KPMG will stop providing non-audit services to big listed companies whose finances they are inspecting after coming under intense pressure over perceived conflicts of interest.

Bill Michael, KPMG’s UK chair, said the firm would stop providing non-audit services for FTSE 350 companies “to remove even the perception of a possible conflict”, in a memo to partners sent on Thursday.

***

The UK will be at the bottom of the European economic growth league next year, joining Italy as the slowest-growing economy in the EU, before falling further the year after to anchor the table alone, according to the European Commission.