Banks may become more reluctant to lend to businesses with large pensions deficits after a far-reaching judgement at the High Court today found that the two estates of Lehman Brothers and Nortel Networks were on the hook for £2.2bn in pensions bills between them.

The High Court has this morning handed out a much-anticipated ruling on a multi-billion pound dispute between the UK's Pension Regulator and the two estates of Lehman Brothers, the collapsed US bank, and Nortel Networks, the bankrupt telecoms group.