Headlines

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India has notified the pre-packaged insolvency resolution process regulations for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on Friday, the Economic Times reported. The norms, effective from Friday, enable the operationalisation of the prepack process, according to a statement from the ministry of corporate affairs. The move comes on the back of the ordinance amending the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to establish the framework for prepacks, promulgated on Wednesday.

Individual investors in India are rushing to buy corporate bonds from weaker borrowers, taking bigger risks to boost returns in a debt market dominated by institutional investors, Bloomberg News reported. Company note sales to retail investors have more than doubled from a year earlier to 67.2 billion rupees ($899 million) so far in 2021. A further 31 billion rupees of bonds that individuals can buy into are being marketed right now, and another 50 billion rupees of such debt is in the pipeline including a deal from India Grid Trust announced late last week.

A significant part of the French aluminum businesses belonging to embattled British metals mogul Sanjeev Gupta has sought protection from creditors, the company said on Sunday, Bloomberg News reported. Alvance Aluminium Group entered voluntarily into “conciliation proceedings” supervised by a court-appointed agent for its three downstream businesses, its spokesman said in a statement. The mediator will try to stave off insolvency by working out arrangements between the French units and their creditor, a process that could last as long as 10 months.

More than half of Canadians are on the brink of insolvency, according to a new survey, Yahoo.com reported. The report by MNP Consumer Debt Index found that 53 percent of Canadians are $200 or less away from not being able to make ends meet each month. This includes three out of 10 people who say they have no money left at the end of each month to cover their payments. The survey also states that 25 percent of Canadians have taken on more debt due to the pandemic.

Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest e-commerce company, was fined 18.3 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) by Chinese regulators on Saturday for anti-competitive tactics, as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over fast-growing tech industries, the Associated Press reported. Party leaders worry about the dominance of China’s biggest internet companies, which are expanding into finance, health services and other sensitive areas. The party says anti-monopoly enforcement, especially in tech, is a priority this year.

The number of bankruptcies in Japan’s eatery industry totaled 715 the last fiscal year, the third largest in 20 years, amid the new coronavirus pandemic, a credit research firm said, the Japan Times reported. The dour result for the year ending March 31 reflects 183 failures in the bar and beer hall sector, the highest since fiscal 2000 when comparative data became available, Teikoku Databank said in a recent survey report on firms that went bankrupt with debts of ¥10 million ($91,000) or more.

The head of Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA questioned Credit Suisse over risks in its dealings with now-insolvent finance firm Greensill Capital “months” before the bank was forced to close $10 billion of funds liked to Greensill, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday, according to Reuters.

An excess of $370 million in wage support was erroneously paid out last year after the Singaporean government used the wrong dates to determine the amount that 5,400 companies should get, the Straits Times reported. The same error also resulted in an excess of $1.2 million being paid out in foreign worker levy waivers and rebates to 360 companies.

Auditors and finance chiefs of some of Germany’s biggest businesses are worried that a new regulatory proposal intended to improve audit quality in the wake of the Wirecard AG scandal will lead to higher costs and less competition, the Wall Street Journal reported. German lawmakers currently are debating draft legislation for the so-called Act to Strengthen Financial Market Integrity. The law is expected to pass over the next few months, ahead of the country’s national elections in the fall.