British lawmakers backed a government plan on Thursday to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the professional and cultural standards of bankers brought into focus by the Barclays rate-rigging scandal that has deeply divided politicians, Reuters reported. They rejected a call by the opposition Labour party for an independent judge-led investigation, along the lines of an existing wide-ranging inquiry into British media standards. Legislators voted 330 to 226 in favor of the parliamentary inquiry, announced by the government on July 2.

When Petroplus went bankrupt early this year, many in the industry thought that at least the Coryton oil refinery in England, the most modern and efficient of its five plants in western Europe, would survive. So far it is the only one to have closed, doomed by the priorities of UK bankruptcy law, the British government's laissez faire approach and strategic calculations by trading houses who saw more opportunities from other refinery assets, Reuters reported.

The figurehead of the UK's insolvency industry has warned that a new batch of retailers could be forced into administration as the high street attempts to trade through one of the most financially stressful weeks of the year, The Guardian reported. The forecast by Lee Manning, the president of the insolvency industry's trade body, R3, comes as shopkeepers attempt to pay their landlords three months' advance rent on their stores, a bill that became due on Sunday in a deadline known as "rent quarter day".

The Bank of England signalled on Wednesday that it was close to releasing a wave of new money into the shrinking British economy because of the worsening euro zone debt crisis. Such a move would effectively involve printing money to buy government bonds, in turn lowering British borrowing costs. Coming on the back of last week's announcement of new BoE and government measures to spur lending to businesses, it underlines the depth of concern that exists about the state of Britain's economy as its main trading partners weaken.

Britain's beleaguered homeowners will have to wait until 2014 at least before they see a rise in the value of their properties, as weak demand and tight lending conditions keep the market in check, a Reuters poll found on Tuesday. Home prices, which have dropped about a fifth since their peak five years ago, will fall another 1.6 percent this year and only hold steady in 2013, according to the poll of more than 20 market watchers taken in the past few days. Housing has long been a bedrock of consumer wealth in Britain and average prices tripled during a property boom in the 10 years to 2007.

The U.K. on Thursday unveiled an extraordinary series of measures designed to insulate the British financial system and economy from the euro zone's deepening crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Bank of England Gov. Mervyn King announced plans to flood banks with cheap funds in a dual attempt to jump-start lending to British households and businesses and to fend off potential financial problems at big U.K. lenders. The programs resemble some of the emergency measures enacted by central banks in Europe and the U.S.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, fuel distribution firm Greenergy and storage company Vopak are putting together a joint bid to buy the Coryton refinery as a storage terminal, a union official said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The union said it would fight the move, which would put the vast majority of the 900 workforce out of a job, and will step up protests to encourage the government to support a bid to keep it operational. "We're hearing it's a tripartate agreement," said Russ Ball, regional representative for Unite the Union.

British house prices fell at a slower pace in May, although outlook worsened as the euro zone crisis intensified and sales took a temporary hit from the expiry of a tax holiday, a survey showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) seasonally adjusted house price balance rose to -16 from -19 in April, beating economists' forecasts for a -18 reading. London was again the only part of the country where house prices rose.

Britain's banking regulator could be handed new powers to enforce government recommendations on how the country's largest banks should ring fence their retail and investment operations, The Sunday Telegraph reported. UK finance minister George Osborne will signal a more accommodating tone on regulation at an annual dinner for bankers this Thursday, hosted by The City of London, where he is due to outline how the government will implement the Vickers report.

Insolvency practitioners have been accused of mis-selling vulnerable debtors into unsuitable bankruptcy agreements that leave them at risk of even greater difficulties, Scotsman.com reported. Scotland’s personal debt crisis is being exacerbated by unscrupulous insolvency practitioners (IPs) raking in huge fees from selling protected trust deeds (PTDs) without explaining the often serious long-term consequences, a leading credit union has claimed.