Enjoy Finance

UK biggest insurer to drop 200-year-old flagship name as it seeks to compete on an international stage

Lender gains almost 16 per cent of the mortgage market in the first three months of the year

Analysyts and fund managers warn of rocky market conditions

Results from Countrywide Financial and MasterCard underscored the declining state of the US economy as mortgage defaults soared and more consumers turned to credit cards for basic purchases

Shareholders at HBOS’s annual meeting in Glasgow could not help but notice that chief executive and finance director were elsewhere

The bank has revealed it holds mortgage-backed securities of £20.7bn, almost half of which are backed by US mortgages

The two-for-five issue, priced at 275p a share, came as Britain’s biggest mortgage lender announced writedowns totalling £2.84bn against impaired securities in its first quarter

Former vice-president’s initiative to invest in early-stage environmental companies

Germany’s biggest lender reported a €141m net loss in its first quarter amid markets that chief executive Josef Ackermann said were ‘the most difficult in recent memory’

Spain’s largest bank unveiled a big increase in net attributable profits for the first quarter, as acquisitions and cost controls helped offset a sharp slowdown in lending and business activity in most markets