Lifemark investors never had a chance of getting their money back on time, a leading actuary involved in the fund's restructuring says.

The trustee for the victims of Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff has filed an $80m case in London's High Court of Justice against the swindler's UK operations.

The FTSE advanced 40 points in early trading on Tuesday as investors were buoyed by news of US tax cuts, but European debt fears were keeping a lid on sentiment ahead of the Irish budget.

The Irish Republic is poised to unveil the details of a severe austerity budget later, part of a deal to secure an €85bn bail-out from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The rules on giving advice would need to be eased up if the FSA pushes for a rumoured tightening of product regulation, says Legal & General's (L&G) executive director of savings.

The Treasury has banned groups of companies from using intra-group loans or derivatives to reduce their tax bills, as part of a widespread clampdown on business tax avoidance.

A group of 700 Keydata SLS investors will start a legal case against a string of global financial institutions in January, claiming they watched over a multi-million pound theft from the fund and did nothing while collecting huge fees.

An MP at the centre of this week's maiden parliamentary debate on the RDR has hinted advisers should not expect changes to the FSA's adviser charging rules, but says the regulator could "soften" its qualification requirements.

Modest investors who may be priced out of holistic financial advice post-2012 will need less of it anyway as they become auto-enroled into pension schemes, investment manager Vanguard says.

The FSA has cleared RBS of acting fraudulently during the purchase of ABN AMRO, but censured it for making a "series of bad decisions" in the run up to the financial crisis.