National Savings & Investments has announced large increases to the interest rates on some of its policies.

Rates for its guaranteed growth bonds and guaranteed income bonds will rise by as much as 2.95% for new savers, bringing the annual interest rate on some of its fixed rate policies to 4.6% a year before tax.

“Customers can choose to invest between £500 and £1m in our one, two, three or five-year bonds,” said John Prout, a director at NS&I.

The new rates are some of the best available for savers, and are a direct challenge to banks and building societies keen to win customers. NS&I offers the second most competitive two-year bond in the UK with a gross interest rate of 4.25% (just behind AA at 4.35%). Meanwhile a one-year bond with the state-backed institution carries a gross interest rate of 3.95%.

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The Bank of England’s quantitative easing process has helped carry the UK through the recession, deputy governor Charles Bean has claimed.

Speaking to an audience of accountants in London, Mr Bean said he believed the Bank had contributed significantly to the £600 billion of new capital generated by British businesses since January - a £200 billion increase on the previous nine months.

“The rise in asset prices and the recovery in confidence since the start of the Quantitative Easing programme have been significant,” he said.

Bean’s comments come during a period of falling inflation in the UK, suggesting that another round of quantitative easing, beyond the £175 billion already authorised by the government, could safely go ahead.

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Cases of identity fraud have skyrocketed during the economic downturn, with the number of victims of identity theft increasing by a third since the start of the year, according to the fraud prevention service CIFAS.

The past nine months have seen 59,000 recorded cases of impersonation by criminals seeking cash, loans, credit and goods this year. This means the UK has had more instances of identity fraud this year than any other country in Europe.

Account takeover, whereby a criminal hacks into an existing account rather than setting up a new one, have more than tripled in the last two years. More than half of these instances involved credit card accounts. The increase in online shopping and customer carelessness are both thought to be behind the rise. A quarter of takeovers affected bank accounts, while the number of mobile-phone accounts hijacked increased from 899 to 2,022.

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The amount of money lost through card fraud in the UK fell by 23% during the first half of the year as new prevention measures came into effect, new figures reveal.

The total cost of fraud on credit cards and debit cards fell to £232.8 million from January to June, down from £304.2 million in the first half of last year, according to Financial Fraud Action UK (FFAUK).

Losses from counterfeit card crime, where cards are skimmed or copied, fell by the largest margin, from £88.8 million last year to £46.3 million. Card-not-present fraud, including internet, phone and mail order crime, fell 18% from £163.9 million last year to £134 million.

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Tesco is soon to sell current accounts as the supermarket chain looks to expand its finance offering.

The company announced today that its finance division, which has been renamed Tesco Bank, will start selling current accounts from in-store branches, giving customers access to a full range of banking services.

“Tesco Bank is already making good contributions to sales and profits,” said chief executive Terry Leahy. “I think Tesco Bank sets out a stall for the future of our business. It will be a bank for Tesco customers and there will be more products soon.”

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Over-50s will be able to put aside up to £3,000 extra in tax-free savings from today, as new ISA allowances come into force.

The amount people can save in a tax-free ISA has risen from £7,200 to £10,200, of which half can be saved in cash and half in stocks and shares. The new limit applies to those born on or before 5th April 1960. Younger savers will have to wait until 6th April 2010.

The new limits, which were announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in this year’s budget, are designed to help savers who have been hit by the steep drop in interest rates.

“I am determined to help savers, because while low interest rates have helped millions of homeowners, I also know that they have hit those who rely on their savings to get by,” he said.

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The Financial Services Authority has told banks and building societies to compensate customers who may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance.

The ruling covers firms that have sold more than 40% of their “single premium” PPI policies at the same time as giving unsecured personal loans. The FSA will also target other companies that have mis-sold PPI when offering secured loans or credit cards.

The regulator has asked firms to reopen 185,000 rejected complaints about PPI.

Payment Protection Insurance is designed to cover debt repayments if you can’t work because of illness or redundancy, and is usually offered whenever you take out a loan, mortgage, credit card or store card, or bought something on credit.

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HSBC, Britain’s largest bank, has promised to boost lending to first time buyers. The bank says it will lend a total of £1.5 billion to home buyers with very small deposits before the end of the year.

The lender, which has launched an aggressive campaign to increase its share of the mortgage market since the onset of the credit crunch, said it will boost lending to home buyers who have managed to raise a deposit of just 10%. HSBC has already lent £1 billion to borrowers in this category this year.

Martijn van der Heijden, head of mortgages at HSBC, said: “Houses prices seem to have bottomed and rates are low – and many of those who put off [buying a house] last year are starting to look around again.”

He added: “HSBC has been out there throughout the recession, staying open for business for our customers. While other lenders were in retreat, we became the UK’s largest lender in the first half of 2009 on a net lending basis.”

Before the collapse of Northern Rock, mortgages with a 90% loan-to-value ratio were widely available. However, lenders quickly removed these deals in early 2008 as the property market began to slump.

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Information handed out by some banks to their customers was “incomprehensible” while fees were “opaque”, according to a European Commission report on banks.

The study found that only 9% of EU consumers switched current accounts between January 2007 and December 2008, compared with 25% of car insurance customers. A lack of transparency about the products and services banks are offering helped account for the lack of new customers among bank.

“Retail bankers are letting consumers down,” said EU consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

“There is widespread evidence that basic consumer principles are being violated with problems from complex pricing to hidden charges and information that is unclear and incomplete.

“Banks need to put their house in order with a culture change in the way they treat customers.”

The Commission studied accounts offered by 224 banks across the EU. It found that in 66% of cases, experts needed to ask for further information about banking fees. Moreover, one in 10 banks did not post any information about fees on their websites.

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Years of savings would be needed to return household wealth to pre-recession levels, a Bank of England report has found.

According to the figures, it would take nine years for households that saved 10% of their income to bring wealth back up to the average of the last 20 years. However, the Bank said that it is difficult to assess how much, if at all, households will put aside in savings in order to rebuild their wealth.

The report found that between 1995 and 2007 the ratio of household spending to saving fell to historical low levels. Rising property prices, falling interest rates and easy access to credit meant that people were tempted to spend rather than save during the late 90s and early part of this decade.

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