MARKETS / FINANCE

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Lloyds Banking Group's finance director, Tim Tookey, is to quit the partly state-owned British bank to join insurer Friends Life, continuing a series of high-profile management departures since the arrival of new chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio at the beginning of the year.

Here is a list of the five reasons why Microsoft may falter against Android.

Even though the recession officially ended more than two years ago, the still-weak U.S. economy and a pullback in federal support means the outlook for states and local governments remains negative, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday.

The chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd said he expects gold prices to hit $2,200 an ounce by next year and hinted the South African miner could boost its dividend.

China should refrain from boosting credit and fiscal spending again as stimulus measures to avoid fueling inflation and pushing up government debt, Wu Xiaoling, a former deputy central bank governor said in remarks published on Monday.

President Barack Obama will once-again try to right the nation's fiscal ship of state by proposing a new tax levy for U.S. taxpayers whose income exceeds $1 million per year. Congressional Republicans have already said they're opposed to the levy, but it remains to be seen whether that latter view will hold amid a public that wants upper-income groups to pay more in taxes.

Diversified manufacturer United Technologies Corp is exploring a takeover of aerospace company Goodrich Corp but the two sides are not yet close to a deal, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The London Bullion Market Association is working out ways for refiners on its Good Delivery List to avoid falling foul of new regulations against conflict gold as a number one priority, LBMA chairman David Gornall told Reuters on Sunday.

Greece on Sunday pledged to take the tough decisions needed to avoid default but announced no new austerity measures to secure international bailout funds next month.

U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy Co is talks with shareholders about the future of its stores in Britain, the Sunday Express reported.

Swiss bank UBS increased the amount it said it had lost on rogue equity trades to $2.3 billion on Sunday and Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel said the alleged fraud would have consequences for strategy and possibly also for himself.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett misses the mark more often than most people realize, but his view, shared by President Barack Obama, that the richest Americans should be taxed at the same rate as middle-class Americans, is on the money.

The German and Swiss governments aim to sign a deal this week on taxing money stashed by German citizens in secret accounts in the Alpine state, according to a German government source.

Many say Floyd Mayweather Jr. landed a cheap shot in taking down Victor Ortiz with a controversial fourth-round knockout for the WBC welterweight title.

A French banking system shaken by a crisis of confidence and hobbled by the need to deleverage and write down assets could choke off credit to consumers and businesses and shatter France's fragile recovery.

Wall Street hopes for more Fed action and clear signs European leaders will follow through on their new urgency to tackle the euro zone debt crisis if U.S. stocks are to build on their best week since early July.

Pakistan will not seek a new International Monetary Fund programme, nor will it ask for an extension of the current one due to end on September 30, because it has no balance of payments crisis and has enough foreign exchange reserves, a finance ministry official told Reuters on Sunday.

Pakistan will not seek a new IMF loan program or ask for an extension when its existing loan package ends on September 30, because it has no balance of payments crisis and has enough foreign exchange reserves, a finance ministry official told Reuters on Sunday.

China's securities regulator is asking the government to clamp down on the controversial corporate structure used by companies such as Sina and Baidu to list overseas, and employed in thousands of other investments by foreigners into domestic Chinese companies, four legal sources told Reuters.

Swiss bank UBS on Sunday increased the amount it said it had lost on rogue trades to $2.3 billion and gave details of how a trader concealed his risk exposure by creating fictitious positions in its systems.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou chairs a cabinet meeting on Sunday to decide on more austerity measures to secure continued funding under an international bailout.

Google's Eric Schmidt, the online search giant's point man for all things Washington, goes before a Senate panel this week to argue the company is not a rival-abusing bully, but in fact is struggling to stay on top.

Consumer groups will try to convince the Federal Reserve this week that rubber stamping the Capital One Financial Corp takeover of ING Groep NV's online banking unit would prove that too big to fail is alive and well.

Political opponents could block a compromise between Switzerland and U.S. tax authorities that would settle a dispute on untaxed money in Swiss accounts once and for all, newspapers reported on Sunday.

Leading global investment banks, including Credit Suisse AG , are cutting research staff in the Middle East to save costs amid tough global conditions and a dearth of work in the region.

China's securities regulator is asking the government to clamp down on the controversial corporate structure used by companies such as Sina and Baidu to list overseas, and employed in thousands of other investments by foreigners into domestic Chinese companies, four legal sources told Reuters.

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UBS Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel is not considering stepping down in the wake of the crisis provoked by a London trader suspected of causing a $2 billion loss for the bank, he told Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag on Sunday.