A “sweetheart” tax deal which saved Goldman Sachs millions of pounds was agreed by HMRC to save Chancellor George Osborne from “major embarrassment”, a court has heard.

Nationwide shrugged off the first monthly fall in house prices since last September yesterday as the lender raised hopes of growing momentum in the market.

Outlook Bank shareholders don't like capital issuances. Investors simply won't buy the equity. That's, at any rate, what we're often told by banks' management teams, as they complain about regulators' demands for them to build up their safety buffers.

Paul Tucker, the Bank of England deputy governor, yesterday admitted that the prospect of negative interest rates to boost lending was a non-starter, little more than two months after floating the idea.

Economic View: Confidence is an odd thing. Share prices are as much a measure of confidence as a driver of it

It is the story that will not die down. Just as Barclays seems to be putting its past behind it, more revelations about the Middle Eastern cash calls that saved it from a government bailout during the financial crisis have surfaced.

Signs that the US economy remains weak, along with evidence that the budgetary impasse in Washington is restraining growth, have convinced policymakers who gathered for the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve to stick with the extraordinary stimulus measures put in place to support the recovery.

Business secretary says there is 'serious public concern' over actions of lender's leadership before £45.5bn taxpayer bailout

The 0.9 per cent year-on-year rise takes average prices to £165,586

'Tigeresque' kid will be youngest European Tour player when he starts this week's tournament

Would-be homeowners tempted by cheaper mortgage deals clambered on to the property ladder in increasing numbers during March, Bank of England figures showed yesterday.

Britain's only poverty minister will today demand strong action to curb payday lenders who prey on vulnerable people.

Pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates this week has intensified after official statistics yesterday showed that unemployment in the recession-stricken eurozone has reached a record 12.1 per cent, while the rate of inflation has declined to just 1.2 per cent.

Outlook It seems like the black horse is feeling a little frisky again. Profits up, bad debts down, no increase in provisions for payment protection insurance compo, suggesting that Lloyds may finally be past the worst of that debacle.