Wide disparities in the way European banks calculate risk for their sovereign and top-quality corporate debt holdings stem mostly from variations in regulation and differences in collateral and maturity, rather than any consistent effort to play down potential losses on their balance sheets, the pan-EU banking supervisor has found, the Financial Times reported.

The number of corporate insolvencies increased by 20% in Scotland in the second quarter, in a sign that conditions remain tough for many businesses, The Herald Scotland reported. However, the number of firms going into some form of insolvency proceeding fell by 58% compared to the same quarter last year. Figures compiled by the official Insolvency Service show there were 197 corporate insolvency proceedings in Scotland in the three months to June, up from 164 in the first quarter.

Britain could soon start selling its stake in Lloyds Banking Group after the country's largest retail bank accelerated a turnaround and flagged a return to payouts for shareholders, Reuters reported. Prime Minister David Cameron is keen to show that Britain's part-nationalised lenders are on the mend, and a profitable sale of part of the state's 39 percent stake in Lloyds would allow him to claim at least partial success. Royal Bank of Scotland, the other bank Britain bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money during the 2008 financial crisis, is still struggling to recover.

Rolling stock repair and refurbishment company Railcare was placed in administration on July 31, with restructuring partners Kim Rayment, Ian Gould and Bryan Jackson from BDO appointed joint administrators, the Railway Gazette reported.

The Economic Affairs Committee has called for an “urgent review” of the UK’s corporate tax regime, greater parliamentary oversight of HMRC and stricter regulation of tax advisers, economia reported. In its report today the cross-party Economic Affairs Committee said it was “unclear” that the global tax reforms proposed by the OECD went far enough to tackle tax avoidance. It urged government to conduct its own review now, rather than wait for the OECD recommendations due in two years time.

The Bank of England and its new governor Mark Carney will put the finishing touches to a fresh approach to nurturing Britain's nascent economic recovery on Thursday, when the central bank wraps up a policy meeting, Reuters reported. But financial markets will probably have wait a few more days before getting details of the long-awaited steer on how long interest rates are likely to stay at their record low. At his Bank first policy meeting nearly a month ago, Carney surprised investors with a warning that they were pricing in a rate hike too soon.

British bank Barclays PLC unveiled plans Tuesday to increase its capital levels by nearly $20 billion, one of the boldest recent attempts by a European bank to put to rest questions about its financial strength, The Wall Street Journal reported. Even as Barclays addressed one of regulators' main concerns about the bank, however, a new problem emerged: A British regulatory agency is planning an enforcement action against the bank over a 2008 fundraising deal with Qatari investors, people familiar with the probe said.

HM Treasury has proposed applying bank insolvency to credit unions, warning a lack of formal legislation for winding up credit unions poses significant risks as currently “considerable intervention” is needed from the regulators, FT Adviser reported. In a new consultation paper, Industrial and provident societies: growth through co-operation, the government is seeking views on the merits of applying bank solvency rules in the Banking Act 2009 to credit unions.

The insolvency profession has welcomed the long-debated ruling in Nortel and Lehman Brothers v The Pensions Regulator , after a four-year battle over pension fund debts after a company has entered administration, Economia reported. The case stems from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the Canadian telecoms group Nortel Networks four years ago, which left behind major UK pension funds deficits. The European administrators of Nortel brought the issue to the Supreme Court - along with the administrators of Lehman Brothers – following a $3.1bn claim from the UK pension scheme on insolvency.

British antitrust regulators said that large companies should be required to put their auditing contract out to tender every five years in a move that falls short of proposals from the European Union to spur auditor competition, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The requirement to tender auditing contracts every five years should apply to companies in the FTSE 350 Index, the U.K. Competition Commission said yesterday. The regulator stopped short of proposing that companies be forced to switch auditors, a move it was considering in February.