Administrators for currency trading firm Alpari (UK) Ltd said they had received a number of inquiries from potential buyers of the business hit by heavy losses from last week's surge in the value of the Swiss franc, Reuters reported. Alpari lost millions of dollars after the Swiss National Bank removed its currency cap on Thursday and administrators appointed on Monday said that efforts to find a buyer for Alpari (UK) over the weekend failed and they would hold talks with interested suitors in the coming days. U.S.

The proposed end of insolvency litigation’s exemption from the Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment of Offenders Act (LAPSO) has been challenged by an Early Day Motion tabled in Parliament, Credit Today reported. MP’s have thrown their support for a review of the decision to end the exemption before the Act comes into force in April, with 22 signatures of support recorded as of 14 January, primarily from the Labour party. Giles Frampton, president of insolvency trade body R3, has also supported the proposal.

Demand for U.K. mortgages fell the most since 2008 in the fourth quarter, according to the Bank of England, as more stringent lending criteria made it harder for homebuyers to get loans, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders had expected an increase in demand, the central bank said in a report today. The “significant” decline follows measures introduced in July by BOE Governor Mark Carney to limit riskier mortgages and prevent an unsustainable buildup of consumer debt.

British regulators have fined the former investment banking business of the troubled Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo for failing to disclose the departure of central staff members from one of its capital markets teams in 2013, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The move is the first time that the Financial Conduct Authority of Britain has used its relatively new powers to fine so-called financial sponsors that act as advisers on initial public offerings and other stock listings.

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking an exemption to one of the key measures of the UK’s new ringfencing regime, as the country’s big banks take radically different approaches to rules aimed at protecting taxpayers from future financial crises, the Irish Times reported. The Bank of England has given the banks until today to submit initial proposals for how they will restructure to comply with rules forcing the separation of high-street branch operations from investment banking by 2019.

Irish people are still going to the UK in large numbers to work out their debt difficulties despite the introduction of a similar service in Ireland, new research shows, the Irish Times reported. According to AJ Debt Solutions, an Irish insolvency firm which specialises in UK insolvency processes, it processed close to 100 individual voluntary agreements (IVAs) in the UK for Irish citizens in the last 18 months. This compares with just 59 debt settlement arrangements (DSAs) in the Irish system agreed since September 2013, although 220 applications have been made.

High Street fashion chain Bank has fallen into administration, putting 1,500 jobs at risk, BBC News reported. "A review of the business has determined that a solvent turnaround would not be possible," said Bill Dawson from Deloitte, which has been appointed as administrator. The chain, which has 84 stores and 1,555 employees, has been loss-making for a number of years, Mr Dawson said. It was sold by JD Sports to investment firm Hilco Capital in November.

About 1,000 companies will go bust and 12,000 Scots will be made bankrupt in the coming year, a report has predicted. Business advisers BDO said many companies had seen an economic improvement in the past year. But it warned there were signs that the economy was stalling. Cooling consumer demand, geopolitical and financial uncertainty and potential interest rate rises were cited as causes for concern.

The founder of City Link’s parent company has denied the firm’s collapse was mishandled and apologised to more than 2,000 workers who found out on Christmas Day that they would lose their jobs, The Guardian reported. Jon Moulton said the directors of Better Capital, which owns the parcel delivery firm, were very sorry about its collapse and the fallout for its workforce.

The results from the Bank of England’s latest health check on Britain’s top banks are in, with one bank failing, one coming razor close to failing and a third looking bad enough at the end of 2013 to warrant significant fund-raising, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported.