A German court started insolvency proceedings for the co-owner of London's landmark Gherkin tower, German property group IVG Immobilien, which will continue to reorganise under its own administration, Reuters reported. IVG plans to submit a plan for its reorganisation to the court prior to Christmas and schedule a vote for its creditor committee in January, the company said on Friday. Should both agree to the plan, which would likely involve a debt-for-equity swap, it could exit the insolvency proceedings in the first half of next year as planned.

Against expectations, the number of company liquidations in England and Wales has fallen by 2.6% over the past three months, the latest statistics from the Insolvency Service reveal, Economia reported. There were 3,875 compulsory liquidations and creditor’s voluntary liquidations during Q3 2013, which is also down by 2% when compared to the same quarter in 2012. Individual insolvencies were also down by 7.3% on the same period last year but up slightly when compared to Q2. The numbers rose from 25,717 to 26,030 in Q3.

Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to confirm on Friday that it is to create a “bad bank” with more than £30bn of assets following a review of its operations ordered by the Treasury, The Telegraph reported. The taxpayer-backed lender is set to say that a new internal, but separately managed, bad bank is being established to deal with the legacy of its toxic assets - the least disruptive of three break-up options being looked at for the bailed-out bank.

Barclays is the latest bank to become embroiled in the global probe into suspected manipulation of currency rates in a setback for the lender’s attempts to improve its image following misconduct scandals, the Financial Times reported. The bank said on Wednesday it had launched an internal investigation into its foreign exchange trading operations. Its admission, disclosed in its third-quarter results statement, came a day after European lenders UBS and Deutsche Bank said they had also been drawn into the probe into the $4tn-a-day foreign exchange trading market.

Blockbuster's chain of film and computer game rental shops in Britain is set to go into administration, a form of bankruptcy protection, for the second time in 10 months after its private equity owner failed to turn the business around, Reuters reported. The firm's British shops originally fell victim to increased competition from supermarkets, the shift towards people watching films over the internet and a harsh economic backdrop.

Royal Bank of Scotland could announce this week the separation of its non-core division into a new “bad bank” following the completion of a review into the business, The Telegraph reported. The taxpayer-backed lender is expected to say it will hive off the more than £50bn of toxic assets still on its balance sheet into a new unit that will focus on running them down, as well as further cutbacks to its investment banking arm.

Britain may avert the closure of the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical plant after union leaders said on Thursday they had accepted demands from the management in an effort to save 1,400 jobs. Scottish government officials met union leaders and management at Grangemouth on Thursday in hopes of persuading the operator, Swiss-based chemicals group Ineos, to re-open the plant, the largest industrial site in Scotland and its only refinery.

Home sellers in London raised asking prices 10% in the early weeks of October, as foreign buyers continued stoking the market, adding to concern a fresh property bubble may be forming, The Wall Street Journal reported. The capital's steep price increases have also fueled concern among policy makers that many residents may be forced out of the market.

A refrigeration installation and servicing company with the UK's leading supermarkets among its clients has gone into administration with the likelihood of imminent closure, putting more than 600 jobs at risk, The Guardian reported. WR Refrigeration, which employs more than 600 staff across the UK, suffered heavy financial losses and cash flow problems after difficult trading conditions, leading to HMRC issuing a winding-up petition this month which triggered a search for extra funding.

Scotland's economy suffered a blow on Wednesday when the owner of the Grangemouth site shut the petrochemical plant and threatened to close the adjoining refinery, putting 1,400 jobs at risk. Swiss owner Ineos halted production last week at the 210,000-barrels-per-day refinery, which provides most of Scotland's fuel, due to a labour dispute with Britain's largest union, Unite. Ineos says the site makes a loss. The decision to close the petrochemical plant comes despite the protestations of Prime Minister David Cameron, who had called on all sides to continue talks.