Headlines

The International Monetary Fund urged Lebanese authorities on Monday to unite around a government rescue plan and warned that attempts to lower losses from the financial crisis could only delay recovery, Reuters reported. The government’s rescue plan has served as the cornerstone of talks with the IMF and maps out massive losses in the financial system. The talks have been bogged down by a row over the scale of financial losses that has embroiled the government, the central bank, commercial banks and lawmakers from Lebanon’s main political parties.

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has upheld initiation of insolvency proceedings against real estate firm Housing Development and Infrastructure, rejecting company director Rakesh Wadhwan’s appeal against a bankruptcy court order, The Economic Times reported. A two-judge bench of NCLAT, headed by acting chairperson Justice Bansi Lal Bhat, on Monday said there was no need for interference with a National Company Law Tribunal order dated August 20, 2019.

The British financial regulator’s move to temporarily close German fintech Wirecard’s UK business last month left some of the country’s most vulnerable people unable to buy food or access basic services for several days, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Conduct Authority forced Wirecard Card Solutions to halt all regulated activity after its German parent company collapsed into insolvency, before lifting the restrictions the following week.

Portugal’s decision to oust the chief executive officer of TAP after a rescue of the nation’s leading airline has created an urgent vacancy to fill at a time when a broad overhaul is needed, Bloomberg News reported. As the government agreed to boost its holding in loss-making TAP to 72.5% on July 2, it simultaneously ended the tenure of Antonoaldo Neves after more than 2 1/2 years at the helm. Finding a new CEO could take at least 60 days, said Fernando Neves de Almeida, managing partner of headhunter Boyden Portugal, which isn’t involved in the executive search.

Two groups of Ecuador bondholders have proposed revised restructuring terms to the government as it seeks to strike a deal to renegotiate $17.4 billion in debt, Reuters reported. The government’s proposal already has the backing of one group of creditors, holding around half of the bonds and including AllianceBernstein, Ashmore and BlackRock.

Europe’s shoppers have returned to the high street but the continent’s exporters are still suffering, according to data published over the past week which suggests that the recovery from the unprecedented economic crash caused by coronavirus will be patchy, the Financial Times reported. The past week “brought further evidence that the early stages of the eurozone’s economic recovery looked remarkably V-shaped”, said Jack Allen-Reynolds, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics.

Mexico’s Interjet said on Monday it received a $150 million capital injection to help the company through a major restructuring in a bid to offset the crisis in the airline sector as the coronavirus pandemic choked global travel, Reuters reported. Interjet, one of Mexico’s three biggest airlines with a portfolio of more than 50 routes, announced restructure plans last month as local media speculated about the carrier’s financial health.

India re-opened for business in June after months of lockdown but for thousands of small entrepreneurs in the town of Meerut, near Delhi, the blow has been devastating, Reuters reported. Businesses from textiles to sports goods and furniture are shuttered or working at a bare minimum, and cows roam streets that would be normally packed with workers and vehicles.

South African banks are looking at options ranging from debt consolidation to new ways of leveraging equity to avoid defaults when coronavirus-related debt relief measures end, industry officials said, Reuters reported. The banks gave customers in good standing relief on loans during the pandemic, including payment holidays of up to three months. But some consumers are still in trouble. Some banks have offered extensions, while others like Capitec offered to refund interest accumulated during payment holidays.

Mexico’s government on Thursday ruled out a financial rescue of the country’s airlines, which have been hammered by a sharp drop in global demand for travel and restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. Aeroméxico announced in late June the start of a restructuring process under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, while rival Interjet has also been struggling under the burden of coronavirus-imposed restrictions.