Headlines

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with his job as a delivery driver bringing plenty of overtime and the cost to borrow at record lows, James Kebe went on a spending spree. He leased a boat and an all-terrain vehicle, and when his bank offered him a bigger line of credit, he maxed it out. Then interest rates started rising at their fastest pace in generations. And because Kebe’s line of credit had a floating rate, his monthly payments soared, too.

Battle lines are forming for the European Central Bank decision next week, with one official calling for a whole campaign of new tightening and some colleagues favoring caution, Bloomberg News reported. Toward the dovish end of the spectrum, Chief Economist Philip Lane on Monday acknowledged the need for more increases after a half-point move penciled in for March 16, but warned against policy on “autopilot.” Portuguese central-bank chief Mario Centeno highlighted that inflation is even undershooting ECB forecasts.

Roads blocked, oil refineries disrupted, planes grounded and trains halted — unions are threatening to shut down France’s economy this week in what they hope is their toughest riposte yet to President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age, the Associated Press reported. The first actions started Monday, as truckers sporadically blocked major highway arteries and interchanges in go-slow actions dubbed escargot — the French word for snail — across several French regions. Unions plan an open-ended strike on the national rail service starting Monday evening.

China's foreign exchange regulator said on Monday that there is no change in China's policy on cross-border remittance of funds, and it will continue to promote a high-level opening-up to the world, Reuters reported. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) made the comments in response to Reuters questions regarding billionaire investor Mark Mobius' claims that he cannot take his money out of China due to its capital controls.

The leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party Jeffrey Donaldson said on Monday he had set up a group to consult on views on the Windsor Framework deal agreed between Britain and the European Union last month, Reuters reported. "The group will comprise both members of our party as well as independent thinkers who have standing within the broader community," he said in a statement. "The group will work independently and will provide me with a report by the end of March." Read more.

With European Central Bank policy makers preparing to hike interest rates yet again at their March meeting, Spanish banks have been paying their customers even less for their savings, Bloomberg News reported. Spain’s lenders paid 0.37% on new household deposits with an agreed maturity of as long as one year in January, down from 0.42% in December, according to ECB data published Friday. By comparison, the rate for the savings of French families jumped to 2.34% from 2.13%, while Dutch banks paid 2.03%.

The billionaire shareholders behind troubled Brazilian retailer Americanas SA are informally offering to boost a capital injection to 10 billion reais ($1.9 billion) which is being well received by bank creditors and could unlock talks, Bloomberg News reported. The last official offer of 7 billion reais was considered too low by creditors, but negotiations could begin in earnest if Jorge Paulo Lemann and his partners are willing to put 10 billion reais as a starting point.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has admitted an insolvency petition against N Kumar Housing and Infrastructure Limited which was a corporate guarantor for Poonam Resorts Limited which has defaulted on a loan amounting to over Rs 60 crore, the Economic Times of India reported. Details of the insolvency petition show that the company which is the principal borrower and the one that stood as corporate guarantor had the same director — N Kumar. he petition was filed by the erstwhile Allahabad Bank, now merged into Indian Bank, for non-payment of over Rs 60 crore.

A crypto fund manager overseeing $400 million is looking to Swiss banks to help plug the gap created by the unraveling of a key payments network operated by ailing US lender Silvergate Capital Corp., Bloomberg News reported. Digital Asset Capital Management used Silvergate’s round-the-clock, real-time network to move funds to and from Coinbase Global Inc.’s platform. But Coinbase, Crypto.com and Gemini are among the exchanges that will no longer accept or initiate payments through Silvergate.

A panel of investors and banks has ruled Ghana’s missed coupon payments on its foreign denominated bonds counts as a failure-to-pay event, paving the way for a payout of the default-insurance contracts tied to the country’s debt, Bloomberg News reported. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee (CDDC) made the decision at a meeting held on Monday, according to a notice on the panel’s website on Friday. Ghana skipped payment of interests on Jan. 18 of a $1 billion eurobond maturing in 2026.