Business
Bank share prices tumble after calls for tax on profits
The share prices of leading UK banks have tumbled following calls for the government to introduce a new tax on banking profits.
Traders and investors have reacted to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) saying a windfall tax could raise up to £8bn a year for the government.
The think tank said the policy would compensate taxpayers for losses on the Bank of England’s cash printing drive.
While the Treasury has not commented on any policy, concerns led to NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays being the biggest fallers on the main index of the London Stock Exchange early on Friday.
NatWest and Lloyds share prices were down by more than 4%, and Barclays had dropped by more than 3% in early trading.
Charlie Nunn, the chief executive of Lloyds bank, has previously spoken out against any potential tax rises for banks in the Budget.
He said efforts to boost the UK economy and foster a strong financial services sector “wouldn’t be consistent with tax rises”.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.
The IPPR, a left-leaning think tank, said a levy on the profits of banks was needed as the Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) drive was costing taxpayers £22bn a year.
The Bank of England buys bonds – essentially long term IOUs – from the UK government and corporations to increase bond prices and reduce longer term interest rates.
The Bank is selling off some of these bonds, and the IPPR said it is now making huge losses from both selling the government bonds below their purchase value and through interest rate losses.
The IPPR described those interest rate losses as “a government subsidy to commercial banks”, and highlighted commercial bank profits compared to before the pandemic were up by $22bn.
The tax suggestion comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces the difficult task of maintaining her fiscal rules while finding room for spending promises in the upcoming autumn Budget.
Carsten Jung, associate director for economic policy at IPPR and former Bank of England economist, said the Bank and Treasury had “bungled the implementation of quantitative easing”.
“Public money is flowing straight into commercial banks’ coffers because of a flawed policy design,” he said.
“While families struggle with rising costs, the government is effectively writing multi-billion-pound cheques to bank shareholders.”
Speaking on BBC’s Today programme, Mr Jung said the £22bn taxpayer loss was roughly equivalent to “the entire budget of the Home Office every year”.
“So we’re suggesting to fix this leak of taxpayer money, and the first step would be a targeted levy on commercial banks that claws back some of these losses,” he said.
A tax targeting the windfall profits linked to QE would still leave the banks with “substantially higher profits”, the IPPR report said, while saving the government up to £8bn a year over the term of parliament.
But financial services body UK Finance said that a further tax on banks would make Britain less internationally competitive.
“Banks based here already pay both a corporation tax surcharge and a bank levy,” the trade association said.
The association said a new tax on banking would also “run counter to the government’s aim of supporting the financial services sector”.
Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, said the UK stock market had soured following the suggestion, with investors wondering “if the era of bumper profits, dividends and buybacks is now under threat”.
“The timing of the tax debate, fuelled by a report from think-tank IPPR, is unfortunate given it coincides with a new poll from Lloyds suggesting a rise in business confidence, despite cost pressures,” he said.
The Chancellor has worked hard since Labour won power to woo the City. In her Mansion House speech in November last year, Reeves said that banking regulation after the 2008 financial crisis had “gone too far”.
But she faces difficult fiscal decisions in the run-up to her budget, after the government watered down its planned welfare savings and largely reversed winter fuel allowance cuts – decisions which narrowed her budget headroom.
Danielle KayeBusiness reporter
ReutersDisney+ and Hulu cancellations rates doubled in September after TV host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly taken off air, suggesting the move may have hurt the entertainment giant financially.
Data from analytics firm Antenna shows Disney+’s so-called churn rate – the percentage of subscribers who cancel each month – jumped from a 4% average to 8%, which equates to about three million cancellations, while Hulu’s rose to 10% or more than 4 million.
Disney suspended Kimmel after comments he made about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, following pressure from a federal regulator. The decision sparked free speech debates.
ABC, which airs Jimmy Kimmel Live, reinstated him within a week after a backlash.
Disney, which owns ABC, decided on 17 September to take the comedian off air, two days after Kimmel had said, during one of his shows, the “Maga gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and of trying to “score political points from it”.
The abrupt suspension came hours after Brendan Carr, chair of broadcast regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast licence.
The move was met with protests in California and lambasted by the writers and actors guilds, lawmakers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Critics and First Amendment advocates had railed against ABC’s decision as censorship and a violation of free speech. They also called for economic pressure on Disney, urging people to boycott the company’s services.
Hundreds of celebrities and Hollywood creatives signed a letter backing Kimmel, who was later reinstated.
ReutersThe new data from Antenna, released on Monday, offers the first indication that Disney may have taken a hit from the blow-back.
Disney+ and Hulu lost millions more subscribers in September compared to recent months, while Netflix saw its churn rate hold steady at 2%.
But it is not clear whether Kimmel’s suspension was the only factor driving the surge in cancellations.
Disney’s move to suspend Kimmel coincided with its announcement of previously planned increases to subscription prices, as the company faces pressure to boost its profit from streaming services.
Despite the rise in cancellation rates, both Disney+ and Hulu saw an uptick in new sign-ups in September, offsetting some of the loss, according to Antenna.
Disney declined to comment and Hulu is yet to respond. However, Disney noted discrepancies between Antenna’s data and its internal figures.
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By Farah Stockman, Gabriel Blanco, June Kim and Claire Hogan
October 20, 2025
Charlotte EdwardsBusiness reporter, BBC News
Getty ImagesPizza Hut is to close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites in the UK with the loss of 1,210 jobs, after the firm running them fell into administration.
DC London Pie Limited, which operates Pizza Hut’s UK restaurants, appointed FTI Consulting as administrators on Monday.
However, Pizza Hut’s global owner Yum! Brands has agreed to save 64 restaurants, preserving 1,276 jobs.
Pizza Hut is well known for its family-friendly dining and salad bar, but its UK business has been struggling and had previously gone into administration less than a year ago.
DC London Pie had bought Pizza Hut UK’s restaurants from insolvency in January this year. The company also owns Pizza Hut franchises in Sweden and Denmark.
A spokesperson for Pizza Hut UK said: “We are pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs.”
Nicolas Burquier, managing director for Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, said: “This targeted acquisition aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible.”
He added that the immediate priority for Pizza Hut was “operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition”.
Zoe Adjay, a senior lecturer in hospitality at the University of East London, said Pizza Hut had been “at the forefront of bringing fast food into the UK” in the 1970s, but had struggled to remain relevant amid increased competition.
“The pizza market has become a lot more upmarket,” she said. “There’s a lot more high-end pizza and they’ve taken a huge market share.”
Ms Adjay added that Pizza Hut had also failed to establish itself on social media in the same way as some of its competitors.
Increased operating costs and “ongoing consumer caution” will likely have contributed to Pizza Hut’s challenges, according to Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
“DC London Pie had rescued Pizza Hut’s UK operations from insolvency less than a year ago, but making a success of a big-name casual dining businesses is a tough job.
“Taking back the brand looks a smart move by Yum! Brands as it has decades of data about how pizza lovers like to consume and exactly what factors need to coalesce to make a location a success.”
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