Some of the outrageous practices of credit card issuers will soon be illegal as of Monday, however, just like a playground bully punching when the teacher is not watching, lenders will be able to figure out ways to hit back at consumers.

Deloitte Touche, a financial services firm reports, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of some of UK’s biggest firms seem more hungry for risk-taking compared to 2008, seemingly at their most confident in two years.

A survey of 128-CFOs reveals almost four in five believe the UK banking system capable of sustaining a recovery.

Customers will be faced with the nation's banks foisting new fees and products on them in 2010, as they attempt to replace over $50-billion in revenue wiped out by new rules clamping down on certain business practices.

Chequing accounts and credit cards are the two services impacted by the changes, so far, with banks imposing new fees on old products, including introducing new account types in the hope of attracting new customers and reducing their funding costs.

Major banks, such as, Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup Inc. looking to minimize government influence in their affairs have repaid a total of $45-billion received from the United States government under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP) Wednesday.

TARP was introduced in the autumn of 2008 when the financial crisis put the economy at risk of falling into a depression.

An increase in orders for durable goods and a decline in the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits, indicates companies are confident of the sustainability of USA’s economic expansion in 2010.

Commerce Department figures reveal, while the demand for transportation equipment remains volatile, demand for durable goods, such as, machinery, metals, computers and communications gear increased, rising much more than the 2% forecast in November. According to the Labour Department, applications for unemployment insurance fell to their lowest level in over a year, last week.

Research suggests, £951,000 per minute will have been spent on last minute shopping, with Sainsbury’s Credit Cards saying 19% of adult shoppers who spent around £1.37-billion, planned to do some of their seasonal shopping Thursday i. e. on Christmas Eve.

According to Experian, a financial data firm, consumers making the most of 2009’s last few days of shopping, expected over 13-million people to spend £57-million an hour on Christmas Eve shopping.

A judge has given approval to CIT Group Inc.’s re-organisation plan, making it possible for the US lender, one of the nation’s biggest lenders to small and mid-sized businesses, to exit bankruptcy protection within the span of a few days. The company expects to emerge from bankruptcy on 10th December.

Key bondholders have already given their approval to the group’s reorganization plan, which should reduce CIT’s total debt by as much as $10.5-billion (£6.5-billion), including deferring debt maturities for 3-years.

New six banks were closed in the U.S. because of their financial performance which increased the number of closed banks to 130, reported the Federal Insurance Corporation of Deposits (FDIC) on its website.

Throughout 2008, when the financial crisis broke in the United States, 25 banks collapsed. In the list of closed banks was AmTrust Bank in Ohio, the fourth largest financial institution to have gone bankrupt this year.