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 hits all-time high as defence stocks soar

March 3, 2025

The FTSE 100 index rallied to an all-time high on Monday morning, bolstered by surging defence stocks as European countries signalled their willingness to up defence spending over the weekend. The UK’s blue-chip index rose 0.4 per cent or 32 points after the market opened. BAE Systems led the market higher. The firm’s stock jumped [...]
Pay for Lloyds Bank’s top bosses jumps to £5.6m

February 28, 2025

Lloyds Bank’s top executives have received a bumper windfall despite the lender’s rocky results and mass closure of high-street branches. In its annual report published on Thursday, the bank said its top two bosses would receive nearly £2m in bonuses in 2024 in addition to their regular payouts. Chief executive Charlie Nunn will receive a [...]
Thousands of customers unable to use Lloyds, Halifax and TSB banking apps

February 28, 2025

Thousands of Lloyds Group banking app users across the UK have reported technical difficulties when trying to access their money. Outage monitor Downdector recorded issues affecting the Lloyds banking app spike over 4,000 on Friday morning. Users across the group’s subsidiaries Lloyds, Halifax, TSB and Bank of Scotland raised the alarm posting error notices across [...]
Market depth will be key to IPO choice, Monument boss says

February 27, 2025

Ian Rand, the former Barclays executive and boss of Monument Bank, spoke to City AM about the bank’s criteria in choosing where to list. Monument spiked the City’s speculation following reports it was looking to go public in the US by 2027 – in what would be another huge blow to the London market. The [...]
Banks accused of ‘rigging the system’ against consumers

February 27, 2025

Britain’s top banks are “rigging the system” against consumers and the government must do more, a fintech chief executive has claimed. Financial wellbeing platform Wagestream found 90 per cent of Brits believe they should be saving money but nearly half fear they won’t save a single penny in 2025. The fintech’s ‘State of Financial Wellbeing [...]
Metro Bank returns to profit amid specialist lending pivot

February 27, 2025

Metro Bank swung back to profitability in the second half of the year as the bank pressed on with a move away from retail banking and towards specialist lending. The high street bank pulled ahead of guidance in its full-year posting, after a strong performance in the second half of 2024. The FTSE 250 lender [...]
Cairn Homes pockets double digit profit and revenue growth

February 27, 2025

Home builder Cairn Homes has reported double digit profit and revenue growth as the group benefitted from Ireland’s booming property market. The builder’s operating profit ballooned 32 per cent to €150m (£124m) in 2024 up from €113.4m (£94m) in 2023. Revenue was up 29 per cent at €859.9m (£711m), whilst operating costs reduced to 4.3 [...]
Aviva beats profit expectations amidst Direct Line takeover

February 27, 2025

Aviva Plc smashed expectations in its annual profit results amidst its landmark takeover of fellow insurer Direct Line. The FTSE 100 giant posted a 20 per cent increase in operating profit to £1.77bn in 2024. The target surpassed Bloomberg analyst expectations of £1.71bn. Shares in Aviva have returned 11 per cent so far this year, [...]
Yorkshire Building Society profit tumbles as margins fall

February 27, 2025

Profit took a tumble at Yorkshire Building Society, as declining interest rates tightened the firm’s interest margins. The building society booked a £385.2m profit in 2024, compared to the £453.7m pocketed in 2023. The decline was largely due to net interest income falling £49.5m year-on-year, as increased pressure on mortgage and saving books boosted reductions. [...]
St James’s Place swings to annual profit

February 27, 2025

St James’s Place swung to a profit in its annual results as the firm’s turnaround efforts continued to yield results. Britain’s largest wealth manager recorded a £398.4m pre-tax profit, compared to the loss of £9.9m the year prior. Gross inflows for the year totalled £18.4bn, compared to £15.4bn in 2023. Total assets under management at [...]

Since SpaceX’s debut, hopes of a blockbuster IPO season have ground to a halt

Crystal Palace valued at £900m and hire Raine Group to explore investment or sale

London Film Festival 2026: everything you need to know

By: Samuel Norman

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