Headlines

HM Revenue and Customs will take a "cautious approach" in enforcing debt collections from businesses struggling financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government has said, Irish News reported. UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in a letter to the Institute of Directors and insolvency specialists R3 said enforcement by the taxman will be based on whether a company has been engaging with HMRC, rather than due to its inability to pay.

Britain’s economic recovery is continuing apace and inflation is now expected to climb even higher than previously predicted, but the Bank of England’s policymakers on Thursday stood firm and saw little need to scale back their large monetary stimulus program, the New York Times reported. That is, all but one. In his final meeting, Andy Haldane, the central bank’s chief economist, cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing that the bank should pare back its bond-buying program because of the improved economic outlook and rising price pressures.

Almost four years after Jaypee Infratech was referred for insolvency resolution, Mumbai-based Suraksha group on Wednesday emerged as the preferred bidder in the fourth attempt, beating state-run NBCC by the narrowest of margins, the Times of India reported. Sudhir Valia-controlled Suraksha polled 98.66% of the votes, while NBCC received 98.54%. Valia is a relative of Sun Pharma promoter and managing director Dilip Sanghvi and is also on the board of the country’s largest drug company.

Europcar Mobility Group has rejected a bid from Volkswagen AG valuing the auto-rental firm at about 2.2 billion euros ($2.6 billion), Bloomberg News reported. A consortium led by the German carmaker offered about 44 euro cents per share for Europcar earlier this month. Europcar, which is controlled by a group of hedge funds, views the proposal as too low. Investment firm Attestor Ltd. and Dutch transport conglomerate Pon Holdings BV are among the bidding group, the people said.

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.

The vice mayor of Tianjin told financial institutions on Tuesday he expected no additional state companies to default in the northern Chinese city and promised to maintain a healthy credit environment, three sources told Reuters. Since late 2020, several defaults by state firms including Yongcheng Coal & Electricity Holding Group Co., Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd and automaker Huachen Automotive Group have eroded investor confidence, pushing up corporate funding costs.

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.

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.

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.