Britain's unemployment rate fell again to 4.8% between January and March, when the country was under a tight lockdown, and hiring rose further in April, according to data that showed employers gearing up for the easing of curbs, Reuters reported. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the rate to hold at 4.9%, and the reading added to signs that the labour market will escape the severe hit feared at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, thanks mostly to government jobs subsidies.

The Bank of England said on Friday that it had approved the “bail-in” of $595 million of loans that a British-based financial company made to the major Ukrainian lender PrivatBank before it was nationalised in 2016, Reuters reported. The bank’s nationalisation has been subject to lengthy litigation in Ukraine, and the International Monetary Fund last year made successful resolution of the legal issues a condition for financial aid.

Tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s commodities empire is being investigated by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office in a probe that encompasses the conglomerate’s links to collapsed lender Greensill Capital, the SFO said on Friday, Reuters reported. The probe piles pressure on Gupta, who has been scrambling to refinance his international web of businesses in steel, aluminium and energy after supply chain finance firm Greensill filed for insolvency in March.

Dan Barker had barely finished rejoicing that London’s “mad umbrella shop” had survived the pandemic when his wife broke some bad news: The “mad sailor shop” had not, the Wall Street Journal reported. Next month, Arthur Beale Ltd., a nearly 500-year-old business that sells maritime supplies from central London, is set to close a store famed for its elaborate window displays and eccentric interior.

Ministers will crack down on company directors seeking to dissolve their businesses to avoid repaying creditors in a bid to prevent the loophole being exploited to write off state-backed emergency Covid-19 loans, the Financial Times reported. The Insolvency Service will be given beefed up powers to investigate and sanction directors found to have abused the process. The measures, which are part of bill put before parliament on Wednesday, will also give the government agency retrospective powers.

Greensill Capital’s former managers in Latin America bought back the bankrupt U.K. company’s unit in the region and plan to expand the operation, Bloomberg News reported. The purchase, which was backed by the investment firm 777 Partners, includes assets in Colombia and Chile, the new company’s chief executive officer, Diego Caicedo, said in a video interview from Bogota. The buyers paid $11.3 million to Greensill’s bankruptcy estate, he said. The new firm will be called OmniLatam, the name of the Bogota-based fintech Caicedo and his partner Andres Abumohor founded in 2018.

Lex Greensill told lawmakers that investors in loans packaged by his firm were aware of the risks and denied being a “fraudster” in his first public appearance since Greensill Capital collapsed into insolvency in March, Bloomberg News reported. The former Morgan Stanley banker, who founded the eponymous firm in 2011, faced questions from the U.K.’s Treasury Select Committee, which is examining what lessons should be learned from the demise of the lender.

A judge in London ruled that gym chain Virgin Active can wipe out the rent arrears on most of its venues and avoid future steep payments, despite the opposition of a majority of its creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The decision represents a victory for tenants and a blow for landlords, with other companies now likely to seek a reduction in their debt pile using the same tool. Rent arrears have been building since March last year when non-essential businesses were forced to close or operate with restrictions due to the pandemic.

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron repeatedly contacted senior ministers over a four-month period in 2020 to lobby for the now-failed, supply-chain finance firm Greensill Capital, according to documents published on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Cameron’s involvement in efforts to secure access for Greensill Capital to the government’s pandemic funding schemes have fueled wider questions about lobbyists’ influence over British government decision-making.