Royal Bank of Scotland paid 100 investment bankers more than £1m each and warned that still hundreds will defect during the year over pay restrictions, costing the state-backed lender £1bn in profit.

Chief Executive Stephen Hester claimed that a thousand top bankers quit in 2009 and added that the people, who left them the previous year, would have increased their profits by up to £1bn.

The BBC will close two radio stations, shut half its website and cut spending heavily on imported American programs in an overhaul of services to be announced in the coming months.

Mark Thompson, the Director-General, admitted that the corporation, funded by the £3.6bn annual license fee, had become too large and must shrink to give its commercial rivals room to operate.

Britain's economy faced another critical moment, as figures raised a doubt regarding whether the country really had finally recovered from recession.

Virgin Media outlined plans to bring superfast broadband speeds of 100Mb to 12.6m UK homes.

The investment banking bonanza seems to be cooling and retail and commercial was stably at rest.