Headlines

Amigo said it would be insolvent if a proposed cap on customer payouts fails as the subprime lender published details of its plan, Sharecast.com reported. The company has written to customers and the financial ombudsman with details of a scheme of arrangement that would limit payments to customers and the ombudsman. Creditors will be asked to vote for the plan at a meeting on 30 March. If the scheme fails there will be no money for creditors whereas under the plan creditors will get a share of £15-£35m plus a share of Amigo's profit over the next four years, it said.

Britain’s economy will shrink over the longer term as the EU-UK Brexit trade deal “lacks substance” in vital areas, credit analysts warn in a report released on Monday, the Irish Times reported. Their assessment comes as Irish businesses on both sides of the Border continue to wrestle with difficulties caused by the UK’s exit from the world’s biggest trade bloc this month. Credit ratings agency Moody’s, which assesses organisations’ and states’ abilities to pay their debts, says a trade deal struck between Brussels and London on Christmas Eve is skewed in the EU’s favour.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Monday that he would resign, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil, Politico reported. By stepping down, Conte will avoid a humiliating defeat in parliament in a vote on judicial reforms later this week. He narrowly won the backing of parliament in a ballot last week after former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, leader of the small Italia Viva party, withdrew his ministers from the ruling coalition, forcing a confidence vote.

President Biden’s revocation of a permit for TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline is raising pressure on Canada’s energy industry to seek new markets for oil and gas, its top export, the Wall Street Journal reported. Biden revoked the Keystone XL permit last Wednesday, hours after taking office, effectively shutting down a 12-year, cross-border project that would have carried 830,000 barrels a day from Alberta to Nebraska and eventually to refiners on the Gulf Coast. His executive order, which fulfilled a campaign promise, cited concerns about climate change.

Canada’s unemployment rate in December was revised to 8.8% from 8.6% on Monday, while the net decline in jobs for the month was amended to 52,700 from 62,600, as Statistics Canada completed a historic review of its labor force data, Reuters reported. The revision, undertaken to ensure the data was aligned with recent population and geographical boundary estimates, had “virtually no effect” on employment estimates for the pandemic period of March to December 2020, the agency said.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde sounded a cautiously optimistic note on Europe’s economic recovery despite a wave of Covid-19 infections that has closed shops, schools and businesses across the region, triggering a selloff in eurozone government debt, the Wall Street Journal reported. At a news conference on Thursday, Ms. Lagarde said a resurgence of the pandemic in Europe was squeezing business investment and crimping consumer spending.

Carnival Corp.’s flagship cruising brand extended its pause on U.S. departures through the end of April and shelved operations in Australia through mid-May amid lingering pandemic concerns, Bloomberg News reported. Carnival Cruise Line also canceled European trips on Carnival Legend that had been poised to start in May, and delayed trips on Mardi Gras from Port Canaveral, Fla., until the end of that month, according to a statement on Friday. The announcement is the latest in a long line of delays since the entire industry essentially went on hold in mid-March.

Brazilian appliance retailer Casa & Video filed for an initial public offering on Friday, according to a preliminary prospectus on the securities industry watchdog CVM website, Reuters reported. The Rio de Janeiro-based company has hired the investment banking units of Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Santander Brasil SA, Citigroup, BTG Pactual SA and XP Investments to manage the offering, confirming a previous Reuters report. The company did not disclose in the filing a pricing range for its shares nor the pricing date.