The U.K. faces significant challenges in shouldering the burden of regulation it had previously outsourced to Brussels, the government has been warned, Politico reported. A new report by the UK in a Changing Europe think tank says that the fresh autonomy provided to the U.K. by the Brexit trade deal will lead to duplication of many of the EU’s rules. But it finds British regulators may not have enough resources to do the job.
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
Polish manufacturer of steel foundations for offshore wind farms, ST3 Offshore – which declared bankruptcy in March 2020 – has been put up for sale by the Official Receiver of the company in insolvency, OffshoreWind.biz reported. A tender has been issued for the sale of ST3 Offshore with a reserve price of the company amounting to PLN 234,680,000 net (around EUR 52 million). To participate in the tender procedure, bids (unconditional and written in Polish) should be submitted in two copies until 14:00 on 10 March.
Read more
Britain’s financial regulator on Thursday censured Premier FX, a now defunct company that once operated in Portugal, Spain and Dubai, for “seriously misleading” customers, failing to safeguard their money and for misusing its payment accounts, Reuters reported. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it would have imposed a substantial fine on the company if it had not already been in liquidation or owed its 136 creditors - most of which are consumers - roughly 9.2 million pounds ($13 million). Premier FX was regulated by the FCA for money transfers.
Read more
Massive Covid-19 bailouts probably kept some “zombie” companies alive when they would normally have gone bust, the European Union’s top antitrust official said on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. Regulators usually screen state subsidies to avoid “undesirable effects” such as life support for unprofitable businesses, Olivier Guersent, the head of the European Commission’s competition unit, said at an online conference for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Read more
Rich countries’ governments borrowed $18 trillion from bond markets in 2020—more than ever before—but their borrowing costs hit a record low, due to a big rise in bond purchases by central banks, as well as a lack of concern about public debt levels among private investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. The jump in government bond sales during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic was almost twice that recorded when the global financial crisis struck, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development research body.
Read more
Britain will resist “very firmly” any European Union attempts to arm-twist banks into shifting trillions of euros in derivatives clearing from Britain to the bloc after Brexit, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Europe’s top banks have been asked by the European Commission to justify why they should not have to shift clearing of euro-denominated derivatives from London to the EU, a document seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed.
Read more
Ferry operator Moby SpA is suing a number of bondholders including Sound Point Capital Management in a New York court, alleging they made unlawful attempts to take control of the firm in a debt dispute, Reuters reported. Moby, which runs routes between the Italian mainland and islands such as Sardinia, says a bondholder group which also includes BlueBay Asset Management, and Cheyne Capital Management, attempted an “egregious tortious interference” to “unlawfully” take control of the company, according to documents filed on February 22. It’s now seeking damages from the funds.
Read more
London-based crypto custody and settlements infrastructure provider Koine has gone into insolvency, CoinDesk.com reported. Koine, whose clients included Bitfinex and brokerage GCEX, was helmed by CEO and chairman Hugh Hughes, the former CEO of Societe Generale Securities. Koine had investment commitments with two parties that were due to provide a total of around £15 million (US$21.2 million) at the end of January, Koine co-founder Phil Mochan told CoinDesk via email. “One of those parties was unable to complete on schedule and so the other party pulled out,” Mochan said.
Read more
Gas-station and convenience-store operator EG Group, owned by British brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, is readying another massive debt sale, this time to fund its purchase of the remaining assets of U.K grocer Asda, Bloomberg News reported. EG Group approached investors this week to test appetite for the equivalent of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) of high-yield bonds and leveraged loans. The deal, which will be led by Barclays Bank Plc, is expected to launch as soon as this week following EG’s earnings results due Thursday.
Boeing is not engaging with Norwegian Air’s restructuring proceedings in Ireland or Norway, a lawyer for Norwegian said on Wednesday, a decision that may complicate the airline’s efforts to recover from the brink of collapse, Reuters reported. Norwegian was given protection from bankruptcy in both Norway and Ireland, where most of its assets are registered, late last year and is aiming to emerge from the process with fewer aircraft and less debt. Boeing “to date hasn’t engaged in the examinership process, or the Norwegian reconstruction ...