Headlines

A top arranger for Chinese junk dollar bonds says that a type of filing under the US bankruptcy code will play an important role for China’s distressed developers to restructure debt, buying them time to pay back creditors until markets recover, Bloomberg news reported. About 10 Chinese real estate companies could use so-called schemes of arrangement to restructure debt in a holistic fashion this year, Chen Yi, head of global capital markets at Haitong International Securities Group Ltd., said in an interview.

Ukraine's creditors vote this week on a government proposal to defer payments on the war-torn country's international bonds for 24 months as Kyiv hopes to swerve a $20 billion messy default, Reuters reported. Bondholders have until 5 p.m. New York time (2100 GMT) on Tuesday to decide whether to back or vote down the proposal by Ukraine's government, which faces a $5 billion monthly financing gap and liquidity pressures following Russia's invasion on Feb. 24. Time is precious: the country has a $1 billion bond maturing on Sept. 1.

Crypto exchange Zipmex will release Ethereum and Bitcoin tokens from this week, a spokesperson said on Monday, allowing 60% of its customers to retrieve their digital assets after a suspension of withdrawals from its Z Wallet product, Reuters reported. The Singapore-based Zipmex, which also operates in Thailand, Australia and Indonesia, in July halted withdrawals from Z Wallet, which it said had $53 million worth of cryptocurrencies exposed to Babel Finance and Celsius. Ethereum will be released on Thursday and Bitcoin on Aug. 16, the company said.

Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto currency lender and borrower, has suspended withdrawals, swaps and deposits, the company said on Monday, the latest sign of stress in the cryptocurrency industry, Reuters reported. The crypto lender also said it would withdraw its application for a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide digital token payment services, for which it received in principle approval in March. Hodlnaut said the move was "due to recent market conditions" and was "to focus on stabilising our liquidity and preserving assets".

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, accusing it of helping hackers, including from North Korea, to launder proceeds from their cyber crimes, Reuters reported. A senior Treasury Department official said that Tornado Cash, one of the largest mixers identified as problematic by the Treasury, has reportedly laundered more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since it was created in 2019.

The British government came under pressure on Monday to set out plans immediately to support families through a mounting cost of living crisis, with a leading business group and former prime minister saying a political vacuum cannot be allowed to last, Reuters reported. The Bank of England warned on Thursday a long recession was on its way as energy prices surge to unprecedented levels, pushing inflation to a 40-year high of 9.4% in June and leaving many households on the brink of economic hardship.

Brexit-related regulatory burdens impacted more than half of medium-sized businesses in the Republic in 2020, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Irish Times reported. The agency’s latest Global Value Chain participation survey found that 54 per cent of businesses here with 50 or more employees were hit by new regulations arising from the UK’s EU exit. Despite the red tape, the UK remained the most popular location for Irish businesses for both global purchasing and supplying of goods/materials and services.

Private lenders IDFC First Bank and Yes Bank and state-owned Indian Bank have put their loans to SpiceJet Ltd in the high-risk category, the latest setback for the airline, Reuters reported. The lenders are concerned about SpiceJet's cash flows and have held discussions seeking assurances from the Indian budget carrier as it is behind on payments to some aircraft lessors, the sources said. The discussion comes as SpiceJet's approved fleet was halved for eight weeks this summer by regulators due to safety snags and as lessors have filed formal applications to de-register four planes.

Britain's accounting watchdog said on Monday it had fined auditor PwC 1.75 million pounds ($2.12 million) after it failed to properly challenge UK telecoms group BT once a half-a-billion pound fraud was discovered in BT's Italian operations, Reuters reported. BT's full-year financial statement for the year ended March 31, 2017, had to be adjusted by 513 million pounds due to the fraud, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said.

Credit Suisse is not exposed to any large losses among lenders to embattled Mexican firm Credito Real, the Swiss bank said on Saturday, contradicting earlier media reports. Mexican newspaper El CEO citing documents said Credit Suisse is owed over $100 million by Credito Real, which has begun bankruptcy proceedings over $2.6 billion in debts. That is the largest debt Credito Real owes to a foreign bank, the newspaper reported. "Credit Suisse has no material exposure to the company in question," a spokesperson told Reuters on Saturday.