Headlines

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, accusing it of helping hackers, including from North Korea, to launder proceeds from their cyber crimes, Reuters reported. A senior Treasury Department official said that Tornado Cash, one of the largest mixers identified as problematic by the Treasury, has reportedly laundered more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since it was created in 2019.

The British government came under pressure on Monday to set out plans immediately to support families through a mounting cost of living crisis, with a leading business group and former prime minister saying a political vacuum cannot be allowed to last, Reuters reported. The Bank of England warned on Thursday a long recession was on its way as energy prices surge to unprecedented levels, pushing inflation to a 40-year high of 9.4% in June and leaving many households on the brink of economic hardship.

Brexit-related regulatory burdens impacted more than half of medium-sized businesses in the Republic in 2020, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Irish Times reported. The agency’s latest Global Value Chain participation survey found that 54 per cent of businesses here with 50 or more employees were hit by new regulations arising from the UK’s EU exit. Despite the red tape, the UK remained the most popular location for Irish businesses for both global purchasing and supplying of goods/materials and services.

Private lenders IDFC First Bank and Yes Bank and state-owned Indian Bank have put their loans to SpiceJet Ltd in the high-risk category, the latest setback for the airline, Reuters reported. The lenders are concerned about SpiceJet's cash flows and have held discussions seeking assurances from the Indian budget carrier as it is behind on payments to some aircraft lessors, the sources said. The discussion comes as SpiceJet's approved fleet was halved for eight weeks this summer by regulators due to safety snags and as lessors have filed formal applications to de-register four planes.

Britain's accounting watchdog said on Monday it had fined auditor PwC 1.75 million pounds ($2.12 million) after it failed to properly challenge UK telecoms group BT once a half-a-billion pound fraud was discovered in BT's Italian operations, Reuters reported. BT's full-year financial statement for the year ended March 31, 2017, had to be adjusted by 513 million pounds due to the fraud, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said.

Credit Suisse is not exposed to any large losses among lenders to embattled Mexican firm Credito Real, the Swiss bank said on Saturday, contradicting earlier media reports. Mexican newspaper El CEO citing documents said Credit Suisse is owed over $100 million by Credito Real, which has begun bankruptcy proceedings over $2.6 billion in debts. That is the largest debt Credito Real owes to a foreign bank, the newspaper reported. "Credit Suisse has no material exposure to the company in question," a spokesperson told Reuters on Saturday.

Insurers would potentially be able to use billions of pounds of expected gains from a relaxation of capital rules for share buybacks and to pay dividends, under plans by both candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as UK prime minister, Bloomberg News reported. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have both said overhauling Solvency II capital requirements, a legacy of the UK’s European Union membership, is a key part of a drive to boost the UK’s competitiveness.

The French Parliament approved an inflation relief package on Thursday that aims to prop up citizens’ purchasing power and help them deal with soaring consumer prices and energy costs, the New York Times reported. The package was split into two bills. The first, specifically designed to fight inflation with a raft of measures worth 20 billion euros, or about $20.4 billion, was passed by the two houses of Parliament on Wednesday.

China’s surprisingly strong export growth in July lifted its trade surplus to another record and provided some much-needed economic support, but the country will still have to find ways to keep its fragile recovery on track as the global economy slows this year, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s trade balance climbed to about $101 billion last month, while exports in dollar terms grew 18% from a year earlier -- far higher than economists’ estimates of a 14.1% gain.

Japanese bank lending rose 1.8% in July from a year earlier, accelerating from the previous month, as some companies borrowed more to meet rising raw material costs amid a surge in global commodity inflation, Reuters reported. Outstanding loans held by the country's four main categories of banks, including "shinkin" or credit unions, hit a record 588.232 trillion yen ($4.36 trillion), Bank of Japan (BOJ) data showed on Monday.