News

Sterling has jumped against the dollar, reversing this morning's losses, after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep its quantitative easing programme unchanged at £375bn.

Sterling fell back this morning ahead of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announcement as traders speculated whether the Bank will restart the printing presses to shore up the UK's economic recover.

Blue chip insurer Aviva's shares have fallen 14% after the group revealed a £3bn loss in 2012 caused by a huge writedown in its US business.

Standard Life has revealed restructuring and regulatory costs brought on by the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and Solvency II cost the business £109m last year, up from £70m in 2011.

Insurance firm Aviva suffered a loss of £3bn in 2012 due to a £3.3bn writedown from the sale of its US business last year.

Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson Global Investors, has tipped the rally in markets to continue from here as flows from bonds into equities finally start to increase.

Schroders has revealed its pre-tax profits fell 11% over the year to 31 December 2012, largely due to a slump in profits in the private banking arm.

Jupiter's John Chatfeild-Roberts has warned investors not to get carried away with the euphoria surrounding equity markets, saying many companies are being kept afloat by low interest rates.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) should get an independent body such as an accountancy firm to review the success of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), Zurich's head of government and industry affairs team Matt Connell has said.

Shares in telecoms giant Vodafone soared in afternoon trading as rumours swirled of a possible merger with Verizon, or the end of its joint venture with the US firm.