Thousands of customers of failed British brokerage Beaufort are likely to get all their money back, regulators said on Tuesday. Beaufort, which specialized in helping raise money forsmall speculative mining companies, was declared insolvent in March after the U.S. Department of Justice alleged it had a role in a more than $50 million stock fraud and a laundering scheme involving a work by Pablo Picasso, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

This year has been described as the “year of the CVA”. Barely six months in, it has become the year of the CVA backlash, the Financial Times reported. Company Voluntary Arrangements are agreements with creditors that aim to keep struggling businesses afloat. Recent high-profile cases have allowed retailers such as New Look, Carpetright and Mothercare to impose rent reductions on landlords and to break leases to close some stores altogether, in order to avoid insolvency. But landlords and rival retailers are unhappy with what some are coming to view as an abuse of legal process.

PwC halved the estimated costs of winding up British brokerage Beaufort Securities on Wednesday, potentially boosting funds for hard-pressed mining companies and other clients that are expected to shoulder the costs, Reuters reported. Beaufort, which specialised in helping to raise money for the junior mining sector, was declared insolvent in March after the U.S. Department of Justice alleged it had a role in a more than $50 million stock fraud and a laundering scheme involving a work by Pablo Picasso.

The UK government ignored advice to put Carillion on its highest risk rating before its collapse in January, following pressure from board members of the now-bankrupt company that was a major supplier of outsourced public services, the Financial Times reported. Every government supplier that has contracts across departments and generates revenues of more than £100m a year is assessed according to a red-amber-green traffic light system. Suppliers most at risk of collapse are given a black status.

Cambridge Analytica LLC, the firm at the heart of Facebook Inc.’s data scandal, is liquidating assets and has asked workers to vacate its London office, The Wall Street Journal reported. Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP, the administrator for the firm, said it marketed Cambridge Analytica’s business assets to potential buyers to stave off liquidation, but no acceptable offers were made. It said because of that, it has terminated employment contracts of U.K. staff Tuesday. Representatives for Cambridge Analytica didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Cambridge Analytica, the UK business at the centre of an international privacy scandal, has revealed information about its financial condition for the first time after it and a related company, SCL USA, filed for bankruptcy in the US, the Financial Times reported. The documents show that a web of companies related to the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica — including its parent SCL Group — have filed for bankruptcy or “similar proceedings” after they were engulfed in controversy over the use of Facebook user information in political campaigns.

A London court has dismissed charges against Barclays tied to the bank’s 2008 efforts to raise a $15 billion lifeline from Qatar and other investors, a legal victory for the British lender as it tries to turn its businesses around, the International New York Times reported. The decision is a blow to Britain’s regulators, who have pursued the case for years. The charges were the first in the country against a bank for actions during the global financial crisis.

Barclays has snapped up Lloyds Banking Group’s remaining Irish mortgage portfolio for £4 billion (€4.6 billion) and plans to refinance the loans in the bond market, the Irish Times reported. Sources said that the bank has lined up UK asset manager M&G Investments and US investment giant Pimco to acquire residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) linked to the mortgages. Barclays will also hold onto at least 5 per cent of the notes, in line with securitisation rules brought in following the global financial crisis.

Struggling British mother and baby products retailer Mothercare will close over a third of its UK stores as part of a survival plan that also sees the return of the chief executive who was sacked just five weeks ago, Reuters reported.

Sugru maker FormFormForm is being sold for about £7.6 million, in a deal that will see investors lose up to 90 per cent of their initial investment, the Irish Times reported. The London-based company, which was founded by Irish inventor Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh, James Carrigan and Roger Ashby in 2004, will be bought by adhesives specialist Tesa in a deal that will save the firm but values shares at 9 pence each. The German-based firm made a formal offer for FormFormForm in March. The offer has been accepted by 51 per cent of the company’s shareholders.