UK

BLUE CHIPS

Senior backbench MPs are being lobbied to set up a powerful US-style committee that would scrutinise the public finances as a whole and try to head off major fiscal disasters.

UK interest rates will stay at historic lows for four more years as the economy struggles to return to normal growth levels, Citi has predicted.

The LIBOR-rigging scandal that engulfed the banks in 2012 further dented their badly tarnished reputation and dealt another blow to public confidence, leaving investors uncertain how to play the sector.

Private bank and wealth manager C. Hoare & Co has shifted its asset allocation focus from the US to Europe for 2013 ahead of an expected boost for the single currency.

The Financial Services Bill, which will deliver fundamental reform of financial regulation in the UK, has received Royal Assent.

GLOBAL

Standard & Poor's has become the third main credit rating agency to put the UK's AAA rating on "negative" watch.

SMART MONEY

Business secretary Vince Cable has said the UK could see a triple-dip recession, and event a Japan-style 'lost decade' of zero growth.