Lloyds said it was confident in its capital position and re-affirmed previous targets for its core tier 1 ratio. Antonio Horta-Osorio, the Lloyds chief executive, said: "Our strong capital position enables the group to actively support growth and lending in the UK ...

Nationwide Building Society, the U.K.'s largest customer-owned lender, said full-year pretax profit rose 3.4 percent as higher impairments in its property finance business offset growth at its consumer unit.

International Monetary Fund predicted the economy would grow 6.75 per cent in the 2013/2014 financial year, driven by gas production and investment.

Lost tax revenue from money salted away offshore is costing governments more than $150bn (�99bn) a year, Oxfam has found - enough to eliminate extreme poverty across the globe twice over.

The pound fell to a four-week low against the euro before the Bank of England publishes the minutes of this month's monetary policy meeting.