The bonus plans of Britain's biggest banks were under the spotlight again today as the City watchdog revealed it was stepping up pressure to curb excessive payouts.

Newcastle have secured a new two-year shirt sponsorship deal with Virgin Money.

Barclays is reportedly planning to pay its investment banks an estimated £5bn (€5.8bn) this year despite calls for restraint from Bank of England governor Mervyn King.

The FTSE 100 Index suffered its fifth losing session in a row today as high borrowing costs for Italy and Spain fuelled fears of a eurozone meltdown.

Richard Branson's Virgin Money is to buy UK nationalised lender Northern Rock in a £747m (€873.87m) deal, the British Treasury announced today.

IRISH Life & Permanent (IL&P) has raised €1.15 billion in fresh funding via two separate transactions.

PERMANENT TSB has agreed a deal to acquire the €650 million-plus Irish deposit book of British lender Northern Rock as it seeks to improve its stretched funding position and ensure a standalone future.

Newcastle: Northern Rock, a unit of the nationalised British bank that is up for sale, said it expects it will post a profit in the second half of 2012 as the company seeks to expand its loan book.

British nationalised lender Northern Rock said it expects to make a profit during next year after reporting reduced half-year losses today.

Britain's Lloyds Banking Group has received only two bids for the 632 branches it has put up for sale, which could force it to demerge them instead, it was reported today.

An American private equity group is considering a £1bn (€1.13bn) bid for UK nationalised lender Northern Rock, it was reported today.

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The state-owned UK company that runs nationalised Northern Rock Asset Management and Bradford & Bingley today said both companies returned to profit last year.

British nationalised lender Northern Rock said today that it expects a further 680 job losses by the end of the year as it moves to drive down its costs.

Nationalised Northern Rock is to bundle up its mortgages for sale in money markets for the first time since its collapse into public hands.

Nationalised UK lender Northern Rock said today it was paying staff £13.1m (€15.2m) in bonuses for 2010 despite posting a multimillion-pound loss for the year.

In the UK, Northern Rock is to start offering 90% loan-to-value mortgages again, three years after its collapse and subsequent bailout by the taxpayer.

The outgoing chief executive of British nationalised bank Northern Rock has bowed to pressure by waiving his salary, pension and benefits for the period of his gardening leave.

The group formed from Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley’s toxic loans has paid back another £1bn in taxpayer cash this year after ramping up its debt repayments.

The former chairman of Northern Rock today spoke of his remorse for his part in the Northern Rock crisis.

Nationalised British lender Northern Rock said today that it would be returned to the private sector "only when conditions are right" as half-year figures showed a £140m (€168.8m) loss.

The body charged with managing British taxpayer-owned banking assets said today that it had pulled off a "real coup" in hiring investment banker Jim O'Neil to oversee the sale of stakes in Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

THE decision to guarantee riskier bank debts was not necessary and restricted the ability to reduce the state’s bailout bill, according to the Governor of the Central Bank Professor Patrick Honohan.

Nationalised British lender Northern Rock said today that it was planning to cut up to 650 jobs by the end of the year.

A finance chief under investigation as part of a City watchdog inquiry into mortgage figure manipulation at British nationalised lender Northern Rock has left the business, it emerged today.

THE Financial Regulator said he did not act hastily or in a heavy-handed manner in applying for the appointment of provisional administrators to Quinn Insurance late last month.

Northern Rock’s former deputy chief executive was handed a record fine and banned for life today as the City regulator lifted the lid on staff manipulation of mortgage arrears figures at the lender.

THE European Union has launched an investigation into €10.44 billion of state money for Anglo Irish Bank.

Britain's so-called “bad banks” of nationalised lender Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley are to merge under proposals confirmed today.

Northern Rock today said it was paying staff £14.9m (€16.3m) in bonuses after losses narrowed last year.

The 100% guarantee on savings deposits held with Northern Rock is to be lifted in three months, the British Treasury said today.

Insurer Legal & General forecast a rebound in its core UK markets today after revealing a 7% drop in worldwide sales during 2009.

The 100% guarantee on savers’ deposits held within Northern Rock is to removed within weeks as the British Government steps up plans to return the nationalised bank to the private sector, it was reported today.

Nationalised Northern Rock was split into two today as the race to take over the “good” part of the bank stepped up a gear.

Virgin Money is in talks to buy a small UK bank to accelerate plans to become a main player in the banking sector, according to a report today.

Former Northern Rock shareholders are unlikely to receive a penny in compensation following the nationalisation of the bank, a report costing £4.5m warned today.

British nationalised bank Northern Rock today cut its mortgage rates for the fourth time in more than a month.

Royal Bank of Scotland said today that it would have to sell more of its businesses than originally planned to gain European approval for state support.

The European Commission today approved the British government’s plans for splitting Northern Rock in two – a “good” bank and a “bad” bank.

European Commission backing for the sell-off of Northern Rock raised hopes today of a UK government clawback of taxpayers’ cash ploughed into the nationalised bank.

Hopes of more competition among the UK’s struggling banks were lifted today after it was disclosed that Richard Branson’s Virgin Money has applied to become a bank.

Part-nationalised British lender Lloyds Banking Group is set to bear the scars of reckless lending at its HBOS business today as it reports huge write-downs on bad debts.

Nationalised lender Northern Rock today posted a £724.2m (€853m) loss for the six months to June 30.

UK Chancellor Alistair Darling will this week outline plans to sell nationalised lender Northern Rock to a player with little presence in the mortgage market under plans to revive competition in the banking sector, it was reported today.