Close Brothers looks to ‘accelerate’ after ‘messy’ year October 1, 2025 Close Brothers is hoping to switch gears and “accelerate” after the motor finance scandal had the bank stuck in a rut. The specialist lender’s share price has swerved between a low of 185.00 and peak of 555.00 over the last 12 months. The car misselling saga has been the driving force of stock woes, sending [...]
Access Bank chief executive snaps up £15m Hampstead mansion September 30, 2025 The boss of Nigeria’s biggest bank has snapped up a £15m mansion in one of London’s most prestigious postcodes, City PM can reveal. Roosevelt Ogbonna, who has been the chief executive of Lagos-based Access Bank since May 2022, has acquired a luxury pad on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead. The transaction for the property was [...]
Why graduates face a brutal jobs market September 26, 2025 While students flung mortar boards in the air after receiving their degrees, not everyone had cause to celebrate. Graduation was supposed to be the golden ticket to a dream career: get a good degree at a good university, and jobs at professional service firms, banks and consultancies would be there for the taking. For many [...]
UK fintechs send rallying cry as industry slips in global ranking September 25, 2025 UK fintech leaders have sent a rallying call to policymakers after the sector slipped in global rankings. A host of industry bigwigs have told City PM the government must be bolder in growth-orientated reforms to bolster the sector’s standing against rivals. It comes after Z/Yen’s 38th Global Financial Centres Index showed the UK’s fintech sector [...]
Barclays, Citi, JP Morgan bosses sound alarm on bank tax September 25, 2025 Rachel Reeves has been handed a warning by top banking chiefs to prioritise stability for the financial services industry amid speculation of looming tax hikes. The bosses of UK banking giants have cautioned the Chancellor on potential tax rises and stressed the sector must remain competitive. Barclays’ boss CS Venkatakrishnan – known as the Venkat [...]
Stalling Starling revs up Engine in rebrand September 24, 2025 Veteran of the UK fintech industry Starling has overhauled its brand with a fresh colour palette, a new slogan and even a new name. The digital lender announced last week it would drop the word “Bank” from its banking arm’s name in a move analysts have described as a “significant” step in its evolution. The [...]
Banking watchdog launches deregulation push as tax fears grow September 22, 2025 Britain’s banking watchdog has laid out plans to slash regulation across the industry in a bid to sweeten the sector’s operating environment. In fresh proposals hoping to cut the red tape on the sector, the PRA identified 37 “individual reporting templates” which have “overlapping and complex requirements” in a bid to ease the administrative cost [...]
Natwest and HSBC shares dip as bank tax chatter heats up September 22, 2025 Shares in Natwest and HSBC dipped on Monday morning as traders digested renewed chatter of a tax hike on Britain’s banking giants. Natwest tumbled as much as 1.3 per cent to 506p when markets opened, while HSBC fell 0.6 per cent to 1,022p. Barclays fell nearly 0.2 per cent to 381p. Lloyds was broadly flat [...]
UK Treasury questions OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta over AI in financial services September 18, 2025 The Treasury Committee has sent letters to six major technology firms, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, seeking detailed information about the role they play in providing AI services to the UK financial sector. The correspondence is part of the Committee’s inquiry into AI in financial services, ahead of forthcoming sessions with regulators and HM [...]
Barclays boss: UK banks are taxed too much September 12, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, Barclays’ chief executive has called on the government to curb pay rises for public sector workers and to avoid increasing taxes on banks. Speaking to the Financial Times, CS Venkatakrishnan said “we need to find a way to curb wage inflation,” and emphasised the need to curb expenditure at the [...]
