LONDON—The British government said Friday it would ease regulatory rules on banks, insurers and investors to bolster London’s status as a global financial hub after its allure was dented by Britain’s departure from the European Union. The U.K. presented a 30 point-plan called the “Edinburgh reforms” that the government hailed as a regulatory fine-tuning to boost the British economy, which has suffered a severe slowdown in recent years and is entering a recession. The government said the...

A decade after the financial crisis, The Wall Street Journal has checked in on dozens of the bankers, government officials, chief executives, hedge-fund managers and others who left a mark on that period to find out what they are doing now. Today, we spotlight former Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive Fred Goodwin. A decade ago Sir Fred Goodwin helmed the world’s biggest bank by assets, Royal Bank of Scotland Group RBS -0.15% PLC. Today, he is no longer a banker. He is no longer knighted....

CÓRDOBA, Spain—Catholic priest Fernando Cruz Conde carries a rare distinction: He is among the few bankers who paid a price for his role in the financial crisis. Eight years ago, Spanish taxpayers bailed out a small bank controlled by the Spanish Catholic church after a real-estate binge came to a crashing halt. Regulators ousted Father Cruz Conde and Córdoba’s other banker-priests and slapped them with fines for their financial mismanagement. Today the bank, CajaSur Banco SA, stands...

LONDON – J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. made a preliminary approach for U.K. payments business Worldpay Group Inc., potentially marking one of the biggest deals the U.S. bank has done since the financial crisis. On Tuesday the board of Worldpay said in a statement that it had received preliminary approaches from J.P. Morgan and Vantiv Inc., a U.S.-based credit-card processor. The board noted that there is no certainty that an offer will be made, the two parties have until Aug. 1 to announce whether...