Regulators show their teeth – financial services fines in 2025 Regulation UK watchdogs sharpened their sword in 2025 and slapped a handful of financial services firms with hefty fines and a thorough dressing down. In just under a week alone in July, the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England handed out £74.9m worth of fines to a trio of financial services giants. But it was [...]
FCA: Motor finance lenders ‘very focused’ on negatives of redress Banking The boss of the UK’s financial watchdog has taken a swipe at motor finance lenders that are begrudged with the regulator’s redress scheme, stating they are “very focused” on the negatives. In a session with the Treasury Select Committee, Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) opened the door to changing the [...]
Nationwide hit with fine after failing to flag Covid furlough fraud Banking Nationwide had been slapped with a £44m fine by the City watchdog for failures in its financial crime controls. The building society giant has been blasted by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for missing opportunities to identify fraudulent Covid furlough payments. The FCA said one customer received 24 payments, totalling north of £27m, over 13 [...]
Budget chaos takes toll on October growth as ‘prospects remain poor’ December 9, 2025 The UK economy is expected to have grown by just 0.1 per cent in October as firms grappled with Budget speculation and uncertainty, analysts have said. A Bloomberg poll of City economists predicted the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will pencil in next to no growth for the month. The expected slowdown is set to [...]
How Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC fired up the FTSE 100 in 2025 December 9, 2025 If 2025 was supposed to be the year of the AI bubble, nobody told Britain’s banking giants. Amidst the noise of the US tech boom, the UK’s FTSE 100 banking heavyweights, Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC, have staged a formidable, if understated, rally. Lloyds delivered an astonishing 75.8 per cent gain, while Barclays surged 65 [...]
Strap a rocket to UK banks or watch the City drift, shadow chancellor warns December 4, 2025 Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has called for a tearing down of burdensome City regulation to power up the financial services sector and avoid it losing status. The Tory MP said the pendulum has swung “too far in favour of trying to iron… [and] squeeze risk out of the system”. Stride called for a “bonfire of [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Budget to send borrowing costs soaring; New AIM IPO December 4, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Sir Keir Starmer has asked the British public to judge his premiership on the government’s ability to “make people feel better off”. Well, in the capital the Prime Minister shouldn’t be expecting a warm reception from young Brits, who are feeling the pinch of the [...]
City watchdog to lift motor finance complaints pause earlier than expected December 3, 2025 The City watchdog has lifted the cap on motor finance complaints following the landmark ruling from the Supreme Court over the summer. The Financial Conduct Authority said it would ditch the pause on complaints from 31 May 2026 – two months ahead of plan. In a letter sent to banking bosses, the FCA has also [...]
Barclays boss: Revolut ‘laid gauntlet down’ with $75bn price tag December 2, 2025 The boss of Barclays has said traditional lenders could “learn” from the growing success of their challenger rivals after Revolut surpassed its valuation. CS Venkatkrishnan – known as Venkat – said fintech banks have “laid the gauntlet down,” when asked about Revolut’s new $75bn (£57bn) price tag. The latest milestone from the fintech juggernaut, which [...]
Banks gear up for boost with loosening of capital rules December 1, 2025 UK banks are gearing up to supercharge the government’s growth agenda with reforms to lenders’ capital requirements set to unlock billions of free cash. The Bank of England is set to take the chop to rules around capital requirements, as part of a “fresh up” of rules in a six-month review to be published on [...]