By: Samuel Norman

Senior City Reporter Samuel is a Senior City Reporter covering all the top financial institutions from retail banks to fintechs as well as stories on capital markets and economics. He has broken stories on some of the biggest names in the City and regularly writes in-depth analysis pieces on companies and industry trends. Samuel also leads on City AM's morning liveblog from 7am everyday. He writes a weekly column found in print and online on Wednesdays. He can be contacted at samuel.norman@cityam.com and posts on LinkedIn and X at x.com/samnormanwrites.

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Trump hikes India tariffs to 50 per cent for fuelling Russian ‘war machine’

August 6, 2025

President Donald Trump has imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India after the country’s government imported Russian Federation Oil. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, the White House said it would slap Indian imports with the fresh levy taking their overall rate to 50 per cent. The President warned on Tuesday he [...]
Mortgage recovery hinges on a Bank of England interest rate cut

August 6, 2025

Homeowners across the UK are catching a break as mortgage arrears fell for the first time since the cost-of-living crisis began – but a full recovery will hinge on the Bank of England’s decision on Thursday. Missed mortgage payments in the second quarter fell by 4.4 per cent across the UK, whilst direct debit rejections [...]
TP ICAP shares fall despite revenue growth

August 6, 2025

Interdealer broker TP ICAP Group reported record revenue growth in the first half of the year, supported by strong broker productivity, cost control, and strategic diversification. The firm recorded adjusted revenue of £1.22bn, up seven per cent, driven by momentum in its global broking and Liquidnet divisions. The global broking arm was the business’s best [...]
Metro Bank trebles profit amid pivot to specialist lending

August 6, 2025

Metro Bank more than trebled its profit in the first six months of the year as its transformation strategy gained pace. The high street lender recorded an underlying profit before tax of £45m, compared with £12.8m in the second half of 2024. Revenue grew 22 per cent to £286m whilst operating costs fell eight per [...]
Zempler Bank grows profit on the back of high interest rates

August 6, 2025

Zempler Bank has recorded its third consecutive year of profitability after a cheering jump in customer deposits and a strong performance in interest income. The UK fintech – formerly known as Cashplus – recorded a 58 per cent leap in pre-tax profit to £5.2m for the year ending March 31 2025. It comes as deposits [...]
Millions of savers to face ‘hidden tax burden’

August 5, 2025

Millions of Brits will face a ‘hidden tax burden’ this year, fresh HMRC data has revealed, as thousands more are set to pay tax on the interest from their savings. Over 3.35m people are projected to be taxed on savings interest in 2025 – where the interest earned on savings exceeds the tax-free allowance and [...]
FCA boss rejects criticism of motor finance redress

August 5, 2025

The head of the UK’s financial watchdog has pushed back at industry claims that the wide scope of the motor finance redress scheme is “impractical”. Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority said: “We know it is difficult. But you can’t say the law has been broken and it is too difficult to [...]
BP shares jump after oil major ups dividend and launches buyback

August 5, 2025

BP shares jumped on Tuesday despite the firm recording a hit to profit and revenue in the first half of 2025 as weaker oil prices and lower trading performance weighed on takings. The London-listed oil major posted total revenue of $95.6bn (£72bn), down from 2.7 per cent from the same previous last year, while profit [...]
‘Not the end of the story:’ Uncertainty for motor finance lenders after court ruling

August 5, 2025

Banking stocks may be revving up on the back of a legal win but motor finance lenders might find there is still trouble lurking under the bonnet. City banks dodged a £44bn liability after the Supreme Court upheld the appeal of two banks in the historic car-misselling case. On Friday, Close Brothers and First Rand [...]
S&U: Motor finance redress scheme must show a changed FCA

August 5, 2025

The chair of specialist lender S&U has said the motor finance redress scheme offers the UK’s financial watchdog the prime opportunity to turn its ‘regulate for growth’ rhetoric into action. Anthony Coombs hailed the “common sense” car finance ruling from the Supreme Court as attention turns to the response by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). But [...]

Virgin Atlantic ends British Airways grip on Team GB partnership

Virgin Atlantic ends British Airways grip on Team GB partnership

Electra/Persona at the National Theatre review: A dull mash-up of Sophocles and Bergman

By: Samuel Norman

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