Financial services firms dealt tens of millions in regulatory fines July 17, 2025 While deregulation may be the political mood, UK watchdogs are sharpening their swords as banking giants bleed millions in regulatory fines. In under just ten days, the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England handed out £74.9m worth of fines to a trio of UK financial services firms. Leading the pack, and most recently, was [...]
Mark Kleinman: Radical Post Office reform has mutual interest July 17, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column Radical Post Office reform has mutual interest Talk about a pregnant pause: it’s nine months since I reported that ministers had asked the consulting firm BCG to explore options for transferring the Post Office into mutual [...]
FCA boss sounds alarm on financial warfare and debt levels July 16, 2025 Rising sovereign debt and the growing risk of an attack on Britain’s financial infrastructure are the two biggest threats to UK markets, the boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned, as he issued a clarion call for more data on the trading of government bonds. Nikhil Rathi told peers that the danger to [...]
Wall Street banking giants ride tariff rebound to booming revenue July 16, 2025 Wall Street’s banking titans have rounded off second-quarter earnings seasons largely breezing past analyst expectations as revenues boomed on the back of market volatility. The lenders continued a trend from the first-quarter with strong trading and investment banking revenues driving a robust performance. JP Morgan pocketed $45.7bn in revenue, outperforming its $44bn estimate. This came [...]
FTSE 100 giant ICG bulks up as demand for alternatives grows July 16, 2025 Global alternative asset manager Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) experienced a strong first quarter of its 2025 financial year, as investor appetite for private equity-style returns continued to grow. The London-listed firm raised $3.4bn (£2.5bn) in the three months to June 30. This was led by ICG’s Europe IX fund, which targets mid-caps across the region, [...]
Reeves seeks to spark retail investor revolution July 15, 2025 High street banks Barclays and Lloyds will lead an advertising campaign to encourage more Brits into retail investing as part of a wider effort to get savers to boost the UK economy. In rallying calls to financial services, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled a campaign to encourage savers to invest in stocks and bonds, drawing [...]
Is it high time to buy in super-prime London? July 15, 2025 London’s super-prime market has been suffering from a glut of supply in the wake of damaging decision-making from successive governments. Ali Lyon asks, is the tide beginning to turn? To take a walk down Mayfair’s historic Upper Grosvenor Street is to be confronted by a quiet, but dramatic, changing-of-the-guard afoot in one of London’s most [...]
Meta’s Llama: the strategic play behind the promise to democratise AI July 15, 2025 Meta has long promised to democratise AI, with Mark Zuckerberg frequently doubling down on his vision to make it “open and accessible” so that “everyone in the world benefits”. Yet instead, it’s been executing one of the most strategic power plays in Silicon Valley – wrapping its race for AI supremacy in the language of [...]
Andrew Bailey cautions banks against issuing their own stablecoins July 14, 2025 The governor of the Bank of England has cautioned against banks issuing their own stablecoins in marked contrast to a more bullish attitude to the technology in the US. Andrew Bailey said the moves by banks to launch their own stablecoins, a kind of cryptocurrency backed by assets such as the dollar, did not offer [...]
Experience the Roman Empire in Bulgaria for history to rival Italy – just without the crowds July 13, 2025 What have the Romans ever done for us?” quipped my partner, Ed, as we stood on the main street of Nicopolis ad Istrum, formerly a Roman town in Bulgaria that is now a glorious assemblage of ruins. “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water [...]