UK

George Osborne has asked Whitehall departments to make a further £2.5bn of cuts, as he prepares to present a gloomy Budget 2013 later today.

Royal London has agreed to buy the Co-operative Banking Group's life insurance and asset management businesses in a deal worth up to £219m.

Jupiter CEO Edward Bonham Carter has sold 750,000 shares in the group, bringing his shareholding down below 3%.

ON INCOME

Investec Asset Management CEO Hendrik du Toit, managing director of UK distribution David Aird and other senior employees are to acquire a 15% stake in the business for £180m.

Underlying pre-tax profit at F&C rose 11% to £52.4m in 2012 as the group's 18 month restructuring programme drew to a close.

The director-general of the Institute of Directors (IoD) has hit out at the pay packages received by bankers.

UK income investors could be in for a dividend windfall as sterling continues to slide against the dollar, analysts have suggested.

Goldman Sachs has forecast the FTSE 100 could reach 7,200 within the next 12 months - a new record high for the market.

A gang who made a film starring a former Eastenders actor solely as a £2.8m tax scam have been convicted at Southwark Crown Court.