Europe

Swansea University’s Bay Campus on the outskirts of the Welsh city was expected to attract a wave of new fee-paying students to boost revenue after the government squeezed funding to the sector. These days, it’s more of a millstone after overseas enrollments failed to grow as much as expected, a symbol of the wider financial problems facing universities across the U.K., Bloomberg News reported. It takes 30 minutes by bus from the city center to reach the campus, which looked bleak last Friday with almost empty bike racks and fenced-off construction machinery.

Germany's labor market showed new signs of stress as unemployment rose sharply in March, marking the steepest monthly increase since October 2024, DW.com reported. The number of jobless individuals rose by 26,000 in seasonally adjusted terms, bringing the total to 2.92 million, the Federal Labor Office reported on Friday. The figure more than doubled analysts' forecasts of an increase of 10,000. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to 6.3%, up from 6.2% the previous month — also slightly above market predictions.

Government plans to increase defense spending in response to an increasingly distant relationship with the U.S. have led European industry leaders to take a brighter view of their prospects, according to a survey released Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The European Commission’s industrial sentiment indicator rose to minus 10.6 this month from minus 11 in February. However, service providers and retailers grew more gloomy about their prospects, a reflection of subdued consumer demand as households continue to save rather than spend.

Norway’s central bank delayed a long-communicated cut in borrowing costs until later this year as officials responded to a flare-up in inflation, Bloomberg News reported. Norges Bank held the deposit rate at 4.5%, the highest in more than 16 years, as predicted by a majority of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Its path for borrowing costs signals two cuts before the end of 2025, with a gradual decline thereafter.

The Czech central bank reinforced warnings about inflation and an uncertain economic outlook after halting interest rate cuts for a second time in the past three months, Bloomberg News reported. The board viewed its unanimous vote to keep the benchmark rate at 3.75% on Wednesday as a pause, with domestic and foreign risks seen as inflationary, Governor Ales Michl said. The decision followed a string of cuts last year, a pause in December and a quarter-point reduction in February. “We can’t rule anything out,” Michl told reporters in Prague after the meeting.

The European Central Bank should consider holding its key interest rate at its April meeting as it assesses the effect of U.S. tariffs, rate setter Pierre Wunsch said, the Wall Street Journal reported. A pause in April should be “on the table,” Wunsch, who is also the governor of Belgium’s central bank, told CNBC in an interview Thursday. President Trump said Wednesday that he plans to impose 25% tariffs on imported vehicles April 3, while his administration has previously promised new duties on April 2. Tariffs will be bad for growth and probably inflationary, Wunsch said.

One of Switzerland's main political parties could soon propose capping UBS's investment banking activities as part of a regulatory overhaul aimed at making the sector less risky, a senior lawmaker said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), the biggest group in parliament, would pitch the plan as soon as possible if the government proposed that UBS fully capitalize its foreign units, SVP lawmaker Thomas Matter said. Limiting the investment bank could be a way of reducing the amount of extra capital UBS would need to hold, he said.

In the year since Stefan Walter has been in charge of Switzerland’s financial regulator, he’s made a name for himself among the bankers he oversees, Bloomberg News reported. They call him “The Sheriff.” Walter, 60, a German citizen with decades of experience in top-level regulation including in the US, is using a tumultuous period in Swiss finance to establish a forthright, public presence for Finma that few in Zurich or Geneva are accustomed to.

The real estate sector in Berlin is facing significant challenges, with one of its prominent figures, Nikolaus Ziegert, recently filing for bankruptcy, The Munich Eye reported. This development highlights the ongoing difficulties within the housing market, which is not only affecting tenants but also the businesses operating within the industry. Nikolaus Ziegert, who began his career as a florist specializing in selling roses, transitioned to real estate in 1985 when he sold his first condominium in Steglitz for 800 Deutsche Marks per square meter.