The Bank of England has forecast that the coronavirus crisis will push the UK economy into its deepest recession in 300 years, with output plunging almost 30 per cent in the first half of the year, but it decided not to launch a new stimulus, the Financial Times reported. In its monetary policy report, the central bank presented rough and ready predictions for the economy, suggesting that output would slip 3 per cent in the first quarter followed by a further 25 per cent fall in the second.

The number of corporate insolvencies in Britain fell a third in April compared to the year before even as the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the economy, figures compiled by KPMG showed on Friday, as government support packages kept firms afloat, Reuters reported. The spread of the novel coronavirus - and lockdown measures introduced to contain it - has ravaged the British economy, with Britons told to stay indoors and many non-essential businesses told to close. The Bank of England said on Thursday it could cause the biggest economic slump in over 300 years.

A slew of Britain’s mid-sized banks on Wednesday reported steady deposits and demand in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, but warned it was too early to assess the long-term damage of the outbreak to their businesses, Reuters reported. The lockdown in late March to contain the spread of the new coronavirus has brought the economy to a near halt, prompting bigger banks last week to set aside provisions for loan losses in case businesses and consumers struggle to pay them back.

HSBC Holdings Plc, already on the hook for $600 million in loans to fallen Singapore oil giant Hin Leong, has taken steps to oust the management at another energy firm, claiming it used the same cargo to secure financing from multiple banks, Bloomberg News reported. Europe’s biggest lender filed an application to Singapore’s High Court on May 4 to put ZenRock Commodities Trading Pte Ltd. under so-called judicial management, a form of debt restructuring in which a third party runs the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Britain’s biggest care home provider has issued a stark warning that lower occupancy rates and higher staff costs as a result of coronavirus are putting severe pressure on its finances, the Financial Times reported. HC-One said it had faced Covid-19 outbreaks in about two-thirds of its 328 care homes and that more than 700 of its 17,500 residents had died of the virus. The decline in occupancy combined with the increase in costs for essential equipment such as masks and gloves for staff had left it struggling to meet loan repayments.

Greensill Capital, a SoftBank-backed company that says it is “making finance fairer”, has had a string of its clients default on their debts in high-profile corporate collapses and accounting scandals, the Financial Times reported. The London-based finance group, which employs former British prime minister David Cameron as an adviser, arranged funding for scandal-plagued hospital operator NMC Health and controversial “rent-to-own” retailer BrightHouse, which have both fallen into administration in recent weeks.

More than 110,000 small businesses applied for low-cost finance on the first day of the UK’s “bounce back” loan scheme, underlining the demand for credit to survive the coronavirus lockdown, the Financial Times reported. Banks providing the loans said they had approved the vast majority of applications and said the money would arrive in bank accounts as early as Tuesday. Software systems held up despite some banks receiving an application every two seconds. The scheme is aimed at SMEs whose income has fallen because of the lockdown.

Royal Bank of Scotland’s bad debt provisions increased almost tenfold in the first quarter, as the lender braced for a steep increase in business customers running into difficulties, the Financial Times reported. The bank, which is majority-owned by the UK government, put aside £802m to deal with an expected increase in defaults, compared with £86m in the first quarter of last year. As a result, net profit tumbled 59 per cent to £288m.

Over a fifth of the U.K.’s listed companies issued a profit warning in the first quarter of 2020, compared with 17% in the full year of 2008, according to a report by consultants EY, Bloomberg News reported. The economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed up the number of profit warnings in the U.K., with 301 issued in the quarter ending March 31, almost as many as the whole of the previous year, the report stated.

British commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s family business has decided to close its loss-making Commonwealth Trade Bank Ltd after failing to revive the business, it said on Friday, Reuters reported. Gupta’s privately-held GFG Alliance, with revenues of over $20 billion, has a wide range of businesses, largely in commodities such as steel and aluminium, but also spanning energy, infrastructure and finance.