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Andrew Hannay (left) and chief executive Russell Crichton. Glasgow-based stockbrokers and investment management firm Speirs & Jeffrey has announced the appointment of Andrew Hannay as an associate director.

Malcolm Hurlston The number of business debt judgments recorded in Scotland rose sharply in the first half of 2015, according to new Registry Trust figures.

Mark McCluskey Accountants BDO have announced the promotion of Mark McCluskey to partner in the audit department at the firm’s Glasgow office.

Still 80 per cent Government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a half-year loss of £153 million. The Edinburgh-based lender cited continuing legal impairments and customer compensation payouts as well as the cost of a drastic restructuring strategy for the figures to the end of June.

Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. The Scottish Government has insisted that infrastructure projects will be delivered on time and on budget following questions over how much private finance is being used to fund them.

SSE takes £565m stake in North Sea gas field Perth-based energy giant SSE has announced that it is to buy a minority stake in French oil and gas giant Total's West of Shetland operations.

Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it is selling up to 75 million shares in its former US subsidiary Citizens Financial Group, the parent company of Citizens Bank. If all the shares are sold, it would represent 16 per cent of Citizens and reduce the Edinburgh-based lender’s stake to 132.7 m

A “trusted” member of staff who embezzled almost £80,000 from the Fife credit union where she worked is has been jailed. Margaret Bond had pled guilty on indictment at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to a charge of embezzlement after setting up 42 loans totalling £79,120 on the non-profit Kingdom Cred

A quarter of young adults in the UK are still using the bank account chosen for them by their parents when they were a child, according to new research. UK-based price comparison service uSwitch said that when it asked those surveyed why they had chosen a particular current account to be their main

New research carried out by insurance giant Aviva has revealed that nearly two-thirds of people aged over 45 who are not yet retired admit to paying little or no attention to their pensions. The figures suggest more than ten million pots are currently being left largely unmonitored across the UK.

Eric Curran Eric Curran is managing partner of DM Hall Chartered Surveyors, based in the firm's Glasgow North office

Scottish house prices were up 3.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2015-16 compared to the same period last year, according to new figures from Registers of Scotland (RoS). Between April and June, the average house price in Scotland reached a record high of £167,765, the highest recorded for this q

The Scottish construction industry is experiencing a boom, according to the latest survey of the sector's small and medium-sized (SME) firms. The latest State of Trade Survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) found that Scottish SME construction companies are enjoying their fastest growth

The level of interest in exploiting the North Sea’s remaining oil and gas reserves was described as a “very positive message” yesterday after the Oil and Gas Authority confirmed one of its biggest rounds of licencing awards in the industry’s history. However, applications for the new licence

Bladnoch Distillery, thought to be Scotland’s most southerly whisky producing site, is set the restart production after six years following its acquisition by an Australian entrepreneur. The distillery, which has lay dormant since 2009, has been acquired by David Prior, who has pledged “substant