Britain announced 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) in grants and other aid to help the hospitality industry survive the onslaught of the omicron variant of COVID-19, bowing to days of pressure from pubs, restaurants and other businesses that complain public health warnings have torpedoed the vital Christmas season, the Associated Press reported. Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-time grants of up to 6,000 pounds ($7,954) each.

An independent watchdog will oversee the UK insolvency sector, ending decades of self-regulation, as part of a proposed government shake-up of the industry in the wake of a series of scandals, the Financial Times reported. The plans, published on Tuesday, would streamline the regulation of 1,600 licensed insolvency practitioners in England, Scotland and Wales by replacing the four professional bodies to which supervision is currently devolved.

Spain's government proposed on Tuesday to reform its insolvency law to simplify bankruptcy proceedings and meet a major condition agreed with Brussels to obtain European Union recovery funds, Reuters reported. The current insolvency system has been criticised by organisations such as the International Monetary Fund for being slow and convoluted, often driving companies to wind up.

Croatian holding company Djuro Djakovic Grupa said that the commercial court in Osijek launched bankruptcy proceedings against its unit Djuro Djakovic Industrijska Rjesenja on December 20, SeeNews.com reported. The court is scheduled to hold a hearing of the debtors' claims on March 29 next year, Djuro Djakovic Grupa said in a filing to the Zagreb bourse published after the end of the trading day on Monday. Djuro Djakovic Industrijska Rjesenja filed for bankruptcy in September.

U.K. debt costs are rising at the fastest pace since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, a potential headache for Chancellor Rishi Sunak as he faces pressure to spend more to help businesses weather the impact of the omicron variant, Bloomberg News reported. Figures published Tuesday showed interest payments made by the Treasury surged 54% between April and November, or by 15 billion pounds ($20 billion) to 42.9 billion pounds. That’s the biggest jump for the period since 2010.

One of the world’s largest aircraft leasing company filed for chapter 11 as it seeks to restructure its finances for the second time since the beginning of the pandemic. Denmark-based Nordic Aviation Capital A/S sought bankruptcy protection to overhaul about $6 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported. On Sept. 24, the company reached an agreement in principle with creditors to fix its balance sheet. The company listed both assets and debt of between $1 billion and $10 billion, according to court papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia.

KPMG will not refer any work to its former UK restructuring business Interpath Advisory in the latest fallout from the scandal over the sale of bed manufacturer Silentnight to a private equity firm, the Financial Times reported. The decision is part of KPMG’s attempts to repair its image after a series of fines and investigations. It has also sought to head off the threat of a ban on bidding for UK government consulting work by temporarily withdrawing from pitching for new public contracts, the Financial Times revealed on Friday.

The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday, Reuters reported. All non-essential shops and services, including restaurants, hairdressers, museums and gyms will be closed from Sunday until Jan. 14. All schools will be shut until at least Jan. 9. "The Netherlands is again shutting down. That is unavoidable because of the fifth wave that is coming at us with the Omicron variant," Rutte told a televised news conference.

Company insolvencies in England and Wales rose last month to their highest level since January 2019, surpassing pre-COVID levels for the first time, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Insolvency Service, a government agency, registered 1,674 business insolvencies in November, up from 1,410 in October. This comprises mostly voluntary liquidations of businesses, but also companies falling into administration and compulsory liquidations.

Europe is bracing for energy shortages this week as freezing weather is set to boost demand at a time supply just can’t keep up, Bloomberg News reported. Temperatures are forecast to fall below zero degrees Celsius in several European capitals this week, straining electricity grids already coping with low wind speeds and severe nuclear outages in France. To make matters worse, Russia signaled it intends to keep natural gas flows through a major transit route to Germany limited on Monday after capping supplies over the weekend.