Headlines

A director of Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt faces financial penalties for defying a US judge’s order to find out where the troubled company stashed $533 million that jilted lenders say should go to them, Bloomberg News reported. Riju Ravindran, the brother of company founder Byju Raveendran, not only failed to make a serious effort to find out what happened to the cash, but deceived the court, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey said during a hearing yesterday in Wilmington, Del. “I conclude Mr. Ravindran’s testimony is not truthful,” Dorsey said.

Several cities across China have lowered down payment and mortgage loan interest rates, in response to the latest wave of stimulus measures to boost lackluster property demand, state media reported, Reuters reported. The down payment for first-time homebuyers in Hefei city and Wuhan city have been lowered from 20% to 15% - the lowest ratio allowed that the central bank announced last week, Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday. The ratio for second-time homebuyers was cut from 30% to 25%, the report said.

Oaktree Capital Management took ownership of Italy’s Inter Milan, one of the most storied football clubs in Europe, after its Chinese owner defaulted on a loan, Bloomberg News reported. The US fund has taken control of the club as of Wednesday after conglomerate Suning Holding Group Co. failed to repay €395 million ($428 million), Oaktree said in an emailed statement. The collateral backing the debt was a majority stake in the football club, Bloomberg News reported.

Britain’s inflation rate slowed last month to its lowest level in about three years, further cementing the case for the Bank of England to cut interest rates later this year, the New York Times reported. Consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in April from a year earlier, down from 3.2 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. The rate, which declined slightly less than economists expected, was the lowest since July 2021 and is approaching the Bank of England’s 2 percent target.

Indonesia’s central bank stood pat at its May policy meeting, a widely expected decision as policymakers keep an eye on rupiah stability and inflation against an uncertain backdrop, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Indonesia kept its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate at 6.25%. All seven economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the decision. The central bank also held its overnight deposit facility rate at 5.50% and its lending facility rate at 7.0%.

Call it the $78 million typo. That is how much Citigroup agreed to pay U.K. regulators for a trader’s fat finger when typing in an order to sell shares, an episode that caused a brief “flash crash” in European stocks, the Wall Street Journal reported. In May 2022, the unnamed trader in Citigroup’s global markets unit was working from home in London on a public holiday.

The Bank of Italy warned on Wednesday against fraudulent video messages circulating online, in which artificial intelligence (AI) technology is used to reproduce fake messages from financial authorities and other institutions, Reuters reported. "Such content, known as deepfakes, is also generated using AI to modify real video or audio in order to convey and add credibility to messages that are untrue and shared with the aim of committing fraud," the central bank said.

A Nigerian court has adjourned a tax evasion case against Binance to next month for possible arraignment of the cryptocurrency exchange and two of its executives after a trial stalled on Wednesday, the judge said, Reuters reported. The matter stalled because authorities failed to bring Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance head of financial crime compliance, to court. No reason was given for Gambaryan's absence in court. On Friday, an Abuja court ruled that Gambaryan could stand trial in the tax evasion case on behalf of Binance.

New car registrations in the European Union jumped in April, driven by strong performance in major markets and the benefit of two extra selling days, the Wall Street Journal reported. Registrations, which reflect sales, rose about 14% on year, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday. Consumers in Spain, Germany, France and Italy boosted the EU car industry after a slump in March. An early Easter holiday also helped, giving April two extra days of sales compared with a year ago, ACEA said.

Brazil's Superior Court of Justice has denied state-run oil company Petrobras an appeal against the collection of some 987 million reais ($192.68 million) in taxes, the company said late on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The taxes relate to sales of oil derivatives from March 2002 to October 2003, Petrobras said in a securities filing. The firm said it would assess whether a fresh appeal could be lodged against the decision. Read more.