Headlines
Resources Per Region
Santander will block UK customers from sending real-time payments to cryptocurrency exchanges next year as part of measures to protect customers from scams, the bank said in an emailed statement on Friday, Reuters reported. At an unspecified point during 2023, the bank will introduce a block on all real-time payments to cryptocurrency exchanges made via telephone banking and in-branch payments, as well as online and mobile banking. From Nov. 15 this year, the bank will join other UK retail banks in limiting customer transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday forecast Mexico's economy will grow 2.1% in 2022 and 1.2% in 2023, saying "economic growth is expected to slow in the near term reflecting weaker U.S. growth and tighter global financial conditions," Reuters reported. The IMF said in a statement that Mexico is well-placed to navigate a turbulent global environment due to "very strong" macroeconomic policies and policy frameworks. The fund also said it welcomed the "proactive approach" from Mexico's central bank, known as Banxico, in tackling inflation with interest rate hikes.
Kenya Airways PLC's pilots union will give its final decision later tonight on whether to begin a strike on Saturday after the government urged them to it call off, the transport minister said on Friday, Reuters reported. The walkout, which is due to start at 6.00 am local time, will affect thousands of business and leisure travelers at one of the most important aviation hubs in the continent.
Workers are in demand in Canada, and they’re using their leverage to extract higher pay. That’s one factor shifting the odds, again, that interest rates will go higher, Bloomberg News reported. Average hourly wages rose 5.6% annually in October as the economy added 108,000 jobs, more than 10 times the consensus forecast. It was the fifth straight month wages were up more than 5%. Workers in construction, professional services, accommodation and food saw even bigger gains than that.
Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIA) expects passenger yields, a proxy for airfares, could decline in 2023 as rival airlines bring back planes idled during the pandemic and add capacity, a senior executive said on Monday, Reuters reported. "We would not expect yields to stay at the same elevated levels we were at in 2022," SIA Executive Vice President Commercial Lee Lik Hsin told analysts and media of the outlook on an earnings call.
Garrett Motion Inc., a maker of turbochargers and other automotive equipment, is exploring strategic options including a sale, Bloomberg News reported. The Rolle, Switzerland-based company is working with an adviser on a possible sale. Garrett is expected to attract interest from companies looking to enhance their electric-vehicle operations. Garrett, originally known as Honeywell Transportation Systems, was spun off in 2018. It filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 after struggling with loan repayments.
Read more
The largest pilots union of Latam Airlines in Chile voted to strike on Wednesday, a day before the company said it was planning on concluding its exit from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Union of Latam Pilots (SPL) said it represents 313 of Latam Airlines's approximately 500 pilots and that 99% of its members voted to approve the strike.
Read more
The signs were already there. In January this year, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, one of Europe’s largest and oldest department store chains, asked for and received 220 million euros of government financial aid. That was in addition to the 460 million euro loan the business had already received from the German government, due to difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, WWD.com reported. In early October this year, the chain’s management said it was terminating a previously agreed deal it had made with union representatives. Difficult times called for radical restructuring, they said.
Read more
Energy giant Uniper posted a net loss of around $39.3 billion for the first nine months of the year—one of the biggest in Germany’s corporate history—highlighting the financial fallout from Russia’s decision to throttle natural-gas deliveries to Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company, which is soon to be nationalized by Germany in an attempt to stabilize it and protect its customers, said Thursday it was finalizing the details of additional state-support measures.
Read more
The Bank of England’s policymakers raised interest rates on Thursday by the largest amount since 1989, intensifying their battle against inflation even as the central bank predicted that the British economy would enter a “prolonged” recession, the New York Times reported. The bank lifted its key policy rate by three-quarters of a point, ramping up its effort to tighten financial conditions and taking the rate to 3 percent, the highest since November 2008.
Read more