There is little doubt that the country market is now at a threshold, with 2015 poised to be possibly the most definitive year since 2008 crash.

UK taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group has been fined a record £28m (€33m) after the City regulator uncovered “serious failings” in its bonus schemes that put pressure on sales staff to hit targets or avoid being demoted.

TSB will become Britain’s eighth biggest high street bank when it is re-launched today as a standalone brand 18 years after disappearing when it merged with Lloyds.

TSB will become Britain’s eighth biggest high street bank in the UK when it is re-launched next week as a standalone brand 18 years after disappearing when it merged with Lloyds.

More promising signs have emerged on the economic recovery after firms in England and Wales recorded a strong pick-up in activity during July.

Was it cowardice or something more devious that prevented Finance Minister Noonan’s presence or representation at the Bank of Ireland’s AGM?

A bankrupt stockbroker who defrauded millions of pounds from some of Britain’s shrewdest business people was today ordered to pay a nominal £1 (€1.17) fee.

Those distinguished former Bank of Ireland governors must be turning in their graves.

Lloyds Banking Group delivered another blow to staff today as it unveiled plans to slash a further 15,000 jobs by 2014 in a bid to save £1.5bn (€1.66bn) a year.

Lloyds Banking Group is expected to signal thousands more job cuts tomorrow as part of a drive to save an extra £1bn (€1.1bn) a year in costs.

Lloyds Banking Group will signal thousands more job cuts this week as part of a drive to save an extra £1bn a year in costs.

London: Health and beauty chain Alliance Boots has announced the shock resignation of boss Andy Hornby after less than two years in the role.

Health and beauty chain Alliance Boots has announced the shock resignation of boss Andy Hornby after less than two years in the role.

THE British-based Lloyds TSB Bank suffered a £4 billion (€4.264bn) bad debt write-down on its Irish operations last year, up from €2.949bn in 2009.

A Romanian man who stole cash from a Dublin ATM with cloned credit cards has been sentenced to three years in jail with the final 18 months suspended.

The former boss of rescued bank HBOS earned more than £2m (€2.28m) in pay and benefits for just nine months in his new job heading high street giant Alliance Boots, it emerged today.

THE British Post Office, with partner Bank of Ireland, took a further step along the road to becoming a neighbourhood bank this week with the announcement of a “major expansion” in the financial products it offers.

Part-nationalised British lender Lloyds Banking Group slumped into the red last year with losses of £6.3bn (€7bn), it said today.

Business confidence among UK firms fell back in recent weeks, showing that the recovery from recession was likely to be "gradual and uneven", according to a new report today.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Money launched its assault on the UK retail banking market today after agreeing a deal to buy regional bank Church House Trust.

British firms are more confident about their prospects than at any time in the past two years and hopeful of a revival in their fortunes next year, according to a new report today.

The world's biggest catering firm today said it was unlikely to see a return to sales growth in the financial year ahead as economic woes continue to hit corporate hospitality spend.

The Bank of England today revealed it lent Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS £61.6bn (€68.22bn) in a "dire emergency" at the height of the financial crisis.

Lloyds Banking Group confirmed today it was in advanced talks with Government and regulators over a potential fundraising that will allow it to side-step the toxic asset protection scheme (APS).

IRELAND’S decision last October to guarantee all deposits and borrowings at six Irish banks to prevent a run on the banks rattled governments across Europe, according to a BBC documentary screened last night.

The boss of the bank which took over HBOS has revealed the speed at which it racked up huge losses came as a surprise.

BRITISH American Tobacco’s decision to appoint the former governor of the Bank of Ireland, Richard Burrows, as chairman of the world’s second largest cigarette manufacturer could get a hostile reception from the markets.

Bank of Ireland Group has raised €500m in term funding.

HALIFAX has not reached a final decision on whether to pull out of the Irish market and is continuing to review its operations.

The entire Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network is to close as part of a fresh wave of job cuts, banking giant Lloyds confirmed today.

Lloyds Banking Group will today face shareholders amid mounting anger over its HBOS takeover as the final deadline for investors to take part in its £4bn (€4.5bn) fundraising looms.

Lloyds Banking Group’s hunt for a new chairman was underway today following the resignation of Victor Blank.

Victor Blank today said he will retire as chairman of part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group before the firm’s annual meeting next year.

Lloyds Banking Group chairman Victor Blank is set to step down, it was reported today.

The last member of former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin's failed top team is set to leave the group with a £517,000 (€585,529)-a-year pension.

The City watchdog in the UK is to hold an investigation into the events which led to the British government’s rescue of HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland, it was reported today.

The UK Shareholders Association (UKSA) today said it was forming an action group to represent smaller investors in Lloyds Banking Group in the wake of its latest bail-out from British taxpayers.

The British government finally took charge of Lloyds Banking Group today after agreeing to underwrite £260bn (€290bn) in “toxic” assets.

Lloyds Banking Group today said it expected to be loss-making this year following its takeover of ailing rival HBOS.

Lloyds Banking Group warned today that HBOS – the ailing bank it rescued last year – could post annual losses of around £10bn (€11.3bn) for 2008.

Former bosses at bailed-out UK banks Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS said they were "profoundly sorry" today and admitted they under-estimated the extent of the financial crisis.

Barclays shares lost more than a fifth of their value today as the sell-off in the British banking sector showed no sign of easing.

Lloyds Banking Group became the latest casualty of the bank sector sell-off today as its shares plunged as much as 47%.

The UK government’s second bank bail-out failed to reassure investors today as potential record losses at Royal Bank of Scotland sparked heavy falls across the sector.

Banking shares sustained more heavy losses today despite the Government’s latest efforts to get the sector lending again.

Lloyds Banking Group said today that it expected annual cost savings of at least £1.5bn (€1.6bn) by the end of 2011 after its acquisition of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) was completed.

Barclays shares suffered a dramatic late slump during another traumatic session for UK banking stocks today.

HBOS and Lloyds TSB will merge to become Lloyds Banking Group on Monday in a move creating a new UK “superbank”.

The removal of a ban on the short-selling of UK financial sector shares will provide a further test to under-pressure banking stocks today.

A further banking sell off today dragged the London market to its seventh consecutive day in the red.