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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S&U shares slump after motor finance drags profits down

April 15, 2025

Shares in specialist lender S&U dropped nearly two per cent on Tuesday after annual profits tumbled due to challenges from the motor finance scandal. Pre-tax profit for the financial year ending January 31 2025 fell to £24m, compared to £33.6m in the previous period. Impairment charges rose to £35.6m for the group, reflecting a near [...]
Income at UK fintech Wise jumps as payment volumes soar

April 15, 2025

Money transfer firm Wise posted an increase to fourth quarter income driven by growth in international payments. The fintech, which enables digital payments for consumers and businesses, booked an underlying income of £350m for the fourth quarter. This was a 13 per cent increase from the previous quarter. Cross-border volumes soared 28 per cent to [...]
Goldman Sachs: Profit jumps after record quarter for traders

April 14, 2025

Goldman Sachs posted a 15 per cent jump in first-quarter profit. The Wall Street giant’s revenue was boosted by record equities trading amid market volatility. The bank’s first-quarter net revenue was $15.06 bn (£11.4bn), surpassing the analyst consensus of $14.8bn (£11.2bn). Net earnings were $4.74bn (£3.6bn). Equity-trading revenue rose 27 per cent from the previous [...]
UK surges ahead of France and Germany as Europe’s ‘innovation powerhouse’

April 14, 2025

HSBC Innovation Banking, a subsidiary of Europe’s biggest lender, hailed the UK’s enterprise value in its latest innovation report. UK innovation firms raised £3.2bn of venture capital in the first three months of the year – an eight per cent increase from the first quarter of 2024. The quarter attracted higher amounts of funding, with [...]
Financial Conduct Authority: Lenders ‘unclear’ on bereavement policy

April 14, 2025

Lenders “can improve” their treatment of bereaved customers, the Financial Conduct Authority has said. The City watchdog has published a framework outlining good and poor practice to help firms “provide the right support” to consumers who are facing difficult times. The FCA said the introduction of the Consumer Duty in July 2023 has helped provide [...]
Finance bosses predict sharpest hiring drop since 2020 after tariff uncertainty

April 14, 2025

Finance bosses expect the sharpest decline in corporate hiring since the third quarter of 2020 as geopolitical risks escalate. A fresh report from Deloitte has showed signs of a waning job market with wage growth expect to slow from 3.6 per cent to three per cent. A net 14 per cent of chief financial officers [...]
WPP: FTSE 100 giant offers free-lunch Friday to get staff into office

April 13, 2025

The FTSE 100 advertising agency WPP has began offering free lunches to lure employees back into the office on Fridays. From April, WPP’s team of 108,000 people is expected to be in the office at least four days a week. The new rules require employees to work in the office at least two Fridays a [...]
Tariffs to take focus as HSBC and Barclays kick off FTSE 100 bank results

April 10, 2025

First-quarter results season is around the corner for the UK’s major banks, with HSBC and Barclays set to report at the end of the month. Whilst President Donald Trump launched his tariff onslaught at the beginning of April – narrowly missing the first reporting period of the year – lenders are expected to factor the [...]
EU pauses counter-tariffs after Trump backs down

April 10, 2025

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said the European Union will pause their reciprocal tariffs against the US, but warned it will hit back if trade negotiations fail. In a post on X, von der Leyen said: “We want to give negotiations a chance… “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures [...]
Barclays shares explode higher as FTSE 100 rebounds

April 10, 2025

Shares in FTSE 100 giant Barclays rocketed in early trading after Trump rolled back his ‘Liberation Day’ levies. The bank’s stock shot up over 20 per cent as markets opened, before falling back to a 15 per cent gain. The firm topped the blue-chip index’s risers. The gains helped reverse the lender’s losses in the [...]

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Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival to drive millions into Scotch sector

By: Samuel Norman

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