Finance chiefs at big U.K. firms plan to further bolster their balance sheets in 2013 because of continuing uncertainty about Britain's economic prospects, according to a survey published Monday, damping hopes for an investment boost to drive economic growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. A quarterly survey of chief financial officers at 112 of the U.K.'s biggest companies by business services firm Deloitte LLP found executives rate cash flow and controlling costs as their top priorities for the year ahead.

David Cameron has thrown down the gauntlet to Paris and Berlin, warning that he would block moves to closer eurozone integration unless Britain was allowed to repatriate some powers from the EU, the Financial Times reported. The prime minister said on Sunday it would be “difficult but possible” to renegotiate a better membership deal for Britain when the EU begins talks on a new treaty to deepen political and economic co-operation in the eurozone.

U.K. lenders increased the availability of mortgages and company loans “significantly” in the fourth quarter as the Bank of England’s credit-boosting program began to take effect, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. An index of the availability of secured loans to households rose to 26.2 from 21.9 in the third quarter, the Bank of England said in its quarterly Credit Conditions Survey in London today. A measure for corporate loans jumped to 29.4 from minus 5.5. Both are at the highest level since the survey began in the second quarter of 2007.

Global mergers and acquisitions rose to the highest level in four years this quarter, as a surge in U.S. deals provided ground for optimism and salvaged what had been the worst year for takeovers since the financial crisis, Bloomberg News reported today. Companies worldwide have announced $691.9 billion in purchases in the final three months of the year, the most since the third quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Lending by U.K. banks to companies fell sharply in November, underscoring the fragility of the British economy and raising doubts about the prospects of the Bank of England and U.K. Treasury's flagship program to boost the credit supply, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Figures from the British Bankers' Association today showed lending to companies outside the financial sector fell by £3.1 billion ($5.0 billion) in November, the steepest drop since June.

The government is considering a radical overhaul to the insolvency process in the wake of Comet's collapse, according to business secretary Vince Cable, The Guardian reported. Answering business questions from MPs, Cable said that the demise of the electricals retailer had caused "great distress" and hinted that it might be necessary to rethink the UK's insolvency regime after reports that administrators made millions out of the collapse. But he added that a report into the affair would not be made public.

Britain needs to introduce legislation that could break up banks if standards slipped because current reform proposals fall short of what is needed, an influential panel of MPs said, Reuters reported. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards also said the government could set tougher rules for how much leverage banks were allowed, adding the committee itself would consider next year whether to propose banning proprietary trading. The PCBS said on Friday banks should be allowed to sell simple derivatives within their ring-fenced operation, which had been a point of contention.

Britain will get the go-ahead to force banks to shield their routine retail operations from riskier investment banking activities when MPs announce the conclusions of an inquiry into banking reform on Friday, Reuters reported. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards will also recommend that the government can resort to a "nuclear option" of breaking up banks if they try to find ways around the new rules, commission sources said.

British electrical retailer Comet will close its remaining stores for the final time on Tuesday as part of a deal that will cost the British government more than 23 million pounds ($37 million), its administrators said, Reuters reported. Deloitte said in a report about the group's collapse that the cost of making almost 7,000 people redundant would reach 23.2 million pounds, a fee that will have to be met at least initially by the government. The country's tax authority also looks set to miss out on 26.2 million pounds from the closure.

Bank lending to Britain's property market is at its tightest since the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, a report showed on Friday, Reuters reported. Though lending has picked up since Lehman collapsed in 2008, the protracted euro zone debt crisis and shaky domestic economic data has hit confidence among banks, making them more wary of offering new loans to property companies.