British banks that fail to shield their day-to-day banking from risky investment activities could be broken up, Chancellor George Osborne said on Monday, bowing to political pressure to come down harder on reckless lenders, Reuters reported. European countries are retooling their financial systems to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crash, trying to strike a balance between popular calls for banks to be reined in and warnings that too tight a leash will choke off recovery.

Big-name London hedge funds Odey Asset Management and Egerton Capital are among those upping their bets against Monte dei Paschi di Siena in recent days, after revelations the troubled Italian bank faces heavy losses, Reuters reported. Italy's third-biggest bank is under investigation for an opaque series of derivatives and structured finance contracts between 2007 and 2009 that could cost it 720 million euros.

George Osborne has told Royal Bank of Scotland that it must meet its fine to US authorities over the Libor scandal – estimated to be in the region of £300m – from past, present and future bonuses, the Financial Times reported. RBS, which is 82 per cent taxpayer-owned, will discover the extent of its fines next week in a settlement with US regulators and the Financial Services Authority. Estimates of the total fines to US and UK authorities range from £400m-£500m.

European leaders criticized U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's promise to renegotiate his country's relationship with the European Union and let the British people vote on the outcome, creating potential hurdles to his plan, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The EU does not need unwilling Europeans," said Mario Monti, Italy's prime minister and a former European commissioner, during a speech at an annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. "We need more, not less integration," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said separately.

Prime Minister David Cameron plans to let the British people vote on whether or not to stay in the European Union, a surprise move critics say will inhibit trade and cast a new shadow over the troubled bloc, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Cameron planned to say in a public address that, if elected in 2015, a Conservative government would renegotiate the U.K.'s relationship with the EU, and then hold a referendum on the new settlement in the first half of its five-year parliamentary term.

Hilco UK, the retail restructuring group, has acquired the bank debt of HMV, effectively giving it control and paving the way for a rescue of the entertainment retailer that fell into administration last week, the Financial Times reported. People familiar with the situation said Hilco had acquired the debt from the group’s lenders, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland for about £40m. HMV had underlying net debt of £176m as at the end of October, although people familiar with the matter said this had fallen to about £120m following the crucial Christmas and new year trading period.

More companies are expected to default on their debt this year, with UK retailers deemed the most vulnerable, according to new research, the Financial Times reported. A survey of the restructuring industry – published just days after HMV and Blockbuster became the latest high-street chains to collapse – indicates that the retail sector will be no more resilient in coming months.

Restructuring specialist Hilco is the frontrunner in the battle to save music retailer HMV from administration, British media reported on Sunday. Hilco, which bought HMV Canada in 2011 and salvaged home goods firm Habitat, is favoured by an industry consortium, said the Sunday Times. The paper said music labels and film studios, such as Universal, Warner, Sony, and 20th Century Fox were preparing a rescue package, keen to keep the 92-year-old retailer alive. Options for the suppliers include cutting the prices of discs and giving the retailer generous credit terms, it said.

Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said that the problem of high indebtedness is not limited to the crisis-hit eurozone and that the situation in Britain and the US is worse, The Telegraph reported. Speaking in Parliament, Mr Schaeuble also said he was worried by the policies pledged by the recently elected government in Japan, which has vowed a big increase in spending to bolster the econony, AFP reported. "Britain has a higher state debt than the eurozone average and I don't even want to mention the United States of America," Schaeuble said.

Game, the retailer bought out of administration by investment firm OpCapita, is interested in acquiring up to 45 HMV stores, the Financial Times reported. Martyn Gibbs, chief executive of Game, said the chain’s management had approached Deloitte, administrator to HMV, for more information, but would not confirm the number of stores in which the video game retailer could be interested. But people familiar with the situation said there were 40-45 UK locations where HMV was present, but Game was not.