The GfK NOP consumer confidence index which uses a sample of 2,000 interviews with Britons over 16. The index showed that consumers are feeling more positive about the general economy and their personal financial situation over the past and next 12 months.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight said: “This reduces the chances of a double-dip recession, but it doesn’t mean that the economy is going to roar ahead.”

The UK economy grew by 1.2% in the second quarter unexpectedly, an indication that recovery was under way after the worst recession in sixty years. “We are in recovery, and the improvement is good news, it alleviates some pessimism over prospects going forward,” Archer said.

Property owners at the moment are required to commission an energy performance certificate (EPC) before putting a property on the market. HOwever, the results are not always available when potential purchasers first view it. From 2012 the EU Directive will make it compulsory for the ratings to be published upfront in a move to give buyers vital “green” information on the property.

The legislation will effectively put a green, amber or red energy efficiency grading on every For Sale board in the UK. The plan is designed to assist the government in delivering on its highly ambitious plas of reducing household carbon emissions by 29% by 2020.

Founder Non-profit energy supplier Ebico, Phil Levermore, said: “There has never been a better time. Not only could it make a property more saleable in the future, but people will also reap rewards from lower energy bills and a warmer, more comfortable home in the meantime.”

The government’s proposed “green deal” scheme, to be detailed this autumn, is expected to offer loans of up to £6,500 for home energy efficiency improvements repayable, over 20 years or more, out of savings on fuel bills.

The Energy Saving Trust recently said that the majority of the UK’s least energy-efficient homes could be brought up to near-average green standards for less than £3,000; older homes needing major modernisation, including a new central heating system, would need at least £5,000 to bring them into line

Unsustainable competition over the years have led many insurers to slash premiums, but rates are now rising again to what the industry regards as more normal levels. A sharp rise in claim costs is the primary reason for the rise in insurance premiums.

David McMillan, head of Aviva UK general insurance, said: “It is not surprising that rates have continued to harden this year. If you look at the underlying inflation in bodily injury claims that we have had in the market for the last three or four years, in many respects it is surprising rates didn’t harden sooner. There is no sign of a let-up in this inflation, so I expect this market phenomenon to continue.”

Aviva raised its half-year dividend by 6% to 9.5p a share after slashing it by about a third last year. It reported a 21% increase in operating profits to £1.27bn, as sales of long-term savings products rose 4% to more than £20bn. The UK life and pensions business achieved record profits of £728m, with sales up 10%. General insurance returned to growth, with net written premiums rising 7% compared with the second half of 2009.

The number of personal insolvencies in the second quarter of 2010 fell by 3% compared to the previous quarter. Overall, there were 34,743 insolvencies during the second quarter of 2010.

The number of businesses going into insolvency also fell by 2% from the previous total of 1,311. This is 14% lower than the same period in 2009.

The number of firms going into insolvency fell again in England and Wales, down 2% from the previous period in 2009.

“This is a welcome trend in the number of business failures, but the UK economy is not out of the woods yet,” said Malcolm Shierson at accountants Grant Thornton.

“We expect to see an increase in business failures in outsourcing, as well as the hotel and leisure services sectors,” he added.

The number of personal insolvencies being declared was at a record high in the first quarter of this year, so the 3% fall is encouraging. In the first quarter of the year, personal insolvencies hit a record high of 35,682.

“It’s encouraging to see that bankruptcies are down, but don’t be misled by this,” said Brian Johnson at accountants HW Fisher.

“The fact that both debt relief orders (DROs) and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) are still creeping up shows that we are not in the clear yet.

“Many consumers are still highly stretched financially and public sector spending cuts are only going to make things worse over the course of the next two years,” he added.

Paul Crayston of the Money Advice Trust pointed out that personal insolvency was still running at a level far higher than a decade a ago.

“The number of insolvencies in the first half of the year 2000 was 15,369, whereas the first half of this year saw 70,425 insolvencies – an increase of more than 458% over the last 10 years.”

Royal Bank of Scotland shares rose by 2% to 53p in early trading, giving the taxpayer a £3bn profit on the 90.6bn shares owned by the government. RBS is currently 83% owned by the government. HSBC, Barclays, Northern Rock, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered all reported first-half profits that were well beyond expectations.

RBS is one of the banks that could be affected by the government’s commission on banking. The commission is considering whether banks should broken up to make the financial system safer as a whole. Barclays indicated that it was considering its “options” which might include a move abroad.

RBS, which must now lend £50bn to businesses under an agreement with the government, admitted that firms were still repaying loans faster than it could grant them, although it said it was “on plan” to meet the £50bn target. Net repayments by businesses were £1.4bn in the second quarter while net mortgage lending was £3.2bn in the four months from March to June, showing that RBS was lending more than customers were paying back.

“RBS remains on course to achieve its £8bn mortgage lending target for the March 2010 to February 2011 period,” the bank said.

Currently, the trials are only running in a few US cities and the service will only work with smartphones like the iPhone and Blackberry.

The new phones would contain an RFID chip inside them that is linked to a customers bank account. When a consumer waved the phone in front of a product the money would then be deducted from their account.

Discover will process the payments while Barclays would help to manage the accounts. As yet, none of the companies involved have confirmed the existence of the service. The service could have wider implications for the future and will lead to a significant change in the way that people spend money when shopping.

According to industry research house Nilson Report, there were 576.4m credit cards in circulation in the US at the end of 2009, with the average number of cards held standing at 3.5.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: “Overall, there has been little change in prices during 2010 so far. The mixed pattern of monthly rises and falls over the first seven months of the year is consistent with a slowing market. It is also in line with our view that house prices will be broadly unchanged over 2010 as a whole.”

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “House prices are notoriously volatile on a month-to-month basis, and can also be from survey to survey. So it is best not to attach too much importance to one piece of data. As such, the 0.6% rise reported by the Halifax in July does not fundamentally alter our view that house prices will ease back over the latter months of 2010 and very likely soften modestly further in 2011.”

David Smith, senior partner at property consultancy at Carter Jonas, said we are seeing the formation of a two-tier market. “At the top end of the market demand is still very strong and if anything prices are still rising,” he said. “At the lower end of the market, concerns over the economy and difficulties securing mortgage finance are far more material.”

The Bank’s half-year surplus has been marked a “significant milestone” for the taxpayer-backed bank who made a £4 billion loss in 2009.

Lloyds Bank said the profits were a result of halving of bad debts. Bad debts were responsible for the massive loss during the financial crisis.

Nationalised Northern Rock onsaid the “bad bank” was back in profit and part-nationalised player Royal Bank of Scotland is also expected to announce profits when it reports on Friday. The banking sector’s return to health has increased the pressure on firms to increase lending to small businesses.

Lloyds Bankin Group is 41% owned by the taxpayer after a bail-out two years ago. The bank claims that it is ahead of its Government-set targets as gross lending to businesses reached £24 billion in the first half.

Chief executive Eric Daniels said despite borrowing rates being cheaper now than before the financial crisis, there was little appetite to borrow.

“Credit is available, but the demand simply isn’t there,” he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron met with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King on Wednesday when lending levels were likely to have been top of the agenda.

In 1901 men were expected to live for 45 years and women 49 years. Since then life-expectancy has continued to increase. Tom Kirkwood who is director of the institute for ageing and health at Newcastle University says that life-expectancy in Britain has doubled in 200 years.

“Rising life expectancy continues to have serious financial implications for pension schemes,” said Warren Singer, UK head of pension accounting at Mercer. Changes in accounting assumptions have, on average, increased the pension liabilities of FTSE 100 companies by 20%. Many of those firms still have final salary schemes, though most are closed to new members.

The head of advice at Hargreaves Lansdown, Danny Cox, has noted that longer life-expectancy will cost companies money and employees because it will continue to push annunity rates.

In a separate report by consulting actuaries, LCP, it was shown that FTSE 100 companies pumped a record £17.5bn into pension schemes in 2009 in order to plug black holes. This is a 50% increase on the previous year.

Royal Dutch Shell had the largest contribution with £3.3bn, while Lloyds Banking Group, Unilever and Royal Bank of Scotland also paid more than £1bn each into their benefit schemes.

A separate report today shows that FTSE 100 companies pumped a record £17.5bn into pension schemes last year to plug black holes, 50% more than the previous year. The report, from consulting actuaries LCP, says the largest contribution was by Royal Dutch Shell at £3.3bn. Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Unilever also paid more than £1bn into their defined benefit schemes. Eight companies – BAE Systems, British Airways, Invensys, Lloyds, Morrisons, Rolls-Royce, Serco and Wolseley – all paid more to their pension schemes than they did to their shareholders in dividends.

The European commission has suggested that retirement lengths should automatically increase in line with rising life-expectancy levels. In 2060 it is estimated that there will only be 2 out of 4 people of working age for every one over 65. This will mean that state pensions are harder to afford.

He went on to suggest that climate change was beginning to have an impact. He said,”What our members are concerned about is the increase in areas of flood risk so that some areas may become impossible to insure.”. He pointed to some “frankly daft planning decisions” where new homes were being built on flood plains.
Insurance companies have already indicated that they may not insure new developments in flood plains if the properties were approved against the advice of the Environment Agency.

Recent estimates from the Environment Agency suggest that around one in six homes in England and Wales are at risk from flooding.

An agency spokesman said: “The latest UK climate change data shows this will increase in future due to rising sea levels and more frequent and heavy storms. Since the 2007 floods, the Environment Agency has completed 158 schemes and increased protection to 128,000 properties.”

The Association of British Insurers forecast modelling shows that if temperatures rise by 2C then the average annual insurance losses would increase by up to £47m. If the temperature were to rise by 4C then the estimated losses would then increase to £80m, while 6C increase would lead to annual losses of £138m.

The 2007 floods, which hit Northern Ireland, Yorkshire, the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and South Wales, cost the insurance industry £3bn while the Cumbrian floods last November led to property and motor insurance claims worth £200m