U.K. banks and other creditors are speeding up commercial-property sales of distressed assets partly because they are concerned the recent increase in prices may be leveling off, The Wall Street Journal reported. But buyers shouldn't expect cheap property to flood the market and reduce prices. While banks will accelerate property sales, they will continue to sell assets in an orderly manner to protect prices in a recovering market, observers said. The assets coming on the market include distressed real estate taken over as well as troubled loans whose borrowers have defaulted.

Like a shipwrecked sailor on a starvation diet, the new British coalition government is preparing to shrink down to its bare bones as it cuts expenditures by $130 billion over the next five years and drastically scales back its responsibilities, The New York Times reported. The result, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a research group, will be “the longest, deepest sustained period of cuts to public services spending” since World War II. Until recently, the cuts were just election talking points, early warnings of a new age of austerity. But now the pain has begun.

The Duchess of York is doing "everything she can" to avoid bankruptcy as she struggles to manage debts running into millions of pounds, The Guardian reported. Sarah Ferguson has paid off all her personal debts, her spokesman said, and her business debts – some of which are disputed – were "being managed", although voluntary bankruptcy was still an option. Ferguson's money woes became public after a newspaper claimed her personal and business debts had risen to almost £5m, prompting fears in the royal family that bankruptcy was now her best option.

Bankruptcy decisions made by US courts could be enforceable in England and Wales after an important court ruling that lawyers say could have implications for former UK clients of collapsed bank Lehman Brothers and those of the fraudster Bernard Madoff, the Financial Times reported. The Court of Appeal recently ruled in the case of a trust created by Eurofinance SA that English courts could recognise overseas insolvency proceedings made by US courts. Previously US bankruptcy judgments were not enforceable in the UK unless a separate UK action had been started on the same grounds.

A U.S. federal magistrate has shielded Nortel Networks Corp. from action by U.K. pension regulators who fear the troubled company will walk away from obligations to 40,000 retirees, leaving a $3.4 billion funding shortfall, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Recommendations issued Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge relieve the company of worry that the U.K.'s Pension Regulator will intrude as Nortel negotiates a bankruptcy exit plan, at least until a federal district judge reviews and acts on Thynge's recommendations.

The new Northern Rock Plc retail bank, born from the ashes of the original lender which was Britain's first major credit crisis casualty, posted a maiden loss on Tuesday and saw deposits plunge by a tenth, Reuters reported. State-owned Northern Rock Plc, which manages new mortgages and savings, posted a loss of 140 million pounds ($216.5 million) for the six months ending June, due partly to costs for its spin-off from the original company.

A U.K. Court of Appeal ruled in favor of hedge funds that maintained their client money, held in the main European arm of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., wasn't properly protected when the investment bank collapsed, The Wall Street Journal reported. The development is the latest aspect of the complex effort to return cash and other assets to Lehman's clients after the bank failed in September 2008. Lehman's bankruptcy, with more than $600 billion in total assets, ranks as the largest U.S. corporate failure.

Britain announced plans to scrap the fixed retirement age next year, saying it wanted to give people the chance to work beyond 65, but business leaders warned the move would create serious problems, The Washington Post reported on a Reuters story. Currently, employers can force staff to retire at the age of 65 regardless of their circumstances and without having to pay any financial compensation. Under the government's consultation proposals, the default retirement age (DRA) would begin to be phased out from April 2011 and come to an end by October next year.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is set to write off up to £15m in the wake of the break-up and sale of Halliwells, it has emerged, LegalWeek.com reported. RBS, which was owed substantial sums in corporate debt and partner loans from Halliwells, recovered just over £7m from the sales, with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and HBJ Gateley Wareing - which took the largest teams - paying £2.5m and £2.55m respectively. Hill Dickinson paid £1.88m, while Kennedys paid £125,000 for the Sheffield office.

Four Seasons Health Care has extended the deadline for holders of GBP600 million of bonds, backed by a loan to the U.K. nursing-homes operator, to approve a lockup agreement, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Noteholders now have until July 30 to sign the agreement, which would prevent them from selling their debt in return for a consent fee of 60 basis points, according to a regulatory notice released Friday.