Sweden’s financial watchdog has closed its long-running investigation into Alecta’s loss-making investments into three US niche banks, which tipped the pension fund into crisis in 2023, saying it found no breach of the rules, IPE.com reported. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen, FI) announced this morning: “The investigation has not shown any violations of the rules in the risk management system Alecta has had for assessing investment risks.

European leaders committed to lend Ukraine 90 billion euros, equivalent to around $105 billion, to help the country keep fighting Moscow’s invasion but failed to agree on a plan to use frozen Russian assets for the loan, the Wall Street Journal reported. The vow to loan Ukraine money amounts to a financial lifeline at a crucial moment, but the European Union’s inability to agree on handing Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in Russian funds underlines divisions in the bloc over the extent to which they are prepared to confront Russia.

Höfner, the German instrument maker whose iconic Violin Bass was famously played by Paul McCartney, has reportedly filed for bankruptcy, Guitar World reported. The news comes from No Treble, which cites court documents from the Fürth District Court in Bavaria in its report. The filing states that “preliminary insolvency proceedings will be ordered on December 10, 2025, at 5:05pm” to safeguard the debtor’s assets from “adverse changes”. Dr.

The European Central Bank left its key deposit rate unchanged at 2% on Thursday for a fourth consecutive meeting, EuroNews reported. Interest rates on its main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will also remain at 2.15% and 2.40% respectively. The rate on the main refinancing operations is the rate banks pay when they borrow money from the ECB for one week, while the marginal lending facility is the rate banks pay when they borrow from the ECB overnight.

The Bank of England cut its key interest rate Thursday while the European Central Bank held steady, as a period of more stable borrowing costs sets in across the continent, the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.K.’s central bank reduced its key rate to a near three-year low of 3.75% from 4%, resuming a series of cuts that stretch back to August 2024 after a pause in November. The BOE indicated that borrowing costs are likely to fall over coming months, but are approaching their low. “We still think rates are on a gradual path downward,” said BOE Gov. Andrew Bailey.

The redirection of China’s export machine is one of the most dramatic examples of how President Trump’s trade war has rewired global commerce, according to a Wall Street Journal commentary. China is outfoxing Trump’s efforts to isolate Beijing, with shipments to Europe and Southeast Asia more than offsetting the nearly 20% contraction to the U.S. The European Union has this year topped the U.S. as the largest market for China’s $100 billion cheap package blitz for the first time, according to Chinese customs data.

German prosecutors charged two former board members of Greensill Bank AG for their roles in the 2021 demise of the lender, Bloomberg News reported. The men are charged with bankruptcy crimes and false accounting, a spokesman for Bremen prosecutors said in an emailed statement. A member of the unit’s supervisory board was also indicted. The statement didn’t identify any of the accused. (Subscription required.) Read more.

Thames Water has blocked a £2.5m bonus payout for nearly two dozen executives after a political backlash, The Telegraph reported. The utility, which is struggling under £21bn of debt, has decided to defer the payment scheme until further notice after MPs labelled the plan an “outrage”. Under the proposal, Thames would have paid 21 senior executives an average of £117,000 each this month as part of a scheme to retain managers who may have quit because of the financial turmoil.

The U.S. Trade Representative on Wednesday announced the implementation of tariff-related ​elements in a trade agreement framework reached ‌with Switzerland and Liechtenstein in November, Reuters reported. The tariff rates announced on ‌November 14 will be retroactive to that date, according to a post in the Federal Register. The notice amends the U.S. tariff schedule to apply either ⁠the most-favored-nation tariff ‌rate or a 15% rate, whichever is higher, to goods from the two ‍countries.

The decade-plus American bankruptcy of property developer Sean Dunne took a major step toward final resolution on Tuesday, after a U.S. judge allowed payments to his two ex-wives, the Irish Times reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Julie A. Manning approved, pending the filing of revised paperwork, more than $2.8 million in payments to Mr Dunne’s two ex-wives. She added she would also rule by Friday on distribution of the remainder of the more than $16 million in the estate.