By: Samuel Norman

Senior City Reporter Samuel is a Senior City Reporter covering all the top financial institutions from retail banks to fintechs as well as stories on capital markets and economics. He has broken stories on some of the biggest names in the City and regularly writes in-depth analysis pieces on companies and industry trends. Samuel also leads on City AM's morning liveblog from 7am everyday. He writes a weekly column found in print and online on Wednesdays. He can be contacted at samuel.norman@cityam.com and posts on LinkedIn and X at x.com/samnormanwrites.

All 1799 Articles

HSBC shares rise as Georges Elhedery’s pivot East beats the noise

October 28, 2025

HSBC’s pass through the third quarter was almost identical to the second. Despite another hefty hit to the firm’s bottom line, chief executive Georges Elhedery has quietly and effectively pushed ahead with his bold overhaul of the group. For the three months to September 30, HSBC took a 14 per cent profit beat falling to [...]
Barclays snaps up US personal loans fintech for $800m

October 28, 2025

Barclays is set to take control of a US personal loans fintech in a deal that the lending giant hopes will beef up its loans package for its investment bank clients. The FTSE 100 bank said it would use consumer loan platform Best Egg as an “origination engine” after snapping the firm up for $800m [...]
Rachel Reeves set for £20bn OBR productivity downgrade

October 28, 2025

Rachel Reeves’ ballooning fiscal black hole is set to deepen as the fiscal watchdog hands the Chancellor its final productivity forecast on Friday. The Treasury is already battling to contain public finances after a U-turn on welfare reforms ruined hopes of £5bn in savings, and a £190bn spending splurge on government departments helped erode the Chancellor’s wafer-thin [...]
HSBC: FTSE 100 lender’s profit slumps as legal costs jump

October 28, 2025

Europe’s biggest lender, HSBC reported better-than-expected revenue in the third quarter, but recorded a double digit decline in profit as it set aside over a billion dollars following a fresh ruling on the Bernie Madoff fraud scheme. HSBC’s pre-tax profit fell to $7.3bn (£5.4bn) in the three months to September 30, a fall of nearly [...]
FTSE 100 live: HSBC takes profit hit, fresh food inflation rises

October 28, 2025

Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. It may have been more than 15 years since he was convicted and four years since he died, but legendary fraudster Bernie Madoff is still making headlines. Yesterday it was the turn of British banking giant HSBC to unveil the scale of its exposure to business connected [...]
Reeves’ National Wealth Fund faces ‘very challenging’ growth goal

October 28, 2025

Rachel Reeves faces an uphill battle as she looks to use her National Wealth Fund to ramp up the government’s economic growth mission, top MPs have warned. The Chancellor has touted the new unit as a growth-focused initiative that would unlock over £70bn in private investment. But in a new Treasury Select Committee report, the group’s [...]
City watchdog accused of ‘massive overreach’ in motor finance clampdown

October 28, 2025

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been accused of a “massive overreach” following letters sent to law firms and claims management companies (CMCs) requesting batches of information under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers law. The FCA sent letters in August, seen by City AM, requesting information on the law firms’ motor finance services, [...]
Labour’s payments regulation overhaul more ‘reshuffle than reform’

October 28, 2025

The Labour government’s plan for a payments system revolution has fallen flat, a top trade body has warned, despite the Treasury’s promise of an “ambitious rethink” of regulatory structure. Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her National Payments Vision (NPV) in her 2024 Mansion House address where she said the plan would include “decisive action to progress [...]
FTSE 100 giant Natwest shares surge to 15-year high

October 27, 2025

Natwest shares rallied to a 15-year high on Monday morning after the lending giant’s post-results stock boom continued into the new week. The FTSE 100 titan’s shares were up over one per cent in early trading to 578.60p. It follows the group netting £2.2bn in operating profit before tax for the third quarter – a [...]
HSBC makes $1.1bn provision after Madoff fraud ruling

October 27, 2025

FTSE 100 banking giant HSBC has set aside just over a billion dollars following the resolution of an investment fraud case in Luxembourg. HSBC faced a lawsuit from Cayman Islands-based ‘feeder fund’ Herald Fund SPC in 2009, which accused the bank of claiming restitution of securities and cash that it said was lost in the [...]

Investors turn away from equity funds as UK continues to suffer outflows

Ice Hockey World Championships sponsor threatens to pull out over Russia

Andy Burnham says stockpile beans and tuna: Here’s the wine to pair with that

By: Samuel Norman

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