The trustee of Safe Hands Plans has received a £17 million High Court claim from administrators of the collapsed pre-paid funerals company, The Times reported. Safe Hands slumped into insolvency last year, leaving about 46,000 people with a combined £60 million shortfall and triggering concerns in parliament and several investigations. Administrators at FRP Advisory were appointed to Safe Hands and its parent company SHP Capital Holdings, a special purpose investment vehicle, as the Financial Conduct Authority prepared to take on regulation of the pre-paid funerals market.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc has received £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) from the owners of the Telegraph newspaper, marking an end of the bank’s involvement in a saga that’s spawned government investigations and sparked a nationwide discussion on freedom of the press, Bloomberg News reported. Lloyds received the repayment from Penultimate Investment Holdings Limited, according to an emailed statement. Penultimate Investment Holdings Limited is the Barclay family company that indirectly owns Telegraph Media Group Ltd. and the Spectator (1828) Ltd.

Norway's $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Friday it has been appointed by a U.S. court to co-lead an ongoing U.S. securities class action relating to the now-bankrupt Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Reuters reported. SVB's collapse in March was the trigger for the worst banking shock since the 2008 global financial crisis, sending bank stocks globally on a wild ride.

Robert Bull, the owner of beleaguered caravan giant RoyaleLife that is facing £725 million ($916 million) in debt, was declared bankrupt by an English court on Friday, Bloomberg News reported. It’s a stunning reversal for a man who, just seven months ago, was said to have a wealth of £1.9 billion and was the second-highest ranking new entry in The Sunday Times rich list. Judge Michael Giddins made a bankruptcy order against Bull on Friday in a hearing at County Court in Southampton, England.

Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe, whose leadership of euro-area finance ministers has elevated his global profile, is considering a bid to lead the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. Donohoe, 49, is currently Ireland’s minister for public expenditure and served as finance minister from 2017 to 2022. He has led the Eurogroup — the body of finance chiefs that steered the bloc through its sovereign debt crisis and the pandemic — since mid-2020, having been elected late last year for a second 2 ½-year term.

A German court has called upon the lawyer of former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek, who has been on the run since the implosion of the German payments company, to testify next Wednesday in Germany's biggest post-war fraud trial, Reuters reported. Wirecard became the first-ever DAX member to file for insolvency in 2020, owing creditors almost $4 billion, after disclosing a 1.9 billion euro ($2.13 billion) hole in its accounts.

Kinepolis Group NV, one of the largest theater operators in Europe, recently considered making a bid for Cineplex Inc., the No. 1 chain in Canada, but chose not to proceed after concluding a deal would struggle to win regulatory approval, Bloomberg News reported. Kinepolis may still pursue a deal if it can partner with another bidder to acquire some of Cineplex’s theaters.

Nottingham City Council became the latest major casualty of Britain’s growing crisis in local government finances after being crippled by inflation and rising demand for its services, Bloomberg News reported. The council declared effective bankruptcy by issuing a so-called section 114 notice on Wednesday after finding a £23 million hole in this year’s budget. The city in the Midlands in central England is one of the largest local authorities to succumb to a myriad of financial pressures battering councils.

Airline SAS AB is set to complete its US Chapter 11 process by June following expected regulatory approvals in Europe, according to Chief Executive Officer Anko van der Werff, Bloomberg News reported. That means the process is going according to plan, the CEO said in an interview on Thursday after posting fourth-quarter earnings that saw its adjusted pretax loss widen 30% year-on-year. The Scandinavian carrier filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, and in October reached a $1.2 billion refinancing deal with a group of investors including Air France-KLM and Castlelake.

Inflation in the eurozone fell to a new two-year low in November, dropping much faster than expected as a result of high interest rates and efforts by European countries to ease prices for energy and food, setting the stage for the European Central Bank to hold interest rates steady at its next meeting, the New York Times reported. Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro fell to 2.4 percent in November from a year earlier, Europe’s statistics agency reported Thursday. Inflation over the year through October was 2.9 percent. Even so, consumers are still feeling the pinch.