UK's FCA faces legal challenges to £9.1bn compensation scheme
The UK financial watchdog is facing four legal challenges against its £9.1bn compensation scheme for victims of the motor finance scandal.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that it will defend the scheme “robustly” as the “fastest, simplest route for consumers and the most efficient way for firms to put things right”.
The FCA confimed the Guardian’s report of a legal challenge from consumer group Consumer Voice, which claims that the scheme massively shortchanges victims, which is represented by Courmacs Legal.
It is also facing challenges from lenders Volkswagen Financial Services, Mercedes Benz Financial Services and Crédit Agricole Auto Finance.
The FCA noted that none of the claims received are expressly in the name of any individual consumers.
“We will defend the scheme robustly as lawful and the best way to resolve such a widespread, long running and complex issue,” the FCA said. “These legal challenges create fresh uncertainty for millions of consumers and for the second largest consumer credit market.”
Oil prices have soared, which usually means one thing: huge oil company profits.
America’s ExxonMobil reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.16, beating the $1 consensus expectation. Production in its newest oil fields in Guyana rose to a record, with buyers around the world desperate for new sources of crude oil to replace those trapped in the Gulf by the Iran war.
However, Exxon’s statutory profits came in at $4.2bn for the first quarter. That was nominally the lowest in five years, and down from $7.7bn last year, but that was mainly because of one-off accounting impacts from financial derivatives.
It has not all be plain sailing for the oil company: it also had a $700m financial hit from cargoes that could not be delivered through the strait of Hormuz.
UK manufacturing business costs surge because of Iran war
Manufacturers in the UK have recorded one of the sharpest rises in business costs in more than thirty years, due to the economic fallout of the Iran war, a closely-watched survey has revealed.
The S&P Global purchasing managers’ index (PMI) said manufacturers’ input prices – such as raw materials, energy and labour – rose at one of the fastest rates since its survey began in 1992, outside of the post-pandemic inflationary surge in 2022.
Rob Dobson, the director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said:
Restrictions on transit through the strait of Hormuz are causing substantial disruptions to input deliveries, with supplier lead times lengthening to the greatest extent in almost four years. The resulting material shortages are exerting steep pressure on purchasing costs.
Business optimism in the sector also fell to its lowest level in a year during April, as manufacturers remained concerned about the impact of the war in the Middle East and what it will do to global economic growth and geopolitical instability.
Manufacturers also reported issues with supply chains due to the complications caused by the Middle East war and restrictions on transit through the strait of Hormuz.
However, despite the rise in costs, manufacturers otherwise had a much better April than expected, with the PMI showing a near four-year high in activity.
The PMI reading for April rose to a 47-month high of 53.7, its best level since May 2022 and up from a reading of 51 in March. Any reading above 50 signals expansion in the sector, while anything below represents a contraction. The manufacturing PMI has posted above 50.0 for six successive months.
Manufacturing production and new orders both rose, due to an uptick in new work from existing customers and new business from domestic and overseas clients. However, the survey said part of the increase reflected clients attempting to bring forward their orders in the belief that there will be price increases and supply chain delays as a result of conflict in the Middle East.
There may be clouds over the global economy, but so far British consumers appear to be continuing as usual, according to new Bank of England figures.
Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals slightly decreased to £1.9bn in March from £2.0bn in February, according to the Bank’s data, published on Friday. That was still slightly above the previous six-month average of £1.8bn, and higher than the £1.8bn expected by economists.
The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases during March also came in higher than expected – possibly helping to explain the surprising resilience in house prices reported earlier by Nationwide. There were 63,530 mortgages approved, up from 62,700 and above the 60,000 expected by economists.
Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased to £6.2bn, from £5.2bn in February.
Renault UK boss: 'Seismic shift' in electric car interest
Renault’s UK boss has said the Iran war oil price surge has started a “seismic shift upwards” in interest in electric vehicles.
Adam Wood, managing director for the French carmaker in the UK, said that buyers were realising that it was much cheaper to charge electric cars than to fill up with petrol.
Oil prices remained above $111 per barrel on Friday, with little sign that the US and Iran would reach an agreement to reopen the strait of Hormuz, a key export route for a fifth of the world’s oil.
Renault said the effect of the oil price surge was translating to sales. It said enquiries about electric vehicles were up 42% on its website, and that electric vehicles accounted for almost 50% of sales in April. The Renault 5 was the bestselling electric car in Britain during the month.
Wood said:
Interest in electric vehicles has undergone a seismic shift upwards following the spike in oil prices at the end of February.
In turbulent times, more and more people are realising the benefits of switching to electric. With a wider choice of more efficient, more desirable and more affordable electric cars than ever before, there’s never been a better time to make the switch.
Car buying websites across Europe have also reported an “E-Auto-Boom” thanks to the oil price increase – meaning that Donald Trump may, via the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, have boosted demand for electric vehicles despite his personal antipathy towards them.
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Here’s more on NatWest’s economic modelling in response to the Iran war: the bank said the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East could cost it £140m amid slowing growth and rising inflation even as it reported profits ahead of expectations.
Overall, the FTSE 100 lender booked a £283m impairment charge and said that almost half of that was because of a reassessment of its economic forecast to “reflect increased geopolitical risk and weaker equity markets”.
The bank said it expects its base case for UK gross domestic product growth to be only 0.4% this year, half that forecast by the International Monetary Fund earlier this month.
You can read more here:
Oil prices up with no end of Iran blockade in sight
Donald Trump has said he will stick with the US’s “incredible” blockade of the strait of Hormuz, with little sign that talks over reopening it are likely. Yet oil prices look like they are off their two-year peak of more than $126 per barrel of Brent crude on Thursday.
Brent crude futures are trading at $110 today, but that does not actually mean prices have dropped. Futures prices refer to a specific month of delivery, and the contract watched by financial markets changes at the end of each month. The price of crude for the new front month, July, is up by about 1% on Friday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has triggered a global energy crisis, as Iran responded by closing the strait and strangling about a fifth of global oil supplies. Yet despite the electoral risks to Trump from surging gasoline prices (not to mention a potential global food crisis), there appears to be little sign of movement to reopen the strait.
“Their economy is crashing, the blockade is incredible, the power of the blockade is incredible,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “Their economy is a disaster. So we’ll see how long they hold out.”
Jim Reid, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note to clients:
Oil prices have continued to creep higher overnight, with no sign that the US and Iran are moving closer to a deal. Given the month-end, there’s been a contract roll, but if we stick with the July 2026 contract for consistency, Brent crude is up +1.07% this morning to $111.58/bbl. Moreover, Trump showed no sign of backing down […]
Meanwhile, there’s been no sign of comprise from the Iranian side, with new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issuing a statement that Iran would maintain its missile and nuclear capabilities and suggesting that Iran would implement “new legal frameworks” over the Strait of Hormuz.
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NatWest is now the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 3.7% after analysts suggested that its underlying profits were slightly weaker than expected.
Gary Greenwood, banks analyst at Shore Capital, said that profits before tax benefited from “stronger-than-expected notable items in income and slightly lower costs”, but once those were stripped out “underlying performance was a touch weaker than expected”. In a note to clients, Greenwood wrote:
While management has upgraded [2026] income guidance to the top end of the £17.2bn to £17.6bn range, this remains below current consensus of £18.0bn and may therefore disappoint, especially given the first quarter miss on this metric.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, an investment platform, said:
With high performance comes high expectations, and NatWest has slipped today in terms of outlook rather than delivery. The slightly bearish reaction to the numbers reflects the disappointment, although in context it does little to derail the group’s onward march. The shares have risen by 22% over the last year, as has the wider FTSE100, and by 90% over the last two years.
At the other end of the FTSE 100, AstraZeneca is among the biggest fallers after US regulators voted against recommending its new breast cancer drug. Its shares were down 1.9% in early trading.
A US Food and Drug Administration committee voted against recommending the pharmaceutical company’s camizestrant by six votes to three.
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology haematology R&D at AstraZeneca, said:
We are disappointed with the mixed outcome of today’s [committee] meeting. We strongly believe in the results of the SERENA-6 trial, and are encouraged that the committee saw camizestrant as a safe and effective potential new medicine. We remain confident in the clinical benefit the combination can bring to patients by changing therapeutic strategy at the earliest opportunity, and are committed to challenging the status quo in the pursuit of innovation that optimises outcomes for patients.
Diageo shares rise after Trump removes whisky tariffs
And we’re off, in London at least. Top of the FTSE 100 this morning is Diageo, the drinks maker. It makes brands including Guinness but also, more pertinently this morning, a bevy of Scotch bevvies.
Diageo executives will be raising a glass to King Charles, after Donald Trump last night announced that the US would drop all tariffs on Scotch whisky in the royal family’s honour.
Trump said in a post on social media:
In Honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, who have just left the White House, soon headed back to their wonderful Country, I will be removing the Tariffs and Restrictions on Whiskey having to do with Scotland’s ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Whiskey and Bourbon.
The King and Queen got me to do something nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!
Shares in Diageo rose by 2% in early trading above £15. Its whisky brands include Johnnie Walker, Lagavulin, Talisker, the Singleton and Mortlach. Whisky and most other UK exports had been subject to 10% tariffs.
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It is likely to be a quiet morning on equity markets, as most of the major indices around Europe are closed – and on that note, happy May Day!
But London is still open for trading (and closed on Monday). Futures prices suggest the FTSE 100 is due to dip by 0.3%.
UK house prices up surprise 0.4% in April; NatWest profits up
British homebuyers defied a bleak economic mood and the Iran war to push house prices up by 0.4% in April, surprising economists who had on average expected a decline.
Annual house price growth picked up to 3.0% in April, from 2.2% in March, according to data published on Friday by Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society. That put the average price at £278,880.
Nationwide said the increase in prices reflected resilience in the housing market, despite measures of economic sentiment declining, and the backdrop of the US-Israeli war in Iran threatening inflation because of higher oil prices.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said:
Despite the uncertainty caused by developments in the Middle East and the subsequent rise in energy prices, the UK housing market has continued to regain momentum following the slowdown recorded around the turn of the year.
This is somewhat surprising given that indicators of consumer confidence have weakened noticeably. GfK’s headline index has fallen to its lowest level since late‑2023, reflecting households’ more pessimistic views of the economic outlook and their own financial position over the year ahead.
Ashley Webb, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, a consultancy, said:
The surprisingly strong rise in the Nationwide measure of house prices in April shows that house prices have continued to gain momentum despite the falls in consumer confidence and the rise in mortgage rates since the start of the Iran war. But the growing upside risks to our mortgage rate forecast from the most recent rise in oil prices suggests this strength is unlikely to last.
NatWest Group reports higher profits despite economic gloom
NatWest reported higher profits of £1.4bn in the first quarter of the year, despite the UK banking group setting aside an extra £140m in case of the economy worsening.
The bank, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, said that it expects income for the year to reach the top end of its expected range of between £17.2bn and £17.6bn.
Paul Thwaite, NatWest’s chief executive, said it was a “strong performance in the first quarter of 2026”.
We have started the year with positive momentum, underpinned by healthy customer activity – growing all of our three businesses, expanding our capabilities to meet more of our customers’ needs and further improving productivity as we use AI at scale across the bank.
The agenda
9:30am BST: Bank of England consumer credit (March; previous: £1.9bn; consensus: £1.8bn)
9:30am BST: Bank of England mortgage approvals (March; previous: 62,580; consensus: 60,000)
1:15pm BST: Bank of England – speech by Huw Pill, chief economist
