The level of poverty among British pensioners is the fourth highest in the EU, behind countries such as Romania, according to figures released by the European Commission.

The figures reveal that many over 65s in Britain are living on incomes far below the national average. However, the Department of Work and Pensions asserts that even the poorest British pensioners are better off than those living in other countries.

A DWP spokesperson said: “In 1997 our pensioners’ income was well below the European average. Today their income is nearly 10% higher than the EU average.”

The European Commission research, which preceded a Work and Pensions Committee report released yesterday on the government’s efforts to tackle pension poverty, compares relative poverty in the 27 member states. The figures show that in 2007 nearly one in three UK pensioners were living in poverty, the same proportion as in Lithuania (30%). The European average pensioner poverty level is 19%.

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Car insurance premiums are rising at their fastest rate in a decade, according to an AA report.

According to the latest benchmark AA British Insurance Premium Index, car insurance premiums rose by 3.5% in the second quarter of 2009, and 11% over the past year. The average premium for comprehensive car insurance increased by 3.5% between April and June this year to an average £778.13, while premiums for Third Party, Fire and Theft, typically bought by young and inexperienced drivers, went up by 4.6% over the quarter to £968.22.

The AA said theft, fraud, personal injury claims and legal expenses have all contributed to the rise in premiums, with personal injury claims expected to hit £10.9bn by 2012.

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Several shop customers have been charged twice for goods purchased using chip and pin following a technical problem with the Bank of Scotland’s electronic point of sale system.

The bank, which is owned by Lloyds Banking Group, said that a small number of customers had been affected by the hitch.

A spokesman said that customers would have their money reimbursed by the end of today (Wednesday) at the latest.

However, some businesses have complained they have had to deal with angry customers who mistakenly believed they had been overcharged by the shop where they had bought the goods.

“Some people have come to the shop very angry about it, because they think it is us who have charged them twice,” Chris Parton, owner of the Highland Soaps Company’s shop in Fort William, told the BBC. He added that his shop had made two refunds to appease angry customers.

Businesses also say there was no procedure in place to advise people who have the machines that there was a problem.

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UK banking chiefs will come under renewed pressure to make more credit available to small and medium-sized businesses, as they meet with the chancellor Alistair Darling to discuss the issue this afternoon.

However, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has rejected claims made by Darling that banks were charging too much for loans to struggling businesses. The group said that lending to small companies rose £366m in June, up from May’s £133m increase.

The chancellor, who is meeting bank chiefs at the Treasury this afternoon, said yesterday that he was “extremely concerned” that small and medium-sized businesses were still paying too much for bank loans that remain in short supply, despite the base rate remaining at just 0.5%.

Darling added that banks were obliged to raise lending levels, saying that the government did not rescue the banking sector “out of some charitable act”.

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The housing market is splitting down the middle, with a shortage of properties pushing up prices in the South of England, while selling conditions remain “difficult” in the North, according to a new report.

Whilst overall house prices across England and Wales remained level for the third month in a row, Hometrack reported “the emergence of a clear split in market conditions” between north and south.

The business information service reported price increases in 10% of postcodes, mostly located in the South of England. In the north there were more houses up for sale but weaker demand.

It also takes less time to sell in the south, with the average house selling within 9 weeks, and just 5.6 weeks in London, compared with over 10 weeks in Wales and the north.

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Savers will receive compensation more quickly if their bank, building society or credit union goes bust, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced.

The City Watchdog’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme currently awards up to £50,000 in compensation for savers who lose their money because their bank has gone under.

Today the FSA announced that from 2011 savers would receive their compensation within 20 days of an institution folding, rather than the current typical six-week wait.

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City professionals employed by banks to help their clients avoid tax could be fined by the Financial Services Authority or struck off its register.

The financial watchdog is considering whether it should play a role in enforcing the government’s new code of conduct, under which banks are required not to sell products that enable tax avoidance.

Hector Sans, chief executive of the FSA, said that the regulator would discuss the topic in its autumn consultation on the FSA’s “fit and proper” test.

The test is used to assess whether City workers are “fit and proper” in terms of their professional conduct. If the FSA deems them to have failed the test, it can fine them or strike them off the register.

The FSA has not yet published details on how it will handle the voluntary code, which the watchdog predicts will be in the consultation stages till September. The government is asking all banks to sign up to the code, warning that those who refuse to, or who do not conform to the “spirit” of the current tax laws are opening themselves to greater scrutiny from HM Revenue & Customs.

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National Savings and Investment customers could benefit from cheaper rates in the coming year, as competition in the savings market intensifies.

The “flight to safety”, which saw thousands of savers flock to NS&I at the beginning of the financial meltdown, is now over and the savings market has become increasingly “challenging”, the government-backed institution said today.

NS&I said that gross inflows totalled £26 billion in the year leading to March 2009, a £10.5 billion increase on the previous year, as worried investors transferred their savings from shaky high-street banks to a more secure location. Customers also withdrew far less cash from their accounts, with gross outflows dropping to £16.1 billion.

Jane Platt, NS&I’s chief executive, said: “The global financial crisis meant that demand for our products increased dramatically despite us cancelling all discretionary marketing.”

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David Cameron has pledged to scrap the Financial Services Authority as part of a raft of sweeping changes to banking regulation aimed at aiding Britain’s economic recovery.

The Conservatives would also give the Bank of England greater regulatory powers, he added. The Tory leader branded the tripartite system introduced by Gordon Brown when Labour came into power in 1997 a “policy failure of epic proportions” that was directly responsible for the country’s current economic crisis.

Instead, the Conservatives would establish a new financial committee with powers to rein in bank lending.

Cameron dismissed government proposals to create a new council to oversee financial stability, whilst retaining the current regulatory system, as inadequate, promising instead to give sweeping new powers to the Bank of England. He called the proposed council “effectively the same three organisations with nobody in charge and nobody taking responsibility”.

Conservative proposals outlined in their 52-page “plan for sound banking” include regulating City pay structures, risk-taking and the size of financial institutions, and turning the current FSA into a new consumer protection body.

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Mortgage lending rose by 17% today to £12.3 billion, according to figures published today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The group said that the increase was driven primarily by seasonal factors, and that lending had reached only half of last year’s levels.

The mortgage market has seen signs of improvement in recent months, with lenders more willing to offer mortgages to first-time buyers and those with small deposits. However, many would-be buyers are still struggling to aquire affordable home loans, with the majority of lenders demanding a deposit of 25% or more.

Although June’s figure for gross mortgage lending, which excludes redemptions and repayments, was the highest this year, it is still down 48% on June last year, when lenders advanced £24.8 billion.

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