HSBC profit drops after Iran war and private credit charges bite Banking HSBC missed its profit target in the first quarter of the year after the blue-chip lender booked a mammoth credit charge. The FTSE 100 giant – which boasts a huge £230bn market cap – recorded a pre-tax profit of $9.4bn (£6.5bn), missing the $9.6bn pencilled in by analysts. This figure is also down $100m on [...]
Motor finance trade body gears up for legal challenge to £9bn redress Banking The motor finance industry’s trade body is mulling lodging a legal battle against the UK financial watchdog‘s £9bn redress scheme. The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), which counts Santander and the financial arms of BMW and Volkswagen among its members, is reported to be leaning towards challenging the City regulator’s scheme. Members of the body [...]
Wall Street bankers’ bonuses leapfrog City in ‘less impressive’ year Banking Wall Street bankers have leapfrogged ahead of the City as the industry’s swelling bonus pot proved “far less impressive” than prior expectations. In the US, the average bonus scored was $154,344 (£114,00) in 2025, marking a 5.85 per cent uplift from the year prior. This also topped the industry average growth of 4.4 per cent. [...]
For FSCS sake: Meet the body that protects Britain’s savers in a financial crisis March 30, 2026 As echoes of 2008 percolate through the banking system, the body that serves to protect Britain in a financial crisis says it’s ready to weather any storm. A combination of fears around private credit, the “stretched” value of artificial intelligence firms and more recently, concerns around a global energy shock, have made top bankers sound [...]
‘I see people doing dumb things’: Jamie Dimon warns of crisis-style AI reckoning February 24, 2026 The world’s most influential banker has drawn parallels to the time before the global financial crisis amid inflated asset prices and peers doing “dumb things”. Jamie Dimon, the top boss of Wall Street behemoth JP Morgan, said: “Unfortunately we did see this in ‘05, ‘06, ‘07, almost the same thing. “The rising tide lifts all [...]
Pay for Natwest’s top boss balloons to £6.6m as bonuses soar February 13, 2026 The boss of Natwest has defended a bumper rise to his pay packet in the last financial year as the bank dished out the cash on employee bonuses. The group’s chief Paul Thwaite pocketed a £6.6m package, an increase of 33 per cent from £4.9m in 2024. “I recognize that senior roles in financial services [...]
Natwest hikes dividend after profit hits post-financial crisis high February 13, 2026 Natwest laid out plans to splash the cash to shareholders in its full-year earnings report on Friday as the bank’s profit reached its highest since the 2008 financial crisis. The FTSE 100 banking giant – which returned to private ownership in the last year – recorded pre-tax profit of £7.7bn in 2025 financial year, up [...]
Mandelson to Epstein: JP Morgan should ‘threaten’ UK over banker tax February 2, 2026 Lord Peter Mandelson told Jeffrey Epstein that the boss of banking giant JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the UK Treasury over a tax on banker bonuses whilst the peer was serving as business secretary. New bombshell revelations in the latest drop of the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice showed Mandelson, who worked [...]
Public finance bodies need more clarity, says boss of Reeves’ wealth fund January 28, 2026 The boss of Rachel Reeves’ flagship wealth fund has admitted British entrepreneurs want more clarity across public finance bodies as concerns rise over the growing number of institutions. Former RBS boss Oliver Holbourn, who the Chancellor appointed last July to lead the National Wealth Fund (NWF), said “people want more confidence in who they’re going [...]
UK financial system exposed to ‘serious harm’ from AI risks January 20, 2026 The Treasury, the financial watchdog and the Bank of England have been handed a stiff warning that the nation’s financial system is not adequately prepared for an AI shock. A group of influential MPs sat on the Treasury Select Committee took aim at the institutions for “not doing enough to manage the risks presented by [...]