First-time buyer demand for furniture and the ‘lipstick effect’ boost June sales July 15, 2025 Demand for furniture and beauty goods caused retail sales to rise in June, boosted by good weather and slowly-recovering consumer confidence. Sales in the UK rose 3.1 per cent year on year in June, against a decline of 0.2 per cent in June 2024, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). “Retailers will [...]
Exclusive: Panmure Liberum to ‘reinvigorate’ City market with banking tie-up July 15, 2025 Investment bank Panmure Liberum has joined forces with Nedbank in a push to expand their reach across equity capital markets and drive dual-listings across the UK and South Africa. London-headquartered Panmure will collaborate with Nedbank’s corporate and investment banking division to produce equity research across UK and South African markets. The deal aims to provide [...]
High inflation ‘not sufficient’ to scupper Bank of England interest rate cuts July 14, 2025 June inflation data showing a 3.4 per cent year-on-year rise in prices would not put Bank of England officials off voting for an interest rate cut in August, leading economists have said. A Bloomberg poll of City analysts has predicted that inflation will remain above the Bank’s two per cent target as price growth is [...]
Which UK banks are next in line for a takeover? July 11, 2025 As the next wave of banking consolidation kicks off, specialist lenders are in the fray to be swallowed up. The industry has seen a flood of mergers and acquisitions in recent years, of which the latest was a landmark tie-up between Santander and TSB Bank. Santander snapped up 12-year old British high street lender TSB [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]