Headlines

Jurong Aromatics Corp (JAC), which operates a large petrochemicals complex in Singapore, has gone into receivership because of debt problems, according to its restructuring firm and a filing with Singapore's accounting authority. JAC's debt problems mounted in recent months after it halted production in December to fix a technical issue. The company is the latest victim of a global commodities rout which has seen a Japanese shipper filing for bankruptcy on Tuesday and lower profits at global trading firm Louis Dreyfus.

The Russian government’s decision to change its plan on Aeroflot PJSC’s takeover of Transaero Airlines sent the shares of the nation’s biggest airline surging, Bloomberg News reported. The Russian government will change its plan on Transaero and its bankruptcy “isn’t ruled out,” First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said in Moscow on Wednesday. Aeroflot’s offer to buy 75 percent plus 1 share of Transaero expired on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported, citing Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. A government commission earlier this month backed the takeover of Transaero by Aeroflot.

Permanent TSB has established a Mortgage Product Review Group to scrutinise its suite of home loans and to establish whether there are any cases where the contractual terms and conditions attached to mortgage accounts were not being fully honoured by the bank, the Irish Times reported. Ger Mitchell, a member of PTSB’s executive committee, is to lead the review supported by senior manager Gillian O’Shea along with a bank team and external independent expertise in the areas of conduct risk and product design.

The number of consumer insolvencies in Alberta jumped almost 30 per cent in July from year-ago levels, reports the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada, The Calgary Herald reported. Statistics released Wednesday reveal 824 insolvency filings, a 28.3 per cent increase from July 2014. The number of bankruptcies rose 19.3 per cent to 353. Bankruptcy proposals, where an offer to creditors is made to settle debts, soared 36.1 per cent, to 471.

Banks, insurance companies and investment funds in Ireland will have to pay an extra €15 million this year to help cover the running costs of their regulator, the Central Bank of Ireland. This represents a 29 per cent rise in the industry’s contribution to the Central Bank’s running costs, which will increase to €66 million from €51.1 million in 2014. This raises the prospect of banks and insurance companies passing on the cost to their customers by way of higher fees or premiums.

The additional state borrowing undertaken as part of the bank bailout has already cost the state almost €9 billion to service, according to the report of the Comptroller & Auditor General, the Irish Times reported. This cost largely offsets all the income which the state received from the banks in return for giving them the guarantee. The C&AG calculates that the total cost of the bailout has been €60 billion so far for the State.

Insolvency on the Brazilian electric energy market has spread to critical levels, energy traders said on Tuesday, as hydroelectric generators balk at hefty bills for which the local regulator says they are on the hook, Reuters reported. After nearly two years of drought and long delays in completion of new generation projects such as large scale dams in the Amazon, Brazil's hydro generators have been unable to produce enough electricity to cover their supply contracts. And the energy market regulator Aneel said they must buy energy on the spot market to cover their commitments.

China’s stock market crash and economic slowdown appear to be keeping globe-trotting Chinese tourists closer to home, potentially hurting the global travel industry and the luxury goods companies that have thrived on free-spending tour groups, The Wall Street Journal reported. Growth in international travel bookings from China fell in August for the first time since at least 2010 and continued to decline through September, despite the start of a big holiday week, according to ForwardKeys, a Spain-based travel intelligence company that analyzes Chinese airline booking data.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that emerging market firms, which together have amassed a record $18 trillion (€16 trillion) of debt, need careful monitoring as the era of record low global interest rates comes to an end, the Irish Times reported. In its latest Global Financial Stability report, the fund said the biggest rises in ‘leverage’ – the amount of debt relative to a firm’s equity – had come in “vulnerable sectors” like construction, mining and oil and gas, and were increasingly exposed to currency risk.

Russia’s economic crisis has put dozens of banks out of business this year and is threatening many more. But for others, it is turning into a bonanza, Bloomberg News reported. PJSC B&N Bank, founded by Mikhail Gutseriev, the billionaire owner of OAO Russneft, is one of the beneficiaries. In recent months, the company has gobbled up a string of troubled lenders to become one of Russia’s largest private banks. That pace of growth was hard to imagine before U.S.