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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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. [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock rally; Pound holds onto gains

January 29, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Is President Donald Trump trying to devalue the dollar? That’s the question many in the City and across global markets were asking yesterday after Trump referred to the dollar dropping 1.3 per cent against a basket of currencies as “great”. The President’s triggered another 0.2 [...]
Nationwide reigns supreme in bank switch war as Santander falters

January 29, 2026

Nationwide maintained its top spot in the tussle for current account switchers in the third quarter of 2025 as the mutual sweetened its offer for new joiners. The building society – which was slapped with a £44m fine in December for failing to flag Covid fraud – secured a net gain of 41,450 switchers after [...]
Dollar slides as ‘loss of confidence’ in US policy spikes debasement fears

January 28, 2026

The US dollar had its worst day since President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff onslaught on Tuesday as investors dumped their exposure to the greenback. The DXY index – which tracks the dollar against a basket of other currencies – has slumped over two per cent since the beginning of the year. Amidst the dollar [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Pound at 2021 high as Trump shrugs at dollar woes

January 28, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Has the mining sector’s rally finally run out of steam? It appeared so on Tuesday, where City banks helped lift the FTSE 100 out of the red as miners across the board sank despite the ever-increasing price of precious metals. Fresnillo – the best performing [...]
Public finance bodies need more clarity, says boss of Reeves’ wealth fund

January 28, 2026

The boss of Rachel Reeves’ flagship wealth fund has admitted British entrepreneurs want more clarity across public finance bodies as concerns rise over the growing number of institutions. Former RBS boss Oliver Holbourn, who the Chancellor appointed last July to lead the National Wealth Fund (NWF), said “people want more confidence in who they’re going [...]
Optimism picking up after ‘disruptive’ Budget, says Paragon chief

January 27, 2026

Optimism in the UK is beginning to pick up, the boss of FTSE 250 lender Paragon has said, after sentiment was dampened by rampant tax speculation in the second half of 2025. Nigel Terrington, the boss of Paragon bank, told City AM that despite it being the early days of 2026, the mood was beginning [...]
HSBC seals $300bn price tag as FTSE 100 banks rally

January 27, 2026

Shares in Britain’s banking giants were helping lift the FTSE 100 out of the red this morning as blue-chip lenders rallied ahead of earnings season. HSBC topped the index’s risers with a gain of nearly three per cent to 1,278.20 – an all-time high for Europe’s largest lender. The rally came after Citigroup raised the [...]
Starmer caps ground rents after fears of Rayner-led rebellion

January 27, 2026

Sir Keir Starmer has introduced a cap on ground rents following fears of an MP rebellion led by the former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. The Prime Minister announced the new move – which will cap ground rents at £250 a year for leaseholders in England and Wales – on TikTok, saying it will “make [...]

Havas keeps quiet on whether Ian Osborne will stay on board after Epstein files

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

Super Bowl 2026: Where to watch in London this weekend

By: Samuel Norman

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