Headlines

The India's bankruptcy regulator has issued a circular empowering insolvency professionals to file applications before the special courts handling money-laundering cases for the restitution of the assets of stressed companies attached by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), the Economic Times of India reported. Attachment of assets discourages potential investors and hampers efforts to rescue insolvent firms.

Italian toymaker Giochi Preziosi SpA has obtained court protection from creditors after its former financial adviser asked a tribunal to place the company under insolvency. The firm was given 60 days to come up with a finalized restructuring plan, according to a decree from the Milan tribunal dated Oct 30. Read more. (Subscription required.)

The Bank of England kept borrowing costs on hold on Thursday, but a narrow vote and signs that Governor Andrew Bailey might soon join those seeking a rate cut increases the chances of a December move after the government's budget later this month, Reuters reported. Mindful of Britain's still-high headline inflation rate, the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 to keep the central bank's benchmark Bank Rate at 4.0%, the BoE said. The MPC saw a bigger risk of weaker demand in the economy while the chance of inflation getting stuck too high had diminished, the central bank said.

Central banks in big economies are nearing the end of their rate-cutting cycles, though some, like the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England - which were more cautious earlier in the year - have scope to ease a little more, Reuters reported. Australia, Sweden and Norway all left rates unchanged this week, as did the BoE, albeit in a tight decision. The Swiss National Bank has been on hold since it cut its key rate to 0% in June, and markets expect it to remain there for now. The Bank of Canada, battling an economic slowdown exacerbated by U.S.

Swiss efforts to secure a more favourable trade relationship with the U.S. are ongoing, Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said on Thursday, after Swiss corporate bosses met with U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week, Reuters reported. Switzerland was left reeling after Trump imposed tariffs of 39% on Swiss imports in August, among the highest duties levied in his global trade reset. Keller-Sutter, who has come under fire for her handling of the dispute, said she had fulfilled her duties as Switzerland's president when she spoke to Trump before the tariffs announcement.

Industrial production in Europe’s largest economy rebounded less than expected in September, amid hopes that the outlook could be changing for the sector ahead of large-scale government investment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Output rose 1.3% on month, Germany’s statistics agency Destatis said Thursday, offsetting some of the 3.7% decline in August.

Germany’s financial watchdog BaFin has fined JPMorgan €45 million after finding shortcomings in the US bank’s money laundering prevention systems, EuroNews.com reported. The Frankfurt-based subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. failed to submit suspicious transaction reports on time between October 2021 and September 2022, BaFin said on Thursday. The regulator said the bank “culpably breached its supervisory obligations” regarding internal processes for flagging potentially illicit activity, resulting in a failure to report such transactions “without undue delay”.

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) has imposed a $24.8 million (€21.5 million) fine on Coinbase Europe for breaching anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing obligations, marking Ireland's first enforcement action against a cryptocurrency company, Decrypt.com reported. "To be effective in combating financial crime, law enforcement agencies rely on regulated financial institutions to have systems in place to monitor transactions and report suspicions," said Colm Kincaid, CBI's deputy governor consumer and investor protection, in a statement on Thursday.

Britain will roll out its stablecoin regulatory framework "just as quickly as the U.S.," a senior Bank of England official said Wednesday, rebuffing industry concerns that the UK is falling behind in the global race to regulate the assets, Decrypt.com reported. At the SALT conference in London, BoE Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said the bank remains committed to matching the U.S.'s pace, where President Trump signed stablecoin framework the GENIUS Act into law in July, which has triggered momentum for the assets’ adoption.

Country Garden Holdings, one of the biggest casualties of China’s real estate crisis, is wrapping up its US$14.1 billion offshore debt restructuring after more than two years, with creditors likely to approve its plan in a vote on Wednesday (Nov 5), Bloomberg News reported. The vote represents a milestone for the developer after years of negotiations as it sought to avoid the fate of its peer China Evergrande Group, which was ordered to liquidate in 2024. It’s also a sign of some stability amid a years-long property slump that has triggered US$130 billion of defaults.