Papers

Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire and cricket enthusiast accused of an $8bn fraud, said that he expected to be indicted by US authorities in the next two weeks, The Times reports.

Cattles, the beleaguered sub-prime lender, warned shareholders today it would have to write down up to £850m because of defaulting borrowers in the wake of an external investigation into its accounting scandal, writes The Times .

Shares in Barclays soared today on reports the FSA had given the bank's balance sheet a clean bill of health, which will allow it avoid seeking funds from the Government, reports The Times .

Gordon Brown last night backed away from plans for a recession-busting spending spree in next month's budget, after City investors delivered a stern message about the health of the public finances by shunning a sale of government debts for the first time...

The £3 million Edinburgh home of Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), was attacked overnight.

MPC member Danny Blanchflower has warned that the British economy may not recover this year, and repeated his view that unemployment is likely to climb above the three million mark.

The Financial Services Authority has cancelled the annual review of its own effectiveness, despite criticisms of its failure to prevent the near collapse of banks including HBOS and Bradford & Bingley.

The Treasury came under heavy fire yesterday for allowing Northern Rock to continue to extend 125 per cent mortgages long after the bank was forced to seek Government help, writes The Times.

Barclays Bank obtained a court order early today banning the Guardian from publishing documents which showed how the bank set up companies to avoid hundreds of millions of pounds in tax.

Shares in Lloyds, the bank group which rescued HBOS, soared by 7.4% in early trading today as it emerged the Government was on the verge of increasing its stake in the bank from 43% to about 60% reports The Times .