Former HSBC boss Stephen Green is to step down from a financial services industry body amid claims the bank enabled tax dodging while he was in charge.

Royal Bank of Scotland has been blocked from paying bonuses twice the size of salaries after its plans were vetoed by the Government.

The British Government was defeated in the Lords tonight over its banking reform plans in the wake of the 2008 crash.

George Osborne today warned against driving away the wealthy after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for a temporary tax on the rich.

British Liberal Democrat Party leader Nick Clegg is today facing questions over his funding arrangements, after it emerged that a series of payments from party donors were made directly into his private bank account.