The U.K. government will need to find a further £25 billion ($41 billion) of budget cuts after the 2015 election to reduce its borrowing and support a sustainable economic recovery, Treasury chief George Osborne said Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Osborne had previously indicated his Conservative party would seek further cuts in spending if it is returned to government after the vote, but hadn't given a specific figure. The government's planned spending for the financial year ending in March amounts to £717.8 billion. Mr.

Britain's financial regulators have launched an investigation into problems at the Co-operative Bank, including the role played by former senior managers, they said on Monday, Reuters reported. The probe could lead to fines for the bank and its former directors. Co-op Bank fell under the control of investors including U.S. hedge funds after a 1.5 billion pound capital shortfall was exposed. Its problems were exacerbated when former chairman Paul Flowers was arrested as part of an investigation into the supply of illegal drugs.

Three firms that were involved in a £3.2m scam selling carbon credits to retail investors have been ordered into insolvency by the High Court, Blue 7 Green Tomorrow reported. Global Carbon Brokering supplied carbon credits to Global Neutral, which then marketed them to the public at inflated prices, according to the Insolvency Service. Another carbon credit supplier, Future Carbon, was also wound up on the grounds of public interest. All the companies were linked with World Future, a company that raised £2.5m by selling carbon credits in a misleading way.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) is readying a 10-year syndicated government bond issue, which may be issued as early as tomorrow morning. The issue, which will likely range between €3 and €5 billion, will mark Ireland’s first foray into the bond markets since exiting the IMF/EU bail-outprogramme in December, the Irish Times reported. Ireland is fully funded out to the second quarter of 2015, but the NTMA has indicated that it would borrow €6-10 billion this year.

The receiver of the Slovenian subsidiary of Austria's troubled construction company Alpine Bau has admitted EUR 2.2m in claims and rejected EUR 28m, including EUR 13.5m worth of claims by Slovenian motorway company DARS stemming from the yet unfinished construction of a tunnel between the coastal towns of Koper and Izola, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

European Union leaders pondering the fruits of a 120 billion-euro ($163 billion) push to jump-start the economy and create jobs can look to data this week for evidence of how little has been achieved, Bloomberg News reported. The euro-area unemployment rate probably held near a record in November at 12.1 percent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. That report on Jan. 8 follows tomorrow’s release of December consumer-price data.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron promised on Sunday to protect pensioners' income if his Conservative party wins the 2015 election, laying out his first manifesto spending pledge, Reuters reported. Coming at a time when Britain is facing years of cuts to public spending, the promise is designed to win the support of the country's elderly - who polling data show are more likely to vote in elections than younger people.

Bankruptcy, the last resort of the desperately indebted, is now so expensive that costs in England and Wales can easily outweigh the debts that led to insolvency, the Financial Times reported. As the UK’s hangover from years of cheap credit drags on, the government has become concerned that fees charged by the companies that manage bankruptcies are too high and it is expected to make an announcement on the subject this month.

Brussels is set to ease financial reforms so that big European banks are not forced automatically to split lending operations from risky trading. In a draft European Commission proposal, seen by the Financial Times, the separation is no longer mandatory, would be less costly and restrictive than first envisaged and national supervisors are given wide discretion in applying the reforms. In a further twist, the commission adds its own “narrowly defined” version of the US Volcker rule, which outlaws proprietary trading.

Danske Bank has declined to reveal the discount it accepted on the Football Association of Ireland’s (FAI) near €60 million in loans associated with its half share of the Aviva stadium, citing customer confidentiality. It was reported yesterday that the association has received a writedown of €12.5 million on the loans as part of a refinancing agreed with QED Equity, an investment firm founded by Dermot Desmond, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a giant US investment house.