The Government has been urged to introduce a new criminal offence for �senior persons� who run banks in a �reckless manner�, as well as much more stringent clawback rules that could see managers being stripped of several years' worth of pay.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to stop multinationals hiding their profits from the taxman in shadowy offshore "shell" companies.

LONDON - London shares closed higher on Tuesday as investors hoped the two-day Federal Reserve Board meeting will not spark too sharp a reduction in the Fed's stimulus programme to shore up the United States economy, dealers said.

Let's hope Charlotte Hogg enjoys her 15 seconds of fame. Her appointment as the first chief operating officer in the Bank of England's history is certainly newsworthy.

Aggreko. �17.52 -39p. Questor says BUY. Aggreko disappointed some with a pre-close trading update on Tuesday in which it said full-year expectations remained unchanged.

A call centre made famous by a BBC reality TV series has been fined �225,000 for harassing families with nuisance calls. The BBC has portrayed the company's millionaire boss 'Big Nev' Wilshire as a lovable rogue, a consumer champion and even a hero.

Like-for-like sales at Costa Coffee rose 8pc in the 13 weeks to May 30, while those at its Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurant arm were flat, Whitbread said in a trading update on Tuesday.

Federal Reserve officials both expect and want inflation to be higher than it is. So far, that isn't happening. Consumer price data released Tuesday showed inflation rose a mere 1.4% in May from a year earlier.

The polarisation of the high street is showing no signs of slowing as new data reveals that discount chains Aldi and Lidl, along with high end grocer Waitrose, have won more customers this year than any of their supermarket rivals.

Global telecommunications companies are chasing deals from Kansas to Munich in a quest for revenue growth that could lead to the biggest year for mergers in the industry since at least 2006.