Meet Reeves’ outsider tasked with steering the City to growth March 3, 2026 The City has rolled out the red carpet for the banking watchdog’s new chief after Katharine Braddick, a seasoned veteran of the financial trenches, was named on Friday as the successor to Sam Woods. For a cool £314,000 a year, she’s set to take on the brief of steering the UK’s banking sector. Chancellor Rachel [...]
Santander names new TSB boss ahead of takeover March 2, 2026 Santander has named the new top boss of TSB Bank as the firm gears up for its blockbuster takeover of the high street unit. The Spanish-headquarted banking giant – which beat out its peers to snap up TSB for £2.6bn last July – appointed Nicola Bannister as the new chief executive of TSB. Bannister ascends [...]
Vanquis boss defends scrapping dividend as bank swings to profit February 26, 2026 The boss of Vanquis Bank has said he makes no apologies for a “conservative” approach to capital distribution as he launched a staunch defence of the group’s decision to axe its dividend for the second consecutive year. Ian McLaughlin, who took the helm at Vanquis in August 2023, said the bank’s “number one priority” was [...]
How HSBC and Standard Chartered are riding high on Asia’s wealth February 26, 2026 London’s banking giants are circling the UK’s wealth management pie. But two other top lenders could be carving out a feast 6,000 miles away. HSBC and Standard Chartered posted hefty bumps to their wealth divisions, driven by a strategic focus on Asia and the Middle East. In financial results shared on Wednesday, HSBC revealed bank-wide [...]
Yen weakens after Takaichi selects dovish candidates for Bank of Japan February 25, 2026 The yen slipped sharply against the US dollar on Wednesday morning, after Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi picked two ‘dovish’ candidates for roles at the country’s central bank. Takaichi nominated academics Ayano Sato and Toichiro Asada who both favour economic stimulus and lower interest rates, raising questions they could challenge Bank of Japan governor Kazuo [...]
US giants dominate AI payments race amid Wall Street jitters February 25, 2026 US giants continue to lead the charge in the payments industry’s AI acceleration even as the sector gets swept up in Wall Street’s tech jitters. Visa led a three-horse race followed by Mastercard, then Paypal in the Evident AI’s inaugural index for the payments sector. The three towered above their peers, thanks largely to consistently [...]
‘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 [...]
‘Trust me’: Jamie Dimon to defend JP Morgan’s $2bn-a-week bill February 23, 2026 Jamie Dimon is set to defend JP Morgan’s $2bn-a-week cost bill today as analysts and shareholders gather for the banking giant’s annual investor day. The bank chief – generally considered to be the world’s most influential banker – unveiled higher-than-expected plans for 2026 spend at the beginning of the year. JP Morgan told markets spending [...]
Bank to business lending growth to halve amid global tensions February 23, 2026 UK bank to businesses lending growth is forecast to halve this year as firms feel the pinch of challenging conditions amid global tensions. Net growth in the value of lending from the banking sector to businesses is tipped to slow to 3.5 per cent this year, standing at nearly half of the 6.9 per cent [...]
Buy now, sell-off later: Where did Klarna’s IPO go wrong? February 20, 2026 When Klarna finally kicked off its Wall Street listing in September chatter quickly emerged whether the move would open the floodgates to a fleet of fintech listings. With the likes of Monzo, Zilch, Revolut and Starling all speculated to be eagerly waiting in the wings, all eyes were on the Swedish unicorn as a taster [...]