Business Diary: CNBC may be out of pocket

The financial cable channel CNBC has naturally been devoting acres of coverage to the collapse of investment bank MF Global this week. But executives in charge of the channel's finances will have been watching their journalists' output even more closely than usual. For it turns out that one major MF Global creditor is none other than CNBC itself – it is owed a little over $845,000 by the bank. And unfortunately, as an unsecured lender, it won't be holding its breath.

Watchdog must show feminine side

FSA bosses Lord Turner and Hector Sants were handbagged yesterday by MP Andrea Leadsom. "How much effort have you made to ensure the sex that got it wrong last time won't get it wrong next time?" she asked. Batting down pleas that the FSA was really rather good at promoting women, she continued: "Which of Mr Turner and Mr Sants is a woman, then?" The game was up.

From pennies to pounds

Much excitement at Birmingham City Council about today's release of the new £50 banknotes, which feature entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and engineer James Watt. The council, which owns the Boulton & Watt collection, says this development will see the pair come full circle. For while they are best known for the invention of the steam engine, they also set up the Soho Mint in Birmingham, which produced currency for Britain for 175 years.

More gloom to come, says RBS

Respect to Ross Walker, the Royal Bank of Scotland economist, who was yesterday right on the money with his prediction that those third-quarter growth figures would come in at 0.5 per cent – higher than most of his peers expected. Walker has a good track record for calling the data right, so his forecast for the last three months of 2011 is depressing – growth of just 0.1 per cent.