Serious questions have emerged surrounding the robustness of the Central Bank’s investigation into payment protection insurance after it emerged that the banks were allowed to set their own rates of compensatory interest.

Part-nationalised British lender Lloyds Banking Group slumped into the red last year with losses of £6.3bn (€7bn), it said today.

THE Chairman of the European Parliament’s Inquiry into Equitable Life, Ireland East Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness, expressed concern about the manner in which complaints from Equitable Life policy holders were dealt with by the Financial Ombudsman Service in Britain.