Alistair Darling has launched a scathing attack on Mervyn King's governorship of the Bank of England during the financial crisis, and warned the government's decision to hand more power to the institution is a mistake.

The UK's index of 100 leading shares fell 2.76% to below 5,000 this morning, as global markets showed no signs of shaking off fears the West is heading back into recession.

Warren Buffett has revealed he has exploited recent sell-offs to buy up cheap stocks.

Castlestone Management chief executive Angus Murray is to step down, replaced by director of global sales Jerry Devlin.

Standard Life Investments saw its third party net inflows fall by 40% in the first half following the transfer of its money market funds, although group-wide AUM edged up.

Bulls triumph over bears, Fed freezes short-term rates, and pension funds take a beating from stock market turmoil...our round-up of the news from the nationals.

The European Central Bank said last night it would "actively implement" its controversial bond-buying programme to fight the eurozone's debt crisis, signalling it will buy Spanish and Italian government bonds.

President Barack Obama has announced a deal to end the US debt crisis, which will raise the nation's debt ceiling by at least $2.1trn and cut the federal deficit by as much as $2.5trn over a decade.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has proposed wide ranging reforms and a tightening of the rules around how exchange traded funds (ETFs) operate in Europe.

The threat of a stock market crash has risen to a "one in three" chance, the chief executive of the respected Centre for Economics and Business Research has warned.