Britain's finance ministry set out plans on Tuesday to make the country's capital market more competitive by exploiting Brexit "freedoms" to cut unnecessary red tape in trading, Reuters reported. Britain left the European Union's orbit at the end of 2020, leaving the financial sector largely cut off from the bloc and swathes of euro stock and derivatives trading shifted from London to Amsterdam. The ministry said it would remove restrictions on how banks and brokers execute transactions to ensure that market participants can get the best outcomes for investors.

British retailers reported slower sales growth in February but said demand was better than normal for the time of year as the Omicron wave of coronavirus cases eased, according to a Confederation of British Industry survey published on Thursday, Reuters reported. The CBI's monthly retail sales balance halved to +14 in February from +28 in January, a bigger fall than economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll for a small decline to +25. However sales for the time of year improved sharply in February from January, with the balance rising to +16 from -23.

London Heathrow airport’s losses from two years of coronavirus disruption swelled to 3.8 billion pounds ($5.2 billion), leaving its finances hanging on a summer travel rebound and the go-ahead from regulators to raise prices, Bloomberg News reported. The U.K. hub had a loss of 1.8 billion pounds last year -- narrowing slightly from 2020 -- after passenger numbers slumped to the lowest since 1972, Heathrow said in an earnings statement on Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund told the Bank of England on Wednesday to be clear about its plans to withdraw stimulus for Britain's economy, following criticism of the central bank's communications in recent months, Reuters reported. In an annual review, the IMF said high inflation and Brexit could hurt growth in Britain in the years ahead. While IMF directors backed the BoE's decision to raise interest rates in December and February and start winding down its 895 billion pounds ($1.22 trillion) quantitative easing programme, they had some communications advice for the BoE.

London’s transport authority could declare bankruptcy in a matter of days if the government fails to provide continued financial support, The Guardian reported. Transport for London (TfL) saw its income severely reduced during the Covid-19 pandemic because of the sudden lack of passengers traveling on the network. The government bolstered the public body, which relies on fare revenue to fund its operations, with a series of short-term funding deals. However, the latest ran out at midnight on Friday, and an extension is yet to be agreed.

High numbers of bosses are “cashing out” of their businesses by liquidating companies when they are still solvent, business recovery experts have said, the Daily Echo reported. Portland Leonard Curtis paid out more than £26million in 2021 through members’ voluntary liquidations (MVL) of 76 businesses, including local firms and national brands.

British consumer prices rose at the fastest annual pace in nearly 30 years last month, intensifying the squeeze on households and reinforcing the chances that the Bank of England will raise interest rates for a third meeting in a row, Reuters reported. The annual rate of consumer price inflation rose to 5.5% in January, the highest since March 1992, when Britain was emerging from a long period of inflation-feeding high wage deals. This was above most economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll for it to hold at December's 5.4% rate.

Britain's financial watchdog said on Monday it had told four 'buy now pay later' firms (BNPL) to change their contracts after identifying "potential harms" to consumers, Reuters reported. BNPL firms, which are unregulated, typically offer on-the-spot interest-free short-term loans that spread payments for retail goods like clothing. The market more than trebled in size during 2020 to 2.7 billion pounds ($3.65 billion), when COVID-19 lockdowns saw more people struggling to make ends meet. "The four firms involved, Clearpay, Klarna, Laybuy and Openpay, have fully cooperated with our work.

The sudden emergence of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Britain late last year stalled the country’s economic recovery, data confirmed on Friday, though the impact was milder than expected, the New York Times reported. Britain’s gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent in December from the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said, as the government told people to work from home where possible. High case numbers and voluntary social distancing led to a wave of cancellations for restaurants, bars, theaters and other social activities.

The Bank of England has begun talks with the U.K. Debt Management Office and the Treasury over how to handle active sales of bonds held in its quantitative easing portfolio, Bloomberg News reported. The discussions come as the central bank last week said it would begin running down its 875 billion pounds ($1.2 trillion) of government bond holdings for the first time by letting expired gilts fall off its balance sheet, and reiterated it would consider active sales once interest rates hit 1%.