Germany's top regulator this week called for global regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to protect consumers, prevent money laundering and preserve financial stability, Reuters reported. Mark Branson, the president of Germany's financial market regulator BaFin, said a hands-off approach that would "just let the industry grow as a playground for grownups" was the wrong tactic. "We've seen the self-regulated world. It will not work," Branson told journalists in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening. Branson was speaking hours after U.S.

The European Central Bank expects inflation to remain above its 2% target for the next three years, one source told Reuters, more than markets currently expect and signalling its fight against runaway prices is far from over, Reuters reported. The ECB is certain to raise interest rates for a fourth consecutive time on Thursday to rein in inflation, and will also announce new quarterly economic projections, used by investors to work out how many more hikes may be on the cards.

Britain’s inflation rate eased away from a 41-year high on Wednesday, but the slowdown brings only limited relief to a nation gripped by a deep cost-of-living crisis, the New York Times reported. Consumer prices in Britain rose 10.7 percent in November from a year earlier, bringing the rate of inflation down slightly from 11.1 percent in October, which was the highest annual rate since 1981, the Office for National Statistics said.

Ukraine's economy could shrink by 50% this year if Russia keeps attacking the national power grid and other critical infrastructure, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was quoted as saying on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Russia has launched a series of missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities since October, causing power outages across the country. "The contraction of the Ukrainian economy is projected at the level of 35-40%," Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Shmyhal as saying.

Germany is highly dependent on imports for many crucial raw materials and often relies entirely on other countries to meet demand, according to a study seen by Reuters, which warned that much of this reliance was on authoritarian regimes. The DIW research institute identified 30 raw materials as particularly critical and placed Germany's dependence on imports at 100% for 14 of them. For another three, dependency was ranked at over 95%, the DIW said. It classed commodities as critical if they were considered essential but also subject to increased supply risk.

The Bank of England warned on Tuesday about "significant pressure" on households and businesses due to higher inflation and borrowing costs, but said they were more resilient than before the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. The BoE has previously flagged that Britain was entering a lengthy recession, and with inflation at a 41-year high and a sharp rise in interest rates over the past year, government forecasters have predicted a record squeeze on living standards.

Investment funds and other non-bank financial institutions face their first 'stress test' next year to apply lessons from the near-meltdown in Britain's pension fund sector, the Bank of England (BoE) said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The BoE had to step in from September to buy 19.3 billion pounds ($23.75 billion) of government bonds to stabilise markets after turmoil caused by the fiscal plans of Liz Truss's short-lived government. Liability-driven investment (LDI) funds, used by pension funds to ensure their long-term payouts, struggled to meet collateral calls as bond prices tumbled.

Britain’s economy shrank in the three months through October, confirming the toll that rampant inflation and rising interest rates are having on business and industry, the Associated Press reported. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, fell by 0.3% in the period when compared with the three months through July, the Office for National Statistics said Monday.

Midlands property developer Tony Diskin has secured Irish High Court approval to escape almost €25 million in Celtic Tiger-era debts from his property development business, the Irish Times reported. Mr. Justice Alexander Owens granted Mr. Diskin a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) – a mechanism that allows individuals to escape significant bank and other debts – which will see him return to solvency with payment of a lump sum of €30,000. Some €25,000 of this will go towards repaying a fraction of his €24.9 million in debts.

The number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands has risen for the third month in a row. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 224 companies and institutions, including one-person businesses, went bankrupt in November. That is seven more than in October, the NL Times reported. According to CBS, this was the highest number of bankruptcies in over two years, though it is still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic. The number of bankruptcies is so low partly due to the Cabinet’s coronavirus support, which kept even fundamentally unhealthy companies afloat.