Mark Carney will face a policy quandary if Britain votes to leave the European Union this week, according to former Bank of England deputy governor John Gieve.

Former finance minister Brian Lenihan was “very strongly” of the view Anglo Irish Bank should be nationalised and left out of the €440bn blanket bank guarantee, before a crunch private “chat” with then- taoiseach Brian Cowen caused a dramatic change of mind.

A £13bn (€18m) mortgage portfolio put up for sale by the bad bank charged with winding down the assets of two failed British lenders has lured interest from several possible bidders, the group’s boss said yesterday.

The Government was warned two months before the September 2008 bank guarantee that Seán Quinn’s debts to Anglo Irish Bank were enough to bring down the financial sector.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen last night said there was never any question of his overruling finance minister Brian Lenihan’s views at the time of the State bank guarantee of 2008.

Britain has given its banks three months to show how they plan to protect their retail customers from riskier parts of their operations.

AIB has appointed Richard Pym as chairman designate and a member of the board as a non-executive director to replace the outgoing chairman David Hodgkinson who retires next October.

The UK's Chancellor George Osborne defended his Budget today, saying the British Government had to tackle the nation’s economic problems, which “could be a lot worse”.

The man tasked with regulating the City of London in the run-up to the near-collapse of the British banking system has been knighted in the UK’s new year Honours.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has been branded a “tyrant” by a former member of the Bank’s key interest rate-setting committee.

Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays Bank, has painted himself as the ultimate self-made man, rising from nothing to lead a bank with £33bn in assets. But all that glisters may not be gold for the banker, says Kyran Fitzgerald

As Ulster Bank sheds 900 staff, question marks hang over the commitment of RBS and its boss Stephen Hester to Ireland, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

The Co-operative Group has said it will put in a renewed bid for 632 branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group.

Irish Life & Permanent raised unguaranteed funding totalling €1.15bn in two separate transactions in the market today.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Money today looked to be in pole position to land Northern Rock as the auction of the UK's nationalised lender nears its conclusion.

A takeover vehicle run by former Northern Rock boss Gary Hoffman today confirmed a bid for 632 branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group.

IRELAND’S decision to guarantee the savings of the banks “smacked of panic rather than a plan” according to Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling.

A takeover vehicle run by former Northern Rock boss Gary Hoffman suspended its shares today in a further sign that it is moving in on a deal which could see it form one of the UK’s largest high street lenders.

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.

Permanent tsb bank has entered into an agreement to acquire the deposit business of Northern Rock Ireland, which currently has more than €650m of deposits from some 17,000 customers.

BEFORE the good people from BlackRock Solutions and Boston Consulting Group leave the jurisdiction, they might be asked to do an additional stress test — on Ireland’s exchequer. Larry Fink and the lads carry the ultimate status of credibility worldwide. No one seems to have followed the logical conclusion of their analysis, beyond banks, for their state guarantor.

National Australia Bank is understood to be planning a bid for the 600 branches that Lloyds Banking Group is being forced to sell, it was reported today.

OUR politicians are so self indulgent. It’s always about them. Dithering over the timing of the election date reminds me of similar political paralysis in 2008.

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.

Spanish bank Santander today looked set to be the only firm bidder in the auction of 318 branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs is to be investigated in the UK after US authorities issued fraud claims against it, the City regulator said today.

Liberal Democrats are now the only party offering “real change” in the UK general election, the party’s leader Nick Clegg claimed today.

British Chancellor Alistair Darling warned today that an age of "low growth and austerity" lies ahead if the Conservative Party win power at the election.

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.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has sent out a warning shot to America not to go it alone with bank sector reforms, it was reported 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.

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.

AN EU cabinet chief has warned that a major challenge to the success of NAMA is the fact that many assets on bank books are failing to produce any revenue at all.

Three new high street banks are to be set up as part of a major shake-up by the British government, it was reported today.

Supermarket giant Tesco today announced 800 new UK jobs with the opening of a customer service centre to support its personal finance operation.

Another £13bn (€15bn) in British Government borrowing last month sent total debt soaring to a record 56.6% of UK output, official figures revealed today.

Supermarket Tesco is considering taking steps to allow its personal finance arm to borrow directly from wholesale markets as part of a push into retail banking, it emerged today.

The European Commission today ruled out any swift approval of the UK government’s plans for a £3bn (€3.5bn) cash injection for Northern Rock.

Nationalised British lender Northern Rock is to be sold off by the end of the year as the UK government seeks to retrieve money pumped into the banking sector, it was reported today.

THE Financial Regulator is finalising plans for a crack team of banking investigators to monitor credit institutions.

ROYAL Bank of Scotland Group, the owner of Ulster Bank, and Lloyds, is facing nationalisation as the deteriorating British economy continues to push it deeper into the mire.

UK chancellor Alistair Darling will today stake hundreds of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a second bank bail-out in a bid to free up “blocked” credit markets and head off a worsening recession.