Headlines

Lenders weigh legal action over takeover of 947 Future Retail store by Reliance Lenders will soon initiate insolvency proceedings against Future Enterprises Ltd (FEL), the linchpin company of Future Group, which manufactures, designs, procures and distributes fashion apparel for the group companies, the Economic Times of India reported. The collapse of the Rs 24712 crore deal with Reliance Industries and defaults on a series of payments to lenders in the last week of March as per the terms of one-time restructuring (OTR) prompted lenders to pursue insolvency proceedings.

Private sector lender Yes Bank Ltd has moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against Zee Learn, according to a regulatory filing, the Economic Times of India reported. The company said that Yes Bank Ltd has allegedly claimed that the total amount in default with respect to a financial facility is Rs 468 crore. Zee Learn has received a notice from the Mumbai bench of the NCLT over Yes Bank's petition and is in the process of compiling information to verify the facts, the filing said on Monday.

Oil climbed as Chinese central bank assurances of economic support eased fears that a new round of virus lockdowns will crimp crude demand. Diesel markets also spiked amid a global clamor for supplies, Bloomberg News reported. West Texas Intermediate settled above $101 a barrel after shedding more than 5% in the previous two sessions. China’s central bank pledged to ensure ample liquidity and assist sectors battered by the pandemic even as virus testing expanded in Beijing. The resurgence of Covid-19 has hammered fuel consumption in the world’s second-largest economy.

Singapore's key consumer price gauge rose in March by its fastest pace in a decade, outpacing economist forecasts, driven by higher inflation for food and services, official data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The core inflation rate — the central bank's favoured price measure - rose to 2.9% in March on a year-on-year basis, the highest since March 2012. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a 2.4% increase.

British finance minister Rishi Sunak spoke about the importance of government actions not fuelling rising inflation during a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, Reuters reported. The spokesman said that during a cabinet discussion on the pressure on household budgets due to the rising cost of living, Sunak outlined the package of support already in place, including towards helping people with energy bills.

Restaurateur Jay Bourke has been declared bankrupt by the Irish High Court on the back of an application by the Revenue Commissioners over a tax debt of €558,000, the Irish Times reported. Bourke tried to secure a debt write-off plan, known as a personal insolvency arrangement, to reduce the bulk of his €13.7 million in debts but this was withdrawn earlier this month after one of his creditors, Pepper Finance, which is owed €12.2 million, objected.

Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB), a subsidiary of Russia's Alfa Bank, has been declared bankrupt, the Dutch central bank (DNB) said on Friday, citing an Amsterdam District Court Ruling, Reuters reported. A statement on the DNB website said ATB depositors would be covered up to 100,000 euros ($108,000) each under the Netherlands' deposit guarantee system. The bank had around 23,000 customers, of whom most are Dutch but 6,000 are German, the DNB said.

China’s economy is a giant, sophisticated machine that requires numerous parts to work together. Behind its 1.4 billion consumers are 150 million registered businesses that provide jobs, food and everything that keeps the machine humming. Now, in the name of pandemic control, the Chinese government is meddling with the economy in ways that the country hasn’t seen for decades, wreaking havoc on business, the New York Times reported.

The Canadian dollar will remain at the center of the country's financial system, the central bank chief said on Monday, responding to questions about a Conservative leadership candidate's pledge to make the country the blockchain capital of the world, Reuters reported. "There are promising benefits from innovation in the financial sector. Having said that, we certainly expect the Canadian dollar will remain at the center of the Canadian financial system," Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said in testimony before a committee of the House of Commons.

Salvadoran bond spreads to U.S. Treasuries spiked on Monday by the most in nearly seven weeks a day after Congress approved a monthlong extension of emergency measures President Nayib Bukele has said are necessary after a surge of gang killings, Reuters reported. Human rights groups say the measures infringe civil liberties and Bukele's critics say his control over Congress and the Courts has brought a backsliding on democracy. Bond prices have been on a downward swing for most of the past year, since Bukele's first overt moves to oust critics.