Papers

Flood losses have caused a decline in profits at Aviva, Britain's largest insurer, which operates under the Norwich Union brand in the UK, The Guardian reports.

Standard Life, the UK's fifth largest insurer understood to be eyeing a potential bid for closed-fund group Resolution, crashed through City forecasts in the first half, posting a 31% surge in worldwide life and pensions sales to almost £8.2bn, The Times...

Resolution's Clive Cowdery and his arch-rival Hugh Osmond are expected to meet today as Resolution challenged Mr Osmond to declare his intentions after he amassed a 16.5 per cent interest in the closed life fund specialist, The Financial Times reports....

Two Bear Stearn hedge funds filed for bankruptcy protection, while investors in a third fund managed by the Wall Street bank were barred from withdrawing their money amid concerns that the credit crisis is spreading to other parts of the economy, The...

LEADING MPs on the Commons Treasury Committee vowed this weekend to turn up the political heat on an embattled private equity industry in the autumn, despite an inconclusive report today from the cross-party group on the controversial sector, The Times...

Mortgage providers yesterday cautioned that Gordon Brown's proposals for long-term, fixed-rate mortgages could meet a cool reception from consumers as the Prime Minister announced what could potentially be the biggest shake-up in the mortgage market in...

A leading City fund manager is so concerned about Gordon Brown's economic record that he has spent £5,000 of his own money placing an advertisement criticising the new Prime Minister in the in-house magazine at the Houses of Parliament, The Independent...

A high street bank has outraged customers after effectively banning everyone apart from the well-off from using one of its branches, says the Daily Telegraph .

LENDERS ARE now offering mortgages equal to six times salary to first-time buyers desperate to get a foot on the property ladder, as house prices soar out of reach, says the Daily Telegraph .

The Dutch banking regulator has signalled it might approve the break-up of ABN Amro, making the Dutch investment bank a more attractive target for bidders, according to the Times .