By: Chris Dorrell

Economics Reporter Chris has been at City AM since January 2023, first as banking reporter and then economics reporter. He covers all things inflation, interest rates and Bank of England.

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Co-op Bank has 10th straight quarter of profitability as net interest income rises

Takeover talk

Rising rates helped the Co-operative Bank record a tenth consecutive quarter of profitability, as the lender considers its options regarding a potential sale. Although it recorded a significant increase in net interest income, which rose to £245.1m from £108.2m last year, the Co-op bank profit remained roughly flat at £61.8m due to increased expenditure. Operating [...]
Natwest chair Howard Davies WILL stay on after Nigel Farage Coutts scandal

Debanking scandal

Natwest chair Howard Davies said he would stay on as boss of the bank’s board while the lender tries to recover from the scandal involving Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank account. Speaking to reporters after the bank published its results, Davies said “my intention is to continue to lead the board and ensure that the bank [...]
Nationwide and TSB join HSBC in reducing rates on mortgage deals

Mortgage rates

Nationwide and TSB joined HSBC in reducing rates on a range of mortgage products today, as rates on mortgages continued to come down after last week’s inflation reading. Nationwide announced that it would be reducing fixed rates by up to 0.35 per cent while it would reduce rates available on its tracker products by 0.2 [...]

Coutts boss Peter Flavel resigns over Farage account closure

July 27, 2023

The boss of private bank Coutts has resigned for his part in the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. Peter Flavel’s resignation follows the departure of Natwest boss Dame Alison Rose in the early hours of Wednesday morning and comes as pressure grows on other members of the Natwest board to step down over the [...]
TSB Bank profits up 45 per cent on rising rates as impairment charges soar too

July 27, 2023

TSB Bank’s profits were lifted by rising interest rates, but the bank flagged challenges ahead as impairment charges soared by 54 per cent on last year. In the first half of the year pretax profit climbed 45 per cent to £147.9m, up from £102.9m in the same period last year. The lender noted this was [...]
Barclays shares slide after lowering interest guidance for full year despite beating expectations

July 27, 2023

Barclays shares dropped after the lender said it expects the tailwind from rising interest rates to be slowing, despite beating expectations in the second quarter. In the three months to June, Barclays’ profit rose 31 per cent to nearly £2bn, slightly higher than the £1.9bn analysts had predicted. On the back of the results, Barclays [...]
Bankenheimer: Number of banks shunning nuclear weapons jumps 10 per cent

July 27, 2023

As Christopher Nolan’s epic about Oppenheimer, Godfather of the atomic bomb, hits cinema screens, new research shows banks globally are pulling back from funding nuclear weapons. According to a new report from Don’t Bank on the Bomb, 109 financial firms worldwide have published policies restricting investment in nuclear weapon producers. This was roughly 10 per [...]
Banks agree to protect freedom of expression after Farage furore

July 26, 2023

Bank bosses today agreed to protect freedom of expression after they were hauled in for talks with City minister Andrew Griffith following the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. In a meeting today with bank bosses in the Treasury, representatives from Natwest, HSBC, Nationwide, Lloyds, Santander and Barclays committed to not ‘debank’ customers because of [...]
Nigel Farage calls for entire Natwest board to go after Rose resignation

July 26, 2023

Nigel Farage has called on the entire Natwest board to go after chief executive Dame Alison Rose resigned overnight after an extraordinary late-night board meeting – just hours after the bank’s chairman issued a statement offering her their full confidence. Rose outed herself as the source of a BBC story into the finances of Nigel [...]
Higher interest rates lift Santander UK profit to £1.2bn, warns mortgage market is cooling

July 26, 2023

Santander UK saw its profit rise significantly in the first half of the year, but the bank also noted that applications for mortgages had been hit by recent economic volatility. In the first half of the year pre-tax profit climbed 18 per cent to £1.2bn from £993m last year. This came thanks to a 10 [...]

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Premiership run-in: Saints and Bath will impact top four

Here We Are, National Theatre, review: Stephen Sondheim musical is more Severance than sing-a-long

By: Chris Dorrell

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