FTSE 100 Live: Stocks drop as oil holds firm over $110; UK growth slashed April 29, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. Oil prices are holding firm tipping over the $110 mark, bringing the cost of a barrel closer to the highs of $118 it peaked at earlier in the Iran war. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – advanced another one per cent on [...]
AI could trigger a PPI level scandal in ‘two weeks’ April 29, 2026 A multi-billion pound scandal like PPI could happen within just “two weeks” as UK finance firms plough ahead with deploying AI despite uncertainty around governance standards, a fresh report has claimed. The UK’s financial services sector faces a “capability gap” when deploying AI, according to a report from regulatory compliance firm Zango. The research pulled [...]
Banking on a storm: Natwest weathers first of AGM climate rows April 29, 2026 Natwest faced a prickly time in its Edinburgh AGM and in this week’s column Samuel Norman looks at whether fun and games could be in store for its peers. Also on the agenda this week – Revolut heads for some Spanish sun. Natwest chair Rick Haythornthwaite suffered a thorny reception on Tuesday at the bank’s [...]
Lloyds hit with highest FCA complaints as finance firms fork out £240m April 28, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group led the pack as the most complained about financial services group in the second half of 2025 as the industry forked out a near-quarter of a billion pounds to dissatisfied customers. Across its subsidiaries, the FTSE 100 giant was hit with a storm of 187,516 grievances to the UK’s financial watchdog in [...]
Natwest forced to pause AGM after climate protest April 28, 2026 Natwest was forced to pause its annual general meeting on Tuesday following a disruption from climate protesters. The FTSE 100 giant’s chairman Rick Haythornthwaite adjourned the meeting – taking place at Natwest’s Gogarburn headquarters in Scotland – after protesters disrupted his address to shareholders. Campaigners had been calling for a protest vote against Haythornthwaite in [...]
JP Morgan shifts Paris jobs back to London in Brexit shake-up April 28, 2026 JP Morgan is relocating a number of roles at its Paris hub to London in a rethink of policies introduced in the wake of Brexit. The Wall Street titan is shifting a handful of trading roles to London after over-estimating the number of EU-based staff it would need to meet post-Brexit rules. Along with EU [...]
Barclays takes shot at tax speculation as UK growth forecast cut April 28, 2026 Barclays has taken a shot at the wave of tax speculation surrounding the industry as the bank trimmed its growth output for the year ahead. Fears the banking sector might be targeted for a cash grab have gathered pace following the war in Iran, amid concerns over mounting cost pressures. The Middle East conflict is [...]
Barclays shares slide as sour loan provisions balloon to £823m April 28, 2026 Barclays made a mammoth reservation for bad loans in the first quarter led by the hostilities in the global market and a single name charge in its investment banking division. The blue-chip lender set aside £823m for potential loan losses, up from £643m in the same period last year, in a stark sign the firm [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks dip as oil edges higher; BP posts profit boom April 28, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. Oil returned to a three-week high comfortably over the $105 mark on Monday and those gains look set to continue today. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – edged over $110 on Tuesday morning as it once again appeared peace talks in [...]
Motor finance lenders warned of ‘gridlock’ as £9bn scandal clogs rearview April 27, 2026 The UK’s top banks are gearing up to put the long-running motor finance scandal in the rearview mirror but warning lights on the dashboard suggest they may still face “gridlock” on the multi-billion pound saga. FTSE 250 lender Vanquis became the latest on Monday to confirm it would not lodge a legal challenge against the [...]