Motor finance lenders gear up for ‘forensic test of discipline’ over redress scheme October 8, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has softened the motor finance blow for lenders but experts say firms won’t be able to shift into a new gear just yet. The City watchdog has priced the cost of its industry-wide redress scheme at £11bn – a hefty sum but far below the eye-watering £44bn previously floated. Just over [...]
Motor finance: Lloyds, Barclays shares jump as FCA softens blow October 8, 2025 Shares in motor finance lenders rallied on Wednesday morning after the Financial Conduct Authority dropped a major update on its industry-wide redress scheme. Lloyds Banking Group – which owns the UK’s largest motor finance provider, Black Horse – was up over two per cent to 85.06p. Meanwhile, Close Brothers, which just last week set aside [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Bank shares surge; Gold surpasses $4,000 October 8, 2025 Good morning from the City AM live blog team. Arguably no sector has had as sensitive share movement in recent months as the banking industry. In August, following the motor finance ruling, City banks added £7bn in market value after a major boost from the Supreme Court. But less than a month later after the [...]
FCA orders lenders to pay £11bn in motor finance compensation October 7, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it expects lenders to make 14.2 million payouts to individuals affected by unfair motor finance agreements, totalling around £11bn in compensation. The FCA estimates people would receive around £700 per agreement, on average. It has also been calculated that around 85 per cent of eligible consumers would [...]
Regulators target motor finance CMCs amid redress costs concern October 6, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority is teaming up with a fleet of regulators to crackdown on misleading claims firms in the motor finance saga – even as the sector’s displeasure on the redress scheme rumbles on. The City watchdog will join the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Information Commissioner’s Office and the Advertising Standards Authority to tackle [...]
Close Brothers looks to ‘accelerate’ after ‘messy’ year October 1, 2025 Close Brothers is hoping to switch gears and “accelerate” after the motor finance scandal had the bank stuck in a rut. The specialist lender’s share price has swerved between a low of 185.00 and peak of 555.00 over the last 12 months. The car misselling saga has been the driving force of stock woes, sending [...]
‘It’s risky to be in the UK’ – Cleo founder on unicorn status and City regulation September 30, 2025 Nine years ago entrepreneur Matt Clifford took a data scientist to a “terrible pub” to convince him to drop his PhD and create his own start-up. “You may as well just take the risk, the biggest risk is not taking the risk,” Clifford told a young Barney Hussey-Yeo. Almost a decade later in 2025, Hussey-Yeo [...]
UK fintechs send rallying cry as industry slips in global ranking September 25, 2025 UK fintech leaders have sent a rallying call to policymakers after the sector slipped in global rankings. A host of industry bigwigs have told City AM the government must be bolder in growth-orientated reforms to bolster the sector’s standing against rivals. It comes after Z/Yen’s 38th Global Financial Centres Index showed the UK’s fintech sector [...]
Two in five financial services firms lack safe AI controls September 11, 2025 As the financial services industry piles billions of pounds into artificial intelligence (AI), firms are lacking adequate measures to maintain safe usage, according to new figures. Fresh data from Big Four accountancy giant EY reveal 26 per cent of companies have no or limited controls in place to ensure AI systems adhere to laws and [...]
FCA: ‘Large number of consumers’ wronged in motor finance deals September 9, 2025 The UK’s financial watchdog is gearing up for an industry-wide redress scheme on the historic motor finance scandal where huge swathes of customers could be eligible for compensation. Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, said there was “evidence that there have been unfair relationships between lenders and their consumers” and that a [...]