Investors ‘reluctant’ to splash cash on UK banks amid crisis in Number 10 Banking UK banks’ stock prices are being slapped with a political risk premium, City analysts have warned, as turmoil in Downing Street threatens to rock the sector. The FTSE 350 bank index has had a choppy start to the year with financial stocks facing a hammering from the Iran war as investors trimmed their equities exposure. [...]
Lloyds taps $160bn fintech giant to boost small business tech Banking Lloyds Bank has sealed a partnership with a $160bn (£119bn) fintech giant to ramp up its payments tech for small-business clients. The blue-chip banking giant has agreed a tie-up with Stripe that will see Lloyds leverage the fintech’s payment infrastructure to provide a suite of tools for its small-business customers. The new offering, named Lloyds Accept, [...]
‘Why single out banks?’: Santander chief hits out at UK tax regime Banking The boss of Santander has branded the UK’s tax regime on banks as making “no economic sense” as speculation mounts that the industry could be turned to for a quick cash grab if the Labour government lurches to the left. Ana Botín, the chief executive of the Spanish banking giant, has said the UK tax [...]
Lloyds Bank and Halifax customers hit with app outage June 3, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group has been rocked with another outage as thousands of customers report issues with their online services. The financial services giant was flagged with a spike on the online outage tracker Downdetector at around 11:15am on Wednesday as users reported issues. Across the group – which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland [...]
Curve swings to £9m loss as Lloyds takeover remains incomplete May 20, 2026 Curve has swung to a loss as the Apple Pay rival’s future faces uncertainty ahead of its takeover by Lloyds Banking Group. The digital wallet provider suffered a £9.5m loss in the 2024 financial year, a major drawback from its £3m profit the 12 months prior. The tide turned on Curve’s balance sheet as revenue [...]
Rachel Reeves reforms ring-fencing in boost to Natwest and Lloyds May 18, 2026 Rachel Reeves has handed a major boost to the likes of Natwest and Lloyds with an overhaul of the ring-fencing regime in hopes to free up capital to be invested into the UK. The Treasury has unveiled a shakeup of the 15-year-old legislation, which requires major banks to separate their retail banking operations from their [...]
Reeves to overhaul ring-fencing regime in a bid to boost the UK economy May 16, 2026 The Treasury is set to unveil a sweeping overhaul of the ring-fencing regime next week, in a bid to protect depositors at the UK’s biggest retail banks, as ministers scramble to boost economic growth. According to reports in Sky News, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has signed off plans aimed at unlocking billions of pounds of additional [...]
Motor finance compensation scheme hanging by a thread amid legal row May 8, 2026 The City watchdog has told lenders to prepare for the “alternative scenario of no scheme” in the long-running motor finance scandal as another legal showdown brews. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has received four legal challenges including from lenders Volkswagen Financial Services, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and Crédit Agricole Auto Finance. On the consumer side, the [...]
FTSE 100 banks are facing £2.5bn of headwinds – HSBC and Barclays are in the firing line May 6, 2026 The FTSE 100’s Big Five banks toasted a healthy profit stash in the first-quarter, but, says Samuel Norman, storm clouds are gathering on the horizon for the sector. The London market’s five biggest banks swallowed a bitter cocktail of economic risks in the first three months of the year leaving a bumper cash haul overshadowed [...]
Santander to axe TSB from British high street ending 215 year run May 6, 2026 Santander plans to erase the TSB brand from Britain’s high streets after more than two centuries, just one week after completing its takeover over the UK lender. The Spanish bank is gearing up to drop the brand and run the combined business as Santander UK, once the integration of the two businesses is complete, according [...]