Economics

Platform assets increased to £173bn in the final quarter of last year - despite a drop in sales owing to ongoing economic uncertainty, research suggests.

Phone hacking at News International has cost Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation nearly $200m (£126m) to date, the company said last night, as it warned it could not predict the final bill.

The Federal Reserve has announced interest rates will remain at their historic lows until late 2014, which could pave the way for a further bout of quantitative easing.

UK GDP for the fourth quarter of 2011 dropped by 0.2%, a worse than expected figure that will heighten fears of a double-dip recession.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has held fire on its quantitative easing (QE) programme and kept interest rates at their historical low of 0.5%.

Bank of England chief economist Spencer Dale has predicted inflation will fall to around 3% early next year and is confident the latest round of quantitative easing will prop up the economy.

Chancellor George Osborne is set to come under more pressure as it emerges the UK will miss its deficit reduction target whilst leader of the opposition Ed Miliband prepares to unleash a further attack on the coalition's economic policy…here's our roundup...

Greece has scrapped plans to hold a referendum on the European debt deal thrashed out by ministers last week after the country's opposition leader publicly backed the proposals.

MoneySavingExpert's Martin Lewis has written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to push through compulsory financial education in schools.

The struggle of finding a mortgage in your forties, families being split apart by inheritance tax disputes and fears around cash held outside the UK safety net...the things your clients will call you about this week.