Insurance giant Aviva has announced that its chief executive, Andrew Moss, is to leave the group with immediate effect.

The UK economy contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter of the year, meaning it has slipped back into technical recession, preliminary estimates from the Office for National Statistics show.

The government's "loose" monetary policy of quantitative easing and low interest rates is diminshing retirees' income, a report by MPs concludes.

Resolution is preparing a "self-managed" exit from Friends Life in 2014 that would see the company split between a fit for purpose life company and a closed life fund consolidator.

The 50p top rate of income tax will be reduced to 45p from April next year, Chancellor George Osborne announced this afternoon.

Insurance giant Prudential saw profits climb marginally to £723m last year.

Operating profits across the UK units of Standard Life fell last year due to a fall in income and higher acquisition expenses.

The Financial Services Authority has proposed changes to the way pension transfer values are calculated.

The UK inflation rate fell to 3.6% in January, down from 4.2% in December, official figures show

More than £70m has so far been paid out to some 95,000 individual policyholders in Equitable Life, according to a progress report from the Treasury.