Banks withdraw £1.88bn from economy, offsets rise in lending

Britain's banks and building societies drew £13.8bn from the state-backed Funding for Lending cheap credit scheme (FLS) in its first five months of operation, but cut loans to households and businesses by almost £2bn.

Banks urged to raise fresh capital

The taxpayer could be asked to stump up yet more cash to support Britain's banks after the Bank of England's new risk watchdog urged them to raise more capital to weather future financial shocks.