‘It’s risky to be in the UK’ – Cleo founder on unicorn status and City regulation September 30, 2025 Nine years ago entrepreneur Matt Clifford took a data scientist to a “terrible pub” to convince him to drop his PhD and create his own start-up. “You may as well just take the risk, the biggest risk is not taking the risk,” Clifford told a young Barney Hussey-Yeo. Almost a decade later in 2025, Hussey-Yeo [...]
UK fintechs send rallying cry as industry slips in global ranking September 25, 2025 UK fintech leaders have sent a rallying call to policymakers after the sector slipped in global rankings. A host of industry bigwigs have told Morning Wire the government must be bolder in growth-orientated reforms to bolster the sector’s standing against rivals. It comes after Z/Yen’s 38th Global Financial Centres Index showed the UK’s fintech sector [...]
Stalling Starling revs up Engine in rebrand September 24, 2025 Veteran of the UK fintech industry Starling has overhauled its brand with a fresh colour palette, a new slogan and even a new name. The digital lender announced last week it would drop the word “Bank” from its banking arm’s name in a move analysts have described as a “significant” step in its evolution. The [...]
Revolut pumps £3bn into the UK financial services sector September 23, 2025 London-born fintech juggernaut Revolut has capped off a hefty week of investment for the UK financial services sector as the firm officially launched its global headquarters. The digital bank said it would pump £3bn into the UK and create 1,000 highly-skilled jobs over the next five years. The fresh injection of capital follows asset manager [...]
UK fintech holds European crown but UAE threat looms September 11, 2025 UK fintech maintained a heavy level of activity in the first half of 2025 but faced new threats from growing financial hubs. Over 70 significant acquisitions of smaller rivals or complementary businesses were reported in the UK and Europe over the half. This represented a 50 per cent bump on acquisitions compared to the previous [...]
Starling Bank eyes £4bn valuation in secondary share sale September 10, 2025 UK fintech Starling is eyeing a valuation of £4bn in a new secondary share sale. The digital lender is in talks with Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to run the sale process, which the firm is hoping could help it net a valuation between £3.5bn and £4bn. The sale – the first since the group’s valuation [...]
Klarna’s IPO success could lure fintechs away from London September 10, 2025 By Oscar McDonald Swedish buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna has teed up its second attempt at an IPO, with the eyes of the fintech world set on its New York debut. The company’s valuation has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past three years, peaking at £33.6bn in July 2021 before plummeting to £4.95bn a year [...]
Clearbank brings fintech revolution to corporate banking September 9, 2025 UK fintech Clearbank has laid out plans to power up its embedded banking services and take on legacy banks on a new battlefield. The firm said outdated “one-size-fits-all” approaches from centuries-old high street banks were “no longer fit for work” and set out plans to challenge traditional transaction services in areas like travel, hospitality and [...]
Challenger banks face ‘profitability trap’ at growth crossroads September 8, 2025 The UK banking sector faces a profitability roadblock that will give the industry’s challengers an “existential” turning point. Fresh data from KPMG suggests the industry’s average return on equity will fall to eight per cent come 2027 down from 13 per cent four years prior. This is set to spark an £11bn reduction in pre-tax [...]
Revolut deepens Google Cloud partnership amid ambitious growth plans September 4, 2025 Revolut has announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud, aiming to scale its services to over 100m customers while enhancing product innovation through AI and machine learning. The fintech giant, which currently serves over 60 million users globally, will leverage Google’s infrastructure to improve back-end operations, fraud detection, and personalised customer experiences. Revolut will harness [...]