Headlines

2025 was a difficult year for businesses in Belgium with bankruptcies reaching their highest level since 2013, VRT.be reported. A total of 11,697 insolvency rulings were recorded last year, an increase of 5.9% compared with 2024. The figures come from the financial services company Graydon. The rise in the number of bankruptcies in Belgium was driven entirely by sharp increases in the number of companies filing for insolvency in Flanders and Brussels. In Wallonia there were slightly fewer bankruptcies in 2025 than there were in 2024.

A domestic supplier of electronic components, Quantum, intends to file a bankruptcy petition against Angstrom Research and Production Association, www1.ru reported. The company underpaid more than 20 million rubles for the supply of components. The announcement of Quantum's plans appeared in the register of legally significant information at the end of November 2025. Preliminary, Angstrom Research and Production Association underpaid for the supply of electronic components. In this regard, a lawsuit was filed against the enterprise.

India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) framework in 2025 was marked by mounting stress on timelines and capacity, with resolution processes stretching far beyond the statutory limits, despite efforts by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to cope with its limited capacity, The Week reported.

Creditors have realised Rs 4 lakh crore under the resolution plans initiated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code through September 30, 2025, according to a Reserve Bank report on Wednesday, the Economic Times of India reported. Since the provisions relating to the corporate insolvency resolution process came into force in December 2016, a total of 8,659 CIRPs have been initiated until September 30, 2025, of which 6,761, or 78.1 percent, have been closed. The primary objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is rescuing corporate debtors (CDs) in distress.

Two large outstanding accounts, cited as the reason for the liquidation of a long-running South Canterbury electrical, refrigeration and heat pump company last year, are yet to be paid, ThePress.co.nz reported. Siebers International provided services across South Canterbury for more than 40 years, before it was put into liquidation by shareholder resolution in November 2024, with owner Peter Siebers saying he hoped liquidators would “pick up the fight” over “two very large contractual disputes”.

Free schemes and subsidies, often known as 'freebies,' have been known to be a recipe for winning elections in state elections, but now this has become a major problem for the declining state economies, Bhaskar English reported. According to reports, states are not able to provide money for electricity, roads and housing. After providing funds for subsidies, salaries, pensions and interest payments, states are often left with only 20-25% of their total earnings. The debt of states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar is about one-third or more compared to their GDP.

President Donald Trump signed a New Year's Eve proclamation delaying increased tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for a year, citing ongoing trade talks, the Associated Press reported. Trump's order signed Wednesday keeps in place a 25% tariff he imposed in September on those goods, but delays for another year a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities. The increases, which were set to take effect Jan.

Italy's foreign ministry said on Thursday the United States had sharply lowered proposed duties ​on several Italian pasta makers following a reassessment of ‌their U.S. activities, Reuters reported. In October, the United States said that 13 Italian pasta companies ‌would face an extra 92% duty - on top of the regular 15% rate on most EU imports - from January 2026, accusing two producers in particular, La Molisana and Garofalo, of selling pasta ⁠at unfairly low prices. However, ‌after a review, the U.S.

China will impose an added 55% tariff on beef imports that exceed quota levels from key suppliers including Brazil, Australia and the U.S. in a move to protect its domestic cattle industry, Reuters reported. China's commerce ministry said on Wednesday the total import quota ​for 2026 for countries covered under its new "safeguard measures" is 2.7 million metric tons, roughly in line with the record 2.87 million tons it imported overall in 2024. The new ‌annual quota levels are lower than import levels for the first 11 months of 2025 for top supplier Brazil, and Australia.

According to a new Morgan Stanley analysis reported by the Financial Times, more than 200,000 European banking jobs could vanish by 2030 as lenders lean into AI and shutter physical branches. That’s roughly 10% of the workforce at 35 major banks, TechCrunch.com reported. The bloodletting will hit hardest in back-office operations, risk management, and compliance, the unglamorous guts of banking where algorithms are believed capable of tearing through spreadsheets faster and more effectively than humans.