Allegations that Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc pushed small businesses into default will be investigated as the British markets’ regulator called on other banks to review their lending practices.

European shares fell to a two-month low yesterday after a Spanish debt sale failed to reach its targets reigniting fears that the eurozone sovereign debt crisis could spark further national bailouts.

SUMITOMO Mitsui Financial Group, Japan’s second biggest bank by market value, won a bid to buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s Dublin-based aircraft-leasing division for about $7.3 billion (€5.764bn).

BANK employees in Northern Ireland are being put on alert after several bomb attacks in recent months by dissident Irish nationalists.

KINGFISHER Plc, Europe’s largest home-improvement retailer, reported a smaller drop in sales at its B&Q shops than analysts had anticipated and said it expects revenue to improve in the year’s final quarter.

STANDARD Chartered Plc, the British-based bank that makes more than three-quarters of its profit in Asia, said it won’t join any pact to restrain bonuses for 2010.

ROYAL Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) dropped in London trading yesterday because of investor concerns about its exposure of £42.2 billion (€50bn) of loans to Ireland.

JOB vacancies at London’s financial services companies rose 7% last month as firms sought to replace workers lost during the credit crisis.

Investors sent stocks lower today as anxiety over the growing list of firms affected by investment manager Bernard Madoff and the potential losses to the financial sector took centre stage on Wall Street.

The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street's biggest pyramid schemes is growing, snaring some of the world's biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.

IT IS not certain that five foreign-owned banks operating here will be given protection under the Government’s guarantee scheme.

Three British bankers arrived at the federal courthouse in Houston today to face Enron Corp.-related charges filed more than four years ago, having lost a lengthy battle to avoid extradition.

TESCO has started an interest rate price war with AIB and Bank of Ireland by offering fixed rate loans of between €2,500 to €30,000 at lower rates than those offered by the main banks.

BANK of Ireland has been hit with a €550,000 fine by Britain’s financial regulator for failing to spot suspected money laundering by a customer in Scotland.

ROYAL Bank of Scotland Group Plc's first-half profit are expected to rise in line with market expectations.

AIB Bank and Bank of Ireland may become takeover targets for National Australia Bank when a former Barclays’ Bank deputy chief executive takes over NAB’s European operations in August.