Santander: Ex-Treasury chief civil servant could be new bank chairman April 5, 2025 Former Treasury permanent secretary Sir Tom Scholar who was sacked by Liz Truss could become the new chairman of Santander UK, according to a report. Sir Tom, who helped devise the Covid-19 furlough job protection scheme, is the preferred candidate for chairmanship of Britain’s fifth-biggest high street bank, Sky News is reporting. He could be [...]
Motor finance: Lloyds, Close Brothers and Santander brace for ‘shockwaves’ March 31, 2025 Judgement day nears for some of the UK’s biggest lenders as the motor finance scandal heads to the country’s highest court this week. The Supreme Court will decide whether to uphold the Court of Appeal’s October ruling that it was unlawful for banks to pay a commission to a car dealer without the customer’s informed [...]
Santander becomes first major lender to loosen mortgage rules March 28, 2025 Santander has become the first major UK lender to relax its mortgage rules following a nudge from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Homebuyers could be able to borrow an extra £35,000 on a mortgage under the changed rules. The UK’s fourth-largest mortgage lender will reduce rates on borrower’s stress tests, which are used to check [...]
Santander to shut 95 branches – putting 750 jobs at risk March 19, 2025 Santander announced a flurry of branch closures on Wednesday, which will place up to 750 employees at risk of redundancy. The bank, which is one of the UK’s most prominent mortgage lenders, will close 95 of its 444 branches as part of a structural overhaul that will begin in June 2025. Its updated branches network [...]
Barclays puts aside £90m for motor finance scandal February 13, 2025 Barclays announced in its annual results it had set aside £90m to cover potential motor finance payouts, amidst ongoing disputes over the misconduct row. This follows the landmark Court of Appeal’s October 2024 judgment, ruling in favour of three consumers and determining that lenders were liable for paying undisclosed commission to car dealers who acted [...]
Lloyds partners with ‘Duolingo of money’ to target Gen Z February 10, 2025 Lloyds Bank has partnered with fintech platform Doshi to improve young people’s financial literacy through “gamified learning”. The Big Four bank is launching a six month pilot, targeting 18 to 24 year-olds to make financial education “fun and accessible”. Doshi’s founder Daniel Rose told CityAM high street banks do not have “much time left” [...]
Santander announces new buyback as profit jumps February 5, 2025 Spanish banking giant Santander has today reported a bumper set of numbers for 2024 thanks to higher income from its retail banking business and lower costs. For the year, the group reported a profit of €12.5bn (£10.4bn), up 14 per cent and revenue growth of eight per cent to €62.2bn. The group’s return on tangible [...]
Crafter’s Companion: Huge debts revealed at firm rescued by Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies January 23, 2025 Crafter’s Companion, the company started by Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies while at university, owed almost £20m when it collapsed into administration earlier this month before being rescued, it has been revealed. The company appointed Interpath to oversee the process on 7 January in a move which has led to its Barlborough store closing and [...]
Mark Kleinman: Kicking the Abbey habit may be harder than it looks for Botin January 23, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly CityAM column. This week, he looks at Santander shifts, a tale of two cities in banking and a canary in the Poundland coalmine Kicking the Abbey habit may be harder than it looks for Botin Is this the [...]
London’s flexible office workers shift to four days a week December 16, 2024 Workers in London’s flexible office space have increased the number of days at their desk, despite sentiment that Londoners were unlikely to return to pre-covid working patterns. Three quarters of workers in flexible offices now use the working space at least four days a week, according to fresh data from Knight Frank. This comes amid [...]