The number of mortgages available to people with smaller deposits has dived by 45% over the past twelve months.

Bradford & Bingley (B&B) has signed an agreement to reduce its obligations to buy potentially toxic mortgage debt from GMAC-RFC.

Billionaire US hedge fund manager John Paulson has made a near £1bn bet against four British banking stocks.

The FBI is trying to pin down whether executives at four American financial institutions, believed to have triggered the $700bn proposed bail-out of Wall Street, lied to shareholders, it emerged yesterday, The Times reports.

The FTSE is currently down 2.85 points (0.06%) to 5133.27 despite an EDF buy-out.

Consumer and domestically-focused industries in emerging markets are set to benefit more than exporters from rising purchasing power going forwards, according to Baring Asset Management head of emerging market equities James Syme.

James Hay is set to host four seminars for IFAs this October, entitled ‘Strategies for success in a financial storm'.

J O Hambro Capital Management is launching a global equity fund, offering a high conviction, benchmark unconstrained stock picking.

Trading in London got off to a poor start after concerns on Wall Street spread, with the FTSE 100 down 100.14 points (1.91%) to 5,136.12.

Support services firm Simply Biz has announced the freezing of membership costs in 2009.