Headlines

Risky hedge funds are propping up Britain’s government debt markets and creating fresh dangers to financial stability, Andrew Bailey has warned, The Telegraph reported. The Bank of England Governor said on Tuesday that traders now “dominated” the ownership of the UK’s £3tn market for bonds – known as gilts – increasing the risk of rapid sales if they seek quick profits. Mr Bailey told MPs on the Treasury select committee: “There has been a huge change in, frankly, the structure and nature of intermediation of Government bond markets in the past five [to] 10 years.

Inflation in the United Kingdom rose in December for the first time in five months, pushing further above the Bank of England's target, according to official figures released on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The Office for National Statistics said the consumer prices index rose by an annual rate of 3.4% in December, up from 3.2% the month before. It said increases in taxes on tobacco products and trips abroad over Christmas contributed to the increase. The increase was slightly lower than anticipated, with most economists predicting a rise to 3.5%.

Property price inflation slowed to 6.6 per cent in the year to November, down from the 7.2 per cent recorded in October, new data from Ireland's Central Statistics Office shows, the Irish Times reported. Property prices in Dublin rose by 5 per cent, while prices outside the capital were up by 7.9 per cent compared with November 2024. The median price of a home purchased in the 12 months to November was €384,000. The highest median price was €677,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest was €190,000 in Donegal.

A health club in Derbyshire where a sauna fire broke out at the weekend has struck a deal with its creditors, including HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), BBC.com reported. Mark Clifford PT Ltd, which operates The Clifford Health Club and Spa in Long Eaton, has entered a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which allows insolvent limited companies to continue trading if they agree to pay creditors over a fixed period. Documents show HMRC is owed more than £1m and British Gas owed £166,999.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ​said on Wednesday if Washington introduced higher U.S. tariffs on semiconductor imports, it would likely boost U.S. prices, playing down concerns ‌about the proposed duty, Reuters reported. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said that South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers may face tariffs of up to 100% unless they commit to increased production on American soil. Lee said that given South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers' dominance of the market, a 100% U.S. import duty would likely sharply raise prices for chip products in the United States.

Britain’s financial watchdogs are not doing enough to stop AI from harming consumers or destabilising markets, a group of lawmakers said on Tuesday, urging regulators to move away from a "wait and see" approach as the technology is deployed widely, Reuters reported. The Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England should start running AI‑specific stress tests to help firms prepare for market shocks triggered by automated systems, the Treasury Committee said in a report on AI in financial services.

The number of U.K. firms forced to liquidate rose to the highest level in more than a decade last year, as higher taxes and a challenging economic outlook weighed on businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Compulsory liquidations, where creditors petition the courts to shut down a business that can’t pay its debt, climbed to 3,730, the most since 2012, according to the latest official data released earlier on Tuesday.

Norwegian hydrogen refueling station operator Hynion has announced its decision to file for bankruptcy after failing to reach a conclusive restructuring agreement with Bizcap AB and investor Gerhard Dahl, FuelCellWorks.com reported. The company, which had been battling a “critical financial situation,” said the deadline set by its board expired without resolution. Trading on the Oslo Børs will also be suspended as part of the process.

White label hotel management company Revo Hospitality, formerly known as HR Group, has filed for insolvency and is to be restructured under its own management by the summer, BoutiqueHotelNews.com reported. The company cited “increased wage costs and the sharp rise in minimum wages, but also higher costs for rent, energy and food” as contributing factors to the insolvency. “Above all, the strong expansion of the Revo Hospitality Group in recent years led to duplicate structures and integration problems,” it said. In 2008, Revo (then known as HR Group) took over its first hotel in Leipzig.