The newsroom
How we make money
Bank Season is funded by reader subscriptions and by advertising that is sold and labelled apart from the newsroom. Here is the whole arrangement, including what our journalists are allowed to own.
A financial publication that will not explain its own revenue has no business asking questions about anyone else's. Bank Season takes money from two places: readers who subscribe, and advertisers who buy clearly marked space. Nothing else pays for the journalism.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are the larger share and we intend to keep it that way, because a publication funded mainly by advertising eventually writes for advertisers. A free reader gets the daily news report, the market data pages and the newsletters. Paying subscribers get the analysis pieces, the desk notes ahead of major data releases and the full archive.
- Free: daily news, market data pages, all four newsletters.
- Digital: everything on the site, including premium analysis and the archive.
- Professional: digital plus the desk's data exports and early access to the pre-open brief.
- Team: multi seat billing for firms, priced per seat with no editorial difference.
Advertising
Advertising is sold by a commercial team that sits outside the newsroom and reports separately. Advertisers cannot buy a position next to a named subject, cannot see a story before it publishes, and cannot request that a piece be moved, delayed or softened. There is no mechanism for them to do any of those things, which is the only version of this promise worth making.
Sponsored material carries a label at the top of the unit and again in the byline area, uses a different typeface to the editorial text, and is never written by a member of the editorial staff. Bank Season is published by Calder, which also runs an advertising business, so the same wall applies to Calder clients: being a client buys inventory and nothing else.
Affiliate links
We do not run affiliate links in news or analysis. Where a wealth piece names a product, broker or platform, no commission is earned on it. If that ever changes for a specific piece of service journalism, the story will carry a disclosure at the top saying so, and the commercial relationship will not affect which products are included or how they rank.
What a Bank Season journalist may own
Staff declare their holdings to the editor on joining and within five business days of any trade. The rules below apply to journalists, editors and their immediate household. They are stricter than the law requires because the alternative is asking readers to take our word for it.
Personal trading rules for editorial staff
| Instrument | Permitted | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Broad index funds and ETFs | Yes | No sector or single country funds covering the writer's own beat. |
| Individual shares | No | Existing holdings at hire must be sold or placed in a blind trust within 90 days. |
| Corporate and government bonds | Limited | Sovereign and broad bond funds only. No single issuer credit. |
| Digital assets | Limited | Disclosed holdings only, and no coverage of any asset held. Barred entirely for the digital assets desk. |
| Derivatives and short positions | No | Applies to options, futures, spread bets and contracts for difference. |
| Private companies | Case by case | Written approval from the editor, and permanent recusal from covering the company or its rivals. |
| Employer equity | Not applicable | Bank Season is privately held by Calder and issues no staff equity in the publication. |
Holdings are re-declared every January. A declaration that turns out to be incomplete is treated as a disciplinary matter, not an administrative one.
The same disclosure rule covers speaking fees, board seats, advisory roles and paid consulting. Staff may not accept payment from a firm they cover, and may not take a fee for appearing at an event hosted by one.