PPI

The insurance sector has come under the spotlight this week after Friday's revelation Aviva was seeking a merger with Friends Life in a deal worth £5.6bn.

The knowledge gap

Barclays said today its underlying profits for the first half of the year had fallen 7% after a drop in investment bank revenue, while it also reported another huge bill to compensate PPI customers.

EUROPE

Shares in oil giant BP shot higher this morning, lifting the wider market, after the group pleased investors by raising its dividend.

Lloyds Bank has reported growing profits for the first nine months of the year as it starts down the path to reprivatisation, but continues to suffer from the impact of ongoing PPI claims.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched enforcement action against at least one small firm for failing to handle payment protection insurance (PPI) claims properly, after it found "serious problems" at two thirds of the firms it reviewed.

I have never met Chris Welsford, but he regularly sends me the eponymously Welsford Report.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) handled more than 327,000 complaints in the first half of the year, a record for the organisation, figures published today show.

GOSLING'S GROUSE