Confidence among small U.K. businesses dropped sharply in the third quarter, a survey showed Monday, the latest sign of a slowdown in private-sector activity that is building pressure on the government to offer more support for companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Federation of Small Businesses said its quarterly confidence index fell to a reading of minus 9.3 for the period from July to September, from 0.3 in the previous three months. The index measures how small businesses see their prospects for the coming three months.

Conservative backbenchers have reacted with concern at reports that the UK could be required to provide more money for the eurozone bail-out package via the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Times reported. Speaking at a meeting of finance ministers from the G20 group of leading economies, George Osborne, the chancellor, told journalists: “We have indicated our willingness to consider additional funds for the IMF.

The National Asset Management Agency, Ireland's state-run "bad bank", has put two loan portfolios worth a total of 800 million euros ($1.1 billion) on the market, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday. The source told Reuters that NAMA was being advised by property consultancy Savills on the disposal of about 200 million euros of loans that had been made to housing and hotel developer Donal Mulryan. Separately, real estate consultancy CBRE was marketing about 600 million euros worth of loans to property developer Cyril Dennis. NAMA, CBRE and Savills all declined to comment.

The Bank of England has launched a second round of quantitative easing to defend Britain's faltering economy against the euro zone debt crisis, pledging to buy 75 billion pounds of assets with new money in a dramatic move to stave off recession, Reuters reported. Thursday's decision by the Bank to expand its asset purchase programme to a total of 275 billion pounds highlights the precarious state of Britain's economy as global growth slows, government spending cuts and tax hikes bite, and consumers face high inflation and slow wage rises.

Euro zone finance ministers understand they need to do more to strengthen the region's banks and to increase the firepower of its bailout fund, British finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Osborne, back from a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Luxembourg, said euro zone governments had been behind the curve and had not done enough to convince markets they had enough financial firepower to deal with the bloc's debt crisis.

The U.K. Treasury is planning a new initiative to buy billions of pounds of corporate bonds issued by small and midsize companies to free up capital for struggling firms unable to tap banks for loans, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled the new "credit easing" initiative during his address to the Conservative Party's annual conference here on Monday.

A maker of sweet treats for Scots may face a sour fate. Confectioner New McCowans Ltd., which makes Highland Toffee bars, Wham chew bars and Bonbons chewy candies, has gone into administration, according to the BBC, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. In the U.K., a company that goes into administration must hand over control to an independent administrator who then works to find a way to pay creditors, often through a sale of the company.

Property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz has reached a confidential settlement in his pursuit of damages from failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, Reuters reported. London-based Tchenguiz -- one of Britain's best known real estate investors -- said trustees of his family trust and its Euro Group business vehicle had settled all civil claims filed against Kaupthing in July 2010 after the bank's winding-up committee refused to recognise the trust as a priority creditor following its October 2008 demise.

The regulatory fog engulfing senior bank debt thickened this week as the UK's Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) became the latest body to release proposals on how to make creditors liable for future bank losses, International Financing Review reported. Under the ICB's proposals, the pari passu link between senior creditors and depositors would be broken and outstanding debt would not be grandfathered, making it easier for senior debt to be bailed-in. The report is the latest in a string of global and national initiatives that have yet to be implemented.

Analysts are predicting a new wave of pre-pack administrations amid the increasingly grim conditions on Britain’s high streets, as debate rages over whether they are unfair to the competitors and trade creditors of companies that use them, the Financial Times reported. Carpet-maker Brintons and womenswear chain Jane Norman were both recently rescued via pre-packs, through which a company enters and leaves an administration process almost instantly.