UK Barclays reported a profit before tax for 2020 of 3.1 billion pounds. That stands for a 30% fall in profits for 2020, down from 4.3bn pounds in 2019. Barclays noted it was forced to set aside some 4.8bn pounds to cover loans unlikely to be paid back amid the economic fallout of Covid-19 pandemic, BBC reported.

Global debt has surged to new all time highs on the back of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters said quoting a report of the Institute of International Finance. The overall debt mountain has peaked to$281trln driving world debt to GDP ratio above 355%.

Bitcoin charged to a record high on Wednesday, a day after the cryptocurrency vaulted the $50,000 hurdle, even as analysts warned about the sustainability of such prices amid elevated volatility, Reuters reports.

Germany's Carnival season brings more than just a smile to people's faces: It fuels a thriving local economy. But not this year since the pandemic has put a damper on the popular annual party, which runs from Shrove or Rose Monday and ends with the start of the Lent fasting season on Ash Wednesday.

Eurozone finance ministers are holding initial talks today on when and how the expected pick up in economic activity, and the lifting of pandemic lockdowns, should affect the amounts of cash governments now pump into the economy to keep it going.

France’s largest bank BNP Paribas pledged on Monday to stop financing firms producing or buying either beef or soybeans cultivated on land in the Amazon cleared or converted after 2008, Reuters reported.

The PayPal payments platform said it is not likely to invest in cryotocurrences, Reuters said quoting interview with Chief Financial Officer John Rainey. Earlier in October 2020 PayPal said it would allow customers to hold bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet, and shop using cryptocurrencies at merchants on its network.

Amsterdam displaced London as the largest financial trading centre in Europe last month as Brexit-related changes to finance rules came into force, Reuters reported. Stock exchanges in the Dutch capital traded 9.2 billion euros a day in January, compared to London’s 8.6 billion, according to the Cboe exchange, which operates in both cities. This compares with an average of 17.5 billion euros traded daily in London during 2020, when Frankfurt was second with 5.9 billion and Amsterdam sixth at 2.6 billion, Cboe said.

Mastercard announced plans to offer support and access for some cryptocurrencies on its network, Reuters reported. The move is expected later this year. Mastercard’s pledge comes after series of similar vows by major companies. Earlier this week Elon Musk’s Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment.

The founder of a New York money manager and two associates were criminally charged on Thursday with running a $1.8 billion Ponzi-like fraud where thousands of victims were falsely promised steady returns on their investments, Reuters reported.