Banks must be allowed to take risks if they are to step up to George Osborne's plans for a private sector-led recovery, Barclays CEO Bob Diamond told MPs this morning.

The regulator's about-turn to allow commission payments on Holloway-style income protection plans after 2012 proves the RDR neglected lower-premium paying consumers from the start.

Matthew Bullock, the CEO of troubled building society Norwich & Peterborough (N&P), is leaving the company amid takeover rumours and claims of a £50m misselling scandal of Keydata products.

Firms' refusal to pay their case fees to the FOS until the outcome of a judicial review into PPI mis-selling could exhaust the Ombudsman's reserves in six weeks and force it to raise its industry levy by as much as 25%.

The financial Ombudsman (FOS) is calling for a budget increase of up to £15m in 2011/12 to deal with a shift towards harder-fought cases, but says it will freeze case fees and its general annual levy for the second year running.

Mark Garnier MP says ill-feeling towards AIFA and the CII is "widespread" in the letters he receives from IFAs, who say the bodies either fail to represent or listen to their members.

Anthony Gould, former group editor-in-chief of Incisive Media's insurance division, is to join the CII as director of faculties.

The Luxembourg court is 'unlikely' to extend the provisional administration period of Keydata-backer Lifemark beyond February, says PwC, raising serious questions about whether the fund can be restructured in time to avoid bankruptcy.

An analysis the FSA ordered from PwC into what went wrong at RBS cost more than £7.6m, according to a Freeedom of Information (FOI) request.

A 98-year-old pensioner furious at being hit with overdraft charges has decided to turn the tables on her bank, by mimicking the demands it makes of her as a customer....maybe.