JP Morgan: Rachel Reeves could slash headroom to avoid large tax rises July 29, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is poised to reduce her wafer-thin £9.9bn headroom even further at the Autumn Budget to avoid making sweeping tax rises, analysts at one of the world’s biggest banks have predicted. Leading think tanks and City analysts have warned that Rachel Reeves will look to raise as much as £30bn in taxes later [...]
Paragon maintains pace as stamp duty changes slow mortgage lending July 29, 2025 Paragon has weathered a shakeup in stamp duty as analysts hailed the FTSE 250 bank’s “excellent momentum” in the first nine months of the financial year. The London-listed business recorded £1.1bn mortgage lending for the first three quarters, but estimated full-year volumes at the lower end of targets at £1.6bn. The firm said subdued activity [...]
Mortgages rebound in lift for housing market July 29, 2025 Britons’ borrowing of mortgages and consumer credit rose at a faster pace in June, fresh Bank of England data has revealed, in signs that the recovery in the housing market is “well underway”. In monthly statistics released by the Bank to signal trends in the UK banking system, it was revealed that net borrowing of [...]
Barclays joins FTSE 100 peers in warning against bank tax hike July 29, 2025 Barclays has become the latest banking giant to send a firm warning to Rachel Reeves to avoid bank tax hike as the Chancellor scrambles to maintain her wafer-thin fiscal headroom. The FTSE 100 giant’s boss CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, said the government’s mission for growth would not align with slapping a tax increase on [...]
Rachel Reeves at odds with Bank of England over Revolut licence bid July 29, 2025 Rachel Reeves has clashed with the governor of the Bank of England after trying to support Revolut in its protracted regulatory process to secure a full banking licence. The Chancellor is reported to have attempted to secure a meeting between financial watchdogs and Revolut in hopes of pushing forward its banking licence bid. But the [...]
AI disruption rocks professional services jobs market fuelling anxiety among Gen-Z July 29, 2025 The UK jobs market is facing significant turmoil, with rising unemployment figures and layoffs, a trend seen in the professional services sector
Trump hails relationship with Starmer – but no steel exemptions yet July 28, 2025 In a Scottish golfing holiday that has swiftly given way to a multi-sided international summit, Keir Starmer has held a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump which has spanned from the UK-US trading relationship to immigration policy and international conflicts. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds had tempered expectations of immediate steel tariff progress ahead of the meeting, [...]
UK markets face ‘serious challenge’ in risk-averse investors July 28, 2025 UK stocks are being stung by national risk aversion with Brits “low emotional capacity for risk” triggering widespread under-investment. Nearly six in ten Brits were unwilling to face the prospect of short-term losses on investments, according to Fresh research from Oxford Risk found and the UK’s second largest platform for private investors, Interactive Investor. Over [...]
Is Brexit Britain a winner of the EU and US trade tie-up? July 28, 2025 Brexit Britain is set to have curbed another President Donald Trump trade offensive after the US and EU inked a deal which economists dubbed a White House win and European retreat. The deal, announced late Sunday night, will see the original US-imposed tariffs of 30 per cent on the EU slashed to 15 per cent. [...]
FCA names interim FOS chair after abrupt leadership shake-up July 28, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has named a new interim chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service after its initial recruitment campaign “proved unsuccessful”. The City regulator appointed Liam Coleman as the watchdog’s temporary chair, which comes as controversy surrounds the departures of former leadership. Coleman will replace Baroness Zahida Manzoor who abruptly announced in February she [...]