A $1.2 trillion liquidity crunch looms for Europe’s lenders, testing their ability to stand on their own after more than a decade of easy money from the European Central Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. The biggest hurdle will come in late June, when banks will have to pay back about 478 billion euros, equivalent to some $525 billion, of ultracheap loans to the central bank. Those loans were handed out at the height of the pandemic to ensure banks kept lending as lockdowns brought business to a halt.

Britain’s inflation rate slowed last month, but is likely to bring only limited relief to households as it stubbornly held in the double digits because of rapidly rising food prices, the New York Times reported. Consumer prices rose 10.1 percent in March from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday, a slightly slower pace than the 10.4 percent in February. But economists had expected the country’s inflation rate to drop below 10 percent for the first time since the summer.

Spain’s leftist coalition government on Tuesday approved a plan to make available around 50,000 houses for rent at affordable prices as part of measures aimed at curbing soaring rents and house prices, the Associated Press. The apartments will come from the state-controlled SAREB “bad bank” that was set up in 2012 to manage and sell off troubled banks most toxic assets during the international financial crisis. The SAREB plan follows a much-hailed agreement last week between the coalition parties and their parliamentary supporters for what would be democratic Spain’s first-ever housing law.

Ireland's budget surplus is forecast to more than double to 6.3% of gross national income by 2026, the finance ministry forecast on Tuesday, handing the government significant resources to set up a planned new pension fund, Reuters reported. The finance ministry also expects inflation to slow to 4.9% this year and again to 2.5% next year, while the economy will grow by a faster-than-expected 2.1% in 2023 and 2.5% in 2024 after remaining "remarkably resilient" in recent months, it added.

More companies in England and Wales entered insolvency during March than at any point since monthly records started three years ago, according to official data on Tuesday that showed a 16% increase on a year ago, Reuters reported. The Insolvency Service Agency reported 2,457 corporate insolvencies last month, up from 1,784 in February. The rate of companies falling into insolvency fell sharply with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to government support programmes and lockdowns slowing the progress of courts handling insolvency cases.

The European Commission (EC) has opened a detailed investigation to assess whether certain support measures taken by Romania in favour of Blue Air Aviation, specifically the guarantees for a EUR 34 mln rescue loan extended in August 2020 and its renewal, comply with EU state aid rules, G4media.ro reported. Specifically, such a detailed investigation assesses whether the troubled company is likely to become viable after the restructuring plan as notified to the Commission.

The director of an insolvent cash-for-visa business listed a golf clubhouse as his address on company documents and has not yet furnished the firm’s books and records to its liquidator despite being directed to do so by a judge, the Irish Times reported. More than €66 million has been transferred out of the company over its lifetime to other connected entities, including in excess of €1 million to Chinese businessman Kai Dai himself, the court heard on Monday before it confirmed the appointment of insolvency practitioner Declan DeLacy as liquidator to Huawen.

There may need to be limits initially on the use of major stablecoins for payments, and they should also be backed by high quality and liquid assets to protect consumers, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said on Monday, Reuters reported. Britain is due to adopt rules for regulating stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency backed by an asset or fiat currency, which consumers could use to make payments digitally. "Systemic stablecoins will need to be backed with high quality and liquid assets," Cunliffe told a conference held by Innovate Finance, a UK fintech industry body.

The process that enables creditors to pursue struggling businesses at the Irish High Court has resumed in the north after three years, IrishNews.com reported. The Bankruptcy and Companies Master’s Court in Belfast has reopened to winding up petitions from Monday (April 17). It follows the introduction of the Insolvency (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2023 last month, which effectively ended the three-year restriction on creditor winding up petitions.

SAS will not be using the second tranche of its $700 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) term loan in the second quarter of the year, due to stronger than expected development of the airline's liquidity, the airline said on Monday, Reuters reported. SAS may, depending on the development of its liquidity, continue discussions with Apollo regarding access to the second tranche of the DIP term loan at a later stage of the chapter 11 process.