By: Samuel Norman

Senior City Reporter Samuel is a Senior City Reporter covering banking and fintech as well as stories on capital markets and economics. He also leads on CityAM's morning liveblog from 7am everyday. He has previously written for the Daily Mail and The i Paper and worked for Sky News as an election stringer. He enjoys writing in-depth analysis of major blue-chip firms and start-ups and also industry trends. He can be contacted at [email protected] and posts on LinkedIn and X at x.com/samnormanwrites.

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Zopa doubles office footprint in move to Canary Wharf

February 25, 2025

Fintech unicorn Zopa is set to double its office footprint with plans to relocate to a new headquarters in Canary Wharf. The new office, located at 20 Water Street in Canary Wharf, will span 44,000 square feet and host Zopa’s 900 current employees. The British digital bank, which was founded in 2020, said the move [...]
Lloyds Bank analyst ‘favourite’ after annual results

February 25, 2025

Analysts have slapped a ‘Buy’ rating on Barclays, Natwest and Lloyds shares following annual results, but said the latter was the “favourite” of the pack. The three UK giants all posted annual results this month, with Barclays and Natwest meeting profit estimates and Lloyds taking a hit. Jonathan Pierce and Priya Rathod, analysts at Jefferies, [...]
Analysts slap 359p price target on Barclays shares after results

February 25, 2025

Analysts have reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating on Barclays shares after the lender beat expectations when it reported results earlier this month. The FTSE 100 lender booked a profit before tax of £8.1bn in 2024, ahead of the £8.07bn estimated. “We believe strong capital generation should support a higher valuation and plans to return more than [...]
HSBC Innovation Banking bets £30m on fintech Clearscore

February 25, 2025

HSBC Innovation Banking has backed global fintech Clearscore lending £30m in debt financing. After first partnering in 2017, the fintech said the continued support of the bank will help drive further business growth across domestic and international markets. Clearscore credited the lender for its “vital role in its global expansion” with the financial marketplace now [...]
Chemring shares jump after Bain Capital makes bid

February 24, 2025

Bain Capital, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, has reportedly launched a takeover bid for defence group Chemring. Sky News’ Mark Kleinman first reported that Bain has made at least one proposal to acquire the FTSE 250 group, which is used by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Shares in Chemring jumped as much as 13 [...]
Monument Bank looks to the US for possible IPO

February 24, 2025

Monument Bank, one of the UK’s fastest-growing challenger banks, has reportedly told investors it wants to go public in the US before 2027 – marking another blow for the London market. The bank is in talks to raise £200m in private funding before pursuing a flotation on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, as reported by Sky [...]
Motor finance: Bank of Ireland sets aside £143m provision

February 24, 2025

Bank of Ireland joined the UK’s biggest lenders in setting aside a lump sump for potential motor finance payouts as it posted its annual results. The bank recorded a pre-tax profit of €1.86bn (£1.5bn) for 2024, which was four per cent down on the €1.94bn (£1.6bn) reported in 2023. The bank set aside €172m (£143m) [...]
Natwest Boxed launches savings account with The AA

February 24, 2025

Natwest’s financial services platform Natwest Boxed has partnered with The AA to launch an instant savings account. Boxed, which comes from a joint venture between the FTSE 100 lender and European fintech Vodeno, will leverage its embedded finance products for AA customers starting from March 2025. The new savings account will be FSCS-protected and customers [...]
International earnings set to outpace domestic in growing companies

February 24, 2025

The world’s fastest-growing companies’ international earnings are set to eclipse domestic revenue by 2030, according to new research from HSBC. A survey of 1,143 global senior decision makers, in companies with a revenue of between £18m (£14.2m) and $5bn (£3.9bn), found overseas revenue represents less than half of their income at present. However, this is [...]
FTSE 100 lenders pocket record total profit

February 21, 2025

Standard Chartered was the last of the FTSE 100’s biggest banks to release its annual results, as analysts praised the strong performance across all of the Big Five. Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyds and Standard Chartered booked an all-time high of £50.3bn in profit in 2024 and returned £35bn to investors. Russ Mould, investment director at [...]

Intertek to quit FTSE 100 after agreeing £10bn EQT takeover

An England World Cup isn’t just football – it is money, politics and a nation’s bad habits

Bowls Club is the City’s most eccentric (and brilliant) pop-up

By: Samuel Norman

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