In profit...

Being charged with leading the UK's economic rescue mission might not be everyone's idea of a good time, but Canadian central banker Mark Carney says he is looking forward to going "where the challenges are greatest".

Yeah, cheers for suggesting that the challenges aren't greater in, say, Greece, Italy or Spain. Still, no Canadian banks needed bailing out under Carney's watch, through the bulk of the financial crisis.

Despite ruling himself out of the protracted race to be the next Governor of the Bank of England, the Treasury shocked just about everyone when it announced it had got its man on Monday.

Business Secretary Vince Cable declared the £3bn Green Investment Bank officially open on Wednesday, a little immodestly hailing it as "a big advance… a great achievement".

And Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland confirmed the chain's yawning pension fund deficit had been slashed.

...at a loss

Sergio Ermotti, the suavely-named Swiss who heads up UBS, must be hoping Monday's £29.7m fine imposed by the Financial Services Authority is the last he hears about the bank's rogue trader scandal.

The watchdog decided the bank deserved the hefty penalty for failing to spot and stop the dodgy trades by Kweku Adoboli, jailed for seven years last month on fraud charges after running up losses of £1.4bn. If UBS had not agreed to settle early with the FSA, the fine would have been £42.4m.

Henry Jackson's OpCapita felt forced to offer an apology on Wednesday to the thousands of Comet employees facing Christmas without jobs after it he announced 125 stores will shut. OpCapita bought Comet for £2 in February, but will be first in line among creditors when Comet's assets are wound down.

Also on Wednesday, BP, led by Bob Dudley, was temporarily barred from new US federal contracts after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.