Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB), one of Russia's largest private lenders, has obtained a gold export license from the government, it said on Monday, becoming the latest Russian bank to turn to precious metals trade to offset the impact of sanctions, Reuters reported. The main operators of the gold market in Russia and its largest lenders - Sberbank and VTB - have been hit by harsh Western sanctions imposed on Moscow after it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. "MKB has a dedicated focus on developing operations with precious metals," MKB said in a statement.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday the EU had significant concerns about the announcement by the UK government to enable legislation that would disapply basic elements of the Northern Ireland protocol, Reuters reported. "Unilateral actions are not acceptable," Sefcovic said in a statement. Sefcovic added that should the UK decide to move ahead with the bill, the EU would need to respond with all measures at its disposal.

Britain's jobless rate hit a 48-year low in the first three months of 2022 and employers paid bigger bonuses to keep or attract staff, according to data that added to bets by investors on further Bank of England interest rate hikes, Reuters reported. Core earnings for most workers fell by the greatest amount since 2013 when adjusted for surging inflation, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. But total pay including bonuses was up 7.0% on a year earlier, far above economists' average forecast of 5.4%. Sterling climbed by 1.1% against the U.S.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had discussed the need for financial support for Ukraine's economy during a video conference with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Reuters reported. "The IMF is our important partner. We look forward to further fruitful joint work in maintaining financial stability of Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. Zelenskiy's office said in a statement after the video conference that he had asked for financial support to be sped up for the country, which is trying to fend off Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

More than 50 economists warned on Monday that Britain's post-Brexit plans to boost the competitiveness of its huge finance industry risked creating the kind of problems that led to the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. The government, seeking to use its "Brexit freedoms", announced this month that it would require regulators to help the City of London to remain a global financial centre after the country left the European Union.

Administrators for the collapsed rent-to-own firm BrightHouse, which specialised in loans for big-ticket items such as fridges and sofas, have warned they will not have enough money to compensate thousands of customers who were left with unaffordable debts. The latest report from the accountants Grant Thornton, which is managing the administration, shows a plan to set aside £600,000 for payouts to customers who may have been mis-sold expensive loans by BrightHouse has been scrapped. Meanwhile, a number of creditors have received large sums.

A metals firm that was handed a £586million ­ Scottish Government ­support package to buy a Highland smelter is facing a court bankruptcy fight, the Daily Record reported. Taxpayers could be hit with losses if businessman Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance goes under as a result of the controversial deal signed by SNP ministers. The company, given massive state support to buy metal and power plants in Lanarkshire and Fort William, is now at the ­centre of a fraud investigation and it could be ­liquidated if it loses a court ­battle with creditors.

A start-up investment group backed by Sir Terry Leahy that secured close to £11 million in emergency pandemic loans is being scrutinised over a series of insolvencies set to cost taxpayers about £2 million, the London Times reported. We Are Nova, which is under investigation by the government’s Insolvency Service over alleged misuse of the bounce back loan scheme, is the subject of separate inquiries over subsidiaries that collapsed before the pandemic.

Shipping traffic in and out of Russia has remained relatively strong in the past few months as companies have raced to fulfill contracts for purchases of energy and other goods before the full force of global sanctions goes into effect, the New York Times reported. With the European Union poised to introduce a ban on Russian oil in the coming months, that situation could change significantly. But so far, data show that while commerce with Russia has been reduced in many cases, it has yet to be crippled.

Consumer inflation in Russia accelerated in April to 17.83% in year-on-year terms, its highest level since January 2002, data showed on Friday, as it got a boost from the volatile rouble and unprecedented western sanctions that disrupted logistics chains, Reuters reported. But monthly inflation slowed to 1.56% in April from 7.61% in March when it staged the biggest month-on-month increase since January 1999, data from the federal statistics service Rosstat showed. Inflation in Russia has accelerated sharply after Russia began what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.