Russia’s Central Bank has filed a lawsuit against Belgian financial institution Euroclear, the Brussels-based clearing house that holds most of Moscow’s frozen assets in Europe, the bank said Friday, the Associated Press reported. It wasn’t immediately clear what the lawsuit could achieve since it was filed in Moscow. The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, estimates that 210 billion euros ($247 billion) worth of frozen Russian assets are held in Europe. At the end of September, Euroclear held around 193 billion euros ($225 billion) of the money.

A cross-party coalition of U.K. lawmakers has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to step in and ensure Britain’s regulatory framework for stablecoins doesn’t stifle innovation or drive capital overseas, warning that the Bank of England’s current proposals risk risks undermining the City of London's appeal as the global financial hub, CoinDesk.com reported. In a letter dated Dec.

Nationwide has been hit with a record fine after failing to spot a customer’s £27.3m furlough fraud, The Telegraph reported. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ordered the British lender to pay £44m as a result of its failings, which included the incident during Covid. The City watchdog revealed in a ruling on Friday that a Nationwide customer deposited £26m into their current account over the space of eight days, having received 24 furlough payments totalling £27.3m over 13 months. HMRC was able to recover £26.5m from the fraud, but roughly £800,000 remains unaccounted for.

Leon is preparing to shut 20 restaurants and cut jobs as its co-founder scrambles to turn around the business, The Telegraph reported. John Vincent, who repurchased the fast food chain in October, said Leon would reduce its estate from 70 to 50 locations across the country. The struggling chain has hired administrators to oversee a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a legally sanctioned restructuring that will allow the business to push through closures.

Consumer prices in Ireland were 3.2 per cent higher in November than the same month last year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Thursday, as inflation in the Irish economy continued to pick up steam, the Irish Times reported. On an annual basis, prices accelerated last month at the fastest pace since February 2024, with education, clothing, and food prices all contributing to the headline consumer price index (CPI) increase.

Manchester United swung to a first-quarter net loss on Thursday, weighed by lower broadcasting revenue and ticket sales as the club sits out European competitions this season, Reuters reported. The Old Trafford club posted a net loss of 6.6 million pounds ($8.83 million) for the quarter ended September 30, compared with a profit of 1.4 million pounds a year ago. Total revenue for the quarter fell 2%, with player and staff wages falling 8.2% due to job cuts.

Ukraine has reached an agreement with a key creditor group to restructure some $3.2 billion of debt obligations that had fallen into default, the nation’s finance ministry said yesterday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The group of investors holding Ukraine’s gross domestic product-linked warrants said recent negotiations have resulted in “significant improvements” to the terms of new bonds they are now willing to accept as part of the restructuring, according to a statement.

Austrian ex-property tycoon Rene Benko went on trial for insolvency fraud on Wednesday after a first conviction in October, this time accused of hiding hundreds of thousands of euros' worth of cash and valuables including luxury watches, Reuters reported. The case stems from a sweeping investigation into crimes that prosecutors suspect were committed in connection with the collapse of Benko's property group Signa from 2023 onward. It was Austria's biggest postwar bankruptcy and burnt investors including blue-chip companies in Germany and Switzerland.

Homeowners have taken on the largest amount of risky mortgages since 2008 as new buyers stretch the budget to get on the housing ladder, The Telegraph reported. The proportion of home loans made with deposits of less than 10pc has jumped to 7.4pc of all mortgage advances, according to Bank of England figures on Tuesday – the highest level since the second quarter of 2008. This was 0.8 percentage points higher than a year ago and echoes mortgage debt levels not seen since the run-up to the catastrophic 2007-08 financial crash.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a change in approach to monetary policy at the European Central Bank to boost the single market and protect it from the risks of financial crisis, Bloomberg News reported. In an unusual move by a euro-zone leader to comment on the region’s central bank, Macron said in an interview with Les Echos the ECB needs to think differently if the European Union wants to capitalize on its strengths such as its domestic market and high savings rate. Read more.