大象传媒

News and views from the business world with Mickey Clark and Andrew Verity.

It's all change at the top of two of Britain's biggest banks. Bob Diamond is to become chief executive of Barclays, while HSBC chairman Stephen Green steps down to become a government trade minister. Julian Chillingworth, Chief Investment Officer of Rathbones Unit Trust Management, looks at the prospects for the banks under new leadership.

Finance Ministers from across Europe are to meet today to discuss a package of measures to increase supervision of financial institutions. They want to make sure that national financial services watchdogs are better coordinated so they pick up on early warning signs for any future economic disasters.

Electricity companies are warning that criminal gangs are operating a huge door-to-door sales scam. As Christine McGourty, Director of Energy UK explains, criminals have managed to clone prepayment meter keys in order to make money by offering discounted credit to customers.

Also on the programme, MPs are to examine if more regulation is needed in the North Sea oil industry following the explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. And high street sales for August were up 1% on the same period last year.