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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Allica Bank goes ‘turbo’ on AI as profit and loan book swells

April 15, 2026

Small business lender Allica Bank has revealed a major bump to its bottom line after the bank’s loan book ballooned over the last year. The neobank – which became one of the UK’s latest fintech unicorns this year – recorded a 23 per cent rise in pre-tax profit at £36.9m, compared to £29.9 million in [...]
Standard Life snaps up Aegon UK for £2bn to create savings giant

April 15, 2026

Standard Life has snapped up the UK’s largest investment platform Aegon UK in a £2bn deal. The FTSE 100 giant – previously known as Phoenix Group – said the deal would create the UK’s top retirement savings and income business with near 16m customers and £480bn in assets under administration. Standard Life expects an annual [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery as Trump eyes Iran ‘grand bargain’; Reeves to meet Bessent

April 15, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Hopes of peace talks in the Middle East were back on the table this morning, though markets weren’t holding there breathe after weeks of bait-and-switches. Donald Trump described the war with Iran as “close to over” during an interview with Fox news. “I think it’s [...]
Clearbank deposits balloon amid growth at Revolut and Coinbase

April 15, 2026

The banking backbone behind the likes of Revolut and Coinbase has recorded a surge in deposits and revenue as client activity hit record levels Clearbank, which launched in 2017 to provide banking infrastructure and embedded services to challengers, posted a 65 per cent jump in deposits in 2025, reaching £17.8bn. The growth came as the [...]
Why Nationwide’s £7m boss was worth splashing the cash for

April 15, 2026

Nationwide splashed the cash on it’s top boss, Debbie Crosbie, in this week’s column Samuel Norman asks if they got their monies worth. Nationwide has been proclaimed Britain’s best bank. The UK’s largest building society – which is, in fact, not a bank due its status as a mutual – has been handed the crown [...]
‘Complex risks’: Jamie Dimon strikes cautious tone as JP Morgan profit beats target

April 14, 2026

JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon struck a cautious tone on Tuesday as the Wall Street bank revealed a major bump to its bottom line on the back of a boom in investment banking. The US banking giant recorded a net income of $16.5bn in the first-quarter, up 13 per cent from the same period in [...]
Barclays and Deutsche most at risk to private credit ‘profit blow’

April 14, 2026

Fears that private credit could spell trouble for the global financial system have been further amplified following a new report that forecasts losses associated with the sector could slash profits at top European banks. Banking giants Deutsche and Barclays rank among “most exposed” banks to a private credit reckoning due to their north of three [...]
Wall Street bankers’ bonuses leapfrog City in ‘less impressive’ year

April 14, 2026

Wall Street bankers have leapfrogged ahead of the City as the industry’s swelling bonus pot proved “far less impressive” than prior expectations. In the US, the average bonus scored was $154,344 (£114,00) in 2025, marking a 5.85 per cent uplift from the year prior. This also topped the industry average growth of 4.4 per cent. [...]
BP toasts to ‘exceptional’ oil trading after Iran volatility

April 14, 2026

Energy giant BP has forecast “exceptional” results in its oil trading division after a period of volatility in prices triggered by the war in the Middle East. The FTSE 100 oil major said upgraded its outlook on Tuesday, which marks a sharp recovery from the “weak” performance reported in the final quarter of 2025. The [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks uneven as Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade begins

April 14, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets were rocked yesterday by the US’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, adding a new layer of tensions to the weeks-long conflict in the Middle East. Vice-President JD Vance has accused the Iranian government of engaging in an “act of economic terrorism” through its [...]

Labour will regret the Renters’ Rights Act

NBA-EuroLeague talks at an impasse, adding uncertainty to bidding process

What’s on in London in May

By: Samuel Norman

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