Financial services activity falls

Business activity in the UK financial services sector has sharply declined, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The net reading for business activity fell from 65 in March to -58 in June. Firms reported deteriorating profitability and cited poor investment returns as a key growth limitation. The quarterly survey also found that sentiment…

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Fraud remains a national security threat as criminals steal almost £1.3bn

UK Finance’s latest Annual Fraud Report shows its members reported that criminals stole £1.28 billion through payment fraud in 2025, an increase of four per cent, demonstrating how fraud continues to operate on an industrial scale and is a national security threat. The report also shows that most authorised push payment (APP) fraud cases still…

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Consumer confidence hits decade-long low

Consumer confidence has now been negative for ten consecutive years, with the GfK index falling sharply again in January. Analysts describe a mood of resignation rather than panic, as inflation continues to outpace wage growth and households remain cautious. The prolonged pessimism is dampening entrepreneurial risk-taking and discretionary spending. The Consumer Confidence Index was up…

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Half of financial services struggling to manage credit risk and fraud prevention

New survey results from Provenir have found that nearly half of all financial services executives are struggling with managing credit risk and detecting and preventing fraud. The survey also discovered that many financial services are revamping their credit risk decisioning and fraud prevention strategies in 2025, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) playing a prominent role. Over…

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One in five don’t know how much is going into their pension

Data from Opinium on behalf of Hargreaves Lansdown has found that one in five people don’t know how much is going into their pension. A further 19% don’t know much they and their employer is contributing to their pension. This rises to one-third (33%) of people aged over 55. This compares to 10% of people…

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Queens Speech announces financial services reforms

A Financial Services and Markets Bill aimed at cutting red tape was among the flagship measures announced in the Queen’s Speech. The new bill revokes retained EU law on financial services and updates the objectives of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority to bring about a greater focus on growth and international…

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