The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reported receiving five offers for their Williams & Glyn’s branch network. RBS were ordered to sell these branches as part of a European Commission state aid ruling in 2009, the business is valued at around £2 billion.

By Tuesday night’s deadline, speculations were that Santander, Virgin Money, National Australia Bank, BBVA and JC Flowers had all submitted bids, with Santander is widely believed to be the favourite bidder, with an offer potentially worth at least £2 billion. Santander recently completed the rebranding their UK operations under their own name

However, with Virgin now being backed by Wilbur Ross, the US billionaire, offering pledges on jobs their offer has to be taken seriously, with elections in a month’s time.

The UK government holds a 70 per cent equity stake in RBS, giving politicians and the public far greater influence over its fate.

The chief executive of U.S. telecommunications company Verizon Communications has said that there is "no compelling reason" for the U.S. Company to merge with British mobile network operator Vodafone. The two companies are continuing talks regarding their strategic options. Vodafone owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless with Verizon holding the remaining 55 percent. However, there has been some conflict recently; with Vodafone pressuring Verizon to resume paying dividends since the U.S. Company blocked payments in order to reduce its debt burden. Shares in Vodafone dropped 2 pence to 149.6 pence on the statement.

Recent figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that the number of cars on the UK roads has decreased for the first time since records began in 1904. The country’s total car fleet has declined by 0.7 percent in 2009. According to the SMMT factors that had to be taken into account for decline are the recession, the government car scrappage scheme, and new Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) regulations which remove the details of unlicensed vehicles from the database.

Kraft Foods came under attack in a report from a committee of U.K. lawmakers in a report critical of moves the American company made after its hostile $17.5 billion (£12 billion) takeover of Cadbury, the beloved British chocolate maker. The report by the U.K.’s Business Select Committee accuses Kraft of acting "irresponsibly and unwisely" after reneging on a promise to keep a Cadbury factory in Somerdale open, instead planning to move the plant’s production to Poland, resulting in the loss of 400 jobs. Meanwhile, British union leaders have called for a "Cadbury law" to protect British businesses from aggressive foreign takeovers.

ESPN, the Disney-owned sports television channel, has acquired the rights to deliver Premier League football highlights on UK mobile phones until 2013, supplanting British Sky Broadcasting, which has held the rights since 2007-08. The move strengthens ESPN’s position as a competitor to BSkyB and underlines the US broadcaster’s determination to expand its share of the UK sports market. For the three football seasons from August onwards, ESPN will deliver in-match, post-match and highlights from all 380 Barclays Premier League matches, Purchase of the mobile rights is the latest in a series of additions to ESPN’s sports portfolio.

Research conducted on behalf of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), representing an association of 33,500 small shopkeepers, indicates that 85 percent of the public oppose a liberalisation of trading laws that, if passed would allow large retail chains to open for longer on Sundays. The ACS stated that the current regulations assisted small retailers by encouraging local shopping in small stores. Large retailers including Topshop and House of Fraser have recently been lobbying the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson with requests to relax the existing laws.

The pound fell continues to recover if ever so slightly closing on $1.5273, whilst also gaining against the Euro to close on 1.1441

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index retreated from a 21-month high after a sell-off in commodity production shares .The benchmark Index lost 67.65 points to 5,712.7.

Former Federal Reserve governor Alan Greenspan has defended his record at a congressional hearing into the financial crisis. In a statement, Mr Greenspan denied that his policy of maintaining low interest rates had been a major factor in the crisis. Consistently low interest rates have been blamed for the expansion in the sub-prime mortgage market which led to the credit crunch. However, Greenspan voiced his opinion that the way the banks repackaged their loans was a major contributing factor to the crisis.

Stocks rallied yesterday after U.S. jobs increased by the most in three years, boosting optimism about the strength of a recovery in the world’s largest economy. Since March last year, the gauge has rebound more than 60 percent.

The Dow Jones closed up 45.87 points to 10943.39, while the NASDAQ index rose 9.15 points to close on 2440.31

As part of a global tie-up of the brands German carmaker Daimler announced that they are to give Renault and Nissan a 3.1% stake in its business, with Daimler taking a 3.1% stakes in both Renault and Nissan, in exchange. Renault and Nissan have held a trading alliance for more than a decade.

The deal will allow the companies to share technology and development costs while remain separate trading entities. According to a spokesman for Nissan, one of the key areas of co-operation will be in the development of electric cars and light commercial vehicles.

European financial markets continue to feel the pressures over the state of Greece’s debt-ridden economy. Banking stocks in particular, not only in Greece but in most of the other leading European countries, have seen sharp falls. Meanwhile it has been reported that the Greek government’s cost of borrowing has risen to record levels, reflecting investors’ concerns that Greece might not be pay back the loans due to the poor state of the country’s public finances.

The Athens Composite share index fell by 3.1%, with banks down 6.4% on average.

All major European markets also suffered, and banks in France and Germany were especially hit due to their exposure to Greece’s borrowing.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Association of Convenience Stores, Bank, Banking, Barclays, BBVA, British Economy, British Sky Broadcasting, BskyB, Cadbury, Credit Crunch, Daimler, Dow Jones, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Economics, Economy, Employment, ESPN, Financial News, FTSE, House of Fraser, JC Flowers, Kraft Foods, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, National Australia Bank, Nissan, Recession, Renault, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Stocks and shares, Topshop, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Verizon Communications, Virgin Money, Vodafone, Wilbur Ross, Williams and Glyn

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has publicly set a national election for May 6 which looks like being one of Britain’s toughest to call for many years, as well as Brown’s first as leader of the Labour Party. Brown made this long anticipated announcement after meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. The Labour Party is expected to face a tough election battle against the Conservative Party led by David Cameron, who enjoys a lead in opinion polls. The Labour Party has been in power since Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997.

In the meantime the show must go on, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has done so holding successful negotiations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the issue of setting a "global responsibility levy" on banks. Brown confirmed that Britain, France and Germany were broadly all in agreement on the need for a levy, which could cost the financial sector billions of pounds a year. They are now seeking U.S. support for the proposed new tax on banks. Gordon Brown did stop short of revealing how much the tax they expected to raise from British banks, while Merkel was not so reticent. The German Chancellor predicted that her government would raise around one billion pounds from German banks, while going on to conceded that the ongoing problems in the banking sector had yet to be fully resolved.

According to one of the UK’s largest employment agencies, demand for new workers fell last month, leading to concerns over a rise in unemployment. A spokesman for the agency did point our however that demand for qualified accountants and strategic consultants is now at its highest level since d last year. Unemployment has been stable in recent months, at around 2.45 million. Economists have warned that the figure could peak at 2.8 million this year.

European house price values apparently fell on average in 2009 for the first time in over a decade. The FT Europe Index, which covers the 23 countries on the European mainland, reported a 2.8 percent decline in value for the years, while statistics issued in the FT Eurozone Index, which covers 16 nations Eurozone member group showed a 4.6 percent fall. House prices fell on average more than seven percent in the larger, more developed countries such as British, Spain, France and Germany. However recent data covering the last quarter of 2009 suggests that the big four European countries may be past the worst of the property value decline, registering marginal growth in the fourth quarter compared with the third.

As cabin crew staged two four-day strikes last month, seven key British Airways executives were walking away with share options with a combined value of almost three million pounds. The awards were for shares worth £2.50 pounds each. The executives will be allowed to exercise their options only if pre-agreed performance targets are met.

American billionaire Wilbur Ross has reportedly acquired a stake in Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money. With the announcement coming just days ahead of its bid for a national branch network being sold by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The US tycoon, known for his corporate td investments in steel, oil, banking and utilities, paid about £ 100 million for 21 per cent of Virgin Money, designed to bolster the company’s ambitions to create a national high street chain of banks.

Tesco, who already offer a wide range of financial products to their existing customers, are reported to be having their eye on capturing around 10 percent of the financial services market in the UK, with current accounts and mortgages expected to be available over the next year. If Tesco’s plans bear fruit, it could make them similar in size to Abbey, owned by Santander.

A recent annual audit of UK retail and leisure parks has revealed that twenty percent of the retailers who agreed to pay rent in excess of £100 pounds per square foot are either in administration or tied into company voluntary arrangements. The findings come despite evidence that the retail sector increased floor space requirements by 0.4 percent last year.

On the money markets, due to ever increasing optimism, the US dollar was up almost a cent against the euro, with a dollar worth 74.8 eurocents. The dollar was also up almost half a penny against the pound, at 65.7 pence.

The pound continued to remain above the $1.50 mark at $1.5247, whilst gaining slightly against the Euro to close on 1.401

The FTSE 100 returned from the holiday weekend in semi-buoyant mood up 35.46 points to close on 5780.35

On the first day of its launch in the US, computer hardware giants Apple announced that they had it sold more than 300,000 of its latest baby, the iPad tablet computer. The figures for Saturday’s bookings included pre-orders of the device, as well as sales at Apple stores across the country. The news of the successful launch set Apple Inc shares up 1.1% to a record closing high of $238.49 on Monday. The iPad is expected to be on sale in parts of Europe, Canada and Australia by the end of this month, and will retail in the US at between $499 $829 (£328 to £545), dependant on specifications, with European prices yet to be announced. According to an objective survey, the vast majority of the iPad’s 300,000 launch-day sales went to current Apple product owners.

Wall Street returned after the holidays a little groggy, with Dow Jones down, but just by 3.56 points to 10969.99. The NASDAQ rose a little, 7.28 points to 2436.81.

Meanwhile, the US transport department has confirmed that they will be demanding a record fine of $16.4 million (£10.7 million) from auto maker Toyota for withholding information about problems they had been having with faulty accelerator pedals. The department says the company failed to notify it about the flaws "in a timely way" with the National Highways Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said documents provided by Toyota showed the carmaker knew about the defect in September. Reports of problems with the pedals prompted a massive recall in January. Toyota was given two weeks to appeal against this penalty.

Possibly as a result of problems in the Japanese car industry, German car exports were reported to have risen by more than fifty percent in March compared with a year earlier. However official figures have shown that domestic car sales fell by a quarter in the month, compared to 2009.

Germany exported 419,400 cars in March, while overseas orders for future deliveries were up by more than 28%. Domestic sales fell by 27% to 295,000 as demand fell due to the end of the country’s car scrappage scheme, which closed in September last year.

Oil prices have risen amid growing optimism that improved US job creation will boost economic recovery and lead to higher demand for crude. The price of oil reached a fresh 18-month high on Tuesday on growing hopes of a US-led global economic recovery. US light crude hit $86.84 a barrel in New York trading, while Brent crude peaked at $86.15.

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Tags: Angela Merkel, Bank, Banking, British Economy, Credit Crunch, David Cameron, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FT Europe Index, FT Eurozone Index, FTSE, global responsibility levy, Gordon Brown, iPad, Money, Mortgage, NASDAQ, National Highways Traffic Safety Administration, Retail, Richard Branson, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Toyota, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Election, UK government, UK Recession, Unemployment, Wilbur Ross

Records from the Registry Trust show that the value of County Court Judgments (CCJs) against businesses in England and Wales increased five percent to nearly £ 900 million pounds last year. The number of judgments against businesses increased by nine percent on 2008 to a record 207,100, the fifth year-on-year increase in a row. A spokesman for the Registry Trust said the figures reflected the worsening economy.

U.S. food group Kraft Foods the new owner of confectioner Cadbury, has told 3,600 Cadbury staff that they face a three-year pay freeze unless they leave the company’s final salary pension scheme. Kraft has discovered a clause in Cadbury’s pension trust deed preventing it from changing members’ benefits in any way deemed "unfair or materially detrimental". Kraft is not forbidden from closing the scheme, but if they decided to do so would have to pay the full costs involved. Cadbury’s pension deficit was reported to be around £258 million.

U.K. owner of train tracks and stations Network Rail Ltd have won a court order preventing four days of strikes that would have disrupted journeys for millions of travelers returning from their Easter break. A High Court judge ruled against the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). Network Rail’s lawyer argued that the RMT hadn’t polled its members accurately, with some workplaces returning more votes than the number of registered members. The union announced their intentions to hold another ballot. Network Rail, the state-owned operator of the U.K.’s rail infrastructure, carries about three and a half million passengers every day. Britain was facing its first national shutdown since 1994 after the RMT voted last month to strike in a dispute over job cuts and working terms after negotiations broke down. The strike was planned due to begin on the 6th of April.

Recent data released by one of the UK’s leading credit card payment acceptance processors shows payments made on credit and debit cards were up 7.1% in February compared to the same month last year. The increase follows on recent figures that show credit and debit card spending was up 3.6% in January 2010 in comparison the same month last year, while February 2010 showed an increase over the previous year, on a month-by-month basis, spending on debit and credit cards declined slightly by 2.5% from January, in line with expectations. The index is based on spending on all credit and debit cards across a wide range of retail sectors.

Marks & Spencer have posted another quarter of sales growth since the turn of the year. M&S’s statement showed a like-for-like sales increase that far outshone the previous quarter’s 0.8% rise with a 1.8% increase. Institutional and private investors have remained cautious on M&S due to economic uncertainty over the last few years, and while the previous quarter saw the first growth in two years, fear were that the Januarys snow may have hampered trading, although Marks and Spencer had managed to keep most of its stores open. M&S’s annual trading results due to be released in May are expected to show annual profits of £625 million, up from £604.4 million the previous year.

The children’s clothing and equipment retailer Mothercare grew total sales by 3.3 per cent in its fourth quarter, but did suffer a decline in UK like-for-like sales because of extreme weather conditions during January. Mothercare, which operates in 1,115 stores, announced in a recent trading update that the adverse weather in the 11 weeks to March 27 forced it to extend its winter sale, while managing to reverse some of the loss of turnover, through implement tight cost controls. Total UK sales in the quarter fell 0.9 per cent and like-for-like sales – sales in stores trading for at least a year, as well as sales in its online divisions – were down 1.6 per cent, weaker than analyst had anticipated.

The UK’s largest mobile phone companies may be forced to cut the price of their calls following new proposals unveiled by Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator. The watchdog is proposing deep cuts in termination rates on the 02, Orange/T-Mobile, Vodafone and 3UK networks as it works to set the rules on mobile termination rates. By doing so, Ofcom stepped back from an initial proposal last year that could have seen consumers face higher monthly bills if telecoms companies had to cut or scrap charges for connecting calls to their networks. Mobile termination rates are the fees are paid by fixed-line and mobile operators when their customers make calls to people on other networks. The reform is a highly contentious issue among the bigger mobile operators, mainly because they earn more than £2 billion a year from the fees. Ofcom have set a price ceiling on the wholesale fees that mobile operators can levy on each other, as well as fixed-line phone companies led by BT Group

Recent data shows a rise to 57.2 in the UK’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index in March. This positive figure confirms that the sector is continuing to expand and is an improvement on previous forecasts, which had called for a more modest increase February’s reading of 56.6, with expectations that it would be around the 56.8 mark. This improvement in the UK manufacturing sector follows both Germany and the Eurozone’s stronger reading in their March readings. All three economies posted their best numbers since the beginning of the recession. Expansion in the sector comes after a rebound in both consumer demand and export sales.

On the money markets, before the Easter break set in, the pound was beginning to show signs of benefitting from this positive data, despite hitting resistance levels against both the Euro and the US dollar, while the continuing uncertainty over European support for its weakest link pushed the euro as low as $1.3502 on Friday, its weakest level in over two weeks.

The pound fell back slightly, while remaining above the $1.50 mark at $1.5187, whilst and gaining against the Euro to close on 1.1269.

The FTSE was closed for the holiday weekend.

The US government did announce on Friday that the recovering economy had created 162,000 jobs in March last month, whilst the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7 per cent. Temporary hiring by the US government for the public sector only accounted for some 48,000 new jobs in March, meaning the private sector has begun to create new job openings.

China has offered to accelerate free trade agreement talks with India in a bid to balance a burgeoning trade relationship between two of Asia’s largest economies that is heavily skewed in Beijing’s favour. Chinese officials expect trade between the two to rise to $60 billion, (£39.5 billion) in 2010, as the world’s two fast-growing large economies surge forward in their recovery from the global financial crisis. Indian officials described the trade deficit that last year was about $16 billion in Beijing’s favour as “politically unsustainable”, and continue to identify it as a point of friction in a relationship key to Asia’s peace and stability.

Commodities prices ended the week at the highest level since late 2008, with oil hitting $85 a barrel, bolstered by signs of strong manufacturing growth particularly in China and India

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Tags: 02, 3UK, Bank, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Cadbury, County Court Judgments, Credit Crunch, Currency, Debt, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Kraft Foods, Maritime and Transport Workers, Marks & Spencer, Money, Mothercare, National Union of Rail, Network Rail Ltd, Ofcom, Orange, Recession, Registry Trust, Retail, T-Mobile, UK Banks, UK business, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Vodafone

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) have called for a radical overhaul of the state pension system.

The NAPF, a leading pension’s body wants the next government to introduce a new ‘Foundation Pension’ that would combine the Basic State Pension and the Second State Pension and would entitle all Britons to a state retirement pot of £8,000 a year. If accepted the NAPF proposals would boost pensioners’ incomes initially by £25 a week and would later rise in line with average UK earnings. In addition, around two million UK pensioners would no longer be required to request means-tested benefits.

Consumer Focus, a UK consumer watchdog is set to complain to government regulators about the fact that individual savings accounts holders are missing out on £3 billion a year in interest because of inefficient practices by providers.

The organization are to complain to the Office of Fair Trading stating that savers were being unfairly treated by banks and building societies by the practice of “bait pricing”, meaning offering attractive headline rates on cash Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) only to see the interest rates dropping dramatically drop a short time later.

Consumer Focus have also pointed out that account holders often face unnecessary and costly delays when transferring accounts, as well as a lack of clarity on interest rates. In certain cases arbitrary rules were imposed by cash Isa providers forbidding transfers into more attractive accounts.

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), growth in UK household incomes has decreased rapidly during three terms of the Labour government. The ONS report shows that while growth to disposable income increased by 13 percent per person between 1997 and 2001, after these figures were adjusted to meet inflation, true incomes rose by just 1.2 percent between 2005 and 2008. And when the credit bubble was at its peak, between 2006 and 2007, incomes barely increased. During Labour’s second term in government from 2001-05, Growth in pay, benefits, pensions and dividends after tax fell to seven percent

The UK government’s car scrappage scheme, has officially come to an end, with at least 330,000 cars have been sold.

After the scheme was introduced a year ago to help the recession-hit motor industry cope with falling sales, a fifth of cars sold in the UK were part of the scheme which may have created around 4,000 new jobs with manufacturers and suppliers were supported by the scheme.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson stated his pleasure that the scrappage scheme has delivered the results aimed for. Estimates that the 330,000 figure could still rise as a number of cars purchased through the scheme are yet be registered, meaning that figure could rise to 400,000.

Clothing retailer Matalan have announced the completion of £525 million capital rising which will replace its existing debt package. Matalan was withdrawn from the market in March after private equity groups failed to meet the £1.5 billion valuation set by Matalan. The successful refinancing means a £250 million dividend for Matalan’s founder John Hargreaves.

Music Company EMI continue to make waves, with the news that they may be taken over by its bankers. The move comes after EMI failed to meet the terms of their covenants after failing to clinch a deal with Universal to sell them their distribution rights in the United States. The debt stems from a £4.2 billion pound buyout in 2007, leaving Terra Firma the private equity firm, that owns EMI holding a £3 billion debt to Citigroup. Terra Firma is now faced with the prospect of approaching their investors in an attempt to raise £20 million pounds by June 12 or face the prospect of Citigroup seizing control of EMI.

The news that manufacturing growth in the UK has risen at its fastest pace since 1994, saw Sterling making a long overdue rise. The pound climbed 0.5 per cent to $1.5274 and gained 0.4 per cent versus the euro to close on 1.1257.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was also up as the market closed for the Easter weekend. It rose 65 points to 5,744.89, making for a 5 per cent rise during the first three months of the year, and its best start to the year since 2006

A report from the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) as shown that the US manufacturing sector expanded in March at its fastest rate for six years.

The highly rated ISM’s purchasing managers index rose by 3.1 points to 59.6 points in March. Any figure of 50 or above represents growth, and last month was the eighth in succession that US manufacturers have increased their output.

The news of USA’s continued growth, which was at its fastest for 15 years in March comes after China and European nations also announced higher factory output.

As Wall Street wrapped up for the long Easter weekend, the Dow Jones Index was still on the rise up 70.44 points to 10927.07. The NASDAQ was less conservative, rising just 4.62 points to close on 2402.58

The number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance fell for the first time fell last week, matching the lowest level since August 2008. According to government data released today by the US Labor Department, there were 439,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended March 27, down 6,000 from an upwardly revised 445,000 the previous week.

Toyota’s US sales have reportedly bounced back as substantial discounts helped to win back customers who had been shaken by the firm’s mass safety recalls. Sales in the US for the Japanese carmaker jumped by 40.7 %in March compared with a year earlier, and after a slump of 8.7% in February.

Ford and General Motors also saw their sales rise last month, up 39.8% and 20.6% respectively, while Chrysler saw its sales fall 8.3%.

In Japan a key survey of local manufacturers has indicated that confidence is continuing to return to businesses, with the Bank of Japan’s Tankan index showing that business confidence had improved for the fourth straight quarter. The news came as Toyota saw a 50% increase in domestic car sales last month, belying some of the safety problems that have been reported in the last few weeks.

Oil moved forward from the $83-a-barrel level that has proved its undoing on many occasions over recent weeks, climbing 1.3 per cent to $84.82, the highest point since October 2008.

Gold also joined the rush, rising 1.3 per cent to close on $1,126 an ounce

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Tags: Bank, Banking, Basic State Pension, British Economy, Chrysler, Citigroup, Consumer Focus, Credit Crunch, Dow Jones, EMI, Employment, Financial News, Ford, Foundation Pension, FTSE, General Motors, Gold, Individual Savings Accounts, Institute for Supply Management, Lord Mandelson, Matalan, Money, Money Management, NAPF, NASDAQ, National Association of Pension Funds, Office of Fair Trading, Office of National Statistics, pension system, Recession, Second State Pension, Stocks and shares, Tankan, Terra Firma, Toyota, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street

It only stands to reason that the U.K.’s economic recovery will be slow in 2010. There is an election about to happen and the public have obviously chosen a path the correct path to save spend less and save more. According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) the economy will grow by 0.3 percent in the first quarter and move up to 0.4 percent in the second quarter, and will finally settle down to expanding 0.5 percent in the second half of the year. The CBI also predicted that gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 1 percent in 2010 and 2.5 percent in 2011. Britain’s economy exited its deepest recession on record in the fourth quarter with growth of 0.3 percent.

Bank of England (BOE) officials were also expressing caution on the eve of what may well be the Labour Government’s last budget in well over a decade. The BOE have consistently issued warnings that financial recovery in the UK may prove uneven as credit strains persist.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling is due to deliver his budget today, with just a few weeks before the general election, the date of which is yet to be announced. A spokesman for the CBI stated that the government must avoid “damaging” tax rises and focus on spending cuts to narrow the record deficit,

As budget fever mounts, speculation is rife as to what Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will reveal in his speech. Darling has repeatedly stated there will be no pre-election giveaways in the budget but he wants to encourage more investment in UK business after an 18-month recession.

It is expected that government departments which be called on to cut costs that will add some credibility to the U.K.’s deficit reduction plan and Yvette Cooper, the work and pensions secretary, has set the wheels in motion by announcing her department are plan to introduce savings of at least £500 million pounds by the 2012 / 2013 fiscal year.

What is for sure is that the Labour government will unveil their plans to establish a £2 billion "green" investment bank in the budget, designed to help Britain’s transformation to a low carbon economy. The green bank, designed to help finance projects such as railways, offshore wind power generation and eco-friendly waste management, will be partially funded by sales of government assets with the remaining money being drawn from the private sector.

Strike hit British Airways have come up with an estimate that the current three-day strike by the airline’s cabin crew will cost them around £7 million a day in lost earnings. However the airline hastened to point out that the industrial action was unlikely to have much impact on its earnings for the full-year. According to a company spokesman, around a third of flights to and from the UK’s main airports on Monday have so far been cancelled.

BA Heathrow suffered the biggest disruption on Monday, with 201 of the 443 flights on BA’s online schedule being cancelled.

Every cloud does have a silver lining and one of them appears to be that because of the recession, one in four children have reduced their spending. According to new research published this week t children’s attitudes to money have been strongly impacted by the recession with 80% of the children polled stated that they would prefer to save up to buy something rather than get into debt.

The latest financial results from fashion retailer Monsoon show an increase in profits for 2008/2009 eight times higher than the previous year. Over the year to August 29, 2009, the privately owned company showed a profit of taxes of £32.9 million, up from £3.9 million the previous year. Monsoon, who currently operate over 1,000 outlets, report strong sales at its overseas division. Over the next 12 months Monson plan to open another 140 stores.

Another fashion in the financial spotlight is New Look who has announced that they may resurrect their £1.7 billion flotation plans. The decision may come as soon as this week when the New Look board meets to consider whether market conditions have sufficiently improved. The fashion retailer shelved its planned IPO in February, blaming volatile markets. Meanwhile sales at the group are said to be ahead of expectations.

In a move which could raise as much as £400 million pounds Music recording giants EMI are reported to be considering plans to licence its music catalogue. Competitors in the industry would manage the music group’s catalogue, which includes music from The Beatles. If successful the licensing would enable EMI to meet their debt repayments and stave off an attempt by Citigroup, to take control of the company.

Sterling continues to fall ahead of this week’s budget and the fast-approaching general election due to be held in early May, and the prospects that it will be closely fought and may even result in a hung parliament.

The pound continues to be stuck around the $1.50 mark, closing at $1.5037 on Tuesday, while the Euro was on €1.1137.

As concern consists about debt levels whether the next government will be equipped to tackle challenges on public finances the pound looks likely to continue in the doldrums.

The FTSE 100 index closed on Tuesday up 23 points at 5,673.63.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was still on the rise, this time by 147 points to close on 10888.83 The NASDAQ also was on the rise up 42 points to 2415.24

According to Greece’s central bank the country’s economy is trapped in a "vicious circle" and is liable to contract more severely than government predictions. .

The Bank of Greece (BoG) said economic output in 2010 will fall by 2%, much higher than the Greek government’s prediction of between 1.2% and 1.7%.

BoG says the recession will be worse due to planned public spending cuts.

The report comes ahead of a European Union summit to discuss Greece’s economic crisis, as German resistance towards financial aid for Athens persists.

Athens has already come close to defaulting after misleading European partners about the scale of its financial problems, which last year saw its public sector deficit hit almost 13 per cent of gross domestic product

Meanwhile Germany’s coalition government is reportedly planning to establish a banking levy that will protect taxpayers from the costs of any future bank bail-outs. The German government was obliged to seriously deplete their treasury coffers to provide a €500 billion rescue package to shore up the banking system late in 2008.

On the other side of the World, in Dubai, bank officials await anticipation of the severely troubled Dubai World company presenting their long-waited proposals on how they intend to restructure $26 billion of toxic debt.

The Dubai stock market has surged 11% this month on speculation a proposal is imminent.

Crude oil prices managed to rebound from early weakness to settle at around $81.25 a barrel.

Analysts at the Centre for Global Energy Studies said that global oil demand was on the path to full recovery but upward pressure on prices would be limited due to supply side changes.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, BA Heathrow, Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Greece, Banking, British airways, British Economy, Budget, CBI, Centre for Global Energy Studies, Citigroup, Confederation of British Industry, Dow Jones, Dubai World, economic recovery, Economics, Economy, EMI, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, green bank, Money, Money Management, Money Markets, Monsoon, NASDAQ, New Look, Recession, Retail, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street, Yvette Cooper

Under threat of the first nationwide strike by signalmen in 16 years, Network Rail announced on Friday night that it would meet next week at conciliation service Acas to discuss two separate disputes with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and the TSSA, which represents managerial grades. The RMT is already threatening to strike over a proposed restructure of Network Rail’s maintenance operations which could lead to the loss of up to 1,500 jobs. However there are also worries over potential strike action by signalers in several areas of the country. The Acas talks will take place on either Monday or Tuesday.

In the air, British Airways have announced that their contingency plans for the first day of a three-day cabin crew strike have gone "extremely well".

A spokesman for BA said that according to their program, more than 65% of passengers would reach their destinations, with 1,157 staff working and some canceled flights reinstated. However the Unite union, representing the striking crew members has speculated that only a third of BA’s normal flights took off, with 125 out of its 250 planes grounded.

Another four-day strike is planned for 27 March in the pay and conditions row.

Within the next few days Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to endorse plans for a global tax on certain financial institutions. These are institutions that are likely to pose a "systemic risk" by being dependent on government insurance schemes to stay afloat. Darling us expected to use the budget announcement to detail his backing of the proposals, with his key recommendations being that government revenue raised should go to national governments rather than an insurance scheme, which he believes would encourage banks to take more risk on lending and expansion. Darling’s views are similar to those expressed recently by Dominique Strauss-Khan head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who encouraged Europe to establish a system of orderly bankruptcy for cross border banks which would be less dependent on insurance schemes to fund bailouts.

In a recent survey conducted by Small Business Britain Entrepreneurs it was revealed that 40 per cent of small and medium, sized business enterprises (SMEs) would like to see a fall in employers’ national insurance contributions. In addition over 45 per cent would like to see banks to offer better rates to smaller firms. All in all they have called for Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget to support small and medium-sized businesses, while at the same time, according to an unrelated survey small and medium-sized businesses are reported to be gaining increased confidence that the UK’s economic recovery looks likely to continue. The HSBC’s Global Small Business Confidence Monitor has reported that over three-quarters of SMEs now expected steady or increasing growth over the next six months

On the downside, the recent severe spell of weather has reportedly caused losses of around £7 billion pounds to SMEs. A survey showed that nearly two-fifths of those taking part stating that the harshest winter in decades had forced them temporarily cease operations, whilst more than forty percent said that weather conditions had cause some form of disruption to their business. Just less than a quarter of the firms surveyed announced that had not been affected by the severe weather in January.

Recent figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed that UK car production in February increased by almost two thirds against the same month in 2009, representing the fourth consecutive month that output has seen a year-on-year increase.

The SMMT announced that close to 100,000 cars came off the production line in February, with the majority going for export. In addition, around 10,226 commercial vehicles were also produced in February. A spokesman for the SMMT said the scrappage scheme continues to boost demand and production. The ‘cash for bangers scheme is due to expire at the end of this month with the SMMT predicting that the industry will be affected by the scheme drawing to a close.

Clothing retailer Next are expected to announce in their full year results due out on Wednesday that it has beaten many of its high street rivals. Pre-tax profits are predicted to have risen by £66 million pounds to £635 million pounds. Other companies due to release their results this week include supermarket giant Sainsbury, with their fourth-quarter trading figures due out on Thursday.

The pound continues to fall sharply against the dollar and the Euro, with the fall not being helped by a Bank of England (BOE) policymaker predicting that the UK could yet fall back into recession. On that piece of optimistic news the pound fell against the dollar, to $1.503. The pound fell against the Euro to 1.100. The prediction of the chance of double-dip recession taking place came from a BOE Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance.

On the FTSE, Banks were the biggest risers, with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group all on the up.

Partially state owned, Lloyds announced a return to profitability in 2010 after two years of heavy losses. Their recovery was helped by lower than expected bad debts and tight cost controls. On the news shares in Lloyds Banking Group s rose sharply after the bank announced that they had succeeded in reserving losses of £6.3 billion ($9.5 billion) in 2009

Energy shares were also on a high with BP and Royal Dutch Shell both among the early risers.

Meanwhile the FTSE was continuing to rose, aided by news that Lloyds Banking Group said it would return to profitability in 2010

The FTSE 100 index finished for the weekend at 5,650.13, after hitting a 21-month closing peak on Wednesday.

On Wall Street before the weekend close, the Dow Jones was still on the rise, this time by 83 points to close on 10741.98. The NASDAQ took a little dip, after enjoying a good week. It fell four points to 2374.41.

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Tags: Acas, Alistair Darling, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, British airways, British Economy, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Global Small Business Confidence Monitor, HSBC, International Monetary Fund, Lloyds Banking Group, Maritime and Transport Union, Monetary Policy Committee, NASDAQ, national insurance, Network Rail, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Dutch Shell, Sainsbury, Small Business Britain Entrepreneurs, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, UK Economy, UK government, Wall Street

Continued uncertainty regarding cash-strapped Greece’s ability to be granted loans from their Eurozone partners, and if they are granted them if they will agree to accept them, continues to cause uncertainty in both the currency markets and stock exchanges not only in the UK but in all of the Eurozone member countries. Recent reports coming out of Athens have stated that Greece is lacking in confidence that their partners in Europe are either willing or able to provide sufficient and timely aid, and that they may have no option but to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bail out. The principal stumbling block to the EU loan is Angela Merkel, the German chancellor who HAS repeatedly stated that any other form of loan agreement would be impossible in terms of the European Union’s Maastricht treaty and German constitutional law. Berlin has shared widespread EU hostility towards any involvement of the fund, fearing that such a move would demonstrate Europe’s inability to regulate its own economic and monetary union.

After the release of more positive figures for February and the revision of data for January, it begins to appear that UK government borrowing for 2010 could be less than forecast. According to official figures, government borrowing for February was £12.4, much less than economists had expected.

Borrowing figures for January were also reviewed and sharply downwards, to £43 million from £4.3 billion.

Analysts now predict that UK’s full-year borrowing total may work out a lot less than the government’s original £178 billion forecast.

The Office for National Statistics also announced that the overall effect of the latest revisions to historical data for the year had cut overall borrowing for 2009/10 by £2.9 billion.

The Co-operative which traces its roots to the founding of the co-operative movement in 1844 has reported a major profits surge in its banking division, on the back of thousands of bank account customers disillusioned with Britain’s big banks switching their allegiance to the "co". In addition, the acquisition of the Somerfield supermarket chain coupled with the merger of the Cooperative’s financial services arm with Britannia Building Society have provided a major boost in turnover and profit for the company. As part of a revised tradition, the Co-op will be paying their five million members- a dividend of £55 million, up 16% from 2008. The dividend scheme or "divi" as it is widely known was re-introduced by the group in 2006 after a break of 30 years. The Coop’s banking division reported a 38% jump in new current or 140,000 new customers, taking the total to 1.2 million. The increase effectively doubled their share of the current account market to reach 4%.

To scenes of great excitement, Japanese care manufacturer Nissan have announced that they are to build its new electric car, to be known as the Leaf, at their UK plant in Sunderland. Once production begins in 2013, it will mean that hundreds of jobs are expected to be safeguarded as part of the company’s £420 million investment in electric cars. Nissan’s investment will be backed by a £20.7 million government grant and up to £220 million from the European Investment Bank. About 50,000 Nissan Leaf hatchbacks, which will run entirely on lithium-ion batteries, will roll off the Sunderland production line each year. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the development was a "fantastic vote of confidence" in the plant and its "excellent workforce". Mandelson also confirmed the UK government will be providing £360 million in loan guarantees for Ford’s planned £1.5 billion investment in cleaner engines.

At a hearing of the Commons business, innovation and skills committee held on Tuesday, representatives of Kraft Foods made a commitment not to close any more Cadbury factories in the UK or make compulsory redundancies in its domestic manufacturing operations for at least two years, The promises came as Kraft were seen trying to placate furious MPs and union members over its broken promise to save a Bristol factory from closure.

The US food group came under heavy fire for reneging on a pledge made last September to keep open the Somerdale factory, near Bristol, within days of agreeing an £11.7 billion take¬over of Cadbury in January, having overcome hostility from the UK-based maker some of the UK’s favorite chocolates.

On the FTSE, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc had a bad day, their shares dropped by more than 3 percent as the biggest government-controlled bank issued warnings that their £2.9 billion pound ($4.45 billion) pension deficit looks likely to rise. The bank today reported a 46 percent rise in its pension deficit. .

Sterling fell to $1.5229, with the Euro coming under heavy pressure at €1.1181

The FTSE 100 jumped 17 points to close on 5,642.62.

According to official figures US consumer prices have risen very little between January and February.

The report issued by the US Labor Department showed the consumer price index was flat in February, though prices were 2.1% higher than a year ago , indicating that there were little sign of inflationary pressures in the offing for the US economy, allowing interest rates to remain low.

US stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday, aided by some strong corporate results. At close of trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 per cent at 10,779.17 and the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.1 per cent at 2,391.28.

Crude oil prices have fallen to an average of $81.85 a barrel, yet still placing them within levels are within Opec’s preferred price band of about $75-85 a barrel. The cartel reasons prices below that band risk choking off investment in new oil projects while prices above it could threaten the recovery of world economies

The fall came after the OPEC oil cartel announced on Wednesday their intention to hold production quotas at the same level for the time being.

The price of gold rose 0.1 per cent to $1,126 a troy ounce after ending Wednesday’s session in New York at $1,124.05.

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Tags: Angela Merkel, Bank, Banking, British Economy, Cadbury, Credit Crunch, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, electric car, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Gold, International Monetary Fund, Kraft Foods, Lord Mandelson, Money, NASDAQ, Nissan, Office for National Statistics, OPEC, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Somerfield, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, The Co-operative, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US labor Department

As the UK’s emergence from the recession gains slow but steady momentum recent predictions from the Bank of England show that the number of jobs available on the market are unlikely to deteriorate any further, Reasons given are that most UK companies are doing the maximum to maintain current staff levels to cope with the anticipated upturn in demand.

According to spokesman for the BOE, the banks findings were that although employment had fallen during the recession, it was much less than the comparative fall in output. Figure confirm that although unemployment had risen in the last two years, it was much less pronounced than during the previous two periods of recession in the 1980s and 1990s, although the current recession was much more severe. Despite that slightly rosy report, the fact remains that unemployment benefit claims jumped in January to the highest level since Labour rose to power almost 13 years ago.

According to a European Commission (EC) report due to be published later this week, the UK government’s plans to reduce their budget deficit are far from being realistic as well as lacking in ambition

The EC report went on to warns hand out a warning that if the UK continues on their current path, the will not be able to cut their deficit to meet the deadline set by the EU rules by 2015. The EU are insisting that

Deficits in their member countries must be less than three percent of their gross domestic production (GDP) by then. To show how far the UK is lagging behind is that the GDP in the UK is expected to be as high as 12.6% or £178 billion.

British Airways, facing imminent strike action from their cabin crew, have revealed their contingency plans to cope with the crisis. The plans, if they need arises to put them into action, will allow it to the airline to handle around 60% of its scheduled flights, with 45,000 passengers taking their seats during the first stage of the strike, due to begin on the 20th of March, .

Those who BA will be unable to transport will be given the option of flying with other airlines. Meanwhile plans for the second round of strikes will be announced nearer the date. Of the almost two thousand flights scheduled during the strike dates, more than half will need to be cancelled. However BA expects that all of their long-haul flights and more than half of short-haul flights taking off from Gatwick airport will take place.

Another sign that all is not well with the UK travel industry is the news that UK’s airports handled 7.4% fewer passengers in 2009 than in the previous year, making for the largest decline in traffic in history

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also announced that this was the first time that passenger traffic had fallen for two consecutive years, with charter flights being especially hit, down by 17%, in total more than two hundred million passengers passed through UK airports in 2009, the lowest number

since 2004. Overall scheduled airline traffic fell by six percent while.

domestic flight traffic was down by eight percent.

Telecommunications companies are getting hot under the collar about the government’s plans to increase the availability of internet access on mobile phones, with some of them going as far as threatening legal action. Among the companies who are investigating legal action are O2 and Vodafone upset, after UK government ministers finally submitted their proposals designed to end the long-standing dispute between mobile phone operators over radio spectrum. Hopes are that the law will be passed by the government before the end of March and they will give the green light to plans to hold a large air wave auction in early 2011. However UK telecommunications companies with O2 and Vodafone leading the way hope that they will be delay the auction.

On the money markets, Sterling continues to be in the doldrums, sitting on $1.5228 and €1.1046 with no signs or reasons for a recovery in sight. The pound ended two days of minimal gains against the dollar after a private report showed U.K. home sellers raised asking prices by the smallest amount for March on record as the supply of available properties increased.

On the FTSE, things were looking a lot more optimistic, with the 100 index rising 26 points to 5620.43.

In the US, the big news was that industrial production has again increased in February, making it for the eighth consecutive, despite analysts’ predictions that it was likely to fall. According to the Federal Reserve who produces the figure, production would have been even higher had it not been affected by severe winter storms that had plagued the industrialized zones in the North East of the Country in February

Overall industrial output rose by 0.1% in February, from January’s figures while the manufacturing sector dropped by 0.2%. Production in consumer goods fell by 0.4% in February, much of it because of a drop in new car sales.

On Wall Street optimism was in the air, with the Dow Jones rising again, this time by 43.83 points to close on 10658.98. The NASDAQ showed a very commendable rise or 15 points to 2378.01.

The US Federal Reserve has again repeated their pledge to hold interest rates at record lows in order to allow the continuation of the economic recovery. Main interest rate would be kept at the current 0% to 0.25% range, news that was widely expected.

The Feds rate-setting committee announced that the data being gatherer on the US economy described a mixed picture of the recovery from recession.

The troubled Euro succeeded in reaching a five-week high against the yen in money markets over the last two days. The rise was caused by increased speculation that the European Union will announce their bail out plans for Greece. When the plans are eventually released, anticipations are that there will be an increase in demand for the Eurozone currency.

On concerns that the Bank of Japan will announce extra credit-easing steps at its two-day policy meeting, the yen was close to a three-week low versus the dollar. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had sown some seeds of doubt regarding the strength of the currency when he announced last week that his government needed to take steps to arrest the currency’s rise.

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Tags: BA, Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Banking, BOE, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, Civil Aviation Authority, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, European Commission, Financial News, FTSE, Gatwick, GDP, Global Credit Crisis, Money, Money Management, NASDAQ, O2, Recession, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK travel, US economy, US Federal Reserve, Vodafone, Wall Street, Yukio Hatoyama

According to information released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) it looks increasingly likely that further price increases in the domestic property market may be put on hold, as more properties continue to come on to the market. RICS announced that in February more instructions to sell came on the market than enquiries to buy, making for the second month in a row that this has happened. Analysts have always speculated that

The rise in house prices during 2009 has been because there was a shortage of both new and second hand properties for sale. In spite of the rise in volumes, however, the average price paid for private homes during the year fell 9 per cent to £166,000.

That well known bearer of bad news and inaccurate predictions the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) have come up with another winner. This time they suggest that the cash-strapped U.K. government should aim to balance its budget two years earlier than currently planned. The CBI say that such a move would go a long way to calming investor fears that Britain could lose its top-notch credit rating. They have yet to come up with suggestions of how Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling or whoever is lucky enough to replace him should go about this mammoth task, although the traditional spending cuts and reforms to public services were mentioned rather than tax increases.

In the last few weeks, newspaper polls continue to point in the direction of a coalition government for Britain in the coming elections. This will mean the first minority government since 1974, and those who remember that far back, don’t recall it as a particularly pleasant experience.

It appears that the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has their feet more firmly on the ground than some of the other public bodies. They have proved it once again by suggesting that the UK government reduce their economic growth target for 2011 from 2.3 percent down to 2.1 percent. At same time, the BCC issued a strongly worded suggestion to the government to abandon proposals to raise national insurance. To complete a cheery picture, the UK trade organisation also suggested that the UK government should rapidly address public sector pensions as well as taking a close look at public sector levels to make any progress on tackling the UK’s ever increasing budget deficit.

One of the biggest clouds hanging over the future of the Royal Mail service has finally been lifted after an agreement was reached with postal workers which means that they could be eligible to salary increase of around seven percent over the next three years, as well as a more stable job security. In return for these favours, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) need to promise to cooperate in structural changes to the organisation that will eventually transform it .

The deal, which is still to be accepted in a ballot vote by CWU members, is designed to avert the threat of further union disruption and give the green light for the Royal Mail to proceed with their proposed £2 billion modernisation programme. With their union troubles hopefully behind them, the stage will be set for Royal Mail to face some of their other challenges, including revaluating their pension fund deficit, which currently stand as £3.4 billion to at least three times that sum.

The company that manages the Channel Tunnel, the aptly named Eurotunnel, announce that they had succeed in making a £1.3 million last year, despite the effects of the "poor economic environment" as well as one or two setbacks that they experienced in 2009, which they must hope will be one-offs. These included the tunnel being closed after the fire in late 2008, not returning to normal levels until February of last year, as well as the heavy snow that made it impassible in December of 2009.

There is a buzz in the city that states that Northern Rock are about to announce multi-million pound losses in 2009, and for the third year running, Pre-tax losses are expected to be around 400 million pounds, meaning that . The bank has made losses totaling of £2 billion since being bailed out by the UK government in 2007.

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money, who at one time were said to be interest in acquiring Northern Rock, and are to launch themselves as a retail bank later this year, have come with a fairly innovative new proposal for potential customers. The proposal we that Virgin Bank will charge a fixed monthly fee for current account customers, payable in advance. A spokesman for the company did hasten to point out that the fees will be low and will replace high overdraft charges.

Virgin Money’s launch comes at a time when consumers have lost confidence in existing High Street banks and Virgin’s high profile as a high street trader who gets things done.

Another major UK retailer, supermarket giant Tesco are also set to expand into the banking industry, already offering credit cards, savings accounts and insurance via its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) brand through their in-store banks.

In the meantime, supermarket chain WM Morrison are expected to report a 16 percent increase of their in full-year pre-tax profit for 2009 to £757 million when its results are announced on Thursday. Sales are expected to have risen to £15.5 billion. The supermarket’s increased penetration in the south of England has led to industry-beating sales growth and large gains in market share.

Money markets continued to be unfavourable for Sterling with the pound closing yesterday on $1.499 while also falling against the Euro on €1.1028.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slowed down after a few days of heavy rises, up just five points, to close on 5,602.3.

Stateside, ailing insurance giant AIG have announced that they are to sell of yet another of their overseas insurance business, American Life Insurance Company (Alico) to rival MetLife for $15.5 billion (£10.3 billion), in a drive to raise funds to pay off their $182.3 billion federal bail-out.

MetLife will pay out $6.8 billion in cash and a further $8.7 billion in shares for Alico, which operates in more than 50 countries.

The announcement comes a week after AIG agreed to sell its Asian business AIA to UK group Prudential for $35.5 billion.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was holding its own, closing up 21 points on 10,585.62. The NASDAQ Composite was still climbing, rising 21 points to close on 2,347.13

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Tags: Alico, American Life Insurance, Bank, Banking, British Chambers of Commerce, British Economy, Channel Tunnel, Communication Workers Union, Confederation for British Industry, Credit Crunch, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Eurotunnel, Financial News, FTSE, House Prices, MetLife, Money, NASDAQ, Northern Rock, Recession, Retail, Richard Branson, RICS, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Royal Mail, Savings, Tesco, Tesco Personal Finance, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Virgin Money, Wall Street, WM Morrison

That would make for very good news if only the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) hadn’t succeeded in making a loss of £24.3 billion shortfall in 2008. For 2009 RBS has announced losses for 2009 of just £3.6 billion after losing their struggle to recover billions of pounds of bad loans. Considering that city analysts had expected losses of around five billion, this is not a bad result for the bank whose Chief executive Stephen Hester said had "exceeded all the principal milestones" set for the first year of their turnaround plan.

Hester went on to add that t the group’s core business saw profits rise from £4.4 billion in 2008 to £8.3 billion last year, while bad debt increased to £13.9 billion from £7.7 billion in 2008. On an optimistic note, RBS announced positive signs of a peaking in the number of "toxic loans" being held by the bank, with the fourth quarter looking better for corporate clients.

Hester also revealed that in discussions with the Government about altering its lending commitments to "reflect the economic circumstances" over the next year, that they were very open to increasing its lending levels to

customers. However, strained economic environment still remained a factor that had caused many of the bank’s customers to reduce their borrowings.

As part of its bailout terms, the firm agreed to make an extra £25 billion available to customers in loans with £9 billion being allocated for mortgages and the remaining £16 billion for business lending.

Mr Hester summed up by saying that 2009 was "a year of substantial progress" for the bank.

On the controversial subject of bonuses, Hester requested that RBS should not be singled out and that the financial community as well as the UK public should recognise that that important staff would leave if pay was not competitive. Alistair Darling obviously agrees, because he has cleared the payment of £1.32 billion in bonuses to staff at the bank.

The announcement came just a few days after Stephen Hester opted not to take his £1.6 million bonus, with the CEO apparently still waiting to see if any of his colleagues at the bank will follow suit.

Also subject to change will be Northern Rock’s 100% savings deposit guarantee that is now to be lifted on the 24th May.

From that date, the UK government has decided that their deposits guarantee will no longer apply. The day has obviously been timed to specifically allow, savers exactly 12 weeks to decide what to do about any money that they have on deposit with the north east based building society, As was the case before the Rock began to crumble, savers who still have deposits worth up to £50,000 will be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. However those holding larger amounts will no longer enjoy the government’s protection. .

The decision may have come as result of complaints by other banks and building societies that the 100% guarantee has given an unfair advantage to the bank, with an increasing large number of deposit holders happy to deposit large amounts there, despite lower interest rates due to the 100% protection.

Leaders of the leading British unions have described a “still fragile” the labour market , despite the fact that recently released figures showed that unemployment surprisingly fell by 7,000 in the quarter to November 2009 to just below 2.5 million. Correspondingly e the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance was also around 15,000 lower in December at 1.6 million. However, the union leaders claim, thousands of job losses have only been announced in recent weeks, raising fears that unemployment will start to climb in the flat period that typically occurs in the run-up to a general election.

The TUC said it will be looking for a number of key signs in today’s figures, including a fall of more than 30,000 in unemployment and a reduction in the number of “involuntary” temporary workers. According to the TUC, the number of people taking temporary or part-time jobs because they can’t find permanent work has risen considerably. .

Operating profits at British Gas soared by 58% last year to £595 million, compared with £379 million in 2008. Its parent company Centrica said the figures beat the previous high of £573 million in 2007.

British Gas announced earlier this month it was reducing its gas prices by seven percent.

The U.K.’s second- largest department-store retailer Debenhams Plc, who recently acquired the Denmark based Magasin du Nord retail chain, are considering acquiring similar companies in the future. A spokesman for Debenhams stated that the company would like to become less reliant on the difficult home market. According to the British Retail Consortium Retail sales in the UK rose at the slowest pace in 15 years last month with London-based Debenhams, who operate 142 stores in the UK, obviously feeling the pinch. Until January’s acquisition of the six-store chain for £12.3 million pounds Debenhams’s overseas presence had been restricted to 11 stores in neighboring Ireland and about 50 franchised outlets.

On the foreign exchanges, the pound continued to fall, reaching $1.5266, whilst reaching .1245 against the Euro.

U.K. stocks dropped after a report showed confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February to the lowest level since April 2009. In London, the FTSE 100 dropped 64.69 points to close on 5278.83.

Overall, the FTSE 100 has gained around five percent since early February. as U.K. companies continue to confound the experts and expectations grow that the strengthening global economic recovery will signal further economic growth.

Confidence among U.S. consumers fell more than anticipated in February to the lowest level since April 2009 as the outlook for jobs diminished, a report showed today.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said there was a "nascent economic recovery" in a testimony before Congress.

US stocks jumped more than 1%, led by banks, as some had feared that the cost of borrowing would start rising soon.

Although the US economy is growing, some worries remain about its strength because unemployment remains high, meaning that the "Fed "has begun to gradually undo some of the emergency measures that they had implemented during the financial crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47 points to close on 10,321.03 while the NASDAQ Composite also recovered by 25 points to close on 2,234.22

Ben Bernanke is taking a very close look at the role of Wall Street firms in helping Greece to cover up the extent of their financial troubles, with Goldman Sachs apparently under closer scrutiny than most.

Bernanke hinted that both the Fed and the US financial watchdog were "looking into a number of questions" related to banks’ arrangements with Greece, whilst stopping short on the question of whether an official inquiry was under way

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Bank, Banking, Ben Bernanke, British Economy, British Gas, British Pound, Centrica, Currency, Debenhams Plc, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Financial Services Compensation Scheme, FTSE, Goldman Sachs, jobseeker’s allowance, Magasin du Nord, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Northern Rock, RBS, Recession, Retail, Stephen Hester, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, TUC, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US economy