Headlines

The liquidators of the former Anglo Irish Bank are “flouting the duties imposed on them” and have “harmed and continue to harm” developer Paddy McKillen and his company Clarendon Properties, new US court documents allege.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned Eurozone growth could be derailed by escalating trade wars and the threat of more tariffs on goods from the US, Express reported. The fund said it had cut its 2018 growth forecasts for Eurozone countries, including Britain, because of softer-than-expected first quarter performance coupled with tighter financial conditions due to political uncertainty. It has now reduced the Eurozone’s growth forecast for this year from 2.4 percent to 2.2 percent, with Britain cut to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent.

Rising Treasury yields, trade-war concerns and Chinese defaults have wiped out $45 billion since the start of the year in the market value of dollar notes sold by Asian and international borrowers, according to Singapore-based BondEvalue. “High net-worth investors not only saw great losses in their leveraged positions, but also faced difficulties in selling off bonds to cut their losses,” said the firm, which provides bond services to private banks, in a note released earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported.

China’s development banks — the biggest lenders in the sector worldwide — are ramping up co-operation with overseas financial institutions after problems with their international investment projects, the Financial Times reported. The China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Ex-Im Bank) are seeking to spread the burden of funding international projects, officials and executives said.

The liquidators of the former Anglo Irish Bank are “flouting the duties imposed on them” and have “harmed and continue to harm” developer Paddy McKillen and his company Clarendon Properties, new US court documents allege.

Over a quarter of UK companies have suffered a hit to their finances following the insolvency of a customer, supplier or debtor in the last six months, according to new research, Business Matters reported. The research found the financial impact of the insolvency of another business was described as “very negative” by one in ten UK companies, and as “somewhat negative” by 16 per cent of respondents. The figures are evidence of the so-called ‘domino effect’, where one company’s insolvency will increase the insolvency risk for others.

Goodbye credit boom, hello insolvency limbo. In June, precision- engineering firm CW Advanced Technologies became the latest issuer to seek a court order to stave off creditors, after its plan to re-tap the bond market to redeem its first series of notes got quashed by poor market sentiment, the Business Times reported. Since November 2015, at least 13 issuers have defaulted on a total of 23 Singdollar bonds by missing coupon payments, failing to repay note holders at maturity, filing for judicial management, filing for bankruptcy protection and in one case breaching a financial covenant.

A recent run on the peso is pushing inflation ever higher. Prices could rise by as much as 30 per cent this year — or about triple the rate that President Mauricio Macri was hoping for in 2018. But for most Argentines, this is business as usual, the Financial Times reported. With the exception of a currency board experiment in the 1990s that ended with a disastrous financial crash in 2001, Argentines have lived with punishingly high inflation for longer than most can remember.

The world oil market is notoriously quick to react to headlines, but a seemingly significant one last week from the owner of the world’s largest reserves didn’t cause so much as a blip, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to reports, all from Venezuelan authorities, the China Development Bank earlier this month pledged either $250 million or $5 billion “in favor of the increasing and strengthening of the country’s oil production.” That Venezuela’s major industry needs “increasing and strengthening” is beyond question.

Saudi Arabia will introduce its first comprehensive bankruptcy law on Aug. 18 in a move designed to encourage foreign and domestic investment in private business, experts say. The move is also seen as providing a boost for competitiveness and jobs, and to help pave the way for the transfer of knowledge and skills as part of a drive to modernize the economy, Al-Bawaba reported.