France and Italy are set to extend virus restrictions as Europe struggles to contain a sharp increase in infections due to new variants, Bloomberg News reported. The resurgence in the outbreak is a setback for governments, whose plans to get life back to normal and revive their economies have already been stymied by a slow vaccine rollout across the European Union. The French virus spike has been particularly bad, and Germany and Spain last week imposed border restrictions to travelers coming from the country. French President Emmanuel Macron is due to address the nation at 8 p.m.
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
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The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 introduced a number of temporary changes to UK insolvency laws last year, according to a commentary in the National Law Review. Those changes, together with other measures such as the moratorium on forfeiture proceedings have recently been extended, we assume, to avoid the perceived cliff edge of insolvencies that might follow if such measures are brought to an end abruptly.
A $40 million potential fraud that threatens to wipe out a chunk of OSB Group Plc’s profits is linked to a client with a niche business line: piano leasing, Bloomberg News reported. The British lender has filed to place Duet Capital (Holdings) Ltd. into administration, a form of U.K. bankruptcy, and contacted the Financial Conduct Authority about the suspected fraud, according to a corporate filing and people familiar with the matter.
The European Central Bank must be cautious when it shifts away from its emergency stimulus even if the economy rebounds from the pandemic as predicted, according to outgoing policy maker Vitas Vasiliauskas, Bloomberg News reported. The Governing Council member and head of Lithuania’s central bank, who steps down from those roles next month, said in an interview that the ECB should draw on its earlier experiences of tightening too soon. That means switching back to more-standard monetary tools only gradually.
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France and the European Union are close to a deal on a bailout for Air France, which like other carriers has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday, Reuters reported. “We are nearing a deal...It is a matter days,” Le Maire said, adding there could be concessions to ensure fair competition. “It’s not about closing lines or cutting jobs. Concessions are being asked to ensure fair competition between Air France and other carriers,” Le Maire said without providing further details.
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Three months after Britain exited the EU, London on Friday reached a cooperation agreement on financial services with Brussels but despite this first step rivalries between the two sides remain, AFP reported. The memorandum of understanding, which is still to be signed, will "create the framework for voluntary regulatory cooperation" and establish a regulatory forum which will "serve as a platform to facilitate dialogue on financial services issues", Britain's finance ministry said.
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At a hearing that began at 5 p.m. on March 1, lawyers for Greensill Capital desperately argued before a judge in Sydney, Australia, that the firm’s insurers should be ordered to extend policies set to expire at midnight. Greensill Capital needed the insurance to back $4.6 billion it was owed by businesses around the world, and without it 50,000 jobs would be in jeopardy, they said. The judge said no; the company had waited too long to bring the matter to court. A week later, Greensill Capital — valued at $3.5 billion less than two years ago — filed for bankruptcy in London.
Tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel UK plans to restart steelmaking next week and continues to seek new funding after its main financial backer Greensill Capital went into insolvency, it said on Monday, Reuters reported. Gupta’s conglomerate GFG Alliance said earlier this month it was in talks with administrators of Greensill over a standstill agreement. On Monday GFG said those negotiations were ongoing and also said that Liberty Steel was still seeking support from the UK government.
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British ministers have rejected a request from mining magnate Sanjeev Gupta for a 170 million pound ($234.36 million) emergency loan to prevent his group, GFG Alliance, from collapsing, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. GFG, a holding company for Gupta’s assets, was the biggest recipient of financing from Greensill, a British financing company, which filed for insolvency earlier in March. The British government wrote back to Gupta formally rejecting the request last week due to multiple concerns.
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Airbus SE said its core banks have stepped in to provide vital financing to suppliers following the collapse of Greensill Capital, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders including Societe Generale SA are ensuring that prompt payments continue after the insolvency of the London-based firm, which Airbus says had acted as a broker for short term supply-chain financing. “This platform is now up and running and no suppliers have been disrupted,” Justin Dubon, a spokesman for the planemaker, said on Thursday.