Euro zone finance ministers understand they need to do more to strengthen the region's banks and to increase the firepower of its bailout fund, British finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Osborne, back from a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Luxembourg, said euro zone governments had been behind the curve and had not done enough to convince markets they had enough financial firepower to deal with the bloc's debt crisis.

The U.K. Treasury is planning a new initiative to buy billions of pounds of corporate bonds issued by small and midsize companies to free up capital for struggling firms unable to tap banks for loans, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled the new "credit easing" initiative during his address to the Conservative Party's annual conference here on Monday.

A maker of sweet treats for Scots may face a sour fate. Confectioner New McCowans Ltd., which makes Highland Toffee bars, Wham chew bars and Bonbons chewy candies, has gone into administration, according to the BBC, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. In the U.K., a company that goes into administration must hand over control to an independent administrator who then works to find a way to pay creditors, often through a sale of the company.

Property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz has reached a confidential settlement in his pursuit of damages from failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, Reuters reported. London-based Tchenguiz -- one of Britain's best known real estate investors -- said trustees of his family trust and its Euro Group business vehicle had settled all civil claims filed against Kaupthing in July 2010 after the bank's winding-up committee refused to recognise the trust as a priority creditor following its October 2008 demise.

The regulatory fog engulfing senior bank debt thickened this week as the UK's Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) became the latest body to release proposals on how to make creditors liable for future bank losses, International Financing Review reported. Under the ICB's proposals, the pari passu link between senior creditors and depositors would be broken and outstanding debt would not be grandfathered, making it easier for senior debt to be bailed-in. The report is the latest in a string of global and national initiatives that have yet to be implemented.

Analysts are predicting a new wave of pre-pack administrations amid the increasingly grim conditions on Britain’s high streets, as debate rages over whether they are unfair to the competitors and trade creditors of companies that use them, the Financial Times reported. Carpet-maker Brintons and womenswear chain Jane Norman were both recently rescued via pre-packs, through which a company enters and leaves an administration process almost instantly.

A rise in Britons' expectations of the future rate of inflation will do little to strengthen the case for higher interest rates, but may deter some Bank of England policy makers from voting for a fresh round of stimulus, The Wall Street Journal reported. A survey conducted for the U.K. central bank published Thursday found inflation expectations for the year ahead rose in August to their highest level in three years.

Millions of public sector workers plan strikes and rallies nationwide in November over public-sector pensions, union leaders said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on a government struggling with rising unemployment and weak growth, Reuters reported. Unions are locked in a bitter row with the Conservative-led coalition over controversial plans to raise public-sector pension contributions as spending cuts bite. The dispute mirrors those in continental European nations where governments are trying to rein in spending.

British financier Guy Hands launched a new legal assault against Citigroup Inc., appealing to a U.K. court for documents that formed the basis of the bank's seizure of music company EMI Group from his private equity firm Terra Firma in February, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. According to people familiar with the matter, Terra Firma on Tuesday petitioned the High Court for access to documents prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers reflecting an analysis of the solvency of EMI, home to artists including the Beatles and Coldplay.

The U.K. economy has stalled, and by the end of next month it will be more or less the same size as it was the same time a year earlier. Bad news for British workers and businesses, and for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, The Wall Street Journal reported. He now faces some tough calls. At risk is at least one of the two forms of credibility that are needed if he is to repair the government's tattered finances. If he is lucky, he will find a way of saving both. The bold austerity program Mr.