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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Financial services brace for more job cuts as clouds gather

July 7, 2025

Financial services firms are expecting a rapid increase in jobs losses over the coming months as investment plans and optimism levels sink to fresh lows. The sector’s activity fell at the fastest rate since December 2023 in the three months to June, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). This marked the first time [...]
Rachel Reeves urged to rip up ring-fencing in banking growth push

July 7, 2025

Rachel Reeves is facing renewed pressure to scrap the ring-fencing regime imposed on British banking giants in a bid to bolster the sector’s international competitiveness and bolster economic growth. The Chancellor has been lobbied by top banking chiefs to ditch the “redundant” 15-year-old legislation, which requires major banks to separate their retail banking operations from [...]
Exclusive: Lloyds and Barclays bleed millions in complaint fees

July 7, 2025

Lloyds and Barclays were among top UK banking giants paying millions to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in administrative fees in the last year. The banking industry’s ‘Big Six’ – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest, Santander and Nationwide – paid the FOS a combined £38.8m in admin fees for the year ending March 31. [...]
FTSE 100 pay revolts double as race with US rivals heats up

July 4, 2025

Shareholder rebellions against FTSE 100 executives’ bumper paydays more than doubled in the first half of 2025 as companies boosted pay in a battle to compete with US giants. Pay revolts were up 120 per cent in the first six months of the year as the likes of Melrose, British Gas-owner Centrica and Univelever faced [...]
Apollo-backed group makes £5.7bn swoop for Pension Insurance Corporation

July 4, 2025

Athora – the European insurance group backed by US private equity giant Apollo – has struck a £5.7bn takeover deal for the UK’s Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC). The acquisition will create a group with combined assets worth near £112m and covering the pensions of more than three million people across Europe. The takeover marks one [...]
British banking chiefs take a leaf from Elon Musk’s DOGE

July 4, 2025

The chiefs of the UK’s Big Four banks are taking a leaf out of the Elon Musk playbook in their strident bid to slash costs. Natwest’s Paul Thwaite, Lloyds’ Charlie Nunn, HSBC’s Georges Elhedery and Barclays’ CS Venkatkrishnan are in the midst of major cost-cutting endeavours that bear similarities to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency [...]
Why did Santander buy TSB?

July 3, 2025

Santander might have hoped its takeover of TSB would make waves across the banking industry, but analysts have dubbed it a more modest splash. The deal, which is set to be worth £2.9bn when closed in 2026, will add TSB’s five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and £35bn in deposits to Santander’s portfolio as well [...]
HSBC sells UK life insurance arm in latest European retreat

July 3, 2025

Banking juggernaut HSBC has marked its latest retreat on European operations after selling its UK life protection arm to insurance firm Chesnara. HSBC have offloaded the division for £260m, which Chesnara will fund through a combination of external resources, credit facility and a equity raise. The move comes amid Georges Elhedery‘s sweeping changes at the [...]
Currys shares soar after retailer posts growth across divisions

July 3, 2025

Electricals retailer Currys recorded a jump in cash flow as the firm out-performed competitors with growth across in-store and online sales. Currys posted profit before tax for the year ending May 3 2025 of £162m, falling in line with expectations of a 37 per cent increase pencilled in earlier this year. Net cash – the [...]
UK VC investment storms ahead of Europe as AI dominates

July 3, 2025

UK venture capital funding stormed ahead of its European peers in the first half of 2025 as the country’s innovation economy remained resilient in the face of wider geopolitical tensions. Total investment topped $8bn (£5.9bn), edging up three per cent from the final six months of 2024. This gave the UK a 30 per share [...]

Economy could suffer for eight months after Iran war ends, minister says

Italy and UK risk driving Formula 1 away with misguided tax raids

Why the Norwegian Arctic is the best place to see the Northern Lights

By: Samuel Norman

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