UK new car sales hit 2m mark

Britons have bought more than 2m new cars so far this year, following an unexpectedly sharp jump in sales in October.

Japanese broker makes £380bn ‘fat finger’ trade

Japan avoided the biggest of all “fat finger” meltdowns on Wednesday when an unidentified large stockbroker managed to cancel rogue trades worth more than the size of Sweden’s economy.

Bank of America to pay $16.65 billion over mortgages

Bank of America (BAC)'s tab for the financial crisis is now nearly $74 billion.

Zoopla float to value property website at £919m

Zoopla has priced its flotation in the lower half of its proposed range, valuing the property website at less than the £1bn it was seeking.

Royal Bank of Scotland set to report up to £8bn losses for 2013

Royal Bank of Scotland is on track to report up to £8bn in losses for 2013 after taking a fresh hit for conduct and mis-selling issues, forcing its top management to refuse any bonuses for the year.

Bank of America profits up as credit improves

Bank of America has reported stronger-than-expected profits for the fourth quarter of 2013, helped by improving credit conditions.

Ford, Chrysler close 2013 with more gains in US sales

CHICAGO: Ford and Chrysler closed out 2013 by extending strong sales gains Friday as the booming US auto industry was expected to rack up its best performance in years.

Restoring trust in Barclays 'to take five to 10 years'

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins says he expects it to be five to 10 years before he can restore public trust in the bank. Mr Jenkins said that people in large organisations, "want to do the right thing - it's sometimes that they perceive the right thing differently".

JP Morgan in record $13bn settlement with US authorities

US bank JP Morgan Chase has agreed to a record $13bn (£8bn) settlement with US authorities for misleading investors during the housing crisis.

JPMorgan in tentative $13 billion deal with US Justice Department: Source

WASHINGTON: JPMorgan Chase & Co has reached a tentative $13 billion agreement with the US Justice Department to settle a range of mortgage issues, a source familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

Swiss bank UBS repays its bailout loan

Switzerland's central bank has said a loan it granted to bail out troubled bank UBS five years ago has been repaid.

Barclays stock hit by £5.8bn cash call to plug shortfall

Barclays will issue £5.8bn in new shares as part of a move to plug a £12.8bn capital shortfall created by new regulatory demands.

RBS fined £5.6m for incorrectly reporting trades

Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined £5.6m for failing to properly report almost 45 million trades. The fine relates to the period between November 2007 and February 2013 when regulators found mistakes in more than a third of the bank's transactions.

Companies ditch renting to cut property costs

LONDON: After decades of renting being the norm, companies with offices in the world's major cities are seeing more financial sense in buying their own buildings, prompted by a mix of cheap debt, stockpiled cash and new accounting rules.

RBS sees government stake sale next year as it posts quarterly profits of £826m

Royal Bank of Scotland has reported its best quarterly result in more than a year with a pre-tax profit of £826m and said it expects the goverment to be able to start selling its stake it the lender by the middle of next year or even earlier.

HSBC pays $4.2bn for fines and mis-selling in 2012

HSBC paid out $4.2bn (£2.8bn) last year to cover the cost of past wrongdoing. As well as $1.9bn in fines for money laundering, the bank also set aside another $2.3bn for mis-selling financial products in the UK.

Swiss Voters Approve Limits on ‘Fat Cat’ Executive Pay

Swiss voters approved some of the world’s toughest limits on executives’ pay in a referendum, a move critics say could make Switzerland less attractive to multinational corporations.

Analysis: U.S. companies plan to spend, a boost for the economy

(Reuters) - U.S. companies' capital spending plans are holding up, and mostly exceeding Wall Street forecasts, in the face of policy concerns created by arguments in Washington over the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and now automatic spending cuts.

Toyota aims for record global production in 2013

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp plans to make a record 8.79 million vehicles under the Toyota and Lexus brands in 2013 and 9.5 million in 2014, a member of the Toyota labour union federation said on Wednesday.

MPs: Sale of RBS or Lloyds 'not for years'

There is a risk that the £66bn invested in RBS and Lloyds Banking Group by the government may never be recovered, a parliamentary committee has warned In a report into the sale of Northern Rock, the Public Accounts Committee said the sale of the bank in 2011 was "fortunate", and Lloyds and RBS may not be sold "for many years".