The British Competition Commission today said shoppers needed more supermarkets in some areas as it outlined plans to overhaul planning rules and force grocers to sell some of their land banks.

A competition watchdog in the UK is expected to outline plans today for the appointment of an independent ombudsman to protect supermarket suppliers.

UK Yellow Pages owner Yell was today facing the possibility of new price controls after a watchdog said competition in the directories market was not working.

The Ulster Bank today became the second of Northern Ireland’s Big Four banks to bow to pressure and drop charges on personal current accounts.

The new owner of 115 former Safeway stores was today told that it may have substantially reduced competition in 14 retail areas of the UK.

The British Competition Commission is to investigate the North's four main banks at the request of the Office of Fair Trading.

The owner of Yellow Pages, the UK version of the Golden Pages, bolstered it US operation today with a deal worth £829m (€1.2bn) for a leading directories publisher in California and Texas.

UK magazine publisher Future today unveiled a £30.5m (€45m) deal to buy a string of titles from rival Highbury House Communications – just two weeks after pulling its offer for the whole firm.

British Airways today bolstered its board by announcing the appointment of top lawyer Denise Kingsmill as a non-executive director.

Independent News & Media said yesterday that the British Competition Commission has provisionally cleared the sale of its 27 weekly newspapers in the London area to Archant.

Plans by ferry operator Stena to take over the Liverpool-Dublin route from P&O were blocked today by the British Competition Commission.

The British Competition Commission says it will consider vetoing the planned takeover of Abbey National by Lloyds TSB Group