Headlines

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya said the central bank will not rule out deepening negative interest rates as part of efforts to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. But he said the BOJ must be vigilant to the cost of any such steps, warning that excessively low rates could hurt financial institutions’ profits and discourage them from lending. “When considering additional easing steps, we must be mindful than ever before of their potential side-effects,” Amamiya told a news conference on Wednesday.

Even as provinces move forward with phased reopening plans, 14% of Canadian small businesses are at risk of permanently closing, according to a new report, Bloomberg News reported. About one in seven small- and medium-sized companies surveyed at the end of June by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said they are at least somewhat considering bankruptcy or winding down operations as a result of Covid-19. That would represent about 158,000 businesses in addition to the ones that have already closed, CFIB said.

Barclays set aside a higher than expected 1.6 billion pounds to cover a possible rise in loan losses in the second quarter and warned a grim outlook and low interest rates would hurt profits into 2021, Reuters reported. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced banks globally to set aside billions to cover bad loans and the British bank’s consumer business is under pressure from lower interest rates, smaller credit card balances and personal loan repayment holidays.

French consumer confidence declined in July, denting hopes that the country’s economy would bounce back rapidly from the coronavirus crisis, the Financial Times reported. After an initial rebound in June, the French statistics agency’s consumer sentiment index fell by two points to 94 in July, below the average of 99 forecast by economists in a poll by Reuters. A score below 100 indicates that consumer confidence is lower than its long-term average, whereas a score above that mark suggests that sentiment is above average.

The family that owns beleaguered Singaporean oil trader Hin Leong Trading (HLT) is seeking to block a request from creditor OCBC that overseers be appointed for Xihe Holdings and four of the family’s other subsidiaries to recoup its debt, Reuters reported. Oversea Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) applied last week for the Singapore High Court to appoint judicial managers over Xihe, owned by the family of Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin, known as O.K. Lim.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co is looking to cut sales jobs in Japan in its latest restructuring effort, as it overhauls domestic business following its $59 billion purchase (45.67 billion pounds) of Shire Plc, sources familiar with the company’s plans said, Reuters reported. Major pharma companies in Japan have scaled down their sales forces to cope with a shrinking market and cuts in drug prices imposed by the national health system.

Santander slumped to an €11.1bn loss in the second quarter after the coronavirus pandemic forced the eurozone’s largest retail bank to take large writedowns on the value of several of its businesses, led by its UK arm, the Financial Times reported. This marked the first loss in the Spanish lender’s 163-year history and came after it wrote off €6.1bn of goodwill left over from the purchases that created Santander UK in the 2000s.

Argentina’s government is considering pushing back a deadline for creditors to respond to its foreign debt restructuring proposal until mid-to-late August, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The cutoff for the $65 billion deal is currently Aug. 4, though the two sides are at an impasse over the value and legal terms of the final offer, with a large group of creditors rallying behind a counter proposal.

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought the Centre’s reply on a plea challenging the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) Ordinance which suspended proceedings against defaults arising on or after March 25 for six months in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hindu reported. A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the Ministry of Law and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) seeking their stand by August 31 on the plea, which seeks setting aside of the amendment made in the IBC by the ordinance.

More than a million Spanish workers lost their jobs in the second quarter of this year, as the impact of coronavirus-related lockdowns weighed on the country’s economy, the Financial Times reported. The drop in employed workers was the biggest on record, exceeding the number of people who fell out of work at the height of the financial crisis, according to data released on Tuesday by the country’s National Statistics Institute.