Economics / Markets

Big banks will be forcibly broken up if they fail to heed new rules to ring-fence their investment arms from their consumer-facing operations, George Osborne is expected to say on Monday.

Barclays has announced that Chris Lucas, its group finance director, and Mark Harding, the group general counsel, are to retire from the business.

Britain's highest earners are shouldering an increasing share of the UK's income tax burden, as coalition government policies take more people out of paying the tax, according to figures released by HMRC.

The FTSE 100 rose 6.43%, or almost 380 points, in January, making this the strongest start to the year since 1989.

Assets under management in UK funds reached a record £658bn last year, with fixed income yet again the best-selling asset class despite a late surge in interest in equities.

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IMPROVED ECONOMIC DATA WILL DRAW IN INVESTORS

COMMENT

The US economy shrunk in the final quarter of 2012, raising fresh questions about the strength of its economic recovery.

Britain risks seeing its standard of living hit if it leaves the European Union, according to the head of the world's largest bond fund.