Which? has urged banks to streamline their payment protection insurance (PPI) claim process or risk exposing customers to claims management companies, after just a quarter of the promised amount of redress was paid out in 2011.

A "sophisticated" fraudster who headed up a criminal gang has been jailed for seven years for defrauding high street banks out of almost £8m through multiple fraudulent mortgage applications.

Tesco Bank's chief executive, Benny Higgins, has suggested that its long-anticipated launch into the mortgage market will happen by as early as April this year.

A Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage adviser has admitted to helping two brothers fraudulently obtain mortgages worth £700,000 by ignoring discrepancies on their loan applications.

A former magistrate found guilty of a £360,000 mortgage fraud has been spared a jail sentence after a judge ruled her behaviour "wholly uncharacteristic".

All the key points from the final MMR consultation paper

The ongoing compliance costs of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) proposals will cost the industry anything between £47m and £170m a year, with one-off implementation costs between £40m and £60m, according to the FSA.

The FSA today proposes to ban non-advised mortgage sales, although all but the 'vulnerable' or those accessing higher-risk products will be able to opt-out of advice or reject it and proceed on an execution-only basis.

Official government figures have revealed that the average annual salary earned by financial and insurance brokers this year has increased 17.3% on 2010 to £54,924.

Chancellor George Osborne has not extended the Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers, with the Autumn Statement revealing the government believes it has proved "ineffective".