The mutual needs to raise as much as �1.8bn to repair its bank's balance sheet and said on Friday that it was �undertaking an extensive review� of the business.

The dollar was mixed Friday, as currency traders played it safe ahead of a long weekend amid signs that the Federal Reserve may be eyeing a sooner-than-expected rollback of its economic stimulus policies.

Speaking at the bank's annual shareholder meeting, Mr Flint revealed that the use of offshore tax havens was being reviewed in light of increased public scrutiny of the issue.

The BBC has suspended its chief technology officer and admitted wasting nearly �100m on a five-year project intended to make the corporation "tapeless", saying that to continue with the project would be "throwing good money after bad".

The expansion of an offshore windfarm that the government says could power up to 500,000 homes and boost Suffolk's economy by �20m has been approved.

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.

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

An alarming report by the Crown Estate revealed the country was on the verge of serious disruption in March. ob Hastings, the Estate's energy director, said: �We really had only six hours' worth of gas left in storage as a buffer.

Member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, Paul Fisher, said today there was little chance of a return to boom conditions in the UK economy anytime soon.

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.