Headlines

Corporate insolvencies could climb 10 percent this year Allianz has warned, stating the U.K. is more exposed than other European nations to a spike in business insolvencies, CityAM reported. The insurer’s global insolvency outlook estimated 15 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in the U.K. are at risk of going bust, the highest proportion of “fragile firms” in Europe. This compared to 14 percent in France, nine percent in Italy and seven percent in Germany.

Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said it has recovered $4.4 billion worth of digital assets for its users who mishandled their deposits in the past two years, Bloomberg News reported. Users can mishandle their funds for a variety of reasons including entering wrong wallet addresses, depositing incompatible tokens and problems from blockchain upgrades, according to Thursday’s report. Binance said it resolved 381,616 cases of cryptocurrency that was deposited by users but not credited in 2022 and 2023.

Chinese regulators have hit another firm with disciplinary action as they keep cracking down on high-frequency trading as part of efforts to stabilize equities markets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The China Financial Futures Exchange said late Wednesday that Shanghai Weiwan Fund Management recently used high-frequency trading in stock futures to circumvent the trading-limit system trade, making 8.9 million yuan ($1.2 million) in profits. The profits have been confiscated and Shanghai Weiwan is barred from trading for one year, the exchange said.

The European Central Bank will continue putting a "floor" under market interest rates in the years to come, but banks will play a greater role in deciding how much liquidity they want, four sources told Reuters. The ECB is reviewing how it steers short-term interest rates in a new era in which inflation is higher and the massive amount of cash pumped into the banking system via stimulus programmes over the last decade is no longer needed and even creates some unwanted side-effects.

Canada's government said on Thursday it would invest up to C$10.5 billion ($7.74 billion) savings it has gleaned from departmental expenditures into healthcare and housing over the next three years, Reuters reported. The move is a first phase in repurposing some government spending that was announced in the 2023-24 budget. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is facing calls from the opposition to cut the budget deficit, and the central bank has also warned that any new spending could delay interest rate cuts.

Some energy companies are still failing to pay millions of dollars in taxes, says a survey released this week by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, CBC.com reported. Oil and gas producers missed $43 million in payments last year, the group says. "Year after year, the problem drags on due to a lack of industry regulation and accountability," said president Paul McLauchlin in a news release. The association found oil and gas companies owe the communities in which they operate nearly $252 million in all. That's down slightly from last year's total of $268 million.

The World Bank Group said on Wednesday that it would consolidate its loan and investment guarantee structure as part of its goal to triple its annual guarantees to $20 billion by 2030 to boost private renewable energy investments in developing countries, Reuters reported. The reforms, announced on the sidelines of a G20 finance leaders meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, would move all of the guarantee experts from across the World Bank's business units into a single platform.

South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said there would be no interest-rate cuts until inflation is brought under control, remaining resolute despite calls for him to do so ahead of national elections, Bloomberg News reported. “Rates are where they are because inflation is what it is,” Kganyago said in an interview with Bloomberg in Sao Paulo on Wednesday on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting of finance chiefs and central bank governors. “The task of taming inflation is not yet done.

India’s Adani Group said cash balances have improved and it sees no refinancing risks in the near term as the conglomerate took more steps to shore up its finances following a withering short seller attack last year, Bloomberg News reported. The group’s Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose more than 60% to 194.75 billion rupees ($2.3 billion) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31 with a bulk of that coming from the transport, infrastructure and energy units of the conglomerate. The group reported an Ebitda of $9.5 billion for the nine months to Dec. 31.

Chinese developer Country Garden said on Wednesday a liquidation petition has been filed against it for non-payment of a $205 million loan, clouding its debt revamp prospects and undermining Beijing's effort to restore confidence in the property sector, Reuters reported. Country Garden said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it would "resolutely" oppose the petition, which was filed by a creditor, Ever Credit Limited, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Kingboard Holdings. A court hearing had been set for May 17.