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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Banks shut eight branches a week since 2016

July 10, 2025

British banks have accelerated their retreat from the high street, shutting an average of eight branches a week since 2016 in a dash to bulk up digital offerings. Nearly 3,700 sites closed between 2016 and 2024, creating 41 ‘banking deserts,’ which refer to local authorities where at least one branch shut for every 10,000 residents. [...]
Fintech leads surge in London finance hiring

July 10, 2025

Fintech helped lead roaring growth in London’s finance hiring for the second quarter of the year as demand for risk professionals surged amid a more moribund jobs market for traditional lenders. New financial services jobs vacancies rose three per cent quarter-on-quarter, according to Morgan McKinley’s London Employment Monitor while Greater London fintech hiring is expected [...]
Bank of England hits Mastercard subsidiary with £12m fine

July 9, 2025

A Mastercard-owned company has been fined almost £12m by the Bank of England after it failed to fully comply with a regulatory order to fix weaknesses in its risk management. Vocalink – which was acquired by Mastercard in 2017 – has been slapped with the £11.9m fine due to failing to meet directions from the [...]
Fintechs lobby Rachel Reeves for tax incentives to boost listings

July 9, 2025

Top British fintech firms have urged Rachel Reeves to provide incentives to list in London or risk losing them to rival markets overseas. Executives from Clearbank, Atom, Revolut and Zilch met the Chancellor on Wednesday morning ahead of the Treasury’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, in which fintech is expected to play a starring [...]
Trump tariffs: FTSE 100 holds steady as pharma and metals brace for levies

July 9, 2025

The FTSE 100 opened 22 points up this morning, despite threats of pharma and metals tariffs with stark implications for major stocks on the blue chip index. President Trump has said that an announcement is coming “very soon” on pharmaceutical tariffs – with a possible 200 per cent rate landing in “about a year”. Major [...]
WPP shares dive after sales slump

July 9, 2025

Shares in advertising giant WPP plummeted by over 13 per cent on Wednesday morning after the company said sales would take a hit in the second quarter after it lost several key accounts. The FTSE 100 firm said on Wednesday revenue for the first half was expected to decline between 4.2 and 4.5 per cent. [...]
Close Brothers to scale back lending after motor finance hit

July 9, 2025

Close Brothers is set to scale back its premium finance division in a bid to cut costs and focus on its offerings for businesses. The lender said on Wednesday it would begin to prioritise insurance products designed for businesses in its commercial lines, which the firm said offered better risk-adjusted returns and long-term growth potential. This will [...]
Labour’s Mansion House will be lift-off or letdown for banks

July 9, 2025

Britain’s banking sector will be keeping a close eye on Rachel Reeves’ Mansion House speech on July 15 in which the Chancellor will lay out Labour’s roadmap for financial services. Banks are set to take centre stage in the Treasury’s Financial Services Growth & Competitiveness Strategy as Reeves looks to harness the sector to power [...]
Abu Dhabi sovereign investor eyes $100m slice of Revolut

July 8, 2025

An investor in the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund is eying a $100m (£73m) stake in digital banking giant Revolut. State-owned global investment firm Mubadala is reportedly in advanced discussions to purchase shares in Revolut from existing investors. The deal, if completed, would add to a smaller stake the fund purchased last year as part of [...]
Rachel Reeves warned against piling on small business tax pain

July 8, 2025

As Rachel Reeves circles new avenues to boost tax receipts, the Chancellor has faced a fresh warning to ease the pain for small businesses. Businesses have called for Reeves to reverse her Autumn Budget tax hikes and ease the burden for firms as they suffer the crunch of economic uncertainty. One in five small- and [...]

Dyson will ‘stop being Dyson’ without inheritance tax U-turn

Which Gallagher Prem Rugby stadium is the best?

Best of 2025: Mass hallucinations – how I caught an AI reporter

By: Samuel Norman

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