The Swedish economy is facing headwinds from rising interest rates, high inflation and a slump in private consumption and is seen contracting this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. After faring relatively well through the pandemic, soaring consumer price rises and interest rates have begun taking a toll. Swedish households are among the most heavily indebted in Europe while many have floating-rate mortgages, meaning central bank rate hikes quickly result in higher costs.

The Bank of England was the first of the world’s major central banks to start raising interest rates to tackle the post-pandemic inflation surge. Money markets are betting it may be the last to stop, Bloomberg News reported. Strong labor-market figures on Tuesday sparked big moves in bond markets, with yields jumping to the highest since 2008. Alongside that, traders dramatically reassessed the UK rate outlook and are now pricing a more than one-in-three chance that the BOE will lift its benchmark to 6% by early next year.

Spain's BBVA and Bank of Cyprus reopened the market with the issuance of the first euro-denominated contingent convertible bonds (CoCo) since the rescue of Credit Suisse in March, in what is seen as an attempt to restore confidence in the banks' riskiest debt instruments, Reuters reported. The Spanish bank said it aimed to raise between 750 million euros ($810.08 million) and 1 billion euros with this issuance. According to a lead manager memo seen by Reuters, the issuance had already received orders worth over 3 billion euros.

Irish tax defaulters paid €7.3 million to settle unpaid debts to the Revenue in the first three months of the year, new figures show, the Irish Times reported. Longford waste business Mulleady’s Ltd heads the list, paying €828,575 in tax, interest and penalties after an audit found it had under-declared income tax and social insurance. Builder Thomas Foley, of St Anne’s Green, Carlow, listed as a company director, made the biggest personal settlement, €809,018 for under declaration of income and capital gains tax.

A committee that reviews disputes in the credit default swaps (CDS) market said on Monday that it had been asked to address a question of whether there is a successor to Credit Suisse Group, Reuters reported. This comes on the day that UBS completed its emergency takeover of embattled local rival Credit Suisse, creating a giant Swiss bank with a balance sheet of $1.6 trillion and greater muscle in wealth management. The CDS panel said on its website it has accepted the question by an investor and it will meet on Tuesday at 13:00 GMT to discuss it.

One of Britain’s biggest delivery companies has crashed into administration, putting most of its 2,300 employees out of work and threatening major disruption to thousands of businesses that depend on it, the Telegraph reported. Sheffield-headquartered Tuffnells, founded in 1914 after Harold Tuffnell bought a horse and cart for £100 and began delivering goods, has appointed insolvency specialists from professional services company Interpath to handle its bankruptcy after failing to find new owners for the business.

An electrical contractor will have some €2.7 million of a €2.9 million debt written-off under a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) approved by the High Court, the Irish Times reported. The arrangement, approved by Mr Justice Alexander Owens on Monday, includes the near halving of the €470,000 mortgage debt of Thomas Fahy from Cortoon, Claregalway, Co Galway. Approval was sought by barrister Keith Farry, instructed by solicitor Nicola Nevin, on behalf of Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton, Mr Fahy’s Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP).

A second Canary Wharf office block in as many weeks has collapsed into a form of insolvency amid growing financial pressure on commercial property owners, Sky News reported. Sky News understands that Alvarez & Marsal, the restructuring firm, has been appointed as fixed charge receiver over the shares of Cheung Loong Holdings Limited, which indirectly owns the long leasehold of 20 Canada Square. The building has for years been home to BP's oil trading division, while the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's has been among its other tenants.

Italy's biggest telecoms company Telecom Italia (TIM) said on Friday it received two new offers for its landline grid, as companies bid to resolve the impasse over the asset's sale process, Reuters reported. U.S. fund KKR and separately a rival consortium comprising state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie submitted bids for Telecom Italia's network, according to a statement. Debt-crippled TIM is seeking improved offers for its most valuable asset after having assessed as not yet adequate the proposals received in May.

A Yorkshire-based finance boss has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court, according to a U.K. Insolvency Service press release. An investigation by the Insolvency Service found Liam Francis Wainwright, 61, from Leeds, had falsified documents to mislead investors and spend their money on ventures including a racehorse syndicate and his own failed private businesses. These investors were victims of a classic Ponzi scheme, whereby the returns paid to them were funded by the capital injections from later investors.