One of Britain's iconic tailoring brand Austin Reed has collapsed into administration, or insolvency, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk, The Economic Times reported. The 116-year-old tailoring brand, which once counted former British prime minister Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Taylor among its customers, appointed AlixPartners today to explore options for the business after it ran out of cash.

British lawmakers expect to question retail billionaire Philip Green in the course of an inquiry into failed department store chain BHS's pension liabilities after the firm was put into administration on Monday, Reuters reported. The Work and Pensions Committee launched the investigation on Tuesday. Asked if the chairman of the committee, opposition Labour lawmaker Frank Field, would invite Green to be questioned, Field's office said: "He's very sure he will be invited." Green sold BHS last year for one pound to a collection of little known investors called Retail Acquisitions.

Some of Europe's smaller peripheral lenders will attempt to sell subordinated debt in the coming days, as they take advantage of investors' demand for yield to bolster their balance sheets. Subordinated bank bonds took a serious hit in the early part of the year as investors flew out of the asset class, leaving banks locked out of that market, with second and third-tier financials in a precarious position. The market has staged a stunning comeback since then, particularly after the European Central Bank announced in March that it would start purchasing corporate bonds in June.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said Monday he is confident Greece and its creditors will agree on an assessment of the country’s bailout program, although he cast doubt on whether an agreement could be reached this week, The Wall Street Journal reported. Greece and its creditors—the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund—are in talks on the economic overhauls Athens must implement before the country can receive fresh loans. “We will be successful in the troika’s [bailout] review with Greece,” Mr.

British department stores group BHS collapsed into administration on Monday, putting about 11,000 jobs at risk. Philip Duffy and Benjamin Wiles, managing directors of Duff & Phelps, have been appointed joint administrators, the restructuring firm said. “The group will continue to trade as usual whilst the administrators seek to sell it as a going concern,” it said. BHS employs about 8,000 people, while 3,000 contractors work with the 88-year-old firm which has 164 stores.

European Union policy makers need to standardize insolvency laws across the bloc if new bank-failure rules are to work effectively, according to Elke Koenig, head of the euro area’s central resolution authority, Bloomberg News reported. “We need to consider that insolvency law is the basis for our work,” Koenig said at a conference in Frankfurt on Monday.

Europe’s largest investment bank Deutsche Bank has emerged on the list of bidders this week for one of the National Asset Management Agency’s last big portfolio sales, the Irish Times reported. The Frankfurt-based bank joins a joint offer from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs and CarVal, a US investor in distressed assets, on Nama’s sale of two portfolios which have a combined nominal value of €4.7 billion, according to sources. Others bidders include Lone Star and Cerberus.

Discussions on new debt relief measures for Greece will commence as early as next Thursday, as the eurogroup of finance ministers agreed to endorse a new ‘contingency package’ for Greece, the Irish Times reported.

Creditors to the failed lender Anglo Irish Bank are set to receive their first payment within months after its liquidators built up about €2.1 billion of cash following the sale of most of its assets, according to sources. While the prospect of junior bondholders in the bank, who refused to share in its losses, being repaid the €285 million they’re owed has increased in the past year, they are unlikely to receive anything until at least 2018, the sources said. More senior creditors, led by the government itself, will be dealt with first.

The European Central Bank said it plans to start buying corporate bonds in June as it unveiled more details of its purchase programme.The bank will start acquiring corporate debt maturing between six months and 30 years, according to a statement. Purchases will include bonds issued by insurance companies, while excluding those sold by banks, ECB president Mario Draghi said in a press conference on Thursday.