Britain's 'bad bank' running down the loans of two bailed-out lenders repaid 4 billion pounds to the government last year, chipping away at a total owed of more than ten times that amount, Reuters reported. UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), a 'zombie bank' that does not take new business, owes the government 43.4 billion pounds, down from 48.7 billion when it was created in October 2010. Chief Executive Richard Banks said he was "very confident" taxpayers would get back all the money the government spent on rescuing Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley during the 2008 financial crisis.

Iceland's special prosecutor has indicted two former chief executives and more than a dozen other ex-employees of banks that fell in the financial crisis that gripped the nation in the autumn of 2008, accusing them of stock price manipulation and securities fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported. The charges were brought over the past week by Olafur Thor Hauksson, who was hired in 2009 to investigate suspicions of fraud and allegation at major banks, including now-defunct Landsbanki hf and Kaupthing Bank hf.

Tough lifestyle conditions to be imposed on people who attempt to write off mortgage debt under the Irish Government's new Insolvency regime include a warning that those living on public transport routes will not be allowed to include the running of a car as one of their expenses, Independent.ie reported. The guidelines will also impose lifestyle conditions for families, who will be expected to eat healthily and cut back on leisure activities.

The DVD and games rental store Blockbuster has been sold to restructuring specialists Gordon Brothers Europe after filing for a form of U.K. bankruptcy earlier this year, the Associated Press reported. The company had gone into administration - a form of bankruptcy in Britain - in January. Blockbuster U.K. at the time had 528 stores. Hundreds of shops were shut in the weeks after its financial collapse. Administrators for the company from accounting firm Deloitte said Saturday that Gordon Brothers Europe had purchased Blockbuster for an undisclosed sum, saving 2,000 jobs and 264 U.K. stores.

The French government threw in the towel Friday on plans to levy a 75% tax on the rich, a key election pledge of President François Hollande, and acknowledged it wasn't clear how it would hike taxes on the country's wealthiest citizens, The Wall Street Journal reported. After receiving advice from the country's top administrative court, French finance minister Pierre Moscovici said that the top tax rate applied to earned income couldn't exceed 60%, and that the maximum rate on a taxpayer's revenue could not rise above 66% overall.

France is set to follow in Switzerland’s footsteps by tackling private sector wages in the latest attack on European executive pay, the Financial Times reported. Legislation to increase shareholder power over remuneration and limit or ban enhanced pension deals and “golden parachutes” – similar to measures overwhelmingly approved by Swiss voters in a referendum this month – is being prepared, officials said.

Central European Distribution Corp , a leading vodka producer that missed a debt payment last week, received a restructuring plan offering $280 million in cash, which would turn the equity over to a group led by a Russian investor, Reuters reported. A1, a unit of Russia's Alfa Group, was also offering investors that hold notes issued by CEDC $650 million in new debt, according to a letter that was sent to the board of CEDC on Thursday.

Cyprus has thrown its international reputation as an offshore banking hub into peril after considering a bold plan to levy a one-time tax on deposits, The Wall Street Journal reported. The proposed tax—which would have helped Cyprus raise funds as part of a €10 billion ($13 billion) bailout deal from the European Union and International Monetary Fund—was rejected by Cyprus's Parliament on Tuesday. Cyprus is now scrambling to find other ways to raise the funds. Still, much of the damage appears to have been done. The tax proposal provoked outrage in Moscow.

The government launched incentives to help struggling home buyers on Wednesday as it looks to support growth in a real estate market it sees as key to reviving the country's ailing economy, Reuters reported. Chancellor George Osborne said Britain would commit 3.5 billion pounds over the next three years to shared equity loans for new-build homes worth less than 600,000 pounds, allowing buyers to purchase them with a 5 percent deposit. "For newly built housing, government will put up a fifth of the cost," he said in a budget speech to parliament.

The special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation are believed to have served legal papers on four former directors of the Irish Nationwide building society, the Irish Times reported. The former directors are facing legal action in relation to their stewardship of Irish Nationwide prior to its nationalisation in 2010 and subsequent merger with Anglo Irish Bank into IBRC. This follows a move by IBRC last year to take legal action against the directors of the building society.