarin and chief executive of the London Stock Exchange—will serve another five-year term as the boss of [...]
Revolut handed £3m fine for money laundering control ‘shortcomings’ April 8, 2025 UK fintech Revolut has been fined €3.5m (£3m) by the Bank of Lithuania for inefficiencies in its money laundering control. The neobank was blasted for “violations and shortcomings in the monitoring of business relationships and [transactions]” by the Bank of Lithuania. The watchdog said failings had “resulted in the bank not always properly identifying suspicious [...]