Britain's financial watchdog has fined Barclays 72 million pounds ($109 million) for cutting corners in vetting wealthy customers in order to win a huge transaction described by one senior manager as potentially the "deal of the century," the International New York Times reported. Barclays arranged the 1.9 billion pound transaction in 2011 and 2012 for a number of rich clients deemed by the regulator to be politically exposed persons (PEPs), or people holding prominent positions that could be open to financial abuse.

British regulators will consider barring up to 10 executives linked to the 2008 collapse of the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, some of whom still hold senior business roles, Reuters reported. The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) long-delayed report into HBOS was published on Thursday and blamed the HBOS management for its failure and criticised the previous regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The British government announced Tuesday a deal that would see London hand over an unprecedented array of powers—including around planning, transport and employment—to a local government encompassing Liverpool and five surrounding municipalities, The Wall Street Journal reported. The British government also said it would provide £900 million ($1.4 billion) for local investment over 30 years, which will be used to turn Liverpool’s recently revamped port into a hub for trade from the expansion of the Panama Canal, set to finish next year.

There were almost seven insolvencies - and two bankruptcies - a day in Northern Ireland between July and September this year, it can be revealed today. And almost a third of all individual insolvencies ended in bankruptcy in the third quarter of 2015. The new figures, obtained by the Belfast Telegraph, actually show a decrease in the number of people and businesses going to the wall from the worst days of the recession, but shine a light on the sluggish rate of Northern Ireland's economic recovery.

Of the UK’s 5,500 care home operators, the risk management group estimates that as many as 1,650 companies are struggling financially, and of those it expects a quarter, which account for 1,500 sites, to fall into insolvency, Express.co.uk reported. Many groups in the sector are struggling to meet the interest payments on their debts, because of rising staff costs and local authorities cutting fees in response to Whitehall demands for savings.

Mark Carney said the Bank of England would consider making it harder for lenders to extend credit, in order to prevent a recovery fuelled by historically low interest rates from becoming dangerously unbalanced, the Financial Times reported. With the BoE joining other leading central banks in taking a more dovish approach to monetary policy, the governor’s words showed he recognised the potentially damaging side effects of a long period of extremely low borrowing costs.

British mobile technology firm Globo Plc , which last month disclosed financial irregularities at the company, said on Tuesday that a court had placed it under administration, Reuters reported. Globo, under investigation from UK's financial watchdog, said the court had appointed Chad Griffin, Simon Kirkhope and Lisa Rickelton of consulting firm FTI Consulting as joint administrators. The company came under the scanner last month after U.S. hedge fund and short-seller Quintessential Capital Management raised questions about Globo's revenue model and finances in a report.

Tens of thousands of British coal miners have lost their jobs in recent decades, during the steep decline of an industry that stoked the nation’s industrial rise, sustained it through two world wars and once employed more than one million people. Chris Jamieson will be one of the very last. In December, his job is set to disappear when Kellingley colliery, Britain’s last deep coal mine, is scheduled to close for good. In the mine’s empty parking lot, Mr. Jamieson, 50, is already thinking about the moment in a few weeks’ time when the last group of miners is hauled to the surface.

Barclays said on Thursday that it expected to spend an additional 1 billion pounds, or about $1.5 billion, over the next three years to meet new regulatory requirements intended to shield its retail customers from other parts of the bank during any future financial crisis, the International New York Times reported. The British bank cut its profitability target for 2016, saying that the coming structural changes required by regulators in Britain and in the United States would drag on its results. The changes include the so-called ring-fencing of its retail operations in Britain.

Britain’s ‘bad bank’, which is running down the loans of two bailed out lenders, said it repaid £500 million to the government in the six months ended September, the Irish Times reported. UK Asset Resolution Ltd (UKAR), a state-run ‘zombie bank’ that does not take on new business, said it had now returned £14.6 billion, or 30 per cent of the loan to the government. The bank said it had reduced the size of its balance sheet by £8.5 billion during the period.