In the space of just five years, a little-known company on the outskirts of London has grown into a payments-industry powerhouse, processing more than 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in transactions every month. Backed by licenses from regulators in the UK and Lithuania, Transactive Systems Ltd. touted itself as “one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Europe,” with an ability to service clients from “compliance-intense industries” including cryptocurrencies, gambling and foreign-exchange trading, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.

The Bank of England raised interest rates for a 10th consecutive time on Thursday, by half a percentage point, as policymakers kept up their vigilant stance against inflationary pressures, the New York Times reported. The bank’s policymakers lifted the key rate to 4 percent, the highest since 2008. But after more than a year of rising interest rates, inflation in Britain and several other major economies appears to have peaked, and the bank’s officials softened their tone on the future path of rate increases as the economy enters a contraction.

The UK government hopes to embrace the technological innovations emanating from the blockchain industry with a new set of plans to regulate digital assets, protect consumers, and make Britain "a global hub for crypto-asset technology," YahooFinance.com reported. The Treasury has released proposals for regulating crypto-exchanges, lending activities, and how digital assets are stored, describing crypto assets as having "a range of potential benefits, as well as posing risks to the consumer".

Britain was hit by the largest strikes in a decade on Wednesday as workers from train drivers to teachers to civil servants walked off the job for the day, forcing millions of children to miss school and commuters to stay home, the Wall Street Journal reported. The strikes reflect a growing challenge to the U.K. and some European countries of how to address falling real wages for many public-sector workers without further stoking inflation or damaging public finances after years of high spending.

More companies suffered insolvency last year in England and Wales than any time since 2009, government figures showed on Tuesday, reflecting the end of coronavirus pandemic support that helped many smaller businesses stay afloat, Reuters reported. Total insolvencies rose to 22,109 in 2022, their highest since the global financial crisis and up by 57% from a year earlier, according to data released by the British government's Insolvency Service agency. Part of the increase in the number of companies falling into difficulty reflects the higher number of companies overall.

Paperchase, the high street stationery retailer, is close to collapsing into administration as hopes of a solvent rescue deal fade. Sky News understands the chain's parent company could appoint insolvency practitioners from Begbies Traynor as soon as Tuesday. Paperchase's shareholders remain in discussions with more than one potential buyer, although insiders said that a sale of the business was now focused on a pre-pack deal, which involves a company's assets being sold immediately after it has fallen into administration.

Three years after its departure from the European Union, Britain is yet to benefit from the Brexit dividend that was promised for its economy as it lags its peers on multiple fronts, including trade and investment, Reuters reported. Britain exited the EU on Jan. 31, 2020, though remained in the bloc's single market and customs union for 11 more months. On that day, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country could finally fulfil its potential and that he hoped it would grow in confidence with each passing month.

The Charity Commission has launched an inquiry into UK-based Effective Ventures Foundation over its ties to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, Bloomberg News reported. The Oxford, Oxfordshire-based charity had reported the FTX bankruptcy as a “serious incident”, as FTX’s philanthropic foundation had been a major funder of Effective Ventures, according to a statement Monday by the Charity Commission. The commission said there is “no indication of wrongdoing” by the charity’s trustees.

Flybe ceased trading on Saturday, marking the struggling British regional airline's second collapse in three years, with all flights canceled and 276 workers made redundant, the Daily Sabah reported. The airline initially slumped into bankruptcy in March 2020, shedding 2,400 jobs, as coronavirus restrictions decimated the travel industry. However, it relaunched in April last year, flying many of the same routes out of Belfast, Birmingham and London Heathrow.

Britain’s Treasury chief said Friday that taming inflation is more important than cutting taxes, resisting calls from some in the governing Conservative Party for immediate tax breaks for businesses and voters, the Associated Press reported. At a speech in London, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said “the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation.” The U.K.’s annual inflation rate hit a four-decade high of 11.1% in October, fueling a cost-of-living crisis and a wave of strikes by workers seeking pay raises to keep pace with rising food and energy prices.