After setting aside almost half a trillion dollars to date tackling its energy crisis, Germany is also poised to take on the risks associated with 216 billion euros ($229 billion) of derivatives built up by energy giant Uniper, Reuters reported. Germany is nationalising Uniper in what is the biggest corporate bailout in the country's history, after Russia's move to choke off gas threw Europe's biggest economy into chaos. Uniper has already booked billions of euros of losses on derivatives, exacerbating a crisis as it rushed to plug the gap left after Russia turned off the taps.

The Netherlands expects to borrow 101.5 billion euros ($107.8) on the debt markets next year, the most since 2012, and its funding needs are "extremely uncertain" as much depends on the energy price outlook, the country's debt agency said on Friday, Reuters reported. Around 50 billion euros will be raised from long-term debt, the Dutch State Treasury Agency (DSTA) said. The Netherlands will also sell a new, 20-year green bond, its second bond, in the format that funds environmentally-friendly projects.

The Dutch central bank on Thursday issued a statement saying cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is operating in the Netherlands without being registered to do so, Reuters. KuCoin is a subsidiary of a Seychelles-registered company called MEK Global Limited, the bank said in a statement. MGL "is acting in violation of the law on preventing money laundering and financing terrorism and offering illegal services," De Nederlandsche Bank said.

A dual citizen of Sweden and the United Kingdom pleaded guilty to U.S. fraud and money laundering charges on Friday for selling a fake cryptocurrency alongside one of the United States' most-wanted fugitives, a woman referred to as the 'Cryptoqueen,' Reuters reported. Karl Greenwood, 45, was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the United States in 2018 for his role in selling the purported cryptocurrency OneCoin, which federal prosecutors in Manhattan call a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors out of $4 billion. He has been detained since his arrest.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will limit ticket sales for flights to London's Heathrow Airport during planned strikes by border agents over Christmas and New Year's Eve to reduce disruption, the airlines said on Friday, Reuters reported. UK Border Force workers at several major British airports including the country's busiest, Heathrow, will go on strike for eight days this month in a dispute over pay, threatening to slow processing of passengers arriving from abroad during the holidays.

A ninth interest rate hike in a row by the Bank of England looks to be a foregone conclusion on Thursday and investors will be looking for clues on how many more will be needed with the economy sliding into recession but inflation still above 10%, Reuters reported. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has faced both encouraging and worrying news on the economy since a majority voted in early November to raise rates by 0.75 percentage point, the biggest hike since 1989.

The French economy is set to contract slightly this quarter due to refinery strikes and nuclear reactor outages before activity recovers in the first half of next year, the INSEE official stats agency said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The euro zone's second biggest economy will contract 0.2% in the final three months from the previous quarter, INSEE said in its latest economic outlook. INSEE trimmed its forecast from a previous projection for flat growth after refinery strikes and maintenance outages at some nuclear reactors reduced industrial output.

German tennis star Boris Becker has returned to Germany after serving eight months in prison in Britain, his lawyer said on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The 55-year-old German, who has lived in Britain since 2012, was released on Thursday morning and travelled back to Germany shortly thereafter. Becker "has thus served his sentence and is not subject to any penal restrictions in Germany," his lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, said in a statement. He did not give additional details about Becker's location in Germany.

England and Wales saw a 21% annual rise in the number of company insolvencies last month and the second-highest monthly total in figures going back to 2019, published a day after the Bank of England said businesses were coming under increased pressure, Reuters reported. Some 2,029 registered companies in England and Wales were declared insolvent in November, second only to the number in March, when pandemic-related protections against court orders ended.

A shortage of some medicines may eventually arise due to the bankruptcy of the pharmaceutical manufacturer InnoGenerics in Leiden, Netherlands Minister Ernst Kuipers of Public Health informed parliament, the NL Times reported. The court in The Hague declared the generic medicine maker bankrupt on Tuesday. There was no takeover candidate, and the Cabinet decided against investing money in the company due to all kinds of uncertainties. The company had been struggling for some time.