The Reporter

The Reporter

No credit for thisInternet bank Egg has been left with yolk all over its face after announcing it is dumping 160,000 of its credit card customers. When the story first broke, it sounded like Egg was doing the responsible thing and shutting the accounts of people with "higher than acceptable risk profiles". But soon it emerged some of those who have been told their cards will stop working have exemplary financial records - fuelling suspicion that the bank is trying to get rid of customers it regards as unprofitable. Reader Gillian Cox is typical of many; she emailed us to say she has banked with Egg since 2001. "We have paid off our credit card in full every month without fail. We have no mortgage, one other credit card similarly used to the Egg one and no other debts whatsoever. We are both retired with a joint income of about £35,000 ..."

Spirited awayJerome Kerviel, the Société Générale "rogue trader," broke cover this week to criticise his former employer, saying he refused to be a scapegoat for the £3.6bn of losses racked up. However, he gave an insight into the high-stakes world that, until recently, he moved in. "You lose all sense of the sums involved when you do this kind of work ... You can get carried away a bit."

Art of making a profitTalking of high stakes, investing in art to make money, as opposed to having something nice for your wall, has traditionally.....continued below

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been seen as a huge gamble. But auction houses specialising in fine art are doing roaring business, records are being broken and some people with very deep pockets are making a fortune. Close to £117m was spent at Sotheby's on Tuesday, with many works selling for way above their estimates. Over at Bonhams, a screenprint of model Kate Moss (below) by artist Banksy fetched three times its estimated price at an auction devoted solely to street art. A pastiche of Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe, it sold for £96,000. In November, a Warhol silkscreen portrait of Elizabeth Taylor bought by actor Hugh Grant in 2001 for around £2m sold for £10m.

Fraud capitalLondon has been named the UK's hotspot for credit and debit card fraud, with more than one in four people in the capital reportedly falling victim to the crime. Around 28% of people who live in London have suffered some form of card fraud, according to the CPP Group - though the Reporter thinks that sounds rather high. The company, which questioned 2,257 people, said many of those victims had spotted the problem while going through their bank statements.

Lost and foundBritain's biggest savings provider, the Halifax, has launched a drive to reunite 25,000 people with forgotten accounts. It has enlisted Experian to track down contact details for customers with "dormant" savings accounts whose addresses are out of date. But if you do get a knock on the door, don't get your hopes up too high; the average amount sitting in these accounts is £273 - not quite enough for a Warhol or a Banksy.