U..S. stock index futures were mixed Tuesday after Monday's gains which gave the U.S. stock market a positive start towards continuing a historical trend.

The 13.5 billion pound ($22.3 billion) rights issue was priced at 37p per share, on the basis of 1.34 new shares for every existing share, a 59.5 percent discount to Monday's close.

Lloyds Banking Group got strong demand for a 9 billion pound ($14.9 billion) bond exchange, an indication of possible appetite for the UK bank's record share issue due to price on Tuesday.

Bailed-out British lender Lloyds Banking Group is to cut a further 5,000 jobs by the end of 2010 as it continues to overhaul its operations and integrate HBOS.

Britain's two largest retail lenders have agreed to a massive shake-up of the UK banking sector that will see both sell hundreds of branches and key businesses to appease EU competition concerns over state aid.

The U.S. dollar rose to a one-month high against a basket of currencies Tuesday as concerns about the global banking sector and weaker equity markets boosted the greenback's safe-haven appeal.

Lloyds Banking Group inched closer to plugging a capital gap of more than 20 billion pounds ($33 billion), boosting the British bank's shares on prospects a deal could happen before the year end.

The government should “pull the plug” on problem banks rather than bail them out and imposing tougher regulation on them, Roger Nightingale, strategist at Pointon York, told CNBC Wednesday.

One year since the week that shook UK financial markets, the government is still looking for a solution for the banks in which it now is a shareholder and for ways to kick start the economy and make sure a banking crisis doesn't happen again.

Question: how far will executives at America’s banks take their determination to regain control of their businesses and escape government regulations attached to TARP?

Speculation that the European Commission could order a breakup of Lloyds Banking Group is nonsense, but the possibility that the Commission could order the group to sell some assets should come as no surprise, a senior commission officer told CNBC Thursday.

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.