By: Samuel Norman

Senior City Reporter Samuel is a Senior City Reporter covering banking and fintech as well as stories on capital markets and economics. He also leads on City AM's morning liveblog from 7am everyday. He has previously written for the Daily Mail and The i Paper and worked for Sky News as an election stringer. He enjoys writing in-depth analysis of major blue-chip firms and start-ups and also industry trends. He can be contacted at samuel.norman@cityam.com and posts on LinkedIn and X at x.com/samnormanwrites.

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London closes in on New York as top financial hub but risks remain

March 20, 2025

London has edged closer to becoming the world’s top financial centre, fresh research shows, but concerns have been raised over the City’s future competitiveness. The 37th edition of Z/Yen Group’s Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 37) showed London maintained its second-place ranking amongst the world’s top financial centres, whilst climbing 12 points from its last [...]
Treasury on the hunt for new National Wealth Fund boss

March 19, 2025

The Treasury announced on Wednesday that it had begun searching for a new chief executive to lead the recently established National Wealth Fund. The policy bank’s current boss John Flint will exit the role this summer after overseeing the institution’s rebrand from the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB). Flint, who is a former HSBC group chief [...]
Motor finance: Lloyds and Close Brothers shareholders await landmark hearing

March 19, 2025

The eyes of shareholders at Britain’s biggest lenders will be on April’s landmark motor finance hearing, as the scandal heads to the Supreme Court. The hearing, scheduled for April 1-3, will allow car loan providers to challenge the October 2024 Court of Appeal ruling that it was unlawful for banks to pay a commission to [...]
Santander to shut 95 branches – putting 750 jobs at risk

March 19, 2025

Santander announced a flurry of branch closures on Wednesday, which will place up to 750 employees at risk of redundancy. The bank, which is one of the UK’s most prominent mortgage lenders, will close 95 of its 444 branches as part of a structural overhaul that will begin in June 2025. Its updated branches network [...]
Pay awards stagnate ahead of national insurance hike

March 19, 2025

Pay growth at UK businesses is stagnating as businesses look to cut costs ahead of the Chancellor’s upcoming tax hikes. Figures compiled by HR data and insights provider Brightmine show that pay growth slumped following Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget, and have since stagnated at three per cent. The current figure now aligns with the Office [...]
UK fintechs sound alarm on spike in organised crime

March 19, 2025

Seven in ten UK fintechs said fraud volumes in their business shot up over the last year, according to new research. Alloy’s State of UK Fraud Report stated 79 per cent of UK fintech firms lost at least £500,000 to fraud in the 12 months to October 2024. Two in five recorded losses between £1m [...]
Analysts put Close Brothers shares ‘under review’ as stock plummets

March 18, 2025

Peel Hunt analysts placed Close Brothers shares ‘under review’ after the banking group suffered a £104m loss in the first half of its 2025 financial year. The lender said losses were driven by the £165m reserved for potential motor finance payouts, along with costs of complaint handling and legal expenses. Close Brothers’ stock sank as [...]
Fintech unicorn council joins Revolut and Zilch bosses for Treasury meeting

March 18, 2025

Britain’s top fintech officials met Rachel Reeves on Tuesday morning in the Chancellor’s latest financial summit to boost economic growth. The co-chairs of Innovate Finance’s Unicorn Council for UK Fintech joined leading executives at the Treasury’s meeting, City AM has learned. The council, which launched in March 2024, aims to provide the government with policy [...]
Close Brothers shares plunge as motor finance costs mount

March 18, 2025

Banking group Close Brothers plunged to a £104m loss in the first half of 2025 after the firm set aside provisions for the motor finance scandal. The lender recorded a pre-tax loss in the first half of its 2025 financial year, compared to a profit of £88.1m in the same period of 2024 due to [...]
Reeves doubles down on fiscal rules amidst waning headroom

March 17, 2025

Rachel Reeves doubled down on her fiscal rules in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday, despite speculation that economic conditions have left the chancellor with little or no room for manoeuvre. Following the Autumn Budget, Reeves was left with a £9.9bn buffer to maintain her key rule for day-to-day spending to be funded by [...]

‘Open the f**king strait’ – Trump issues brutal ultimatum to Iran

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Barbican Centre: the brutalist landmark weaving art into everyday London life.

By: Samuel Norman

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