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Chinese regulators attempting to rein in Ant Group Co. and a swelling online-lending industry have a target in their sights: the excessive, debt-fueled lifestyles of the country’s youth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Leading up to last year’s coronavirus pandemic, a new generation of tech-savvy and free-spending citizens helped power rising consumption, a growing driver of China’s economy. Many used short-term loans to pay for expenses such as prestige cosmetics, electronic gadgets and costly restaurant meals.
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Italy may ask state-owned asset manager AMCO to handle a mounting pile of government-backed soured loans issued to support businesses during the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The government guaranteed almost 150 billion euros ($179 billion) of bank loans to small and medium-sized companies through a fund managed by Mediocredito Centrale SpA, a state development bank which is indirectly owned by the finance ministry.
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Germany, France and Italy said on Monday they would suspend AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said there was no proven link and people should not panic. Still, the decision by the European Union’s three biggest countries to put inoculations with the AstraZeneca shot on hold threw the already struggling vaccination campaign in the 27-nation EU into disarray, Reuters reported.
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A group of executives instrumental in Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA’s failed attempt to provide low-cost, trans-Atlantic travel are trying again, this time with a new airline, Bloomberg News reported. Norse Atlantic Airways aims to start operations by year-end, according to a statement Monday. It is 53% owned by shipping entrepreneur Bjorn Tore Larsen, whose company OSM Aviation provided flight crews for Norwegian Air before the carrier filed for insolvency.
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Updated guidance on monetary penalties by the United Kingdom’s sanctions enforcer this week provides more clarification on self-reporting and suggests the agency may adopt a more aggressive enforcement approach, compliance observers said, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, a U.K. Treasury unit in charge of applying and carrying out sanctions policy, on Wednesday released the guidance outlining its enforcement powers and how it will use them, effective April 1.
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Rogers Communications Inc. said on Monday it was buying Shaw Communications Inc for about C$20 billion ($16.02 billion) in a deal that would create Canada’s second-largest cellular and cable operator but might attract stiff regulatory scrutiny, Reuters reported. By acquiring fourth-ranked Shaw, Rogers would leapfrog Telus Corp. and take on market leader BCE Inc in the highly competitive Canadian telecommunications industry.
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Thorntons, the 110-year-old British chocolatier and retailer, said on Monday it would permanently close all 61 UK stores, putting 603 jobs at risk, blaming the impact of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, Reuters reported. Multiple lockdowns in Britain have heaped pressure on store-based retailers already struggling with tight margins and intense competition from purely online players. Thorntons, which was acquired by Italian group Ferrero in 2015 for 112 million pounds ($156 million) said the challenges it faced to trading were “too severe” and it would enter a consultation with impacted staff.
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Euro-area governments should be ready to keep up emergency support for their economies even after the worst of the coronavirus crisis is behind them, according to the official who leads meetings of the region’s finance ministers, Bloomberg News reported. Speaking before chairing a virtual gathering of his counterparts on Monday, Paschal Donohoe warned that the currency zone will require ongoing aid as it recovers lost ground to reach its pre-pandemic growth levels.
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Spain’s government approved an 11 billion-euro ($13 billion) plan to help companies pay down debts accumulated during the pandemic, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said, Bloomberg reported. The package, which has three parts, will leave companies better poised for the economic recovery, Calvino told journalists during a televised news conference on Friday. The announcement is the latest example of how European governments are accelerating plans to prevent defaults and corporate bankruptcies as businesses struggle to survive extended pandemic restrictions.
U.S. private equity company Apollo Global Management has ended talks with the administrators of British financing company Greensill after a JPMorgan investment in Greensill’s technology partner, Reuters reported. Greensill, which filed for insolvency earlier this week after losing the support of its main backers, employed around 1,000 people in the UK. Apollo was negotiating a $60 million acquisition of Greensill’s operating assets via its insurance arm Athene, the company said in its insolvency filing in a UK court earlier this week.