Headlines

The money spent by the UK tax authority on private debt collectors has quadrupled in the past five years, suggesting an increasingly “aggressive” approach to collecting unpaid tax, accountants have warned, the Financial Times reported. HM Revenue & Customs spent £26.3m on private debt collectors in 2018, up from just £6.2m in 2014. It is part of an increase in the amount handed to private sector debt agencies by HMRC, which has spent more than £140m on their services since 2011.

Brexit is likely to threaten the pound’s status as a global reserve currency according to a survey of central bank money managers who say Britain’s departure from the EU will alter their views on sterling, the Financial Times reported. The pound’s history as one of the most important global currencies has meant central banks have long held assets denominated in pounds that can be sold quickly to help curb swings in their own currency’s exchange rates.

India’s top court directed the central bank to disclose its inspection reports on lenders to allow people to gauge their health. The order was the “last opportunity” to avoid initiation of contempt proceedings against Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice L.N. Rao ruled Friday, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank will comply with the order, the RBI’s lawyer informed the court.

Arif Naqvi, the founder of buyout fund Abraaj Group, was denied bail by a London judge Friday after prosecutors said he may flee to Pakistan rather than face U.S. fraud charges, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Emma Arbuthnot denied Naqvi’s request after prosecutors said the 58-year-old wrote down the phone number of the Pakistani president when he was arrested earlier this month. Naqvi appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court for the latest stage of his extradition battle following his arrest this month on American charges of defrauding investors.

Argentine assets have tumbled so far, so fast that a few stout-hearted investors say it might be time to buy, Bloomberg News reported. “Find me a high-yield sovereign country with an IMF program paying so generously,” said Jean-Dominique Butikofer, the Atlanta-based head of emerging-market fixed income at Voya Investment Management, which oversees about $205 billion. “We can agree on the growth outlook, inflation running unexpectedly out of control, the debt dynamic after currency depreciation and worrying technicals.

China likes to tout the virtues of its private sector, whose firms are the source of most new jobs and most economic growth in the country, a Bloomberg View reported. Not all private companies are created equal, however. Those perceived to have the state’s backing can grow disturbingly fast and crash to earth just as quickly. Behemoth China Minsheng Investment Group Corp. is only the latest example. The company was founded in May 2014 to act as a private-sector version of a sovereign wealth fund, one that would supposedly be better at investing than its state-run counterparts.

European Union lawmakers called on the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager to block a scheme devised by the Italian government to automatically compensate shareholders of failed banks, a move seen as breaching EU rules on bank rescues, Reuters reported. Italy’s eurosceptic government on Wednesday adopted a decree that would allow automatic repayments for shareholders and bondholders of half a dozen banks who lost money when the lenders were liquidated.

Debenhams plans to close 22 stores next year, putting about 1,200 jobs at risk, under a scheme designed to put the ailing British retailer on a stable financial footing, Reuters reported. Debenhams’ lenders took control of the retailer earlier this month in an effort to keep stores open, a deal which wiped out the company’s shareholders, including Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley, who had tried to take control of the business.

Large wind turbine companies and private equity firms are interested in buying insolvent German group Senvion, Chief Executive Yves Rannou told Reuters in an interview published on Friday. “We see significant interest for Senvion from across the board - from financial investors, from strategic parties in the sector, and beyond,” he said, adding that Senvion had mandated Rothschild to find an investor, Reuters reported. “I am positively surprised by how many companies are looking at us, including the big players in our sector who are looking very closely,” he added.

Police raided on Thursday offices of Japan Life Co, a bankrupt company suspected of having engaged in a fraudulent rental business, for allegedly failing to inform a customer in 2017 about its excessive debts when concluding a contract, an investigative source said, Japan Today reported. The police searched some 30 places in Tokyo and 11 other prefectures in connection with the case. The company went under in March 2018, with debts estimated at 240.5 billion yen as of March 2017, according to a credit research firm.