Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued a warning to consumers vulnerable to "unscrupulous" firms offering to help them access their pension savings early.

MPs may be forced to debate a controversial plan to halt age-related tax allowances, in a move dubbed a ‘granny tax', after an online petition opposing it garnered almost 100,000 signatures.

Trevor Matthews, chief executive of Aviva UK, is to step down from the role.

Insurance companies such as Standard Life and Resolution could lose out from a Financial Services Authority probe into the £11bn annuities market, analysts say.

US President Barack Obama has praised a deal to prevent a "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and taxation.

George Osborne will deliver his annual Autumn Statement on 5 December.

The Consumer Prices Index rate of inflation climbed to 2.6% last month, from 2.4% in June.

Operating profits at Standard Life UK rose by more than 60% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2011, driven by an increase in fee revenues and lower acquisition costs.

The Financial Services Authority has issued a public censure of City Gate Money Managers and banned its director and compliance officer Stewart Wallace Domke over pension transfer business.

Insurer Aviva recorded a loss after tax of more than £680m in the first half of the year, after writing down some £870m of goodwill at its US business.