Headlines

The Korean owners of one of Frankfurt’s best known skyscrapers failed to agree a restructuring plan for a loan tied to the building, paving the way for insolvency proceedings, Bloomberg News reported. A fund managed by IGIS Asset Management confirmed the event of default for the debt linked to Trianon tower in Germany’s financial capital.

A group of creditors of China South City has filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong against the developer's biggest state-owned shareholder to recover $1.4 billion, according to a court filing and a source familiar with the matter, Reuters reported. The lawsuit is the first such case against a Chinese state shareholder of a developer for recovery of payments owed to creditors under the keepwell provision since the property sector tipped into a debt crisis in 2021.

A number of Thames Water’s lenders tapped financial adviser Perella Weinberg Partners ahead of potential debt negotiations with the beleaguered utility, Bloomberg News reported. The group is made up of nearly 20 institutions, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. The banks have exposure to the UK’s largest water company through different debt instruments including swaps, a revolving credit facility, and some class A and class B bonds, the people added.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino said the central bank must be "very vigilant" to the impact the yen's moves could have on the economy, suggesting the currency's weakness will be among factors affecting the timing of its next interest rate hike, Bloomberg News reported. However, he said that it was inappropriate for central banks to directly target exchange rates in setting monetary policy, as other factors needed to be considered as well. "Exchange-rate fluctuations affect economic activity in various ways.

The European Central Bank will soon push several German lenders to build up higher reserves against property loan defaults, in a move that would cut into their profits, Bloomberg News reported. Banks with large portfolios of commercial real estate loans such as Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG and some regional lenders jointly known as Landesbanken are one focus of the ECB’s effort, though it’s not clear which will ultimately face demands for higher provisions, people familiar with the matter said.

Swiss financial regulator FINMA wants to be able to name and shame banks which breach its rules, Chief Executive Stefan Walter told newspaper NZZ in an interview published on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The call is one of FINMA's demands for increased powers after the authority came under fire over its handling of Credit Suisse's collapse last year. "Today, the publication of enforcement proceedings is the exception," Walter told the newspaper.

Swiss inflation held at its fastest pace this year, eroding the case for a Swiss National Bank interest-rate cut when officials meet later this month, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 1.4% in May from a year earlier, Switzerland’s statistics office said on Tuesday. That advance — which is in line with economists’ estimates — matches April’s reading. Rent, package holidays, fresh vegetables and petrol supported upward pressures, offset by heating oil, the statisticians said. Rent increases had been expected after previous central bank moves had raised a key reference rate.

Zambia is set to receive an extra $388 million from the International Monetary Fund as soon as this month to help the southern African nation deal with its worst drought in at least four decades, Bloomberg News reported. The Washington, D.C.-based lender’s staff reached a deal with the government on the third review of an existing $1.3 billion economic program, as well as a request to augment it to about $1.7 billion, the IMF said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

A key index of activity in Egypt’s non-oil economy climbed to its highest level in almost three years, finally approaching growth territory as inflation cooled and foreign currency became more available after a steep devaluation, Bloomberg News reported. The Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled by S&P Global, which measures the performance of the private sector, rose to 49.6 in May from 47.4 the month before. Though still below the 50 mark that separates expansion from decline, it’s at the highest since August 2021, according to a report published Tuesday.