Headlines

The corporate regulator has released the Australian insolvency statistics for the period up to 29 September 2024, with the latest statistics indicating there was a 43 per cent increase in total insolvencies in the first three months of the 2024–25 financial year from the same period in the previous financial year, the Accounting Times reported. The statistics showed that for the period from 1 July to 29 September, 3,568 companies had entered external administration or had a controller appointed.

A local authority will run out of money before the end of the year without government help, its finance chief has said. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council will have to make cuts and savings of more than 10% of its budget to avoid bankruptcy, a BBC investigation has found. Although funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is not included in the day-to-day budget, it is the council's biggest financial concern. Deputy leader Mike Cox told the BBC that without help the authority would "run out of cash".

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) faces significant operational challenges due to vacant positions, a Times of India report highlighted on October 15. Out of the 63 sanctioned seats, including the president, 19 are vacant. At the end of September, 11 members retired, adding to the existing eight vacancies, the report (by Sidhartha) said. Currently, only 13 out of 30 courts are operational full-day while 12 function for half-day because of the shortage of members.

Azul SA is rushing to raise cash as part of a deal it reached last week with its aircraft lessors, a key step in the Brazilian carrier’s attempt to again rework its debt, Bloomberg News reported. The company was able to strike an agreement with lessors and parts suppliers that reduces its debt by 3 billion reais ($540 million) in exchange for 100 million new preferred shares. The announcement sent shares rallying as much as 22%. But the boost proved short-lived.

Singapore oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin will be sentenced on November 18 for cheating and forgery in one of the biggest trading scandals to rattle the energy-trading hub, Bloomberg News reported. In a Singapore court on Tuesday, public prosecutor Christopher Ong argued for a 20-year jail sentence for Lim on three counts, including instigating forgery and deceiving HSBC Holdings Plc. Lim’s defence lawyers led by Davinder Singh sought a 7-year period. The sentence is the latest development in the dramatic downfall of the founder of now-defunct oil company Hin Leong Trading Pte.

Aerospace and defense manufacturer Moog has agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle allegations its India subsidiary bribed officials to secure contracts with Indian government officials and to eliminate competitors from the bidding process, the Wall Street Journal reported. Moog, of East Aurora, N.Y., agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.1 million and to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of around $600,000. The company, which didn’t admit to or deny the Securities and Exchange Commission charges, also agreed to cease and desist from future such conduct.

With China’s economy sinking deeper into a funk last month, Xi Jinping finally decided something had to be done. After resisting calls to take forceful steps to prop up the economy for two years, Xi relented in late September and ordered a barrage of interest-rate cuts and other measures to put a floor under growth. But Xi didn’t give his economic mandarins a blank check.

Canadian consumer prices grew at the slowest pace in more than three years, tilting the odds in favor of a half percentage point cut by the Bank of Canada next week, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 1.6% in September from a year ago, following a 2% increase a month earlier, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa. That’s slower than the median estimate of 1.8% in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Brazil's central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto said on Tuesday that stablecoins and asset tokenization should be regulated in the country next year, as he delivered remarks in a video recorded for market intelligence firm Uqbar, Reuters reported. Stablecoins are pegged to real-world assets, such as the U.S. dollar, and therefore fluctuate much less than other crypto assets like bitcoin.