European stock markets fall sharply and Brent crude rises above $92 a barrlel amid renewed fighting in Middle East

European stock markets are a sea of red, a gloomy start to September.

As traders return from the UK Bank Holiday, the FTSE 100 index in London has fallen 1.1%.

City firms tapped for case studies to try to convince global watchdog that London has cleaned up its act

The government is asking bankers and lawyers to provide feelgood stories about how they blocked dirty money from entering the UK, as ministers try to prove the UK’s money-laundering controls are working.

The Treasury’s call for evidence is meant to illustrate that the UK has upped its game when it comes to preventing financial crime, particularly since its last dismal assessment by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global crime watchdog in 2018, which fuelled allegations that London had become a hub for “dirty money”.