The European Commission has launched an anti-trust investigation against Google after three online companies alleged that the internet giant's search functions were penalising their businesses.

The investigation comes under the Lisbon Treaty's "abuse of dominant position" powers and is the first time that Google has been targeted by the European Union, the Telegraph reports.

Santander will today open its doors to first-time buyers of new-build property for the first time since the banking crisis began. The UK's second-biggest mortgage bank — formerly Abbey — will increase the maximum loan sizes for first-time buyers who want new apartments or houses in a move designed to stoke activity at the bottom of the housing ladder, the Times reports.

HSBC is expected to scrap a pay rise of almost 40% for its chief executive because of shareholders' anger. HSBC's board will make a final decision on Michael Geoghegan's pay on Friday when it meets to sign off the bank's 2009 results for publication on Monday. But it is set to scrap the pay rise for Mr Geoghegan and for Douglas Flint, the finance director, because of the febrile atmosphere over bank pay, the Times reports.

The rich world should hold off from slashing budget deficits and exiting radical monetary policy for another year, the International Monetary Fund has warned. In a paper, which will be characterised as a blow for the Conservative party, the Fund said that countries risked sparking a potential double-dip in their economies if they start cutting spending and raising taxes too early, the Telegraph reports.

George Osborne will gamble today by putting debt at the heart of the election campaign, despite a warning from the International Monetary Fund against making cuts too soon. Mr Osborne will publish figures showing that national output per person has fallen during the course of a Parliament for the first time. The most recent GDP per capita figure — £5,151 — is £281 lower than in 2005, the Times reports.

Fidelity International will earn up to $30m in fees each year from Anthony Bolton's ambitious new China investment company — and, controversially, could earn "performance fees" even if shareholders lose money. Full details of the fee structure of Fidelity China Special Situations, the $1bn London-listed investment trust, will be revealed on Friday when the prospectus is published, the Times reports.

Private equity group 3i has raised €850m (£745m) from the sale of its stake in a Scandinavian healthcare group yesterday as it continued to repair its battered balance sheet. 3i, which had been pursuing a float for Ambea, instead secured a sale to the Nordic operation of the Triton private equity firm. BC Partners and Advent International had also bid for the business, the Times reports.

RAB Capital, the London hedge fund manager that bet on the recovery of Northern Rock and lost, is to auction investors' stakes in its beleaguered flagship fund. In an effort to mollify unhappy clients of the $550m (£356m) Special Situations fund, once the poster child of hedge fund investing, RAB is to allow the entire fund to be put up for sale in the secondary market - a rare decision within the usually closely guarded hedge fund industry, the FT reports. Outside investors will be able to make offers to buy - most likely at a discount - the stakes of existing clients who wish to exit.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez weighed into the row over oil and gas exploration in the Falkland Islands' territorial waters yesterday, supporting Argentina's claim that drilling started earlier this week by a British company is illegal. Desire Petroleum, a junior exploration group listed on AIM, said on Monday that it had started a drilling programme about 100km north of the islands. The move has drawn fierce criticism from Buenos Aires, which claims sovereignty over the islands, the Independent reports.

Wall Street banks doled out $20.3bn (£13.2bn) in bonuses for 2009, a 17% increase on 2008 in spite of continued public outrage over the size of compensation packages in the financial services sector. Average compensation at three of the "Street's" biggest banks - Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase - rose by 31pc, according to a survey by Thomas DiNapoli, the state of New York's comptroller, the Telegraph reports.

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