Tagged: uk

March 28, 2025 @ 8:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Marking the tenth year of the NatWest Accelerator, NatWest is announcing its plan to expand its support to UK businesses by offering 10,000 entrepreneurs the chance to join its Accelerator community in 2025, while setting out a long-term strategy to “support the UK’s growth goals… Read More

March 28, 2025 @ 8:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK Finance, a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, joined forces with Which?, a consumer advocacy group, to issue a compelling call to action in a letter addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Home Secretary. This rare collaboration… Read More

March 27, 2025 @ 12:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lloyds Banking Group has partnered with Cambridge Spark to improve its AI capabilities across its senior management teams. Founded in 2016 by Dr. Raoul-Gabriel Urma, Cambridge Spark is a digital skills education provider. In a company statement, Lloyds said its “Leading with AI” program will… Read More

March 27, 2025 @ 10:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Zilch is highlighting that the Financial Times has declared it the fastest-growing Unicorn in the UK. According to the company, Zilch is a payments Fintech that has experienced 300% compound annual growth over the last three years. Earlier this year, Zilch was recognized by the… Read More

March 27, 2025 @ 1:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The Spring Statement, delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, provided much policy to ponder. Buried within the documents were references to PISCES, or the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System—a private securities marketplace. While still in the works, PISCES aims to provide a… Read More

March 26, 2025 @ 10:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The Spring Statement is always a grab bag of policies claiming to solve just about every economic woe. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, shared her policy vision for the future today, and once again, the delivery promised fixes to an economy that continues… Read More

March 25, 2025 @ 10:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Upvest, a European investment infrastructure provider, has announced the appointment of Starling Bank’s former Head of SME Banking, Symmie Swil, as UK General Manager, as the company embarks on a scale-up strategy across the region. Upvest’s Investment API enables Fintechs, banks, and wealth managers to… Read More

March 25, 2025 @ 9:40 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed its five-year plan, which will focus on four priorities. The FCA is a unique regulator as it holds a competition mandate: it must enable competition. Otherwise, the regulator pursues consumer protection and market integrity. Since 2023, the… Read More

March 25, 2025 @ 9:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Tomorrow, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will deliver the Spring Statement, and the Fintech industry will be watching closely to see how future policy will impact their sector and other changes that may affect the economy in general. The UK government has already announced it… Read More

March 25, 2025 @ 8:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Change is constant in the world of pensions, and keeping up with the thoughts, needs and wishes of pension savers themselves is “essential in serving their needs best.” This, according to an update from UK’s Smart Pension. ‍Smart Pension has recently released a report with… Read More

March 25, 2025 @ 8:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s medium-sized businesses drove job growth in the last ten years compared to their small and large counterparts, according to new analysis shared by iwoca. The research from iwoca–one of Europe’s largest SME lenders–finds that businesses of “50 to 249 people expanded their headcount at double… Read More

March 24, 2025 @ 11:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The latest Lloyds UK Sector Tracker, compiled using exclusive PMI survey data from around 1,300 private sector companies, reveals that more sectors reported “month-on-month growth in February.” As stated in the report from UK‘s Lloyds Bank, four sectors reportedly saw their “output rise (up from… Read More

March 24, 2025 @ 12:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK’s digital bank Monzo noted that their engineering team has created Monzo Stand-in, which is described as a fully independent backup bank complete with its own data, software, and infrastructure. This system can reportedly become effective / go live instantly during outages, ensuring customers retain… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 10:41 am By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to hold its benchmark rate steady at 4.5%. This follows the US Federal Reserve’s decision not to change its rates. The MPC voted 8 to 1, with one member preferring to cut rates by 25 basis… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 8:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

NatWest Group has announced that it has become the first UK-headquartered bank to work with OpenAI as part of a collaboration that supports its strategic focus on bank-wide simplification, which includes deploying AI to meet customers’ needs more effectively and to “increase productivity and efficiency… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 6:30 am By JD Alois  |  

The British Business Bank has committed up to £30 million to THENA Capital’s inaugural UK MedTech Fund. The fund reportedly has held its first close at £27 million with commitments from Firebird Collective, This Day Foundation, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, and other individuals. The fund… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 12:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Two financial fraud experts say the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, needs to address the growing issue of financial fraud during next week’s Spring Statement. Silvija Krupena, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit at RedCompass Labs, and Jonathan Frost, Director of Global Advisory at… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 8:55 am By JD Alois  |  

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will address Parliament next week with her economic plan, which she will present to policymakers. The Spring Statement is expected to include numerous policy changes aiming to boost economic growth while cutting government costs and associated red tape, which undermines… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 8:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In a restructuring move, Santander UK, the United Kingdom based division of the Spain’s Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN), announced that it will close 95 of its 444 U.K. branches, representing roughly one-fifth of its physical network. The bank has posted a list of the impacted branches… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 7:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Adyen (AMS: ADYEN), the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, today announced that it has expanded its partnership with Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM), the payment network that empowers consumers and helps merchants drive growth, to the U.K. Adyen’s U.K. merchants looking… Read More