Headlines

The latest study conducted by Coface Romania shows that in the first 8 months of this year, 4,561 new insolvency proceedings were opened compared to 4,657 in the same period from 2024, RomaniaJournal.ro reported. Refused payment instruments continued to increase in the first eight months of 2025 by 10% in number and 21% in value compared to to 2024. The wholesale and retail trade/repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector reported the highest number of insolvencies, namely 1,131.

New Fortress Energy, a U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG) infrastructure firm, is considering restructuring its $9 billion debt via a U.K. “scheme of arrangement” rather than filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., according to Bloomberg News. This court-supervised U.K. process could be cheaper and less disruptive to the company’s contracts than a typical U.S. bankruptcy proceeding.

One-time Irish property mogul Seán Dunne’s long-shot effort to delay distribution of more than $16 million in assets from his decade-plus bankruptcy case in the United States succeeded on Tuesday, the Irish Times reported. After hearing more than hour of argument from Mr. Dunne and lawyers for the U.S. bankruptcy trustee, Judge Julie Manning said that she would hold off on approving the final report and distribution of the funds until she reviews the record and rules on issues Mr. Dunne raised. Mr.

Tasmania’s government-owned ferry operator was on the brink of insolvency during July’s state election, forcing an emergency bailout from the caretaker government, a parliamentary inquiry has heard, PulseTasmania.com reported. TT-Line informed the Liberal government on July 25 that it was facing a liquidity crisis and couldn’t wait until after the election for financial support. The following day, the government provided a guarantee that allowed state lending authority Tascorp to lift the company’s loan limit.

The Bank of Canada reduced its key overnight interest rate to 2.25% on Wednesday, as widely expected, and signaled this could mark an end to its cutting cycle unless the outlook for inflation and economy changed, Reuters reported. The 25 basis point cut, the second in row, brings down the rate to the lowest since July 2022. Governor Tiff Macklem said the easing was designed to help the economy deal with the disruption done by U.S. tariffs while keeping inflation close to the bank's 2% target. In January the bank had forecast the economy would grow by 1.8% in both 2025 and 2026.

Australian consumer prices surged in the third quarter, scuttling any hope of a further interest rate cut this year, and potentially in 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported. The consumer-price index rose 1.3% from the previous quarter and 3.2% from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Economists had expected a 3% rise in CPI from the year-ago period. It was the biggest quarterly rise in inflation since early 2023, with soaring electricity costs driving the result. Annual inflation measured in September alone rose 3.5%, the ABS said.

US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung finalized a trade deal Wednesday, capping months of negotiation over implementation of a framework agreement struck in July, Bloomberg News reported. The deal will see Seoul make $150 billion in shipbuilding investments, with an additional $200 billion earmarked for an investment pledge designed to look like a similar agreement with Japan, South Korea Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom said Wednesday. That suggests South Korea can use not only equity but loans and loan guarantees to fund the investment package, a key concession.

The strong pace of the Spanish economy moderated in the third quarter of the year, as robust household spending and solid employment trends were countered by slowing exports as trade uncertainty persisted through the summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy increased 0.6% in the three months through September, a modest slowdown from the 0.8% in the second quarter, statistics agency INE said Wednesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected 0.7% growth.

A stake in a 186kg gold cube is poised to go on sale after its owner filed for bankruptcy, The Telegraph reported. The Castello Cube, an artwork made from 24-carat gold, is back on the market as part of insolvency proceedings involving Klemens Hallmann, a real estate tycoon. The Austrian businessman owns a 32pc stake in the Castello Cube, which will be transferred to administrators as they seek to raise funds to repay his creditors, according to debt collection agency Creditreform.

More than half of German and European machinery exports to the United States could be hit by new tariffs if Washington expands its list in December, the German Engineering Federation VDMA said on Wednesday, urging the European Union to renegotiate the tariff deal, Reuters reported. The federation, which represents 3,600 machinery and plant engineering companies, said 56% of exports could be affected by steel and aluminium tariffs, up from around 40% after an initial expansion in August. "This affects virtually all branches of mechanical engineering.