Headlines

The Insolvency Bankruptcy Board of India has launched a set of revised electronic forms for the liquidation process to reduce the compliance burden on insolvency professionals and improve the quality of regulatory filings, the Economic Times of India reported. The move came after the Insolvency Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) had notified amendments on January 2 to the IBBI (Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2016, which mandate that insolvency professionals file the forms, along with enclosures, on the regulator's electronic platform within prescribed timelines.

Administrators at Begbies Traynor confirmed the extension on Monday (5 January), following a previous year-long extension in November 2024, ConstructionWave.co.uk reported. This latest extension could see the administration process continue until February 2029. Based in Romford, Readie Construction employed 260 staff and specialised in new builds, refurbishments, and fit-outs.

The owners of Southend United Football Club say they expect to write off funds owed to them by the side's former owner, BBC.com reported. Ron Martin, who owned the club 1998-2024, was made bankrupt following a hearing at the Chief Insolvency and Companies Court on Tuesday. A consortium, Custodians of Southend United (Cosu), completed a lengthy takeover of the National League side in May 2024, after it came close to extinction.

The Lod District Court in Israel has approved an application from cultivated meat startup Future Meat Technologies Ltd (doing business as Believer Meats) to open insolvency proceedings and appointed a trustee to represent the interests of its creditors, AgFunderNews.com reported. Yoel Freilich, an attorney at law firm Gissin & Co, has been authorized as trustee to manage the company’s assets, while the court also issued a 40-day stay on all proceedings against the company, which temporarily freezes enforcement actions by creditors.

A pension fund for more than 10,000 German dentists has launched legal action against its former auditor, an external adviser and several ex-managers after suffering investment losses of over €1.1 billion (about C$1.77 billion), OralHealthGroup.org reported. Versorgungswerk der Zahnärztekammer Berlin (VZB), which manages roughly €2.2 billion (C$3.55 billion) for dentists in Berlin, Brandenburg and Bremen, said the losses were significant enough to prompt a corruption probe by Berlin prosecutors.

Bankers expect another blockbuster year for sales of yen-denominated corporate debt from Japanese companies following the record tally of bonds issued in 2025. Rising yields and lower volatility compared with government bonds saw investors snap up ¥16.5 trillion ($105 billion) of local-currency corporate debt in the 12 months through December, the most in records back to 1999, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Trump administration plans to control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds in U.S. accounts, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, making the clearest statement yet on Washington’s strategy to bring the impoverished nation’s crude to market and control its most valuable resource, Bloomberg News reported. Wright, who spoke at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference in Miami Wednesday, said initially the barrels would come from crude Venezuela is holding in storage, which has been filling up amid the U.S. blockade and threatening to force some production off line.

Australian consumer prices rose by less than forecast in November, data showed on Wednesday, but core inflation showed enough stickiness that investors still saw a risk interest rates would have to be hiked as early as next month, Reuters reported. The Australian dollar initially slipped but was back to where it was, at $0.6734. Three-year government bond futures rose 5 ticks before giving up gains to be slightly lower on the day at 95.78. Investors still see a 33% risk that the Reserve Bank of Australia will be forced to hike rates again in February.

Germany’s unemployment rate held steady in the last month of 2025, though actual jobless numbers inched higher, signaling an economy that still lacks momentum, the Wall Street Journal reported. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3% in December, where it has been since March, data from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency published Wednesday said. However, the rate is higher than the start of last year, and there are signals that the German economy is on a weak footing heading into 2026.

Canada’s retail landscape is entering a new chapter, according to some experts, BNNBloomberg reported. After a year of stubborn inflation, shifting consumer priorities and retail innovation, 2026 could see significant change in how Canadians shop. Donna Smith, director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU’s) School of Retail Management, says the turbulence of 2025 reshaped both spending habits and business models across the sector. “We seen inflation on a number of fronts,” the professor said in an interview with CTVNews.ca in November.