The Edmond de Rothschild bank’s old Luxembourg offices were as fancy an address as you could get in the rich European duchy. On a side street by the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy, the turreted villa exuded prestige and security in equal measure. Two decades ago this month, senior officers there signed the paperwork with Russian oil magnate Sergey Bogdanchikov that entrusted his growing fortune to the storied bank.
Read more
Resources Per Country
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
The U.K. government has told business leaders it will take a "cautious approach" to firms that owe it money in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC News reported. The message came in a letter from Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to the Institute of Directors and R3, which represents insolvency firms. In the letter, first reported by the Financial Times, he said enforcing insolvency would remain a last resort. The government has spent billions protecting the economy from Covid.
Read more
Parliament should consider toughening up the rules on who can take control of a bank in light of what happened to Wyelands Bank following the collapse of Greensill Capital, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta's metals-to-finance empire GFG Alliance took control of Wyelands Bank in 2016. Wyelands financed GFG Alliance that was closely linked to financing company Greensill Capital, which went bust earlier this year. Concerns emerged in 2018 over the way Wyelands was lending to GFG, Woods said.
Read more
British pilots, cabin crew, travel agents and other workers are urging politicians to save the summer holiday season by reopening routes abroad or risk destroying tens of thousands of jobs as companies fail, Reuters reported. Workers from the travel industry demonstrated across Britain on Wednesday. Protesters outside parliament held banners saying "Speak up for travel" as pilots and air stewardesses from British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic lined up in full uniform, to highlight the threat to their jobs from the government's strict rules.
Read more
Aer Lingus needs a few hundred million euros in extra liquidity due to COVID-19 disruptions and does not expect the easing of Irish travel curbs next month to provide a significant near term bounce, its new chief executive said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The Irish airline, which recently announced company-wide layoffs and the closure of one of its main domestic cabin crew bases, is losing more than 1 million euros ($1.19 million) a day, Lynne Embleton told an Irish parliamentary committee.
German lawmakers presenting a report Tuesday into the collapse of the payment processing company Wirecard accused the country's finance minister and auditors Ernst & Young of numerous oversight failings, the Associated Press reported. Wirecard filed for protection from creditors through insolvency proceedings last year after admitting that 1.9 billion euros ($2.3 billion) supposedly held in trust accounts in the Philippines probably didn’t exist. The company’s former chief executive, Markus Braun, is being investigated on suspicion of criminal fraud.
Read more
An independent assessment by Ernst and Young reiterated on Monday that subprime lender Provident Financial’s doorstep lending unit will likely face insolvency if its 50-million-pound settlement plan is not endorsed by a UK court, Reuters reported. Provident said on Monday that the division, which lent to people who are turned away by mainstream banks, was placed into a managed run-off last month, after a surge in customer complaints against it. Rival Amigo’s rescue plan was rejected by the court in May.
Read more
European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers are still some way apart on their new inflation strategy but hope to reach an agreement before debating the future of their pandemic-fighting programme in September, sources told Reuters. ECB rate setters agreed on some side issues at a retreat last weekend, such as including environmental considerations into their policy decisions and adding owner-occupied housing costs to their measure of inflation, the three sources close to the matter said.
Read more
An arm of Sanjeev Gupta's industrial empire which counts Jaguar Land Rover as its main customer faces collapse within days amid last-ditch negotiations with its lender, Sky News reported. Sky News has learned that Liberty Aluminium Technologies (LAT) is in detailed talks with Close Brothers in an attempt to avert the division being placed into administration. Sources said on Monday that LAT, which employs 250 people at three UK sites, could be forced into insolvency proceedings as soon as this week, although there remains hope that such an outcome could be avoided, they said.
Read more
Norwegian Air fired Chief Executive Jacob Schram who led the budget carrier through restructuring and said that it was promoting Chief Financial Officer Geir Karlsen to the top job with immediate effect, Reuters reported. The board voted on June 20 to end Schram's 18-month tenure but the airline said he would support the carrier on a full-time basis during his notice period up to March 31. "The board's decision to fire me came as a big surprise," Schram told Reuters. His replacement, Karlsen, has been chief financial officer since 2018.