The operators of a suspected £200 million Ponzi scheme that put people’s “life savings” at risk have been bankrupted as part of U.K. efforts to track down investors’ money, The Times reported. Individuals behind 79th Group were adjudged bankrupt by Liverpool county court last week over debts linked to an alleged investment scam that owes money to thousands of people in the UK and overseas. The scheme’s operators, who The Times has chosen not to name for legal reasons, were pursued by certain investors.

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.

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.