Lloyds and NatWest fell about 2% on Friday after reports that Chancellor John Healey may restore the bank profit surcharge to 8% from 3%. The TUC puts the yield at £2.25bn a year, but the Treasury has not confirmed the option ahead of the October 28 Budget.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 3%
- Operator
- Operator 35%
- Investor
- Investor 62%
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives70
- Confidence58
John Healey is poised to raise bank taxes in his 28 October budget, the Guardian understands, with one option worth upwards of £2bn a year. The proceeds would help cover higher borrowing costs from the Middle East war, and the banks have already warned in writing that they could move staff and business abroad.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 8%
- Operator
- Operator 35%
- Investor
- Investor 57%
Reality
- Evidence50
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives70
- Confidence58
City banks start scenario work on a possible Budget tax after Healey's IMF praise
City AM reported that bank bosses and industry leaders will run scenario analysis on a Budget bank tax, a day after Healey praised banks at the IMF. The sources show firms modelling a range of outcomes, with no Treasury confirmation of any plan.
Reality
- Evidence35
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives70
- Confidence55
TUC prices the 2023 bank surcharge cut at £6bn ahead of Healey's budget
The TUC says cutting the bank surcharge from 8% to 3% in 2023 cost the UK £6bn over three years. It wants a higher rate at the 28 October budget, so bank finance teams have a scenario to price while the Treasury has not stated its intentions.
Reality
- Evidence40
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives75
- Confidence40
Bank chiefs meet Healey amid fears his first Budget will raise their tax bill
Bosses of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and three other lenders make their tax case to John Healey on Tuesday, just over four weeks before his first Budget. Signals from his Treasury leave lenders that wanted the 3% surcharge phased out defending against a rise.
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives70
- Confidence50
Lloyds polled 100 senior UK finance decision-makers and 60% named faster settlement as tokenization's biggest opportunity, ahead of collateral at 41%. The poll points to a payoff counted in freed liquidity, and the banks' first sizeable test comes with bond issues planned for early 2027.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 20%
- Operator
- Operator 43%
- Investor
- Investor 37%
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption20
- Hype gap+35
- Incentives75
- Confidence55
HSBC's licensed Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, RedCoin, is due by year-end inside PayMe, an app with more than 3.3 million users. No coin has been issued yet, so that figure is the reach of Hong Kong's biggest lender, and demand for the token is still untested.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 20%
- Operator
- Operator 43%
- Investor
- Investor 37%
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption4
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives65
- Confidence62
Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and HSBC settled Britain's first interbank transfers of tokenised sterling deposits in three pilot transactions. The Bank of England favours such tokens over private stablecoins, yet it still sketches a system where the two convert at par.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption12
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives70
- Confidence60
Researchers matched 5,428 women who disclosed financial abuse to a UK bank against 15,602 customers who did not, using profiles from seven years earlier, and then tracked 373 financial measures across both groups.
Reality
- Evidence74
- Adoption18
- Hype gap+22
- Incentives45
- Confidence71
FCA starts an 18-month clock on the UK equity tape before the tender exists
The regulator says the big design questions are now settled. Everything after that, procurement included, has to fit inside a clock that is already running.
Reality
- Evidence74
- Adoption34
- Hype gap+22
- Incentives68
- Confidence63