On paper, Winfried F. W. Bischoff — whose most recent job was a brief stint at the helm of the heavily damaged Citigroup — has all the qualities one would expect in an incoming chairman of the equally troubled Lloyds Banking Group, one of Britain’s most storied banking names.

Lloyds Banking Group's shares fell 5 percent Monday, dragging down the FTSE, after reports in the UK press that it was considering a share issue to try and loosen the government's grip.

Shares in software group Sage, the UK's biggest software company, rose to the top of the FTSE 100 Tuesday as the company said it expected its results to be in line with expectations.

Shares in publishing group Pearson surged by nearly 10 percent, topping the FTSE, after it reported strong earnings due to a rise in its educational publications business, the largest in the world.

Lloyds Bank topped the FTSE 100 Monday, jumping 6.3 percent, with the banking sector in Europe pulling indexes up after reports that CIT Group has worked out a solution to escape bankruptcy.

Shares of Friends Provident rose to the top the FTSE 100, gaining 5.1 percent, after restructuring-firm Resolution confirmed it was looking to buy the U.K. insurer.

Indicted Texas billionaire Allen Stanford says the federal government has "coordinated an attack" on his constitutional rights. 

Lloyds Banking Group said Tuesday that it expects to cut nearly 1,800 jobs in its group operations and wholesale divisions over the next three years as it consolidates the merger of Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland.

Goldman Sachs raised British bank Lloyds Banking Group to "buy" from "neutral," adding it to its conviction buy list, the bank said in a research note quoted by Reuters. Lloyds shared have topped the FTSE index Monday, rising nearly 7%.

European credit spreads edged wider and gilts and bunds prices tumbled Thursday, after the US Treasury's 'sloppy' auction which reinforced investors' expectations that the Federal Reserve will have to raise rates sooner rather than later.