THERE were 15 company insolvencies registered in Northern Ireland in December, government figures show.
It comprised 11 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), two compulsory liquidations and two administrations. There were no receivership appointments.
The figure was 67 per cent higher than December 2021, but 53 per cent lower than December 2019.
Overall, numbers of registered company insolvencies have remained lower than pre-pandemic levels since the start of the first UK lockdown in March 2020.
Businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors are being seen as particularly at risk as the cost-of-living crisis has led to the biggest fall in real pay on record while the price of energy remains high.
Meanwhile there were 123 individual insolvencies in north last month, again well up (52 per cent) on the previous year but 12 per cent lower than December 2019.
That was broken down as 109 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), seven debt relief orders (DROs) and seven bankruptcies.
It comes as FTSE 100-listed credit score and data firm Experian said consumers' demand for borrowing has lifted, but that lenders have tightened lending criteria amid tougher economic conditions.
In the UK and Ireland, lenders are more keen to access its analytics tools - such as credit reports and scores - to determine customers' affordability and to get insights into cost-of-living impact and small businesses, Experian said.
But they have also introduced stricter lending criteria and reduced supply in some categories of credit, the firm said, indicating that lenders are wary of more customers falling into financial difficulty.
