The European Commission (EC) is proposing stricter regulation of credit ratings agencies (CRAs) across Europe following concerns about their contribution to the credit crunch.

Further cuts in interest rates may be on the cards after minutes from the Bank of England's November meeting hinted at the need for more action.

Barclays has successfully sold £500m of preferred stock made available to institutional investors.

Nearly half of the UK's 2.9 million interest only mortgages have no specified investment vehicle in place to pay off the capital on the loan, warns LV=.

The Pension Corporation says it plans to raise up to £400m from investors to fund acquisitions, with a long-term aim of servicing around £20bn worth of defined benefit (DB) pensions.

Nationalised mortgage lender Northern Rock expects to be responsible for 10% of all repossessions this year as it races to repay its loan from the taxpayer and tries to return to the private sector, The Guardian reports.

Life Trust has added web functionality designed to provide a full self-service function for IFAs, including firm registration and real-time plan projections.

Gary Dale from Investec Structured Products discusses Investec's current collection of Investment Plans

Shares in Lloyds TSB and HBOS continued to suffer on Tuesday as questions surrounding a planned merger remained unanswered ahead of a shareholder vote.

The FTSE 100 had climbed more than 48 points (1.18%) shortly before close on Tuesday in response to an early rally on Wall Street.