Lending to consumers in Britain rose last month by the most in nearly five years, driven by a record rise in credit card borrowing, according to data that analysts said could be a sign of the growing cost-of-living squeeze, Reuters reported. Figures from the Bank of England on Tuesday showed consumer credit rose by a net 1.876 billion pounds ($2.46 billion) in February, about 1 billion pounds more than expected in a Reuters poll of economists and the biggest increase since March 2017.

The head of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was on Tuesday accused of "very, very basic errors in litigation" and hiding behind a review into the agency's failings in a tetchy grilling by lawmakers, Reuters reported. Lisa Osofsky said she was duty bound to wait for the recommendations of former High Court judge David Calvert-Smith before being drawn on how two convictions in the high-profile Unaoil bribery prosecution were quashed by the Court of Appeal.

The United States and its allies plan new sanctions on more sectors of Russia's economy that are critical to sustaining its invasion of Ukraine, including military supply chains, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said yesterday, Reuters reported.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which are exporters of steel products, will have a huge impact on global steel demand and trade if it lasts for a long time, the head of a Japanese steel industry group said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. "Even before the Ukraine crisis, we had faced three risk factors to dent steel demand -- China's slowdown, global chip shortage and soaring energy and natural resources prices," Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Eiji Hashimoto told a news conference.

Japan will ban the export of high-end cars and other luxury goods to Russia in its latest response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the trade ministry said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The partial ban on Russia-bound auto items, which account for more than half of Japan's exports to Russia, came after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a commitment to place more sanctions on Russia at a Group of Seven summit last week.

Russian airlines could be frozen out of the aircraft leasing market well beyond the Ukraine conflict, one of the industry's biggest players warned on Tuesday, blaming what executives have described as a default involving hundreds of Western jets, Reuters reported. Global leasing companies had until Monday to sever ties with Russian carriers under Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but executives say only a fraction of the more than 400 jets directly involved have been returned.

Buyout activity is picking up pace in Europe, but a number of banks are taking a cautious approach to new risk, looking for higher pricing, more flex protection and in some instances fuller fees on junk-rated debt underwrites against a backdrop of heightened volatility, inflation and rising rates, Bloomberg News reported. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine felled a positive start to the year by all but shutting Europe’s high-yield bond and leveraged-loan market, leaving banks sitting on $37 billion of existing underwrites they have so far been unable to sell down.

Rome expects to return Monte dei Paschi di Siena into private hands only after the bailed-out lender completes restructuring steps it is currently discussing with European Union authorities, Italy's economy minister said on Monday, Reuters reported. Under new CEO Luigi Lovaglio, Monte dei Paschi (MPS) is revising a 2022-2026 strategic plan readied by previous management which needs approval by European authorities. Economy Minister Daniele Franco told a parliamentary hearing the bank would know once the plan is ready how much money it needs to raise.

All Irish lessors terminated their Russian airline leases by Monday's European Union sanctions deadline and have so far had limited success in recovering their aircraft, the representative body for the sector in Ireland said, Reuters reported. Aircraft Leasing Ireland (ALI), members of which include SMBC Aviation Capital, Avolon, Aircastle and AerCap Holdings , which is the world's biggest aircraft leasing company, said that all of its members have complied fully with the sanctions.

Germany released a report on Friday showing that the country was cutting its dependence on Russian energy sooner than many thought possible, the New York Times reported. Robert Habeck, the vice chancellor and economic minister, said Germany expected to cut its imports of Russian oil in half by the midsummer and nearly end the imports by end of this year. The need for Russian coal could be halved in “the coming weeks,” he said. And he estimated that Germany could be free of Russian gas by the middle of 2024, if all goes well.