She is also a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs. "I shall have to review the range of things I do and decide what to keep on," she said. She had been tipped as a possible successor to Sir Christopher Bland as the next chairman of the BBC, following his move to British Telecom earlier this month. But yesterday Baroness Hogg said "that is ruled out" now that she has accepted the 3i job.Baroness Hogg, who ran the policy unit for the former prime minister John Major, has been deputy chairman of 3i for 10 months and a non-executive director for almost four years. Shares in 3i fell 8p to 1,195p yesterday after the company said its net asset value (NAV) had fallen for the first time in several years. The company invests heavily in technology and telecoms businesses and has suffered as the market for hi-tech investments has withered.

Its NAV had dropped to 815p a share by the end of March, from 847p in March 2000 and 1,011p at the half-year in September.. GKN, the engineering group, yesterday delivered its second profits warning of the year, with the news that earnings for the first four months of this year are down 20 per cent. GKN, the engineering group, yesterday delivered its second profits warning of the year, with the news that earnings for the first four months of this year are down 20 per cent. The company, in the process of demerging its faster-growing arm, industrial services, said the weak North American car market continued to depress trade. GKN, which makes components for the auto industry, was the FTSE 100's biggest loser yesterday, closing down 6 per cent at 751.5p.At the company's annual meeting yesterday, Sir David Lees, chairman, said that in the first four months, pre-tax profits, before goodwill and exceptional items, were "rather more than 20 per cent" lower than in that period last year. At its results in March, GKN had said US vehicle production was down about 20 per cent, but yesterday was the first time it had quantified the impact on GKN. Sir David said: "The outlook for the US and European economies remains uncertain, but assuming vehicle production stabilises, prospects for the second half are more favourable, as cost reduction measures, implemented in the first half, take effect."Some analystslowered forecasts yesterday, pointing out that vehicle production's stabilisation was not guaranteed in the second half..

The "mass affluent" ­ people with £25,000 and upwards of spare funds available for investment ­ have become the new target for financial service institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. The "mass affluent" ­ people with £25,000 and upwards of spare funds available for investment ­ have become the new target for financial service institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. Here the drive comes mostly from the banks, who have discovered that their reasonably wealthy customers want something a bit better (and hence a bit more expensive) than the one-size-fits-all service they have been offered. So the banks are setting up so-called private banking units that aim to build relationships with customers, rather than just try to flog them products. (They will sell the products, of course, but they know they have a better chance of doing so if they genuinely try to understand customer needs.)In the US the drive comes more from the securities houses and the fund managers, though naturally the banks try to segment their customers too. This different emphasis comes from the fact that a wider portion of the population own securities, and people are allowed to run their own pension plans, choosing their own investments, as well as having professional managers do it for them.