Barclays

Shares in Barclays were off around 1% in early trading after it abandoned its legal challenge against PPI mis-selling and set aside £1bn to cover customer redress and administration costs.

Jupiter income manager Tony Nutt has made the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time with a fortune of £76m.

Lehman Brothers Holdings is claiming $500m from Barclays for allegedly failing to pay all the bonuses it agreed to when it bought the defunct investment firm's North American business.

Barclays has revealed pre-tax profits fell to £1.66bn in the first quarter of 2011, 9% lower than the £1.82bn it made in Q1 2010.

Bank shares led the FTSE 100 higher in early trading as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the Independent Commission on Banking had opted to ring-fence banks rather than break them up.

Walker Crips managers Steve Bailey and Jan Luthman have re-introduced Barclays to their portfolios for the first time in nearly four years.

Investors in the top 10 hedge funds reaped returns of $28bn (£17.2bn) in the second half of last year alone, according to new data.

Barclays pre-tax profits jumped almost a third in 2010 to £6.07bn, slightly higher than analysts were expecting.

CONTRARIAN INVESTOR

Barclays is looking to close its financial advice arm next month due to declining returns and shifting investor trends.