UK banks’ digital ID bid is a game of optics – and the odds are not in their favour Banking A digital ID row has dominated headlines in the last year, and banks are set to join the row. In this week’s column, Samuel Norman takes a look at what they might be in for. Britain’s banks have voluntarily thrown themselves into one of the most toxic culture wars of the decade. Few subjects evoke [...]
Lloyds Bank and Halifax customers hit with app outage Banking 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 [...]
Monzo lost one current account switcher for every two gained in 2025 Banking UK fintech darling Monzo lost one current account switcher for every two it gained last year. The neobank registered just over 20,000 new switchers in the final quarter, but over half of this was offset by the 11,000 thousand outflows. The picture for the final few months of the year mirrors the picture for the [...]
Lloyds Bank forks out compensation after tech glitch hit nearly half a million March 27, 2026 Nearly half a million Lloyds Banking Group mobile app users were hit by the firm’s major tech glitch earlier this month with the bank now dishing out compensation payments to some of those affected. Up to 447,936 customers of Lloyds and group subsidiaries Halifax and Bank of Scotland saw other rogue transactions across their accounts [...]
Revolut and Nationwide sharpen swords in battle to bank Britain March 25, 2026 The claws are out in the battle to bank Britain and in this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at the latest shots fired from Revolut and Nationwide. If you had ‘Graham Norton sitting on a horse’ on your banking bingo card, congratulations. The BBC chat show host has swapped his famous sofa with [...]
Lloyds Bank investigating ‘technical glitch’ as users see rogue transactions March 12, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group is looking into a “technical glitch” that left users of the bank’s app on Thursday morning seeing other users’ transactions on their mobile app. The group – which consists of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland – responded to concerned customers on X in the early morning that it was looking into [...]
Nationwide reigns supreme in bank switch war as Santander falters January 29, 2026 Nationwide maintained its top spot in the tussle for current account switchers in the third quarter of 2025 as the mutual sweetened its offer for new joiners. The building society – which was slapped with a £44m fine in December for failing to flag Covid fraud – secured a net gain of 41,450 switchers after [...]
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 [...]
Legacy banks must ‘radically modernise’ or lose to fintech stars, says former Barclays boss January 1, 2026 A decade ago, Antony Jenkins was ousted from his role as chief executive of Barclays and months later warned the banking sector was reaching an “Uber moment”. Jenkins declared technology would be an “unstoppable force” in the banking sector and could lead to hundreds of branch closures and potentially slash the industry’s workforce by half. [...]
Barclays and Santander top highest customer exodus after outages October 30, 2025 Barclays and Santander recorded the highest net losses of current account switches in the second quarter of the year after outages disrupted thousands of customers’ online banking. Over 22,000 users switched from Barclays in the three months to June 2025, with just under 4,000 joining, marking a net loss of over 18,000. Santander recorded a [...]