Headlines

Up to £500 million in Bounce Back loans were given to companies which then went bust, the Mirror reported. Almost 10,000 businesses have stopped trading or gone into administration after taking taxpayer-funded cash to help them in the pandemic. The staggering sum is on top of the £5.8billion extracted by fraudsters from the emergency Covid schemes like furlough and Eat Out To Help Out. The new details emerged after the minister for counter-fraud, Lord Agnew, resigned in anger at the Government’s inability to tackle scams.

Japan's factory output shrank for the first time in three months in December as a decline in machinery production outweighed a small rise in autos, casting a cloud over the strength of the economic recovery, Reuters reported. Retail sales posted their third straight month of year-on-year gains in December as low coronavirus cases encouraged shoppers. Record infections this month driven by the Omicron variant, however, are expected to have hit consumer sentiment.

Mexican consumer lender Credito Real S.A. B. de C.V. is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to arrange rescue financing to pay down a 170 million Swiss franc ($180 million) bond coming due next month, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Credito Real, which ranks as Mexico’s largest nonbank lender, has asked Goldman Sachs to seek potential sources of new financing secured by the company’s assets to cover the coming maturity and avoid default, the people said.

France assumed Germany’s traditional role as the driving economic force in Europe after a strong finish to last year, while the German economy contracted in the final three months as it grappled with a resurgence of the coronavirus, official data showed Friday, the New York Times reported. Economists expect growth across Europe to return to pre-pandemic levels in the first part of this year but with the pace varying by country.

A U.K. tribunal against KPMG LLP and several of its former employees raises questions whether junior auditors can be held liable for alleged misconduct, a rare case that comes as the Financial Reporting Council works to broaden its enforcement efforts, the Wall Street Journal reported. The audit and accounting regulator’s disciplinary tribunal, which on Monday is set to enter its fourth week, centers on the claim that the professional-services firm forged documents and provided misleading information during audit inspections.

Swiss prosecutors are pursuing around 42.4 million Swiss francs ($45.5 million) in compensation from Credit Suisse in a money-laundering trial due to begin on Feb. 7, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) indicted the bank in December 2020 after an investigation into the activities of a Bulgarian crime ring involving top-level wrestlers accused of laundering profits from cocaine trafficking.

A government plan for tackling Lebanon's financial crisis projects a 93% devaluation of the Lebanese pound and converts the bulk of hard currency deposits in the banking system to local currency, according to a blueprint seen by Reuters. Of $104 billion of hard currency deposits, the plan foresees returning just $25 billion to savers in U.S. dollars, with most of what's left converted to pounds at several exchange rates, including one that would wipe 75% off some deposits. The plan sets a 15-year timeframe for paying back all depositors.

Japan last year had the fewest bankruptcies in a half century, Bloomberg News reported. But economists warn there may be a darker side. Zero-interest loans and subsidies may have also helped prop up firms that were already non-performing before the crisis and probably should have been left to go under. While policy makers everywhere have trouble providing just the right amount of aid during a crisis, Japan has a long history of easy credit that’s been blamed for keeping “zombie” firms alive.

A record number of companies in England and Wales went into a voluntary form of insolvency in the final three months of last year, as COVID support and protection from creditors was phased out, Reuters reported. During the last quarter of 2021, there were 4,175 creditors’ voluntary liquidations - where directors agree to wind up a company without a formal court order - the highest number since records began in 1960, new government figures showed.

A company that operates a P.E.I. fish hatchery and grow-out facility has filed for bankruptcy, owing millions of dollars to multiple levels of government. According to bankruptcy trustee MNP Ltd., Halibut PEI voluntarily filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 14, CBC.ca reported. The company owes $9.5 million to its creditors, including the P.E.I. government, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Atlantic Fisheries Fund.