Breaking Finance news

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, says that the wealthy emirate is still considering whether to invest in BP

HSBC chairman says general direction of reform is ‘clear and correct’, but global consensus is needed to avoid putting the UK and other European countries at a competitive disadvantage

The City regulator is looking to force banks to check borrowers’ income before they offer mortgages after it found that almost half of the home loans provided since 2007 did not require proof of earnings

Switzerland has decided not to send Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski to the US to face sentencing for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977

Global Markets Overview: After a strong week for stocks, traders absorb the sharp risk asset rally of recent days and contemplate the prospects for the US second-quarter earnings season

Playboy’s founder Hugh Hefner has offered to take the storied adult entertainment company private in a deal worth about $122.6m after earlier efforts to sell the company failed.

The 10 strategic health authorities will be abolished by 2012 and the 150 primary care trusts scrapped by 2013, as GPs take over the purchase of care

Shares in Aon, the US insurance broker, slumped after the company said it would acquire Hewitt Associates, bolstering its human resources consulting arm in a cash and stock deal worth $4.9bn, excluding debt

Chinese property prices eased lower in June for the first time in nearly 18 months, a sign that the government’s campaign to reduce real estate speculation is beginning to bite

The Ugandan authorities believe militant Islamists from Somalia are the most likely suspects behind a series of bomb blasts in Kampala that killed at least 64 people gathered to watch the World Cup final