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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FTSE 100 giants Rolls-Royce and Shell lead City market rally

July 31, 2025

A fleet of corporate news helped the FTSE 100 edge up in early trading on Thursday with a number of rallies from the index’s heavyweights. Positive updates from Rolls-Royce and Rentokil helped London’s flagship stock market rise 0.5 per cent to 9.182.34 as markets opened. Rentokil topped the risers with a 11 per cent surge [...]
Shell: FTSE 100 giant takes profit beat amid weak oil prices

July 31, 2025

FTSE 100 juggernaut Shell posted a dramatic hit to earnings in the second quarter amid a volatile period for oil and gas prices. The London-listed oil major recorded $4.26bn (£3.21bn) marking a 32 per cent fall from the second quarter of 2024, where the firm pocketed $6.29bn. But Shell managed to scrape past an LSEG-compiled [...]
Standard Chartered wealth arm booms in volatile second quarter

July 31, 2025

Standard Chartered’s wealth and markets arms boomed in a volatile second quarter of the year driving a surge in profit at the London-listed bank. The FTSE 100 firm recorded a 47 per cent uptick in global markets income on a constant currency basis, as takings topped $1.2bn (£900m) for the second quarter. Meanwhile, wealth solutions [...]
Nationwide wins big in mass switch from FTSE 100 banks

July 30, 2025

Nationwide has raided the customer base of Britain’s banking titans as current account switchers flocked away from legacy firms. The building society welcomed nearly 73,000 switchers in the first three months of the year, compared to 17,000 outflows, according to Pay.uk data. This comes after the mutual returned billions to customers in 2024, whilst the [...]
HSBC boss: Rachel Reeves hiking bank tax would dent growth

July 30, 2025

The boss of FTSE 100 juggernaut HSBC has become the latest banking voice to warn Rachel Reeves against raising taxes on banks over fears it would harm economic growth. Georges Elhedery, HSBC’s chief executive, said on Wednesday any further financial pressures on lenders could spark trouble for the UK economy. “Additional taxation on banks runs [...]
Klarna receives regulatory approval to take on Monzo and Revolut

July 30, 2025

Swedish fintech Klarna has received an electronic money institution licence from the Financial Conduct Authority, setting the firm up to compete with UK firms Monzo and Revolut. The licence will allow Klarna to offer its 11 million UK customers savings accounts and also pave the way for a debit card launch. Abby Vickers, Klarna’s head [...]
Revolut mulling plans to take on China’s fintech giants

July 30, 2025

UK fintech juggernaut Revolut is weighing expansion into China in a move that would see the company take on the likes of Ant Group-owned Alipay and Wechat. The firm told investors on a pitchdeck during its secondary share sale last year it was assessing “hiring, licensing [and] scoping” opportunities in China. The fintech was also [...]
Santander UK axes jobs and branches in transformation overhaul

July 30, 2025

Santander UK recorded a surge in provisions as the bank powered forward with its transformation strategy slashing its branch network and shedding workers. The bank said provisions for other liabilities and charges were up 74 per cent to £249m driven by “higher transformation related charges”. The lender listed losses and provisions as rising 119.8 per [...]
HSBC shares sink as impairment charge triggers 29 per cent profit hit

July 30, 2025

Europe’s biggest lender HSBC suffered a 29 per cent annual hit to profit in the second quarter of the year after a hefty impairment charge related to business in China. The FTSE 100 juggernaut posted a $6.3bn (£4.72bn) pre-tax profit, missing analyst expectations of $6.99bn. This came as the lender recorded a $2.1bn write-down for [...]
Exclusive: Airwallex to bulk up UK workforce after rapid growth

July 30, 2025

Singaporean fintech unicorn Airwallex has its sights set on UK expansion after a period of rapid growth. The cross-border payment specialist – which counts Shein, Brex and Rippling among its customers – recorded a 95 per cent annual jump in global revenue to $850m in the last year, with UK takings jumping 109 per cent [...]

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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