News

The UK Government must step up its pressure on lenders if it wants to free the market from its "heavy constraints", the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says.

The head of the FSA, Hector Sants, says politicians must take responsibility for setting pay caps if they deem them "morally" necessary, and that not only bankers should be subject to such restrictions, reports the Telegraph.

The FTSE soared in early trading thanks in part to better-than-expected results from insurance giant Prudential.

Dutch insurer Aegon says it plans to sell up to EUR 1bn (£860m) in stock to partially repay aid it received from the Dutch government.

Prudential UK's total APE sales for the first half of the year were down 14% to £376m with a strong showing for with-profit bonds and individual pensions offset by falls for individual annuities, offshore bonds and corporate pensions.

Zurich Financial Services Group has unveiled an electronic ‘guardian angel' Blackberry application to provide medical and security information to business globetrotters.

Draft units for qualifications designed specifically to meet proposals in the RDR have been agreed and are set for consultation.

Advisers with clients invested in the Arch cru fund range are seeing the cost of their professional indemnity (PI) insurance rise on the back of the products' suspension, the Investors Committee claims.

The Dow Jones is seeing upward movement as investors await the Fed's interest rate decision due later today.

Sesame has stressed it sees platforms as "very important" to the future of retail distribution as the final details on a takeover of support services provider Bankhall are hammered out.