Headlines

Chinese prosecutors indicted the country’s former chief insurance regulator on charges of abusing his power and taking bribes, a year after he was fired amid concerns the industry’s sizzling expansion had saddled the financial system with risk, The Wall Street Journal reported. Xiang Junbo, whose firing last April underscored the severity of a shake-up in China’s financial sector, faces charges that also include using his positions to promote the interests of others, according to a statement from the nation’s top prosecutors office Monday. Specifics of the allegations against Mr.

The plot to reverse Brexit is missing a key ally: U.K. business. Companies have been among the most outspoken critics of the split from the European Union, and many have much to lose from the divorce. But as a group of lawmakers tries to engineer a second referendum, business leaders are recoiling. Worse than Brexit is prolonged uncertainty. “Business likes certainty and I can’t see how discussion of a second referendum helps create that certainty when the negotiations are not even concluded," Miles Celic, chief executive officer of TheCityUK, said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

Britain has launched a “root and branch” review of its audit watchdog after corporate scandals raised questions about its ability to police how accountants check the books of companies, Reuters reported. The independent review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) aims to bolster Britain’s reputation for upholding corporate standards, seen as critical to maintaining the country’s attractiveness for investment after it leaves the European Union next year.

China and India extended the grace periods granted to Mozambique for repayment of more than $2.2 billion of debt, the southern African nation’s Finance Ministry said. The two countries agreed to the extensions in talks last year, Stelia Neta, deputy national director of the ministry, said in an emailed response to questions. In addition, China agreed to forgive $34 million of debt, she said. The restructuring agreements with China and India were first announced by Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario last month.

The aftershocks of the 2016 crisis that hit pan-African mortgage lender Shelter Afrique seem to be still being felt two years on. The bank has gone to creditors to have its short-term debt restructured, attributing the crisis to loss confidence that saw lenders abandon the mortgage firm, The Standard reported. This was after former Head of Finance Godfrey Waweru blew the lid on accounting and lending irregularities at the mortgage lender.

Veteran Russia strategist John-Paul Smith has a warning for anyone looking to buy the nation’s stocks on the cheap after this week’s selloff, Bloomberg News reported. “Investors could become collateral damage from the actions of either side in the new cool war,” Smith, a former Deutsche Bank AG strategist and founder of research firm Ecstrat, said in a note published Friday.

The global economy entered 2018 apparently locked in a period of strong and synchronised growth, with all of the major geographical blocs breaking free of the constraints that had dogged previous growth spurts since 2010, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. While that may still be the case, optimism has been dented by a sudden and rather sharp downturn in activity in the eurozone, a region that had until recently been leading the global expansion.

Momentum in the global economy has peaked and risks ranging from higher inflation to trade disputes and debt appear likely to taint prospects for 2018, according to the tracking index compiled by the Brookings Institution think-tank and the Financial Times. The latest update to the index shows that forces contributing to growth remain strong but have levelled off below last year’s peak, while financial markets suggest more challenging times ahead, the Financial Times reported.

Israel's main labor federation intends to take labor or legal action against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries if the drugmaker does not suspend a decision to close a plant in the Israeli port city of Ashdod, it said on Sunday. Debt-laden Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker and Israel's biggest company, said last week that it would close the unprofitable plant in March 2019 after failing to find a buyer for the facility, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

The International Monetary Fund said it was resuming loan disbursements to Chad after the Central African oil producer reached an agreement in principal to restructure its more than $1 billion debt to Glencore and four banks, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Glencore and the banks lent Chad's state oil firm about $1.45 billion in 2014 to be repaid with crude oil cargoes but global oil prices crashed shortly thereafter.