Papers

The British economy risks following the US into a slowdown unless interest rates are cut sharply in the next few months, one of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee members warns today, The Guardian reports.

The Commons Treasury Select Committee's long-awaited report into the Northern Rock debacle will be published on Saturday and is expected to conclude that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) should not be given new powers to intervene to help distressed...

JC Flowers, the US private equity firm, has made a 175p per share informal offer for Friends Provident and is expected to update the market this week on its approach to the troubled UK insurer, The Times reports.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has begun a market abuse investigation into all the companies involved in the recent takeover battle for Resolution, the financial services group, The Independent reports.

The Government's handling of the Northern Rock affair will come under fresh scrutiny today when bosses from some of the world's most powerful investment banks are grilled by MPs, The Guardian reports.

Virgin's bankers have barely begun discussing the detail of its proposals for Northern Rock, despite the stricken lender unveiling Sir Richard Branson's group as its preferred bidder - with the Government's blessing - last week, The Telegraph reports....

Banking giant has Barclays revealed £1.3bn of write-downs on credit-related securities since the turmoil in financial markets began at the start of July, The Telegraph reports.

The Bank of England told Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, that only he could support a secret takeover approach that might have saved Northern Rock, days before the run on the mortgage lender, it emerged last night, The Times reports.

Investors sent global shares plummeting yesterday as fresh fears over the extent of the worldwide credit crunch and weak US data combined with soaring oil prices to spread jitters across financial markets, The Times reports.

Northern Rock tapped the Bank of England for a further £3bn this month, taking the total amount of emergency funding it has drawn to £16bn, The Telegraph reports.