Close Brothers shares downgraded despite motor finance win August 18, 2025 Analysts have slapped a downgrade on Close Brothers stock despite the bank’s motor finance win last month at the Supreme Court. The FTSE 250-listed bank’s stock rating was lowered to ‘Sector Perform’, down from previous ‘Outperform’ expectations. Close Brothers shares were down over four per cent in early trading to 494.80. It comes after the [...]
Banks ombudsman fights for relevance amid Treasury crackdown August 18, 2025 The Financial Ombudsman Service is battling against a litany of obstacles as the government looks to “fundamentally” change its regulatory makeup. The organisation was rocked earlier this year by a leadership crisis following the abrupt departure of chief executive Abby Thomas in February. A Treasury Committee report, published in July, revealed Thomas had been dismissed [...]
The five fintech segments to watch August 18, 2025 Global fintech funding slumped to its worst half-year in five years in the first six months of 2025. Investment reached $44bn (£32.47bn), falling from $54.2bn the year prior, whilst the number of deals fell from 2,376 to 2,216. Weak investment in the three months to June 31 2025, hurt the headline figures, with just $18.7bn [...]
Klarna’s losses worsen as provisions jump ahead of IPO August 14, 2025 Buy now, pay later giant Klarna reported a surge in losses for the second quarter as provisions for possible bad loans climbed higher. The Swedish fintech unicorn posted a 64 per cent jump in provisions to $174m (£128m), up from $106m for the same period in 2024. This helped offset revenue growth of 20 per [...]
City watchdog sacked 12 for misconduct amid crackdown on firms August 13, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority sacked 12 workers as a result of misconduct allegations, City PM can reveal. Official figures show nearly 40 members of staff were formally disciplined by the City watchdog between 2022 and 2024 due to misconduct. A dozen of these were dismissed from their post with 10 handed a “final written warning”. [...]
Zilch hikes provisions amid ‘record year’ for customer growth August 13, 2025 UK fintech Zilch raised its provisions for losses in the last year as demand for buy now, pay later services ballooned. The London-headquartered firm raised provisions for credit losses – funds set aside to cover estimated losses from failed repayments – to £27.4m – a 116 per cent jump from £12.7m the year prior. Credit [...]
A Rachel Reeves and Andrew Bailey clash risks Britain’s stablecoin dream August 13, 2025 A Rachel Reeves and Bank of England clash risks derailing Britain’s stablecoin dream as the country plays catchup in the over £200bn market. The Chancellor referenced plans to drive forward “developments in blockchain technology including… stablecoin” in her 2025 Mansion House speech. But Reeves faces an obstacle to push her plans in the form of [...]
S&U shares jump as bank predicts profit ‘resurgence’ August 12, 2025 Shares in specialist lender S&U rallied as markets opened on Tuesday after the bank said its “resurgence in profitability” had begun to materialise. The London-listed firm’s stock was up over three per cent in early trading to 1,940. The jump came after the lender provided an upbeat trading update, anticipating building momentum for the second [...]
Motor finance: Lords sound alarm on FCA’s redress scheme August 8, 2025 The House of Lords’ Financial Services Regulation Committee has sounded the alarm on “market uncertainty” around the UK financial watchdog’s upcoming motor finance redress scheme. In a letter addressed to the Financial Conduct Authority’s chief executive Nikhil Rathi, the committee “considers it of importance” to receive further insight into the forthcoming scheme. The City watchdog [...]
FOS complaints tumbled ahead of motor finance ruling August 7, 2025 Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) fell to their lowest in more than a year ahead of the motor finance ruling. The FOS received 68,000 new cases in April to June, down from 74,600 complaints in the same period of 2024. Motor finance complaints remained the highest grievance but dropped to 21,500 cases from [...]
