British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday he wanted Financial Services Authority (FSA) – - Britain’s financial watchdog — to investigate Goldman Sachs after it was charged with fraud by U.S. regulators. Meanwhile, the UK Financial Services Authority did not make any comment on Brown’s speech on Sunday. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday charged Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs with "defrauding investors" over subprime mortgage securities, which were largely blamed for the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The government agency, which is responsible for regulating the financial markets in the country, alleged that Goldman Sachs failed to disclose crucial information to investors of its securities that a major hedge fund had bet against the securities.

Royal Bank of Scotland, the part-nationalised UK bank that lost $840 million in an allegedly fraudulent investment created by Goldman Sachs, will await the outcome of US investigations before deciding whether to pursue its own legal action. RBS will see if the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to be successful in the civil suit it has launched against Goldman. In the suit, it accuses the investment bank of securities fraud relating to a complex derivatives deal linked to subprime mortgages. RBS lost money on the deal through its ownership of ABN, the Dutch bank it bought at the height of the credit bubble in 2007, which had acted as a guarantor for ACA, the main counterparty in the deal.

City bankers saw near unprecedented income growth over the past decade, with the highest paid receiving nearly a third of the UK’s total wage bill, according to recent research. The study, which cited bankers’ bonuses and pay at the top end of financial services as a driving force behind Britain’s rising pay inequality, found financial services professionals took home an additional £12 billion a year by the end of the ten year period.

Bank dividends throughout Europe are at their lowest level on record as recovering financial institutions retain earnings to increase capital. According to city banking sources the average dividend yield among European banks is now 1.9 percent, with over a quarter of the continent’s top 50 banks paying no dividend. Regulators have been pressuring banks not to resume or increase payments while details of new capital requirements remain unclear. Some banks have cut dividends despite making a profit, with British bank Barclays cutting its dividend from 11.5 pence to 2.5 pence despite profits of £11.6 billion last year.

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland closed up 2.1 pence at 50.4 pence on Monday, 0.2 pence above the 50.2 pence average price paid when the Government invested £45.5 billion pounds. The current price represents a £180 million profit for British taxpayers. Shares in Lloyds Banking Group rose 0.72 pence to 65.42 pence, leaving the taxpayer £2.26 billion in the red on the Government’s 41 percent investment.

Some of the UK’s poorest northern and peripheral regions have seen a growth in business and investment, narrowing the gap with the south as an attractive place to do business, according to a recent survey. The survey showed that the highest increase in rankings since 1997 for the UK’s periphery. Northwest England was the star performer in the index, rising from eighth to fourth place among the UK’s 12 regions.

According to a quarterly report for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, (IPA) signs of improving business confidence among UK advertisers are beginning to show, and for the first time since 2007 The survey, regarded as a barometer for both the economy as well as the advertising industry, found some 21 percent of marketing directors had increased their advertising budget in the first quarter of 2010, while 36 percent signalled plans to raise their spending in the new financial year.

In the run up to the World Cup Bumper shipments of digital set-top boxes for televisions are set to buoy first-half sales at Pace. The football tournament, which will be broadcast in high definition and in 3D, has seen pay-TV operators ship set-top boxes to customers in time for the contest. A spokesman for the company said the World Cup would act as an advertisement for high-definition television, boosting sales after the competition has finished. Pace said trading in the first quarter of 2010 had been in line with management expectations. It has forecast double-digit revenue growth for the full year amid equally strong volume improvements. Pace is focusing on producing technology for the next generation of set-top boxes, which will combine internet connectivity, multimedia storage and digital television. Last month, it acquired Bewan, a French maker of modems and “gateway” boxes that combine the features of wireless modems, digital storage devices and internet telephony routers.

Supermarket chain Tesco are planning to recruit 1,000 new members of staff to sell electronics in its stores. Tesco’s announcement of its new scheme comes in response to the debut of the American electronics chain Best Buy in the UK next week. Best Buy specialises in offering expert advice to customers on its products, a model that Tesco is hoping to emulate with its own "tech team". Tesco is expected to become the third largest electrical retailer in the UK next year.

Sterling suffered as fears over a possible hung parliament after next month’s election weighed on the pound. An opinion poll showed the UK’s Liberal Democrats, the smallest of the country’s three main parties, had taken the lead. That was the first time the Lib Democrats have led the polls and came after a well-received performance by Nick Clegg, Lib Dem leader, in last week’s televised debate between the UK’s three main political parties. The news heightened fears that an incoming government would lack the strength to get to grips with the UK’s record fiscal deficit. The pound was last seen sitting on $1.5353, and at €1.1440.

The FTSE 100 rose 40 points to 5783.60 at close of trading on Tuesday.

Wall Street banking giant Citigroup has reported a profit of $4.4 billion (£2.9 billion) for the first three months of the year.

The result represents a return to profit after the bank lost $7.6 billion in the last quarter of last year after repaying government loans.

Last week, rival bank JP Morgan reported better-than-expected first quarter profits of $3.3 billion while the Bank of America posted a $3.2 billion profit for the period.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average made some profits early in the week, up, down 99 points to 11.117.06 while the NASDAQ Composite rose by 20 points to close on 2,500.31.

Japanese car maker Toyota has agreed to pay a record $16.4 million (£10.7 million) to US safety regulators following recent safety concerns.

Toyota was asked to pay the fine for failing to inform the US government of safety concerns surrounding faulty accelerator pedals.

Millions of Toyotas were recalled earlier this year amid reports that the pedals could become stuck.

The fine is the largest ever handed out by the US transportation department.

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According to a recent survey, some of the largest companies in the UK are in fear of the financial effects of a hung parliament would have on the economy. The survey which takes in 141 chief financial officers of leading UK companies, among them 40 whose companies are quoted on the FTSE 100, fear that such as situation will have a negative effect on their own businesses. Current opinion polls suggest that, while the Conservatives hold a relatively strong lead, there is a strong chance that no party will win an overall majority in the rapidly approaching elections

Meanwhile a survey recently conducted shows that business confidence has reached its highest level in four years, with output back to levels not seen since before the recession. The report does go on to warn that a "significant increase" in investment in the private sector is needed in order to sustain the recovery, whilst stressing that business optimism could be "short-lived" without the investment.

Increases of y only 0.05 percent in the total value of UK exports have been reported on final quarter of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008 The figures came despite hopes that the weakness of sterling would be beneficial for the exports sector. According to government figures, the total number of companies exporting goods has fallen l by 3.4 percent to just less than fifty thousand. Both the UK government and the Bank of England have previously predicted that exports would help push the recovery.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union have met with Network Rail in an attempt to avoid strikes planned by thousands of rail workers. The dispute revolves around Network Rail plans to cut 1,500 jobs and alter rosters to allow more work to be carried out at evenings and weekends. The RMT executive is expected to agree to a timetable for fresh ballots after four days of planned strike action were called off last week when Network Rail launched a successful legal challenge.

BAE Systems (BAE) has topped a list of the world’s 100 largest arms manufacturers, marking the first time that the list has been topped by a company outside the U.S. Figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that BAE arms sales totaled $32.4 billion in 2008. The record performance was largely down to increased sales at BAE’s U.S. subsidiaries, with sales at the company’s Land and Armaments group in the U.S. rising from $7 billion to $12 billion.

Shares in the Home Retail Group Plc rose to a four-month high in London trading after reports that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda may be interested in making an offer for the U.K. company. On the news, Home Retail’s shares gained as much as 5.6 percent and closed up 14.7 pence to 295.1 pence as, valuing the company at £2.59 billion pounds ($4 billion).

Home Retail, owner of the U.K.’s Argos catalog stores, had sales of just less than £6 billion pounds in the year ended Feb. 27. A spokesman for Home Retail, based in Milton Keynes, declined to comment on the report.

Liverpool Football Club’s U.S. owners have appointed Barclays Capital help find a buyer for the Premiership club. Current owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought the club in 2007 for £219 million pounds. Gillett and Hicks have in the past hired Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to attract minority investors and their decision to appoint Barclays indicates they are now stepping up efforts to achieve an outright sale.

A study has suggested that a permanent rise in the price of oil would leave the UK economy in better shape than the other major importers, especially Japan, the U.S. and the Euro zone. Although all big oil-importing economies would suffer from a higher oil price, Japan and the U.S. would be hardest hit, while the UK would withstand the shock relatively well, with a $10 price rise contracting its economy by just 0.4 percent.

The pound continues to make some slow momentum, remaining above the $1.50 level at $1.5374, while falling back in value ever so slightly against the Euro at 1.1308.

The FTSE 100 stuttered on some insecure trading, falling 15.99 points to 5761.66.

The euro has jumped sharply against the dollar and the pound after the Eurozone agreed details of a multi-billion euro loan package to debt-ridden Greece.

The Euro rose by more than 2 cents, against the dollar, to close on $1.3672. While rising to 88.408 pence against the pound.

The rise came after the Eurozone member nations eventually agreed to provide loans of up to €30 billion (£27 billion) in the first year of a three-year package. Greece hopes it will not have to ask for the emergency loans and Instead the implementation of an extensive package of austerity measures will help to cut its debt levels and restore confidence in Greek government debt.

In the US it was announced that the trade deficit has widened to $39.7 billion (£20.8 billion) in February, as import growth continued to outpace exports.

According to figures issued by the US Department of Commerce, the overall trade deficit increased by $2.7 billion from January. It also announced that imports were up 20.5% to $182.9 billion from the same month in 2009 while exports were up only 14.3% to $143.2 billion.

The trade figures confirm the trend of resurgent imports outpacing the rebound in exports as the US economy recovers from recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to rise, crossing the 11,000 point barrier at 11.0032.46 while the NASDAQ Composite was 21 points higher at 2,4664.86

US chip maker Intel has announced net record incomes for the first quarter of $2.44 billion (£1.59 billion) compared with $629 million reported for the first quarter in 2009, making for almost a quadruple increase. Intel’s turnover was up 44% to $10.3 billion showing recovery from the global recession is well under way in the computer hardware department.

The social networking site Twitter has announced their plans to allow advertising on their site; a spokesperson for Twitter said that for the first time.

Advertisers would be able to buy "Promoted Tweets" that will appear on Twitter’s search results pages, whilst going on to point out that "Promoted Tweets" will differ from traditional adverts. Instead these Tweets must "resonate with users" and delivered in a conversational tone.

Twitter have reportedly already signed up number of big name organisations such as Sony Pictures, coffee chain Starbucks and US retailer Best Buy to tweet.

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Tags: Argos, ASDA, BAE Systems, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays Capital, Best Buy, British Economy, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Eurozone, Financial News, FTSE, Home Retail, Home Retail Group Plc, hung parliament, Liverpool Football Club, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Network Rail, Promoted Tweets, Recession, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Stocks and shares, twitter, UK Banks, UK business, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US Department of Commerce, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

There is a lot of speculation about that the Treasury has set the wheels in motion to reduce their stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, both of which are partially state-owned. The staged de-privitisation will be effected through the creation of "convertible gilts", or government bonds. These bonds could then be exchanged for Lloyds or RBS shares once certain price targets are achieved. This way the government might be able to slowly reduce the taxpayers’ stake in the banks, hopefully over the next five years.

On another vein, the Treasury has warned banks that investors could be given the powers to veto top salaries, even before they are paid. Current rules that allow shareholders to vote on remuneration reports detailing pay only for the previous year, meaning that anyone that votes against bonuses in particular or large and unjustified ones in particular are for the protocol only. The revised proposals were made in Budget documents issued by the Treasury, with a more detailed and final proposal unlikely to come before the election.

Telecoms Company Vodafone are reported to be in discussions with their US counterpart Verizon Communications over the future of Verizon Wireless, which is a US mobile phone joint venture between the two companies. Apparently the discussions are based around a full merger of the two groups, which could take the form of an all-stock combination with a value of more than £120 billion.

US consumer electronics retailer Best Buy have outline details of their expansion plans for the UK. Best Buy intends to open four stores across the UK in the spring. A fifth will open in south London in the autumn.

Ofcom has ruled that UK mobile phone companies will have to cut their charges by at least a billion pounds a year. The ruling comes after a review of the cost of connecting mobile phone calls from one network to another, with the move is expected to aid smaller operators as well as consumers, to cut losses through having to pay extra to connect customers to rival networks.

Toyota announced before the weekend that they are temporarily halting production at its factories in France and the UK. The stoppage, expected to last for a total of nine days, come as a result of falling sales that the company have partly attributed to its recent recall woes.

Toyota will put production on hold at its two factories in Britain for five working days sometime in May. In early June, Toyota also plans to halt one of its two assembly lines at its Burnaston plant for a further five working days. The stoppages come after Toyota recalled 8.5 million vehicles globally over braking problems in its Prius hybrid, sticky gas pedals and pedals that can get stuck under floor mats. Toyota’s sales in the 27-nation European Union sank 20 percent in February from a year earlier, even though overall EU car sales rose 3 percent.

News has been released that the Teeside Cast Products steelmaking site has been approached by a potential buyer, with the purchase offer being the first confirmed approach since Corus CSL announced last year it was to end production. The offer has come from Rutland Partners, a London-based mid-market firm specialises in turning round underperforming companies.

Operator of the National Lottery, Camelot have announced that they are to be sold to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) for close to £400 million pounds. A representative of OTPP has stated that managed to defeat private equity group CVC’s bid, largely because as a pension fund they promises long-term stability for the lottery. The bid from OTPP is being underwritten by the Royal Bank of Canada.

The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their websites in June, owner News International (NI) has announced.

Users will be required to pay £1 for a single day’s access and £2 for a week’s subscription. The move looks likely to open a new front in the printed media/internet front and will be watched closely by the industry.

At long last the sale of the Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers to Alexander Lebedev, owner of the London Evening Standard has been completed.

The Russian billionaire purchased the loss-making paper from Irish company Independent News & Media (INM) for £1, the cost of one daily edition of the newspaper.

The deal between the two parties has been under discussion for many months.

American businessman Stan Kroenke increased his stake in the Arsenal football club. His latest shares acquisition places him within 10 shares of the threshold that forces him to make a takeover bid of the English soccer power.

Kroenke now owns 29.9 percent after acquiring seven more shares ay at a cost of $12,650 each, the Premier League club announced before the weekend. If the Denver based Kroenke passes the 30 percent mark, he will be obliged to make an offer for the remaining shares in Arsenal Holdings.

Kroenke, who first bought a 9.99 percent stake in Arsenal in 2007

The Euro has strengthened against the dollar and the pound after eurozone leaders agreed a financial aid package to help debt-laden Greece.

The leaders agreed to provide €22 billion (£20 billion) should Greece run into difficulties borrowing money to service its high debt levels.

On Friday the euro rose by more than one cent to $1.3393 before falling back slightly. The pound also declined against the euro, paring a weekly advance, as a report showed U.K. business investment had the biggest annual drop on record in the fourth quarter, fueling concern the recovery has yet to take hold.

The pound headed for a second weekly loss versus the dollar.

The pound continues to be a problematic issue in the Forex markets. It closed on Friday y on $1.4877 while the Euro fell to €1.1113.

The FTSE 100 index dropped before close on Friday, finishing down 24.63 points to 5,703.02.

The White House announced on Friday that they will require lenders to lower the mortgage payments of some unemployed workers and encourage lenders to eliminate some principal debt of homeowners who owe more than their home is worth.

President Barack Obama’s plan comes after increasing political pressure to change his strategy for helping struggling homeowners and stem the tide of rising foreclosures. This is the second major housing initiative announced in as many months.

Delinquencies on U.S. mortgages rose to nearly 14 percent in late 2009, led by a sharp increase in seriously overdue home loans held by the most credit-worthy borrowers.

Obama’s $75 billion homeowner assistance program announced last year has been widely criticized as ineffective by both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The Dow Jones rose a little to complete a week of impressive gains closing on 10850.36. The NASDAQ dropped 2 points to 2395.41.

US economic growth has been revised down to an annualised rate of 5.6% for the fourth quarter of 2009 from 5.9%, in the US Commerce Department’s third estimate of fourth-quarter GDP.

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