The most aggravating theft that happened to me was the day I got my wallet nicked at a Cornish pasty outlet at Fenchurch Street station in the City of London.
I had plucked out a fiver to pay for my Beefy Big One and put the wallet on the counter to take my steaming savoury with […]

Culture, Media and Sport minister Tessa Jowell is considering her options after peers rejected the Government’s plans for 17 new casinos, including the first ’super-casino’ planned for Manchester.
Jowell said there was “no plan B” for the proposal, which was backed by MPs and, although she could force through the proposals, despite the wishes of the […]

Cash paid into Christmas savings schemes, such as the crashed Farepak operation, will now be protected following a Government review.
The hamper industry has agreed that from now on customers’ savings will be kept in ring-fenced accounts that will not be affected if the company running them gets into trouble.
The Treasury review was undertaken after 150,000 […]

Foreign property markets are booming as more British purchasers look abroad, according to the Foreign Focus Index (FFI) launched this week by foreign exchange company Moneycorp.
It is estimated that at least 250,000 British people now own a property abroad, with the key motivation for making a foreign purchase the chance to make returns on an investment rather than the […]

Millions of people are failing to put aside enough money to cover themselves for a financial emergency, according to research from savings account provider Birmingham Midshires (BM).
BM asked 2,000 people which potential emergencies or surprise costs they would be able to afford should they suddenly have to do so.
The eventuality that people are least prepared for is […]

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned financial advisers not to kis-sell Self Invested Personal Pensions (Sipps) as part of the pension advice they provide to consumers.
The FSA has examined some of the promotional materials that have been produced to market the pensions and found worries with a “significant number” of them.
Advisers have been specifically […]

Lloyds TSB, the fifth largest of the big five High Street banks and a major provider of UK current accounts, is sharing a £252m windfall payout from the company’s shares and bonus schemes, it has announced.
The award comes after the UK’s biggest bank announced its 2006 pre-tax profits had climbed 11% to £4.25bn. About £40m-worth of shares […]

The lack of any major natural or man-made disasters in the world last year helped insurance market Lloyds of London to return to profitability after its loss in 2005.
The market announced a profit of £3.6bn in 2006, compared with the loss of £103m the year before when hurricane Katrina devastated the southern seaboard of the United […]