In the space of just five years, a little-known company on the outskirts of London has grown into a payments-industry powerhouse, processing more than 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in transactions every month. Backed by licenses from regulators in the UK and Lithuania, Transactive Systems Ltd. touted itself as “one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Europe,” with an ability to service clients from “compliance-intense industries” including cryptocurrencies, gambling and foreign-exchange trading, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.

The bankrupt FTX group of cryptocurrency companies extended the deadlines to bid for its Japan and Europe businesses as administrators strive to raise funds to help pay back creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The preliminary bid deadline is now March 8 and the auction date becomes April 26, according to a court filing on Wednesday. Administrators in December put several FTX units on the auction block, including LedgerX, the Japanese and Singaporean crypto exchanges, and the European digital assets and derivatives business.

The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 0.5% on Thursday and explicitly signalled at least one more hike of the same magnitude next month, reaffirming it would stay the course in the fight against high inflation, Reuters reported. But financial markets immediately interpreted the move as suggesting the tightening cycle might in fact end soon - just as they had done on Wednesday after U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said there were signs inflation was easing.

The Bank of England raised interest rates for a 10th consecutive time on Thursday, by half a percentage point, as policymakers kept up their vigilant stance against inflationary pressures, the New York Times reported. The bank’s policymakers lifted the key rate to 4 percent, the highest since 2008. But after more than a year of rising interest rates, inflation in Britain and several other major economies appears to have peaked, and the bank’s officials softened their tone on the future path of rate increases as the economy enters a contraction.

The number of Swedish bankruptcies soared to the highest level in at least a decade in January, as construction companies come under pressure from an ongoing housing-market rout, Bloomberg News reported. The number of companies filing for bankruptcy increased by 47% from a year earlier in January, to 622, according to credit reference agency UC. The data highlights the effects of Sweden’s worst housing-price slump in three decades, which has contributed to a surge in defaults in the construction sector, with 130 builders filing for bankruptcy last month.

Inflation eased swiftly and sharply in the eurozone last month, as skyrocketing energy costs declined amid a broad European conservation effort, but prices for many goods continued to climb and policymakers are expected to raise interest rates this week, the New York Times reported. Consumer prices in countries that use the euro rose at an 8.5 percent annual rate in January, down from 9.2 percent in December and well below double-digit increases in autumn, according to a European Commission estimate released Wednesday.

The UK government hopes to embrace the technological innovations emanating from the blockchain industry with a new set of plans to regulate digital assets, protect consumers, and make Britain "a global hub for crypto-asset technology," YahooFinance.com reported. The Treasury has released proposals for regulating crypto-exchanges, lending activities, and how digital assets are stored, describing crypto assets as having "a range of potential benefits, as well as posing risks to the consumer".

Britain was hit by the largest strikes in a decade on Wednesday as workers from train drivers to teachers to civil servants walked off the job for the day, forcing millions of children to miss school and commuters to stay home, the Wall Street Journal reported. The strikes reflect a growing challenge to the U.K. and some European countries of how to address falling real wages for many public-sector workers without further stoking inflation or damaging public finances after years of high spending.

Spain and Morocco are ready to overcome years of strained diplomatic relations with new business and energy deals, while ties between France and the North African nation remain frosty, Bloomberg News reported. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is planning to announce Thursday an €800 million ($869 million) credit line for Spanish investments in Morocco and 20 agreements that range from developing renewable energy to building water desalinization plants.

More companies suffered insolvency last year in England and Wales than any time since 2009, government figures showed on Tuesday, reflecting the end of coronavirus pandemic support that helped many smaller businesses stay afloat, Reuters reported. Total insolvencies rose to 22,109 in 2022, their highest since the global financial crisis and up by 57% from a year earlier, according to data released by the British government's Insolvency Service agency. Part of the increase in the number of companies falling into difficulty reflects the higher number of companies overall.