Voluntary guidelines for lenders, which state repossession should only be a last resort, should be binding on all lenders, according to the Liberal Democrats.

People may avoid taking out protection as they consider it too expensive warns Legal & General (L&G), as new figures show 65% overestimated the cost of £150,000 worth of life cover.

Oil prices will descend in the next six to nine months, with Brent falling from $113 a barrel at present to around $85 by the middle of next year, according to leading economist Robin Bew.

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has made three senior appointments to its MultiManager, open and guided architecture operations.

Wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown posted underlying operating profit growth of 42pc to £57.8m for the year to 30 June.

Norwich Union (NU) paid over £106m for critical illness claims in 2007, which is its largest sum for any one year to date.

Only 1pc of IFAs say they have a "very positive" view on with-profits based investments, with more than three out of five (63pc) taking a negative view, according to research carried out by Managing Partners Limited (MPL).

The FTSE100 has opened lower this morning on a busy reporting day for UK listed companies; the index is currently 13.60 points (0.25%) behind to 5457.10.

Despite the dip in house prices, homeowners in the 65+ age bracket still have £726.43bn of equity in their homes, according to Prudential, with 40pc of this concentrated in London and the south east.

Alliance & Leicester has reduced interest rates on all but one of its mortgage products by at least 0.1%.