By: Samuel Norman

City Reporter Samuel is a City Reporter covering banking, fintech and more across the City. He can be contacted at samuel.norman@cityam.com and posts at x.com/samnormanwrites.

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Lord Cruddas’ CMC Markets takes control of blockchain firm

May 7, 2025

CMC Markets, the firm founded by Conservative Peer Lord Peter Cruddas, announced on Wednesday it had acquired a majority stake in StrikeX Technologies. The London-based trading firm upped its holding in the blockchain firm to 51 per cent from 33 per cent previously. Shares in CMC Markets were up 0.3 per cent in midday trading [...]
FTSE 100’s record run ends as pharma stocks slide on new Trump appointment

May 7, 2025

The FTSE 100’s record run came to an end on Wednesday as pharma stocks slumped on the back of a controversial US regulatory appointment. The blue-chip index spent the entire session in the red and closed off 0.4 per cent. Drugmakers GSK and Astrazeneca were among the top fallers, at nearly five per cent and [...]
Vanquis and Barclays lead surge in bank complaints amid motor finance

May 7, 2025

Banking complaints rocketed by 76 per cent in the second half of 2024 as the motor finance scandal continued to haunt the sector, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The regulator revealed of the 141,846 complaints made to the FOS, 77 per cent were related to banking and credit at 109,155. This also marked [...]
Ministers call in HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds bosses for small business lending talks

May 6, 2025

Top bank bosses were summoned for talks with ministers on Tuesday after a government report revealed that small businesses were having difficulty securing loans. Senior executives from HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds will be in attendance for the meeting, which will be chaired by minister for small business Gareth Thomas. A report from the Department of [...]
Natwest to ‘outperform’ sector with bumper year, analysts predict

May 6, 2025

RBC analysts slapped a “Sector Outperform” rating on Natwest after the lender beat expectations in its first-quarter report. The analysts upgraded full-year profit before tax estimates by three per cent to £7.1bn, compared to £6.2bn in 2024, and upped the stock’s target price to 475p from 465p. They said the upgrades were driven by net [...]
FTSE 100 extends record win streak as gold miners rally

May 6, 2025

The FTSE 100’s record run, fuelled by a recovery in investor sentiment following a pullback in US tariff threats, extended to 16 days on Tuesday. The blue-chip index had another nail-biting session fluctuating between small gains and losses before scraping a 0.01 per cent win. Gold miners led the risers as Endeavour and Fresnillo topped [...]
Argentex shares crash as firm fights to survive

May 6, 2025

Argentex shares plummeted nearly 90 per cent in early Tuesday deals as the firm resumed trading on London’s AIM. The embattled currency firm suspended its shares from trading on April 22 after it said its liquidity had significantly worsened as the US dollar weakened. The company then agreed to a takeover from rival IFX on [...]
UK scale-ups face crisis as growth capital hits seven-year low

May 6, 2025

Growth capital has hit a seven-year low on both volume and value with the UK start-up to scale-up pipeline “broken”, a fresh report has warned. Figures seen by City AM revealed Series A funding – investments of £2m to £10m for startups looking to grow – had slumped to £2.4bn in the 12 months to [...]
HSBC Asset Management’s sustainability boss to depart as sector pivots on ESG

May 5, 2025

The top sustainability boss at HSBC Asset Management is set to leave the firm amid chief executive Georges Elhedery’s review of the lender’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies. Erin Leonard’s exit, as first reported by Reuters, follows Celine Herweijer, the bank’s former chief sustainability officer, leaving the firm at the end of last year. [...]
FTSE 100 lenders cash in on market turmoil but provisions climb

May 5, 2025

FTSE 100 banking giants saw trading income spike in the first quarter as investors sold-off stocks in the face of geopolitical tensions, but tariff threats continued to weigh on future earnings. HSBC kicked off reporting season pocketing a $9.5bn (£7.1bn) pre-tax profit, which surged ahead of the $7.8bn pencilled in by analysts. Barclays and Natwest [...]

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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: Samuel Norman

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