Europe

Germany’s new finance minister dismissed fears the political turmoil in Berlin will trigger a funding freeze, pledging the federal government will be fully capable of functioning in the weeks before February’s early election, Bloomberg News reported. Joerg Kukies, appointed last week after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his predecessor and brought a premature end to the ruling coalition, said it’s still unclear whether Scholz’s minority government can get a supplementary budget for this year and the 2025 finance plan approved in parliament.

Switzerland's financial regulator said on Wednesday it would regularly review how it oversees UBS as the country's authorities prepare to overhaul regulations to make the banking sector more robust, Reuters reported. Laying out its strategic goals for 2025 to 2028, FINMA said it would enhance supervision of institutions it watches and have them develop their governance and risk culture towards higher requirements and clear risk tolerance thresholds.

Britain's finance sector is counting on policymakers to deliver a rulebook revamp that prioritises growth and stops business slipping away to global rivals, amid fresh challenges to London's financial superpower status, Reuters reported. U.K. finance minister Rachel Reeves is giving her first Mansion House speech to leaders of the City on Thursday and is expected to outline the role the left-leaning Labour government wants them to play to help increase national prosperity. Pressure is mounting after Trump vowed to "liberate" the U.S.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has been questioning top private credit managers about how they assess the worth of their investments as concerns mount about loans not being effectively valued within the booming $1.7 trillion industry, Bloomberg News reported. The regulator is seeking to understand the oversight and governance over the different methodologies used by private credit lenders, according to people familiar with the matter. It plans to publish its interim findings by the end of the year, one of the people said, asking not to be named when relaying private discussions.

Higher barriers to trade would have a negative impact on the global economy, and Europe must be prepared for increased tensions, Bank of Finland Gov. Olli Rehn said Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rehn, who is a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, said a soft landing for the eurozone economy was still a plausible scenario, but that the outlook is clouded by growing geopolitical uncertainty. A new element in that uncertainty is the trade policy of Donald Trump in his second term as U.S. president.

Boom-time developer Seán Dunne has said it would be “beyond bizarre” for the High Court to strike out his application challenging the appointment of two officials overseeing his bankruptcy, the Irish Times reported. Lawyers for the bankruptcy officials and head of the Insolvency Services of Ireland, Michael McNaughton, have raised a preliminary objection to various motions brought by Mr Dunne (70). Lyndon MacCann SC, with Úna Nesdale, said Mr Dunne’s application was brought in a procedurally improper way and should have come by way of plenary summons.

The International Monetary Fund began its latest assessment of its loan program with Ukraine, even as Kyiv delays passing tax legislation as the lender expects, Bloomberg News reported. The Washington-based lender sent its staff to the Ukrainian capital for talks that may open a path for another $1.1 billion tranche under the four-year initiative, according to a statement from Ukraine’s Finance Ministry published Monday.

Company insolvencies are surging in the UK after the Labour government reduced tax breaks and increased levies for owners, Bloomberg News reported. At least 1,022 companies filed to shut down in the week ended Nov. 8, a rise of 64% from a year earlier, according to notices filed to the Gazette. That’s a potential headache for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, who will try to turn the page on her budget of higher taxes with a speech to businesses this week that will champion economic growth and the importance of free trade.

Thames Water’s board is split over two competing deals from its lenders aimed at saving the UK’s biggest water supplier from going insolvent, The Guardian reported. Two classes of creditors, group A bondholders and group B bondholders, are offering high-interest £3bn rescue packages intended as a liquidity lifeline while the company burns through cash and seeks to restructure its debts. Thames is labouring under an unsustainable £15bn debt burden after years of paying hefty dividends as well as fines for pollution scandals.

NatWest Group Plc bought back £1 billion ($1.29 billion) of its shares from the UK government as the Treasury continues to sell down its stake in the lender, Bloomberg News reported. The off-market purchase of 262.6 million shares brought the Treasury’s voting rights in the lender to about 11.4% from about 14.2% previously, according to a statement. The transaction is the first time that NatWest has done two directed buybacks in a twelve-month period.