Headlines

A new report from Equifax Canada says insolvency volumes have risen to the highest level since 2009 amid escalating financial strain on homeowners, BNNBloomberg reported. The firm’s first-quarter market pulse report on consumer credit trends says systemic risks persist even while Canadians are staying financially disciplined to cope with economic challenges. Insolvency volumes for the quarter were up 18.8 per cent year-over-year, indicating that many consumers “may have reached a financial inflection point,” it said.

The first quarter of 2026 marks a major shift in the Romanian economy: financial distress is no longer predominantly affecting small companies, but is rapidly moving toward firms with significant economic weight, the Romanian Journal reported. According to an analysis conducted by CITR, the market leader in insolvency and restructuring in Romania, the number of large companies entering insolvency increased significantly in the first three months of the year, signaling a broader spread of economic pressure across supply chains, creditors, and jobs.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd on Friday said it has signed a deal to acquire key cement assets of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) from the Adani Group-led insolvency resolution process for an enterprise value of Rs 2,850 crore, in a move that will deepen its footprint in central India and accelerate its capacity expansion plans, the Economic Times of India reported. The transaction, executed through a Business Transfer Agreement with JAL and Adani Infra (India) Ltd on May 21, covers cement plants at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh and Churk, Chunar and Sadwa in Uttar Pradesh.

Israeli restructuring proceedings for Believer Meats were formally recognized by a bankruptcy court in North Carolina, where a subsidiary of the lab-grown meat company is being liquidated by a state court receiver, Bloomberg Law reported. Judge Pamela W. McAfee of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on May 21 granted chapter 15 bankruptcy recognition for the producer of meat grown from animal cells based on an understanding that a Wilson, N.C. factory and related assets under the control of an appointed receiver aren’t subject to the proceedings in Israel.

Japan was overtaken by China as the world’s second-largest creditor nation in 2025 despite setting a fresh record for its tally of overseas assets, Bloomberg News reported. Japan’s net external assets rose to an all-time high of ¥561.8 trillion ($3.5 trillion) at the end of 2025, according to Finance Ministry data released Tuesday. Despite the increase, the total was surpassed by China, whose net external assets climbed at a faster pace to ¥636.3 trillion. The shift came a year after Japan lost its position as the world’s largest creditor nation to Germany for the first time in 34 years.

A B.C. forestry company embroiled in insolvency proceedings has been handed a $429,000 penalty and two-year ban from hiring migrant workers after it was found to have violated several federal regulations, BIV.com reported. The sanctions to Vancouver-based San Industries Ltd. came after federal inspectors found it had breached five sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, rules designed to protect temporary foreign workers. According to a May 15 decision, inspectors found pay or working conditions did not match what San Industries had advertised.

Banks are going big on a product that’s drawing ever-closer regulatory scrutiny, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders have stepped up their reliance on so-called significant risk transfer (SRT) trades, complex deals in which banks offload some of the default risk from their loan books to hedge funds and other investors. SRTs are booming because they helps banks free up capital and boost measures of profitability.

South Korea's financial regulator is putting $37 billion worth of overseas private debt investments under a microscope. The Financial Supervisory Service, the country's top financial watchdog, announced a sweeping new monitoring regime targeting domestic institutions that have been pouring money into global private credit funds, Bloomberg News reported. FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin made the announcement on March 26, signaling that the regulator views the rapid buildup of offshore private debt exposure as a potential risk to the broader Korean financial system.

Mexico registered a $4.52 billion trade surplus in April with exports and imports rising sharply from the year-earlier month, the Wall Street Journal reported. Exports were up 32.6% from April 2025 to $72.04 billion, and imports rose 24.1% to $67.52 billion, national statistics institute Inegi said on Monday. Petroleum exports rose 7.9% to $2.05 billion, lifted by higher oil prices. Mexican export crude averaged $94.99 a barrel, up from $61.01 a barrel in the year-earlier month. Crude export volume fell to 478,000 barrels a day from 726,000 barrels a day.

Syria’s uprising-turned-civil war from 2011 until late 2024 battered the country, and plunged more than 90% of its population of around 26 million into poverty. Rebuilding it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, according to U.N. figures, the Associated Press reported. The war killed 500,000 people, wounded more than 1 million and displaced more than half Syria's prewar population of 23 million.