Which? has urged banks to streamline their payment protection insurance (PPI) claim process or risk exposing customers to claims management companies, after just a quarter of the promised amount of redress was paid out in 2011.

A "sophisticated" fraudster who headed up a criminal gang has been jailed for seven years for defrauding high street banks out of almost £8m through multiple fraudulent mortgage applications.

Tesco Bank's chief executive, Benny Higgins, has suggested that its long-anticipated launch into the mortgage market will happen by as early as April this year.

The ongoing compliance costs of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) proposals will cost the industry anything between £47m and £170m a year, with one-off implementation costs between £40m and £60m, according to the FSA.

The FSA today proposes to ban non-advised mortgage sales, although all but the 'vulnerable' or those accessing higher-risk products will be able to opt-out of advice or reject it and proceed on an execution-only basis.

Official government figures have revealed that the average annual salary earned by financial and insurance brokers this year has increased 17.3% on 2010 to £54,924.

Chancellor George Osborne has not extended the Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers, with the Autumn Statement revealing the government believes it has proved "ineffective".

Three-quarters of consumers believe the FSA failed to stand up to the banks in the run-up to the financial crisis and has not done enough to help consumers, according to Which?.