Banks have been warned that they have just a month left to agree plans by the Bank of England to plug capital black holes. It comes amid mounting frustration among regulators about what is being seen as "foot dragging" by the industry over the issue.

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has not been charged after two days of questioning by French judges over alleged complicity in the embezzlement of state funds.

Banks have a �once in a generation� chance to clean up their act, the chairman of shamed HSBC said yesterday. Douglas Flint told the firm's annual general meeting: �Banking has been given a huge wake-up call and we are committed to playing a key part in ...

Households paid off �241m more mortgage debt than they borrowed in an effort to get on top of their debts. Before May last year, net lending had never been negative since the BBA started collecting the data in 1997.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, tackled the political debate surrounding Britain's EU membership on Thursday night, telling a City of London audience that Europe needed �a more European UK�.

SSE and RWE npower have been given the go-ahead for a �1 billion offshore wind farm. Galloper, a 50:50 joint venture between the two utilities, has received development consent from the UK government for the 140-turbine site 16 miles off the Suffolk coast.

DEMANDS are growing for a public inquiry into failures to clean up coal mines across Scotland, after a new report revealed a potential �60 million shortfall in funds in one region alone.

Britain came within six hours of running out of natural gas in March, according to a senior energy official, highlighting the risk of supply shortages amid declining domestic production and a growing reliance on imports.

Paul Fishe: 'I don't want to get into the American position of saying it is indefinite and then stopping'. Picture: Contributed.

PRIVATE equity group 3i is to take over the European infrastructure fund management business of Barclays bank to boost its fee income from public-private partnerships and energy investment projects.