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China's banking regulator has asked lenders to stop selling investment products linked to commodities futures to mom-and-pop buyers to curb investment losses amid volatile commodity prices, Reuters reported. It has also asked lenders to completely unwind their existing books for these products, which they manufacture and sell to individual investors. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's (CBIRC's) order to exit these products has not been reported before. It issued the order this year.
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On June 26, 2019, the Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 20, 2019 on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and of measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (the “EU Restructuring Directive”), were formally published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the Cyprus Mail reported.
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Emerging-market nations’ struggle to claw out of the pandemic-induced economic crisis can spill over to hurt the developed world, which should be doing all it can to ensure better access to vaccines and a more equitable recovery, the head of the International Monetary Fund said, Bloomberg News reported. Poorer nations are faced with the risk of interest rates increasing while their economies aren’t growing, and may find themselves “really strangled” to service debt, especially if it’s dollar-denominated, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday.
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Dubai-listed Emirates REIT made no indication it’s willing to compromise with a group of creditors that rejected its proposal to exchange $400 million of sukuk securities for new notes, Bloomberg News reported. A dispute with investors escalated on Wednesday after the dissenting certificate-holders said they have the numbers to block the offer and asked for a meeting with the company the following day “to discuss the concerns of the Ad-Hoc Group and its requirements for the restructuring process.” Rothschild & Co. and Clifford Chance are advising the group.
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The Irish Pensions Authority has confirmed that it is investigating potential “pension scheme trustee issues” in relation to the collapse of Hanover-based German Property Group (GPG), which resulted in 1,800 Irish investors losing as much as €107 million, the Irish Times reported. GPG, formerly known as Dolphin Trust, collapsed last year after taking €1.5 billion from investors in the Republic, the UK, Asia and elsewhere since it was set up by businessman Charles Smethurst in 2008.
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Canada's biggest pension managers boosted their investments in the country's major oil sands companies in the first quarter of 2021, raising questions about the funds' recent commitments to greening their portfolios, Reuters reported. The cumulative investment by the country's top five pension funds into the U.S.-listed shares of Canada's top four oil sands producers jumped to $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021, up 147% from a year ago, a Reuters analysis of U.S. 13-F filings show.
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Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed a $16 billion borrowing plan to shield Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy from the impact of a raging coronavirus outbreak that’s threatening a nascent recovery and plans to reopen borders to tourists, Bloomberg News reported. The government can borrow 500 billion baht ($16 billion) in the local or overseas markets to finance Covid relief measures for the public and businesses, according to a Royal Gazette announcement published Tuesday.
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Indian real estate developers on Tuesday demanded protection from insolvency proceedings for at least a year as the sector had been severely hit financially due to the pandemic, the Hindustan Times reported. They also wrote to the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP-Rera) seeking more time to repay loans. “Section 7 of Indian Bankruptcy Code (IBC) allows a financial creditor to file for initiating the corporate insolvency resolution process against a corporate debtor.
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The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Hyderabad has dismissed a petition filed by a liquidator who was urging the tribunal to rope in the banks that lent huge monies to BS Limited company under liquidation as respondents to the case, the Times of India reported. The tribunal bench comprising Justices Madan B Gosavi and Binod Kumar Sinha passed this order after hearing the petition filed by the liquidator pertaining to BS Ltd.
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Japan stands to lose 1.8 trillion yen ($16 billion) if the Olympics were cancelled, but that would pale in comparison to the economic hit from emergency curbs if the Summer Games turned into a super-spreader event, a top economist estimated, Reuters reported. Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute and a former Bank of Japan board member, said that the first nationwide state of emergency last spring had caused an estimated 6.4 trillion yen loss. Further losses have resulted from the second and presently third running state of emergency.