Aegon offloads 200-year-old UK business to Standard Life for £2bn

Deal will create pensions and savings group with 16 million customers and £480bn of assets, while Aegon focuses on US

Reeves arrives at IMF with little leeway to prove its UK downgrade wrong

Chancellor faced with fund’s forecast that impact of Iran war will leave Britain as G7’s biggest loser

Decision to reduce duty-free quotas by 47% aimed at curbing Chinese imports

Legislation would allow government to implement evolving single market rules without full parliamentary scrutiny

Demand at online marketplaces could settle at a new, higher normal, with the crisis leaving consumers ‘scarred’

Summer holidays could be hit unless oil flows through strait of Hormuz recommence within three weeks

Designer who left fashion house in January said to be considering options for his 40% stake ahead of talks with lenders

PM appears to draw comparison between Russian and US leaders’ actions and calls for plan to restore Hormuz strait shipping

Almost 2,000 jobs will be created, with retailer vying to overtake Morrisons as Britain’s fifth largest supermarket

Uncertainty over US-Iran ceasefire pushes price of Brent crude towards $100 a barrel

With the UAE under fire from Iranian missiles, wealthy investors are turning to Italy’s flat-tax haven

Tougher ethical certification process requires companies to meet standards in every one out of seven categories

Exclusive: Animal welfare charities ‘bitterly disappointed’ UK government plans to backtrack on manifesto promises

Fears of Easter chaos over scaling up of new EU border system are eased, with no facial IDs for Eurotunnel and Eurostar passengers

Brent crude rises 8% as US president vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over coming weeks