The Bank of England made £9.8bn last year on its £200bn "money printing" programme of quantitative easing to prop up the battered UK economy.

Raings agency Fitch has branded European Absolute Return (AR) funds "prone to performace disappointment" and "mis-selling" to unsophisticated investors.

The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has put on hold all complaints related to Lehman-backed products sold by Meteor Asset Management while it investigates "a greater issue" around the firm and claims against it.

Advisers are being warned to react quickly to hikes in the fund charges levied against increasingly cost-conscious clients, who will demand they justify the impact on returns.

Ashcourt Rowan has acquired a bad habit of losing staff and with rumours of more to follow it had better act quick to stem the tide.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has already paid out nearly £2m in compensation to clients of the collapsed IFA network Alpha to Omega, and is looking into another 300 claims.

Public finances are likely to come under pressure into the next Parliament and beyond as Britain struggles to deal with the cost of social care for its an ageing population, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said.

Guy Stephens and Tim Cockerill have left Ashcourt Rowan Asset Management to join Rowan Dartington.

UPDATE 9am: Global stockmarkets have almost doubled losses seen in early trading on growing concerns the debt crisis in the eurozone may spread to Italy and Spain.

European leaders last night bowed to the inevitable and conceded Greece is likely to default on its massive debt burden, which would be a first among the 17 countries using the euro, according to reports.