British Bankruptcies Jump 9.5% in 3rd-Q

Individual bankruptcies in Britain jumped 9.5 % in the 3rd-Q from last year, while company insolvencies rose a stunning 26% as the financial crisis hiked the cost of loans, official figures showed recently. Britain's Office for National Statistics said 17,341 people declared bankruptcy in the three months through Sept., up from 15,842 in the 3rd-Q of 2007. The number of bankruptcies was 12% higher than it was in the 2nd-Q. British companies were hit harder by the economic downturn, the statistics office said, with 26% more businesses, or 4,001, going under in the 3rd-Q of this year than did last year. Britain's economy contracted 0.5% last quarter and the Bank of England expects the country will be in a technical recession, defined as two or more consecutive quarters of negative growth, by the beginning of next year.