Ulster Bank remained silent yesterday on reports that the UK government will consider hiving off some of its problem assets as part of a wider solution to the financial difficulties of its parent group, Royal Bank of Scotland. “We will have to see the proposals before making comment on them,” a spokeswoman told The Irish Times.

Co-operative Bank PLC asked bondholders to take heavy losses to stave off a potential collapse, the latest case in Europe of debtholders, rather than taxpayers, taking a hit, The Wall Street Journal reported. Co-op Bank, part of the Co-operative Group Ltd., a mutual conglomerate with businesses from funerals to supermarkets, said it aims to raise £1 billion ($1.57 billion) in fresh capital this year by offering holders of its £1.3 billion in subordinated bonds a mix of new senior debt and shares.

New bankruptcy legislation aiming to strike a better balance between the rights of debtors and the rights of creditors has been introduced, the BBC reported. The Bankruptcy and Debt Advice (Scotland) Bill 2013 will provide for improved financial advice. It will also ensure that those who "can pay" their debts "should pay". The legislative reform promises to create a more efficient process and allow people to apply for bankruptcy online.

David Cameron’s hopes of agreeing an international deal on fighting tax evasion suffered a blow when Bermuda said it would not commit to a pact before next week’s summit of the Group of Eight leading economies, the Financial Times reported. UK officials fear that if some British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies fail to come into line, it could limit the scope for an ambitious agreement at the summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

Britain will give its strongest indication yet that it is ready to return part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to private ownership later this month, political and industry sources said, Reuters reported. Chancellor George Osborne will signal the time is right to offload the government's 81 percent shareholding in RBS and a 39 percent stake in Lloyds in his annual Mansion House speech to financiers on June 19, the sources said on Monday. The government pumped a combined 66 billion pounds into the banks to keep them afloat during the 2008 financial crisis.

Ireland was given a “back-door bailout” worth around £10 billion (€11.5 billion) by Britain in “an arrangement that was never explicitly approved by parliament”, according to a report today, the Irish Times reported. The London Times claims Ulster Bank has accounted for about a quarter of losses since 2008 at the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 81 per cent owned by British taxpayers after a £45 billion state bailout five years ago.

Pay and bonuses in Britain's financial services sector remain excessive and encourage risk-taking, according to those working in it, undermining efforts by politicians and regulators to reform an industry blamed for its role in the financial crisis, Reuters reported. Britons struggling in the economic downturn have been infuriated by financial services companies, particularly banks rescued by the government at the height of the crisis, which continue to dole out rewards many times the average wage.

Scottish business insolvencies have remained at an all-time low rate of just 0.03 per cent for five months in succession, a report out today discloses, Scotsman.com reported. Meanwhile, the UK insolvency rate has now stayed at 0.08 per cent for a whole quarter – February to April – for the first time since 2007. Analysts said the survey, from global information services group Experian, indicated that despite Britain’s subdued economic picture the trading environment was becoming more stable and there was greater resistance to business failure.

The Co-operative is weighing a rescue plan for its banking subsidiary that could impose losses on the unit’s junior bondholders to bolster its capital levels, the Financial Times reported. The UK funeral-to-supermarkets group is working through its options with advisers UBS and Allen & Overy to fill in a deficit in regulatory capital at its banking division, which Barclays analysts have estimated at between £800m and £1.8bn.

A rise in “zombie debtors” – people paying only the interest charges on their debt and not the debt itself – is masking the difficulties faced by many households in the UK, according to insolvency experts, the Financial Times reported. RSM Tenon, the accountancy group, has revealed a fall in personal insolvencies so far this year and says the figures point towards a reduction for 2013, to levels last seen in 2005.