ECONOMY

Payment to settle claims that bank violated US curbs on Iran.

HSBC said to be in talks with US law-enforcement agencies over money-laundering claims.

Australia's jobless rates drop to 5.2 percent in November, boosting sentiments after slowdown in economy.

By making guarantees linked to events he cannot control Chancellor George Osborne is the author of his own misfortune.

Citigroup reveals it is slashing 11,000 positions, in a bid to reduce expenses and 'improve efficiency'

UK regulator unveils proposed changes to regulation and supervision of benchmark interbank lending rate.

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index places Greece 94th, below Bulgaria and Romania and the bottom spot in EU.

November PMI reading for UK service sector paints worrying economic picture ahead of Christmas.

Arcadia Group billionaire reportedly selling 25% of Topshop in bid to expand in US and China.

Tesco shares leap after launch of 'strategic review' of loss-making Fresh & Easy retail chain.

Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont buys HSBC's 15.7 percent stake in China's second-largest insurance group

China's services PMI fell to 52.1 in November from 53.5 recorded for October, a second straight month of decline, indicating slow pace of growth in the world's second largest economy.

We're not cutting the deficit fast enough and we need to do more. There's 'no miracle cure' to fix our economic ills.

The UK's November shop price inflation remains at 1.5 percent while food prices rise to 4.6 percent.

The country's economic growth slows on a sequential as well as year-over-year basis in the third quarter contributed by government spending cuts and lower demand from China.

ONS data shows fuel and power only area of household spending to have gone up between 2006 and 2011.

PIMCO's Bill Gross says debt and demographics will act as a drag on global economic growth for years to come as investors navigate a "new normal" of lower returns.

Devastated mother Anne accuses Barclays of driving indebted student to his death.

Company is seeking treble damages

Boris Johnson's comments highlight rift within the Conservative party over nature of Britain's future within European Union.

November construction sector PMI posts negative reading as confidence in future outlook plummets to lowest reading in four years.

US regulator charges China affiliates at KPMG, Deloitte, BDO, PwC and Ernst & Young with securities violations

Juncker to quit the position "at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year."

British Retail Consortium's monthly sales monitor says UK shoppers in cautious mood ahead of key Christmas period.

World's biggest supplier of plumbing and heating products says US growth solid but will review its operations in France

London Mayor Boris Johnson laid out perhaps the most ardently Eurosceptic case for the future of London in a speech that could reignite tensions in his Conservative party over Britain's relationship with the European Union.

Austerity measures coupled with weak global trade and eurozone debt crisis will constrain Britain's growth, predicts the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC).

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut its interest rate to 3 percent following slump in the mining sector and a strong currency.

House rents are expected to go up in 2013 though the average rate of growth has eased about two percent from the 4.5 percent growth rate recorded for the past three years, says Rightmove.