U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne on Tuesday gave in to parliamentary demands to enhance the Bank of England's powers to set the amount of capital that banks must hold, but he warned it against using the so-called leverage ratio to impose unnecessary burdens that might restrict economic recovery, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr.

Royal Bank of Scotland PLC was accused on Monday of pushing small businesses into default to boost profits, putting the bank back in the firing line with government officials who only earlier this month decided the partly state-owned bank didn't need to be broken up to help boost Britain's economic recovery, The Wall Street Journal reported. A report by Lawrence Tomlinson, an adviser to Business Secretary Vince Cable, alleges that in some cases, RBS forced business customers to default on loans so that the bank could charge higher fees or seize their properties and sell them. Mr.

The rising cost of student borrowing meant that households sank further into debt this year for the first time since the financial crisis, a report has found, the London Evening Standard reported. Households' non-mortgage debt grew by 4% in 2013 to £216 billion, marking the first increase for five years and taking the average sum families owe to £8,159, according to PwC's Precious Plastic report. But taking student debt out of the figures wiped £2,259 off the typical amount households owe, bringing the average amount to £5,900 and meaning that underlying consumer debt remained flat.

Britain faces a timebomb as the cost of living crisis forces more people into crippling debt they will not be able to repay, according to a major study published today. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank, founded by Iain Duncan Smith in 2004, warned that two of the flagship policies he is implementing as Work and Pensions Secretary - the “bedroom tax” and universal credit - could plunge more people into debt. It revealed that more than 5,000 people are already being made homeless each year because they cannot pay their mortgage or rent, The Independent reported.

The research churned out by the Bank of England’s financial-stability wing usually focuses on where strange new risks might lurk in the financial system, or how to safely dismantle stricken banks, The Wall Street Journal Brussels Beat blog reported. A new paper, published Tuesday, instead takes aim at how authorities deal with stricken countries, and suggests that repayment terms of government bonds should be linked to a country’s economic performance.

U.K. households reported that their finances deteriorated at the fastest pace for seven months in November, as weak pay growth and rising inflation expectations combined to limit cash availability, a survey showed Monday, highlighting the underlying fragility of the recovering economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Data firm Markit's monthly household finances index fell to a balance of 38.8 in November from October's 41.0--the lowest since April--reflecting concerns over low pay rises and the recent increases in energy prices announced by several suppliers.

The National Asset Management Agency has put a London-based property company controlled by former Howard Holdings executives into receivership, according to court records in London, the Irish Times reported. The company, Wandle Holdings – which has 30 outstanding Anglo Irish Bank mortgages – is registered to an address at Hambalt Road, Lambeth in London, according to Companies House files. The administrative receiver to the company, Belfast-based John Hansen, was appointed on October 17th, though he will have to spend the next month or so investigating the company’s affairs.

British footwear retailer Barratts Shoes and film and computer game rental chain Blockbuster both went into administration on Monday, a form of bankruptcy protection, blaming tough trading conditions and threatening over 3,000 jobs. Many British retailers are still finding the going tough despite signs of economic recovery as inflation continues to outpace wage rises and competition from the Internet intensifies.

Distressed debt investor Centerbridge has bought hundreds of millions of euros of Apcoa Parking's leveraged loans in a bid to gain control of Europe's biggest parking management firm, banking sources said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Lazard and Rothschild are advising Apcoa on a debt restructuring which has to take place before the company's 650 million euros ($875.85 million) of buyout loans mature in April 2014.

The Co-op has unveiled a radical restructuring of its banking arm – both in terms of its ownership structure and strategy – to raise fresh capital to fill a £1.5bn hole on its balance sheet, the Financial Times reported in a Q&A. How will the restructuring work? The Co-op Group will hand over 70 per cent of the equity in the bank to its most senior bondholders – known as the lower tier two group – in exchange for about £940m of their debt and an additional £125m cash injection.