Banca March HQ in Palma, Mallorca Photograph: MONTSERRAT T.D EZ/EPA It calls itself a “family bank”, but not because it is after the money of mums, dads or baby-boomers. Banca March, the Spanish bank which topped Europe’s stress tests, actually belongs to a family – the legendary Marches. The bank from the Balearic Islands was [...]

Metro Bank in Holborn, central London will open to the public today Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters Yorkshire terrier Duffy is yapping away, the silver pillars are being polished and plastic sheeting being torn off surfaces. After two years of preparation, it is a few hours before the opening of Metro Bank, the first new bank to [...]

The fate of a network of charging points to power low-emission cars also hangs in the balance. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images A government grant scheme to give motorists up to £5,000 off the cost of a new electric car has been cut by 80%, opposition politicians and green campaigners claimed today. The fate of a [...]

Crispin Blunt, the prisons minister, wants to take addicts and the mentally ill out of the system and place them in secure treatment centres. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian Tens of thousands of offenders may be able to reduce their sentences by making personal apologies to their victims, under plans for a “rehabilitation revolution” [...]