Headlines

The Dutch government plans tax cuts and extra investment next year, setting aside some of its usual fiscal prudence in a response to the threat of a regional economic slowdown, the Financial Times reported. Wopke Hoekstra, the Netherlands’ finance minister, announced €3bn of tax cuts for households and outlined plans for an investment fund as part of annual budget proposals. However, cuts in corporate tax rates will be halted. Mr Hoekstra said the plans were designed to protect the country’s “robust” economic growth.

Kenya Airways must avoid picking a board packed with politically-connected individuals after it is renationalized in order to ensure future success, its chairman said on Tuesday. The loss-making airline, which is 48.9% government-owned and 7.8% held by Air France-KLM, was privatized 23 years ago but sank into debt and losses in 2014, Reuters reported. Lawmakers voted to re-nationalize it in July. Chairman Michael Joseph said the requirement for professionals to be put in charge of the airline is being built into draft laws that will guide the renationalization.

The European Central Bank's chief supervisor expressed concern on Tuesday that European banks were not taking full advantage of favourable markets to issue more debt, especially the type that can be used to soak up losses, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Speaking at the Analysis forum in Milan, Andrea Enria warned that banks may be caught unprepared when the ECB starts unwinding its ultra-loose monetary policy. "Market conditions are now very favourable ... banks are not paying sufficient attention to this," Enria said.

The French government is hoping for improved offers for insolvent airline Aigle Azur and that any offer from Air France will save as many Aigle Azur jobs as possible, junior transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Tuesday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "I am hoping that the offers will be improved," Djebbari told FranceInfo radio. Privately held Aigle Azur was put under bankruptcy protection on Sept.

The contentious debate over whether or not to use fiscal stimulus to bolster the eurozone’s growth usually ends in a stalemate between hawkish northern countries inclined to prudence and those like Italy which want to loosen the public purse strings, the Financial Times reported. But this time, the doves seem to be in the ascendant. Even in Germany “the debate has shifted a bit”, according to Isabel Schnabel, an economics professor and member of the German Council of Economic Experts.

UBS Group AG could face a lawsuit from bond investors over its role arranging a 2017 sale of Swiss franc-denominated debt for retailer Folli Follie Group that has since defaulted, Bloomberg News reported. Alcimos, a services company, has hired law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to pursue a potential compensation case in Swiss courts on behalf of investors. Folli Follie has been struggling to survive since a short seller questioned the accuracy of its financial statements last year, triggering a bond and share price collapse.

Businessman Dermot Desmond has moved to formally wind up his QED Equity financial business, which provided advice to international banks, The Irish Times reported. Restructuring expert Declan de Lacy, a partner in PKF O’Connor, Leddy & Holmes accountants, has been appointed as liquidator of QED Equity in a solvent liquidation initiated by the company’s shareholders, which include an Isle of Man entity controlled by Mr Desmond. The directors of QED Equity include Mr Desmond and also Michael Walsh, who was formerly chairman of Irish Nationwide Building Society.

Thomas Cook Group Plc has filed for Chapter 15 court protection in the U.S. as part of a broader debt restructuring for the U.K. travel agent, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s Chapter 15 petition was filed in the Southern District of New York, court papers dated Sept. 16 show. Law firm Latham & Watkins is representing the company, according to the documents. Chapter 15 of U.S. bankruptcy law shields foreign companies from lawsuits by U.S. creditors while they reorganize in another country. The filing may also trigger the payout of default insurance on Thomas Cook debt.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the state-owned South African power utility with about $30 billion of debt, sought advisers on how to implement a government bailout seven months after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the company would be reorganized, Bloomberg News reported. Eskom issued an invitation to tender for “financial services for implementation for government support package” on Aug. 23, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. The tender, which closed on Sept.

India’s fragile financial system is swinging between despair and hope. Two separate incidents — both featuring the lender Yes Bank Ltd. — recently underscored the drag of past underwriting follies as well as the lift from a digital reset, a Bloomberg View reported. It will take time, but good things will come to Indian banking as a result of the present crisis. Start with the sudden default by financier Altico Capital India Ltd. on a 199.7-million-rupee ($2.8-million)  interest payment to Dubai-based Mashreqbank PSC.