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The number of people going financially insolvent across England and Wales jumped by 7% annually in April, according to Insolvency Service figures, PAMedia.com reported. Some 10,920 people entered insolvency in April 2026, which was 7% higher than in April 2025 but 10% lower than in March this year. The personal insolvency total for April this year was made up of 701 bankruptcies, 4,033 debt relief orders (DROs) and 6,186 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The Insolvency Service said that DRO numbers in April were 9% lower than a record high of 4,419 seen in March this year.

Online scammers are exploiting the bankruptcy of Dutch home goods retailer Fonq in a coordinated fraud campaign that also echoes earlier schemes that followed the collapses of Casa and Blokker, according to Dutch authorities and consumer fraud monitors, NLTimes.nl reported. The Fraud Helpdesk confirmed it has received initial reports about fraudulent advertisements circulating on TikTok and Instagram that lure bargain hunters with promises of up to 90 percent discounts. The ads direct users to a fake website posing as an official Fonq liquidation store, AD reports.

Perfecta continues to grow after several months of insolvency proceedings . Solvesta Beteiligungs takes over the assets of the German guillotine and cutting systems factory. The takeover preserves the know-how of the historic manufacturer and 60 jobs, PrintingIndustry.news reported. Founded in 1896, Perfecta, part of the Baumann Group, produces cutters and cutting lines for the commercial, packaging, digital printing and label sectors. The manufacturer also supplies associated automation and handling systems, and markets its equipment in over 70 countries.

Several South Korean prepaid funeral service companies are facing insolvency after misappropriating customer funds to invest in cryptocurrency-linked assets, Phemex.com reported. Investigations reveal that 32 out of 75 sangjo companies have assets below their prepaid customer funds, with Parental Love, a leading firm, suffering significant losses. The company invested 59.5 billion KRW in a leveraged Ethereum-themed ETF, Bitmine, which plummeted in value to 10.2 billion KRW, resulting in a $330 million unrealized loss.

The Japanese economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.1% in the January-March quarter, the government said Tuesday, showing its resilience despite rising energy prices because of the war in Iran, the Associated Press reported. Japan’s real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum value of a nation’s goods and services, grew at a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from the previous quarter. It was the second straight quarter of growth. The annualized number shows what the growth, or contraction, would have been if the quarterly rate continued for a year.

The eurozone’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus narrowed in March compared with the prior month, likely reflecting an increase in the cost of imported energy as the conflict in the Middle East disrupted supplies, the Wall Street Journal reported. The seasonally adjusted trade balance was 3.5 billion euros ($4.08 billion) in March, down from 6.5 billion euros in February, statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday. On a non-adjusted basis, international trade in goods surplus fell to 7.8 billion euros in March, down from 11.1 billion euros in February.

European Union negotiators were expected to agree ‌on Tuesday to scrap import duties on U.S. goods to comply with the trade deal struck with the United States last year and ward off U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of much higher tariffs, Reuters reported. Under the terms of the deal ​struck at Trump's Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last July, the EU agreed to remove ​import duties on U.S. industrial goods and grant preferential access to U.S. farm ⁠and sea produce. In exchange, the United States would impose tariffs of 15% on most EU ​goods.

The veteran high-tech company Scailium (formerly SQream) has accumulated debts of over 13.6 million shekels ($4.69 million) and on Monday filed an application with the Tel Aviv District Court requesting an order to open proceedings to examine the possibility of economic rehabilitation, along with the appointment of a temporary trustee, Calcalistech.com reported.

Switzerland’s economy continued to grow in the first quarter of 2026, but the war in Iran threatens to derail the country’s recovery in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product expanded 0.5% in the three months through March, furthering the 0.2% expansion during the final quarter of 2025, Switzerland’s statistics office said Monday. “Both the industrial and services sectors contributed to this growth,” the statistics office said. But the Middle East conflict is clouding the outlook for the Swiss economy.

The U.K.’s unemployment rate picked up in the three months through March, with further rises expected in the coming months as the Iran war continues to weigh on the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The unemployment rate was 5.0% compared with 4.9% in the three months through February, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. The slight rise in unemployment matched a consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal as higher energy costs—driven by the conflict in the Middle East—begin to drag on hiring and increase the risk of job cuts.