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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FTSE 100 Live: Starmer unease rattles markets; Big tech sell-off

February 6, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Speculation over Keir Starmer’s future has unleashed a fresh round of market unease as investors dumped the pound, UK equities and long-dated government bonds amid rising political uncertainty. The gulf in price between the UK’s short- and long-term debt – known as the yield curve – reached [...]
Banks ombudsman complaints slump after Treasury overhaul

February 5, 2026

Complaints to the banks ombudsman fell to the lowest level in two years in the last quarter of 2025 as changes from regulators and Treasury ease the caseload. Between October and December the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received 47,300 complaints – a major drop from the 68,400 lodged the year prior. It also maintains a [...]
UK construction ‘exits tailspin’ but job losses persist as housebuilding slumps

February 5, 2026

The UK’s struggling construction sector showed signs it was turning a corner at the beginning of the year even as job losses and shrinking order books persisted. The latest construction Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) from S&P Global – which serves as a headline index tracking industry activity – edged up to 46.4, up from 40.1 [...]
Secure Trust Bank sells motor finance arm after £21m hit

February 5, 2026

Specialist lender Secure Trust Bank has offloaded its motor finance arm, becoming the latest UK bank to retreat from the sector, which has been wrapped up in scandal. The bank sold its remaining vehicle finance loan book to European Alternative Investment Fund Manager LCM Partners in a move expected to increase the bank’s CET1 ratio – a [...]
Bank of England Live: Interest rates held in narrow 5-4 call

February 5, 2026

Good morning and welcome to the City AM liveblog. The Bank of England’s monetary committee has decided to hold rates in its first meet of the year. Markets – and City AM‘s own Shadow MPC – had placed their bets on a hold as the Bank continues its gradual chop to the base rate. In [...]
Payments watchdog won’t be abolished ‘any earlier than 2027’

February 4, 2026

The boss of the payments watchdog has said he doesn’t expect the regulator to be officially abolished any earlier than the first quarter of 2027 as criticism grows over the slow progress of reforms in the sector. David Geale, managing director at the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), said he had “not seen the outcome” of [...]
Barclays and Natwest set for bidding war in race to beef up wealth arms

February 4, 2026

Barclays and Natwest are set for a bidding war as the banks prepare to make their play to snap up Evelyn Partners amid the race to beef up wealth management arms. The blue-chip lenders are both gearing up to table offers of over £2bn for the London-based wealth manager. A successful takeover would help enhance [...]
Mandelson branded a ‘naive sucker’ as he tried to build career post-government

February 4, 2026

Peter Mandelson was branded “naive” and a “sucker” in new revelations from the Epstein files that shine a light on Mandelson’s efforts to build a career post-government. The Labour veteran told convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that he had sought the advice of financier Nathaniel Rothschild as he weighed up a role at advisory and investment banking [...]
LSEG, Sage, Rightmove shares fall as Anthropic AI rattles markets

February 4, 2026

Shares in global software giants tumbled again on Wednesday morning as the latest AI innovation from Anthropic rattled global markets. The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) extended Tuesday’s losses falling near two per cent in early trading to lows of 6,774.00p before clawing back some gains. Meanwhile Rightmove led the index’s fallers, with a slump [...]
Santander takes jab at City watchdog as motor finance bill balloons

February 4, 2026

Santander has took another major swipe at the City watchdog after the banking giant hiked its provisions for the motor finance scandal. As it reported full-year results, the bank said its bill for the car mis-selling saga had reached £461m, building on a previous £295m provision. It follows the bank’s UK arm missing its third-quarter [...]

Tottenham Hotspur make £121m pre-tax loss despite Europa League win

LeBron, McIlroy, Ronaldo in $575m Whoop raise at $10bn valuation

Iconic City dining spot set to relocate to new rooftop location

By: Samuel Norman

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