Headlines

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has strengthened its insolvency regime to enhance certainty in the financial landscape in a bid to woo more foreign investments, a move that would also see the advent of a new breed of Qatar-based insolvency practitioners. This has been made possible with the QFC Authority (QFCA) amending its insolvency legislation as part of modernising the financial infrastructure of the country.

The State has a long way to go in its battle against unemployment, despite a 28,000 fall in the numbers signing on last year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny warned yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Figures published by the Central Statistics Office show the numbers on the Live Register fell by 3,300 on a seasonally adjusted basis in December to 402,800 from 406,100 in November, a month-on-month reduction of 0.1 per cent.

Mobilicity is attempting to lay the groundwork to ask an Ontario court to force the sale of its wireless licences to Telus Corp. or another large carrier after a federal ban on such deals expires next month, BNN reported on a Globe and Mail story. Mobilicity plans to ask the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to issue an order that could pave the way for the transfer of its spectrum licences to another carrier, even if the federal government objects to a potential deal, according to court filings.

As Spain's economy begins to recover from a near-fatal crisis, Latin American companies and entrepreneurs are ahead of the pack in gaining a foothold from which they can grab a share of the spoils, Reuters reported. Mexicans, Venezuelans and others have moved into areas such as banking, travel, food and other consumer-orientated sectors. Investors from Spain's former colonies are also snapping up financially strained firms in "the Mother County" in need of liquidity boosts.

GSO Capital Partners LP and Canyon Capital Partners LLC agreed to allow Codere SA to miss a loan repayment deadline as the Spanish gaming company continues talks to restructure 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) of debt, Bloomberg News reported. The company has been given 30 days to repay 127.1 million euros of loans, Madrid-based Codere said in a statement. If the company manages to reach an agreement with creditors within the next month, the loan will be extended until April 15, the company said.

Mothercare suffered a humiliating setback to its plans for a turnaround in its UK business as the baby and childrenswear business issued a shock profit warning, The Independent reported. Its directors admitted sales in the run up to Christmas had been poor with fewer customers coming through its doors, disappointing online sales and heavy discounting affecting the bottom line.

China’s banking regulator told lenders to publish data including off-balance-sheet assets and interbank liabilities as the government steps up scrutiny of the shadow-finance industry. Lenders with total assets of 1.6 trillion yuan ($264 billion) or more must publish 12 indicators within four months of the end of each financial year, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement yesterday. The requirement is in line with rules published by the Basel Committee on international banking regulation in July, the CBRC said.

The entire financial services industry should comply with new stricter rules governing the appointment of banking executives and directors, the City watchdog said on Tuesday as it admitted it had fallen short in vetting senior staff at the Co-operative Bank, the Financial Times reported. The backing for a drastic expansion of the new “senior persons regime” which would affect tens of thousands of senior City employees came as the regulator testified over the scandal at the Co-op Bank whose disgraced former chairman, Paul Flowers, was filmed buying illegal drugs.

Hong Kong’s banking regulator has demanded far-reaching powers to prop up or shut failing banks, including the ability to suspend creditor rights, as it plays catch-up with western regulators trying prevent a future Lehman Brothers, the Financial Times reported. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority made the calls in the first public consultation from an Asian regulator on a so-called resolution and recovery regime, which is meant to make financial institutions easier to break up and sell in a crisis.

Dutch smelter Aluminium Delfzijl (Aldel) has applied for bankruptcy after failing to negotiate an energy deal, the company said on its website, the latest victim in a market plagued by oversupply and falling prices, Reuters reported. Aldel, bought by global industrial commodities company Klesch Group in 2009, applied for bankruptcy in a Dutch court on Dec. 30 and had expected a court decision on the same day, it said on its website. Spokespeople for Adel and Klesch Group were not immediately available for comment.