Headlines

European banks are seeking to avoid setting aside billions of euros to cover bad loans after the coronavirus outbreak, in a departure from U.S. competitors collectively taking a $25 billion hit, Bloomberg News reported. European lenders are set to report comparatively small increases in loan loss reserves in the first quarter and plan a similar approach during the rest of the year, according to senior bankers and regulators, who asked not to be identified because the earnings figures have yet to be released.

Politicians in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government on Sunday signalled further support for struggling businesses and consumers in the coronavirus crisis, focusing on hotels, restaurants and pay for short-time workers, Reuters reported. Dehoga, an industry association that includes a large share of often small family-owned operations, told Bild am Sonntag that some 70,000 restaurant and hotel operators, which employ 223,000 people, could face insolvency as they stood to lose up to 10 billion euros of sales by the end of April.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. has been offered a A$200 million ($127 million) lifeline from the Queensland government less than 24 hours after Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister all but ruled out nationalizing the embattled carrier, Bloomberg News reported. The funding is conditional on the Federal government coordinating a response involving all states and territories.

Turkish banks are hitting back at criticism from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that they’re not supporting the economy by appealing to their regulator to smooth tensions with the government, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders not owned by the state highlighted their efforts to help restructure troubled loans during talks on Tuesday with Mehmet Ali Akben, the head of the banking regulator, according to a copy of the minutes seen by Bloomberg News.

Oman and Bahrain are stuck on the sidelines of the international debt markets after a record borrowing tally by Gulf Arab economies this month underscored a divide between the region’s strongest and weakest sovereigns, Bloomberg News reported. Facing external financing needs that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates at $5.5 billion this year, Oman and Bahrain are all but shut out from bond funding, waiting for their yields to retreat before wading into the market.

South African Airways (SAA) is offering severance packages to its entire workforce of around 5,000 workers, a proposal by the airline’s administrators showed, after the government said it wouldn’t provide more funds for rescue efforts, Reuters reported. The proposal, which was put to trade unions this week and hasn’t been agreed with them, is the latest sign that state-owned SAA is on the brink of collapse. Talks with unions will resume on Monday.

Argentina unveiled a proposal to restructure foreign bonds that would push back the majority of its debt payments to the next decade, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of the country’s overseas debt are being offered a series of new securities of various maturities, none of which will accrue interest before 2022. No principal will be returned before 2026. If accepted by investors, the proposal would significantly reduce the country’s short-term debt payments, part of the government strategy to buy itself enough time to shore up its finances and the economy.

Indonesia will expand tax incentives it currently gives to some manufacturing industries to cover 11 more sectors to prevent “massive bankruptcy” due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Friday, Reuters reported. Governments around the world have provided stimulus measures to alleviate the threat to their economies from the widespread travel curbs and shutdowns of schools and businesses that have been triggered by the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus.

The president of the European Central Bank has said it is “extremely difficult” to know how long the eurozone will be stuck in recession or how deep the downturn will be, as fresh data exposed the sudden loss of business confidence and dynamism in the bloc’s economy, the Financial Times reported. Christine Lagarde said in a statement to the IMF’s virtual meeting on Thursday that the eurozone was heading for “a large contraction in output” and “rapidly deteriorating labour markets” because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Emerging markets fund manager Ashmore lost more than a fifth of its assets in the first quarter as the coronavirus crisis sent stocks and bonds in the developing world into free fall, the Financial Times reported. London-based Ashmore said its assets under management reached $76.8bn at the end of March, down from $98.4bn at the end of 2019. In a trading update on Thursday, it said that the falling value of its investments accounted for $18bn of the loss, while investors withdrew another $3.6bn from Ashmore’s funds.