The former chief executive of ITV is to take over as executive chairman as the music group, owned by private equity house Terra Firma, seeks to raise £120m in new funds

* Kiwi NZD=D4 opens local session around & #36;0.7060 level after touching a high of & #36;0.7098 in the offshore session, the highest since Feb. 3, as risk appetite increases demand for higher yield currencies.

Most economists are expecting unemployment in Australia to remain steady at 5.3 per cent.

Bank of America said it would eliminate overdraft fees for debit card customers in a move designed to quell consumer frustration and keep the bank a step ahead of egulations that restrict such charges

Gross government lending to state-owned lender rises by £8.5bn to £22.8bn but the group’s underlying loss falls in second half as it splits into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ banks

The UK banking group is looking at buying a large US retail bank as it tries to rebalance its business away from a booming investment banking franchise

Cashed-up miner Atlas Iron is considering another acquisition in addition to its proposed & #36;143 million takeover of junior iron ore explorer Aurox Resources.

Movements on credit card interest rates over two years show banks have kept 85 per cent of the net benefit gained from the Reserve Bank interest rate cuts.

HELSINKI (AFP) – A Finnish dock workers’ strike that has crippled the export-reliant Nordic country’s foreign trade entered its fifth day Monday, with major companies saying they were forced to temporarily halt operations.

GENEVA (AFP) – Subsistence farmers in developing nations are at risk because farmland equivalent to the total amount available in France has been negotiated away to foreign investors since 2006, a UN expert said Monday.