Nationwide slapped with £44m fine over prolonged financial crime control failures

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Nationwide Building Society £44m after finding widespread failings in its anti-financial crime framework over nearly five years. The regulator said the shortcomings, which spanned from October 2016 to July 2021, left the Nationwide unable to identify or...

Latest news

MPs launch inquiry into OBR’s first 15 years

The Treasury Committee has launched an inquiry to reflect on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s first 15 years, with a focus on what lessons...

Atom backs investor’s move into commercial property with £3m warehouse loan

Atom bank has completed a £3 million commercial mortgage to support an established residential investor diversifying into the North West commercial market. The funding was...

Swansea Building Society expands West Wales leadership remit

Swansea Building Society has promoted Sioned Jones to area manager, West Wales, with effect from 1 January 2026. The move extends Jones’s remit beyond Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire to include responsibility for the wider Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot regions, as the mutual looks to...

No acceleration in rental EPC improvements despite policy push

Rightmove’s 2025 Greener Homes Report indicates that the overall energy efficiency of UK homes...

Roma Finance partners with new refurbishment cost platform

Roma Finance has been named finance partner for the national rollout of the Refurb...

StreamBank streamlines bridging range into three simplified categories

StreamBank has overhauled its bridging proposition, introducing a simplified three-part structure designed to make...

HTB finalises £6m refinance on complex London portfolio

Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has completed a £6 million refinance for an experienced landlord...

More2life shortens Flexi ERCs and introduces age-based sourcing enhancement

More2life has introduced a series of changes designed to broaden later life lending options...

Hanley Economic widens lending criteria to reflect modern working patterns

Hanley Economic Building Society has refreshed its residential lending criteria, aiming to accommodate a...

CHL Mortgages widens upper LTV range with new fixed-rate options

CHL Mortgages for Intermediaries has expanded its upper loan-to-value range with a series of...

Zephyr lifts broker fees and trims rates across buy-to-let range

Zephyr Homeloans has raised procuration fees for intermediaries and cut pricing on its fixed-rate...

Paragon marks decade of SME lending with £3.6bn milestone

Paragon Bank has marked 10 years since its move into SME finance by surpassing...

Stamp duty receipts rise sharply as market shows signs of broad recovery

Stamp duty revenues increased substantially in the past financial year as activity returned to...

INDUSTRY COMMENT

What the agents say: 2026 housing market predictions

Next year should be a year of steady progress for the housing market. After a challenging 2025 where we saw little to no house...

Graham McClelland on Britain’s broken mortgage market

When Graham McClelland, the youthful and quietly intense chief executive of Gen H, arrived at the City of London office of the fast-growing mortgage...

Q&As

POLL

BUY-TO-LET

Budget uncertainty deepened November slowdown in housing market

The latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey shows that the Autumn Budget did little...

West One strengthens mortgage division with trio of senior hires

West One Loans has expanded its mortgage division with three appointments as the lender...

Paragon widens streamlined process to HMOs and multi-unit blocks

Paragon Bank has expanded its streamlined buy-to-let mortgage application process to cover houses in...

ColCap UK passes major buy-to-let milestone as lending platform expands

ColCap Financial UK, the parent company of specialist lender Molo, has passed £1 billion...

Zoopla: Rental demand slips as buyers return

Zoopla’s latest Rental Market Report shows the rental sector entering a new phase of...

LendInvest reports stronger profitability in H1

LendInvest has reported a rise in profitability and lending activity in its half-year results...

MIMHC launches programme to train over 100 Mental Health First Aiders

The Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter (MIMHC) Foundation has announced its most ambitious programme...

Kent Reliance for Intermediaries to withdraw from new lending this month

Kent Reliance for Intermediaries will withdraw from new lending on 17 December, bringing an...

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

FIRST-TIME BUYERS

The Cambridge raises stress limits to widen borrowing capacity

The Cambridge Building Society has moved to strengthen support for residential borrowers by increasing its affordability stress limits, a change it says will allow some customers to borrow as much as £33,000 more than before. The adjustments apply across its full residential mortgage range, offering...

Gen H reduces high LTV rates to bolster first-time buyer activity

Gen H has introduced a series of rate changes across its mortgage range, with...

Early winter slowdown as lender criteria changes hit 2025 high

Knowledge Bank’s November data reveals a quieter month for broker searches set against a...

Santander reduces rates ahead of 2026

Santander has made a further round of rate cuts, effective from 9 December, as...

UK house prices hold steady as annual growth slows

UK house prices were flat in November, pausing after a 0.5% rise in October,...

OPINION

Younger consumers are ready for protection. So why aren’t we reaching them?

For years, the protection market has assumed that younger adults are less engaged with financial risk planning. Yet the latest findings from Bruised Britain...

Later life lending and the importance of a lasting power of attorney

It’s fair to say that later life lending has moved from a niche corner...

How lenders’ new freedoms are undermining client relationships

Can we expect lenders to try and tighten their grip on borrowers at their...

Advisers are missing a clear chance to help clients with survey advice

For years, advisers have often seen surveys as something outside their core work. Some did not know enough about them. Some were unsure how to raise the topic. Others felt it was simpler not to get involved. That mindset is now shifting, and the...

AUTUMN BUDGET: Further damage to buy-to-let investors

Yesterday’s Budget represented yet another decisive step in the dismantling of the traditional buy-to-let sector. The Government has chosen to tighten the tax screw on...

DISTRIBUTION

Chetwood Bank raises maximum exposure limit to £10 million

Chetwood Bank is raising the maximum buy-to-let exposure limit to £10 million for both...

Norton Home Loans added to L&G Mortgage Club lender panel

Norton Home Loans, part of the Norton Financial Services Group, has joined the lender...

Equifinance unveils new brand identity as it prepares for next phase of growth

Equifinance has introduced a full brand refresh, including a new logo, updated livery and...

Vickers Young joins Stonebridge as firm pursues long-term expansion

Mortgage and protection firm Vickers Young has joined the Stonebridge network as it accelerates...

The Cumberland joins L&G’s Ignite platform to widen broker access

L&G’s Ignite platform has added Cumberland Building Society as a lender partner, expanding broker access to the society’s residential and holiday let ranges. The integration enables brokers to compare Cumberland products instantly within the Ignite system, view lending criteria and generate ESIS documents, streamlining case...