By: Samuel Norman

City Reporter Samuel is a City Reporter for City AM covering banking, fintech and more across the City. He is a gold-standard NCTJ qualified journalist who's previously worked at the Daily Mail and Sky News. He can be contacted at samuel.norman@cityam.com and posts at x.com/samnormanwrites.

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CAB Payments rejects ‘highly opportunistic’ Helios takeover bid

February 2, 2026

London fintech CAB Payments has pushed back against another takeover proposal from African-focused private investment giant Helios. The firm – which was behind the “worst IPO of the year” in 2023 – has said the increased takeover proposal from a consortium led by Helios Investment Partners was “highly opportunistic” and undervalued the company’s future. Helios [...]
Bank of England’s Breeden warns on rivals overtaking UK on innovation

February 2, 2026

The Bank of England’s lead for fintech policy and digital currency has laid out a sweeping vision for the UK’s next generation of payments infrastructure amid a rallying cry for the UK to not lag behind its peers. Sarah Breeden, a rate-setter at the central bank and the deputy governor for financial stability, said the [...]
UK payments stuck with ‘bolted on’ European regulation, says PSR boss

February 2, 2026

The boss of the UK’s payments regulator has said the body’s consolidation with the City watchdog will allow it to ditch overhanging red tape from Europe. David Geale, who heads up the Payments System Regulator (PSR) and leads on payments at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said: “There are bits of payments regulation that have [...]
Mandelson to Epstein: JP Morgan should ‘threaten’ UK over banker tax

February 2, 2026

Lord Peter Mandelson told Jeffrey Epstein that the boss of banking giant JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the UK Treasury over a tax on banker bonuses whilst the peer was serving as business secretary. New bombshell revelations in the latest drop of the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice showed Mandelson, who worked [...]
Fitzwalter backs off Auction Tech after hostile bidding campaign

February 2, 2026

Investment giant Fitzwalter has backed off Auction Technology Group after a hostile campaign between the two led to 13 different takeover attempts of the latter. The London-headquartered said on Monday ATG’s Board had unanimously rejected its proposed offer of 400 pence per share. The offer sat above the UK market median for similar cash transactions [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock fall as gold rout deepens

February 2, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. There’s one big event the City is looking towards this week but all signs point to zero surprises. On Thursday, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will meet for the first time this year and decide whether to take the chop to interest rates. [...]
‘Absolutely bonkers’: Labour minister hits back at Trump’s criticism of China trade

January 30, 2026

A Labour minister has hit back at comments from President Donald Trump that trading with China was “very dangerous” for the UK. Sir Chris Bryant, who has served as trade minister since September 2025, said it would be “absolutely bonkers” for the UK not to do business with China. “You have to challenge China on [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gold rally eases; Trump warns UK on China trade

January 30, 2026

Good morning and welcome to the City AM liveblog. As we round off the first month of trading, miners have dominated market activity. After becoming the FTSE 100’s top riser in 2025, gold miner Fresnillo has continued with gains in the new year, netting 20 per cent already. This is an inch below the FTSE [...]
Full map of closures: Santander axes another 44 branches putting 291 jobs at risk

January 29, 2026

Santander has made another cull to its branch network as the Spanish banking giant ploughs ahead with its digital transformation. The lender said it would close another 44 branches, which will put 291 jobs at risk of redundancy, as the bank turns its focus to its digital offer to keep at pace with its fintech [...]
Lloyds shares rally after profit boost and £1.8bn buyback

January 29, 2026

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group jumped on Thursday as the bank launched a £1.8bn share buyback after breezing past profit expectations in the 2025 financial year. The FTSE 100 banking giant recorded a 12 per cent jump to pre-tax profit in the full-year netting £6.7bn and easily surpassing the £6.4bn pencilled in by internal analysts. [...]

Bitcoin falls to lowest level as big tech sell-off intensifies

Super Bowl LX ad review: Budweiser, Pepsi and Kellogg’s put on a show

Arcadia at the Old Vic is a brilliant farewell to Tom Stoppard

By: Samuel Norman

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