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South African Airways, the national airline that’s entered a form of bankruptcy protection, may only be offered 5 percent of the $60 million that it is owed by neighboring Zimbabwe in funds from ticket sales and hasn’t been able to extract from the country, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee plans to “reject the majority of debts” owed to institutions, a move it hopes will save the southern African nation much needed foreign currency, Eddie Cross, a committee member, said. The country is unable to pay for adequate fuel and wheat imports.
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Eskom plans more load shedding due to flooding that triggered unprecedented blackouts a day earlier, South Africa’s state power firm said today, but added the crisis was manageable, Reuters reported. Eskom yesterday announced power cuts of up to 6,000 megawatts (MW) after heavy rain and flooding triggered failures, disrupting power supply to businesses and households across the country. Heavy rains across parts of South Africa have triggered flash floods that have submerged whole neighbourhoods, leading to mass evacuations.
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Argentina President Alberto Fernandez said that the country is willing but unable to pay its debts under current conditions and needs the economy to grow again before meeting its obligations, Bloomberg News reported. The government will seek “constructive and cooperative” dialogue with the International Monetary Fund and bondholders to address the debt load, Fernandez said, without giving additional details. The outgoing administration of Mauricio Macri left Argentina in “virtual default,” he said.
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Debt ratings agency Moody’s has lowered its outlook on the Irish banking system to stable from positive as lenders’ profits are set to decline amid ongoing ultra-low central bank interest rates, the Irish Times reported. While Irish lenders’ levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) have come down significantly in recent years, they remain “sizeable”, it said.
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France’s markets watchdog AMF said on Tuesday it had fined U.S bank Morgan Stanley 20 million euros ($22 million) for manipulation of sovereign bonds, Reuters reported. AMF said the fine related to manipulating the price of 14 French government bonds (OAT) and 8 Belgian bonds (OLO) on June 16, 2015, and also of an OAT futures contract. AMF had noted a large sale of government bonds on June 16, 2015 disrupted the French MTS Global Market bond trading system, causing transactions to be suspended for four minutes and liquidity levels to drop for about an hour.
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U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are laying the groundwork for a delay of a fresh round of tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15, according to officials on both sides, as they continue to haggle over how to get Beijing to commit to massive purchases of U.S. farm products President Trump is insisting on for a near-term deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Concern is growing about HNA Group Co. after one of the airlines it backed almost collapsed and trading in some of its bonds was halted, Bloomberg News reported. The group shot to prominence between 2016 and 2017 after spending more than $40 billion on acquisitions across six continents. The once little-known airline operator became the biggest shareholder of iconic companies such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG as well as paying top dollar for high-end properties from Manhattan to Hong Kong.
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Cboe Global Markets said today that it would take full control of EuroCCP, Europe’s largest clearing house for stock trades, to bolster its post-Brexit base in Amsterdam and diversify into derivatives, Reuters reported. It is the latest deal in a rapidly consolidating market where the Swiss Exchange has bid for its Madrid counterpart and the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) is buying financial market data company Refinitiv. Cboe, the biggest pan-European share trading platform, already owns 20 percent of EuroCCP.
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Turkey is planning to limit the amount of time companies in trouble can be shielded from debt repayments, a welcome step for the nation’s banks facing a wave of debt restructuring requests after last year’s recession, Bloomberg News reported. The Treasury and Finance Ministry is working on the necessary regulatory changes to lower the so-called concordat period from the current ceiling of 23 months. The period will be capped at six months to a year, the person said, asking not to be identified as the plan has yet to be made public.
About 47,000 firms across the UK financial sector will be subject to tough accountability rules designed to clean up the City of London’s reputation after a string of scandals, the Irish Times reported. The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), which holds financial companies’ top brass liable for failings on their watch, is being extended to the rest of the sector, three years after its initial rollout for banks and insurers.