Monday evening business bulletin

Sep 22 2008 By Andrew Mernin

The London market slipped back into the red today after its record-breaking rally on Friday as investors awaited the full details of the US’s massive banking rescue.

After a stunning 8.8% gain in the previous session, the FTSE 100 Index was on more subdued form as traders paused for breath after a tumultuous week.

The top-flight index shifted between positive and negative territory for much of the day, before closing 75 points lower at 5236.3 as US markets took early losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped almost 2% as US Democrats unveiled a list of conditions to accompany the 700 billion US dollar (£380bn) bail-out.

In London, financial stocks lost some ground after stellar progress for most on Friday.

Buy-to-let mortgage specialist and FTSE 250 firm Bradford & Bingley was also lifted as much as 19% on the back reports that the Financial Services Authority has been sounding out potential buyers of the under-pressure lender, although the excitement faded later to leave the stock 0.5p higher at 28.25p.

HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby today defended his company’s takeover by Lloyds TSB, telling staff: ``It was the right thing to do."

In an internal email he said the two institutions had been talking for some time about a deal, and claimed it would create ``a financial powerhouse".

Mr Hornby also said it could take at least three months to complete the deal - and up to three years to integrate the two institutions.

His comments came in the email written yesterday, which also sought to reassure staff over jobs.

``It is of course the case that the merger will inevitably lead to some job reductions," he said in the email, obtained by The Scottish Press Association.

``However, the majority of HBOS colleagues are likely to stay with the enlarged group, reflecting the sheer scale of our business.

``Moreover, for most colleagues the impact of the merger is unlikely to be immediate as integration will take at least two to three years to complete."

The number of credit and debit cards which are signed up to a secure online payment system has soared by more than 650% during the past two years, figures showed today.

More than 25 million cards are now part of Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode, both of which make it safer for people to use their plastic to buy things online, payments group Apacs said.

The group said more than 1.5 million cardholders were registering their cards with these online payment systems every month, up from 200,000 a month two year ago.

Cardholders who sign up to the schemes choose a password which they then use when shopping online at participating retailers.

The system offers people greater protection against card fraud as it makes it harder for someone else to use their card.

The pound at 5pm was US$1.8479 compared to US$1.8310 at the previous close while the euro at 5pm was £0.7947  compared to £0.7871 at the previous close.