The proposed deal to sell more than 600 Lloyds branches to the Co-op has collapsed after the latter said it could not proceed with the transaction, according to the Financial Times.

“The cancellation of the deal, originally worth up to £750m under terms struck last summer, is set to be announced as early as Wednesday, two people familiar with the situation said late on Tuesday night,” the FT writes.

The Bank of England’s cheap credit scheme, Funding for Lending, has been expanded today and puts small businesses at the heart of the government’s recovery drive, according to The Telegraph.

The Independent reports that US tech giant Apple revealed its first fall in profits in a decade with its quarterly report last night, thought it did manage to beat forecasts with strong sales. “The mixed-bag of results came amid growing concerns about the pace of growth at the Californian technology behemoth,” the paper says.

Civil servants from across Europe have raised concerns with the continent’s proposed financial transactions tax, saying that it could drive up government borrowing costs and hurt the functioning of the bond markets, according to The Times.

Mehmet Dalman, the chairman of troubled miner ENRC, yesterday announced his resignation amid an internal inquiry that he had been leading into a string of corruption allegations, writes The Guardian. Two other senior directors also announced that they would not be standing for re-election at the annual general meeting in June.

The Guardian says that banking giant HSBC is facing a backlash from unions after the lender told over 3,000 staff that their jobs were at risk. “HSBC is making staff suffer in the search for ever greater profits. The bank’s behaviour is a disgrace,” said the national officer of Unite.