A market rally after pro-bailout party New Democracy scraped a narrow win at the Greek election has eased back amid uncertainty over the global economy and other eurozone countries.

Aviva Investors sent an e-mail by mistake on Friday dismissing its entire staff before retracting the message, according to reports.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, the asset management arm of Lloyds, is shutting down a string of its regional investment desks with the loss of half its 38-strong management team, according to reports.

Prime minister David Cameron has caused the EU to fracture after refusing to sign up to a new treaty over concerns about financial services regulation.

US - Paulson & Co, the giant US hedge fund, has warned in a "worst case" scenario it could suffer redemptions equivalent to between a fifth and a quarter of its assets by the end of the year.

Price pressures across a number of areas forced UK CPI annual inflation up from 4.2% in June to 4.4% in July.

Royal London group received a boost from pensions arm Scottish Life during the first half of 2011 as its new business increased 10%.

Chancellor George Osborne is considering a £7bn "raid" on pension perks for the better off, according to reports.

Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown are now among the UK's 100 wealthiest people, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2011.

Standard Life's operating profit before tax increased by 7% to £425m last year, boosted by the uptick in markets and an increase in corporate pension scheme clients.