Papers

The Bank of England stands accused of incompetence today following yesterday's publication of minutes from the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier this month.

Funding of company pension funds is better in the US than the UK, according to data collected by Aon on the basis of company annual reports.

High energy prices are set to shave about 0.8% off global economic growth this year, The Daily Telegraph cites International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol.

Continued delays to administration of Stamp Duty Land Tax are being blamed by HMRC on solicitor firms that have yet to twig to filling out forms correctly, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Policyholders in Standard Life have missed out on about £1.25bn in gains because of the company's decision to switch out of equities last year, reports The Times.

Companies will be driven out of business by the Pension Protection Fund levy because it will cost £1.5bn to keep afloat, not the £300m previously estimated by government, according to new actuarial calculations.

HBOS has become the first major lender to argue the industry needs access to data on council tax arrears to make better judgements about credit risk of individual borrowers.

Bradford & Bingley has followed Pru's lead and is to stop paying out endowment compensation through third party claims handlers, reports The Daily Telegraph.

UK debt loads are holding back bank profits according to HSBC's results yesterday, providing more evidence of the UK economic slowdown.

This Thursday's interest rates decision by the Bank of England is widely tipped to result in the first rate cuts in more than two years, according to most papers today.