British banks have been suffering amid dismal earnings, scandals and regulatory investigations, but three of the country’s largest financial firms handed out seven-figure pay packages to hundreds of employees last year, The New York Times DealBook blog reported. The disclosures this week add to the growing debate over compensation, as regulators look to rein in bankers’ pay.

Britain will resist calls to impose far stricter rules on how much banks can leverage their capital for investments and lending, insisting that there is no need to do so before 2018, Reuters reported. The government is forcing banks to limit leverage to 33 times their capital, in line with international regulations, and rejected a call on Monday from a panel of parliamentarians to stiffen the rules to curb risk-taking even more.

Britain should force all banks to split routine retail operations from riskier investment activities if a single lender abuses new rules designed to protect taxpayers, an influential panel of lawmakers said, Reuters reported. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which has been asked to find ways to reform banks, also said on Monday that Britain's financial regulator should be given the responsibility to decide how far banks can leverage their capital for investment and lending. The government's Banking Reform Bill is due to be debated in parliament on Monday.

Royal Bank of Scotland is understood to have received a £1 billion bid from a consortium of institutional investors for more than 300 branches, The Scotsman reported. The state-backed lender is being forced to sell the assets, which comprise 311 RBS branches in England and Wales and five NatWest outlets in Scotland, in return for receiving £45.5bn in UK government aid during the financial crisis. Spanish bank Santander pulled out of a £1.65bn deal in October and RBS chief executive Stephen Hester has admitted that the group was struggling to find another buyer.

Prime Minister David Cameron will promise on Thursday to stick to his government's deficit reduction plan despite the loss of his country's top-notch AAA credit rating, saying Britain would plunge "back into the abyss" if he changed course, Reuters reported. Speaking ahead of a March 20 budget that will be dissected by the markets and ratings agencies alike, Cameron said there were signs his government's economic policies were beginning to work and that it was imperative to "hold firm to the path".

India has accused Cadbury PLC of dodging about $46 million in taxes by pretending to produce candy at a factory that didn't exist. A 103-page report by the country's tax authorities, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, accuses Cadbury's Indian unit of manipulating invoices and other documents to get a tax exemption available to companies that began production in new plants in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh by March 31, 2010.

The U.K. late Friday saw its triple-A credit rating from Moody's chopped one notch to Aa1. The news isn't as bad as it might have been: importantly, Moody's has assigned a stable outlook. But it is a political blow for Chancellor George Osborne and probably means the slide in sterling and rise in gilt yields that is under way will continue, The Wall Street Journal Heard on the Street blog reported.

Axminster Carpets, the manufacturer whose luxury carpets have graced Britain's stately homes and palaces since the eighteenth century, is calling in the administrators, joining a growing list of businesses seeking rescue to avoid collapse, Reuters reported. The 250-year old company, which employs around 400 people, said on Wednesday it would continue to trade while it explores all potential restructuring operations. Axminster was named after the hometown of its founder Thomas Whitty, who started making carpets in 1755.

The government stepped up its campaign against companies paying less than their fair share of tax when it announced details on Thursday of new rules that may bar corporate tax dodgers from competing for public sector contracts, Reuters reported. Companies bidding for government contracts will have to provide details of their tax compliance history, including tax returns that have been judged incorrect, under the draft new rules. "The government is clear that aggressive tax avoidance is totally unacceptable," Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the treasury, said in a statement.

The U.K.'s opposition Labour Party said Thursday it would introduce a levy on homes worth more than £2 million ($3.1 million) and use the money raised to cut income tax for low earners if it was in power now, backing a tax on property that has divided the governing coalition, The Wall Street Journal reported. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats have long championed a "mansion tax" on houses worth more than £2 million.