Europe faces a predicament. Even as it struggles to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s setting itself up for another crisis — this one financial, according to a Bloomberg commentary. To ensure the viability of the common currency at the heart of the European project, the EU’s leaders will have to cooperate in ways they’ve so far resisted. Adopting the single currency has yielded great benefits, from frictionless trade to improved global competitiveness.
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Norwegian Air has won approval from creditors in Norway to restructure its debt and an Oslo court has approved the plan, the airline said on Monday, clearing the way for it to raise new capital and emerge from bankruptcy next month, Reuters reported. Financed largely by debt, Norwegian Air grew rapidly, serving routes across Europe and flying to North and South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East before the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the airline into crisis.
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Sweden’s economy is poised for a sharper rebound than the government previously expected as its manufacturers make a strong comeback, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product will grow 3.2% this year, compared with the 3% predicted in December, Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters in Stockholm on Monday. Next year, the expansion is seen at 3.8%, up from the previous forecast of 3.7%.
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When Credit Suisse Group AG announced a $4.7 billion hit from the Archegos Capital Management meltdown, there was a silver lining: The rest of its investment bank did so well in the quarter, the overall pretax loss would only be $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The situation exposes the bank’s dilemma. Its investment bank, which takes on more risk, has been its profit engine, making up for its larger, slower-growing wealth-management business.
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A significant part of the French aluminum businesses belonging to embattled British metals mogul Sanjeev Gupta has sought protection from creditors, the company said on Sunday, Bloomberg News reported. Alvance Aluminium Group entered voluntarily into “conciliation proceedings” supervised by a court-appointed agent for its three downstream businesses, its spokesman said in a statement. The mediator will try to stave off insolvency by working out arrangements between the French units and their creditor, a process that could last as long as 10 months.
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The U.K. said it will decide by early next month whether Britons can resume taking international holidays on May 17, while implementing coronavirus testing rules that airlines criticized as too costly, Bloomberg News reported. Countries will be rated according to their Covid-19 risk in a traffic light system, the Department for Transport said Friday. At a minimum, travelers will need to buy a two-test package, including a so-called PCR assessment, that typically costs around 220 pounds ($300) per person and can range much higher.
The head of Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA questioned Credit Suisse over risks in its dealings with now-insolvent finance firm Greensill Capital “months” before the bank was forced to close $10 billion of funds liked to Greensill, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday, according to Reuters.
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Auditors and finance chiefs of some of Germany’s biggest businesses are worried that a new regulatory proposal intended to improve audit quality in the wake of the Wirecard AG scandal will lead to higher costs and less competition, the Wall Street Journal reported. German lawmakers currently are debating draft legislation for the so-called Act to Strengthen Financial Market Integrity. The law is expected to pass over the next few months, ahead of the country’s national elections in the fall.
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Bond sales by two of Europe’s most indebted nations have been inundated by demand as an economic recovery begins to lift yields from historically low levels, Bloomberg News reported. Italy received more than 64 billion euros ($76 billion) of bids for its first new 50-year bond in almost five years via banks on Wednesday. That’s more than three times the previous record. The nation is also selling debt maturing in 2028. Meanwhile, Portugal is bringing to market a 10-year security, racking up more than 30 billion euros of orders from investors.
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Credit Suisse Group AG’s double-barreled financial crisis shares a common theme: a bank that looked the other way when warning signs argued for pulling back on lucrative corners of its business, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Swiss bank with a big Wall Street presence was caught off guard starting in late February when $10 billion in complicated investment funds it ran with financing firm Greensill Capital unraveled, despite years of internal warnings about the relationship.
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