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According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), there was an increase of 37 companies that were declared bankrupt in June compared to a month earlier. This is a rise of 11 percent, the NL Times reported. According to CBS, the number of bankruptcies has been trending upward for the last two years. In the first six months of 2024, 40 percent more companies were declared bankrupt than in the same period a year earlier. The number of bankruptcies was also higher than in the same time period in the three years before the coronavirus, CBS reported.

The Alpenländische Kreditorenverband or Alpine Creditors' Association (AKV Europa) recently reported that 2,098 corporate insolvencies were opened in the first half of 2024, according to Vindobona.org. This represents an increase of 35.35% compared to the previous year and is the highest figure in 15 years. The AKV Europa said that the total liabilities of insolvent companies rose to 11.5 billion euros, which corresponds to a nine-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed the resolution plan submitted for realty developer Rajesh Lifespaces' hotel business, Rajesh Business & Leisure Hotels, citing non-conformity with statutory requirements and procedural irregularities, the Economic Times of India reported. The corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of Rajesh Business & Leisure Hotels, managed by the resolution professional (RP), had witnessed competing proposals from consortiums led by Sankalp Consortium and Rare ARC-Shree Naman Developers.

One of Thames Water Ltd.’s key bondholders says a turnaround of the company envisioned by the government regulator has raised the likelihood of significant losses on its top-ranked securities, Bloomberg News reported. Luke Hickmore, investment director at Abrdn Investment Management Ltd., said it will be harder for the UK’s biggest water and sewage company to attract a new buyer without imposing losses on creditors. He believes the chances of a 15%-20% loss on the Class A bonds, which make up most of Thames Water’s debt, has gone up.

China's economy grew much slower than expected in the second quarter as a protracted property downturn and job insecurity knocked the wind out of a fragile recovery, keeping alive expectations Beijing will need to unleash even more stimulus, Reuters reported. The world's second-largest economy grew 4.7% in April-June, official data showed, its slowest since the first quarter of 2023. It also slowed from the previous quarter's 5.3% expansion.

For years, Liuzhou and scores of other Chinese cities together amassed trillions of dollars in off-the-books debt for economic development projects. The opaque financing was the yeast that helped China rise to the envy of the world. Today, overgrown construction sites, sparsely used highways and abandoned tourist attractions make much of that debt-fueled growth look illusory and suggests China’s future is far from assured, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Four Australian banks will give back a total of A$28 million ($18.95 million) to low-income customers, after a review by the corporate regulator found these customers had been kept in high-fee bank accounts despite being eligible for cheaper products, Reuters reported. A report released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Monday said ANZ, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Westpac had kept at least two million customers in accounts under which they charged high fees.

France’s state auditor said existing plans to repair “worrying” public finances lack credibility, sounding the alarm on the budget as political groups with expansive tax-and-spend policies jockey to form a new government after snap elections, Bloomberg News reported. President Emmanuel Macron’s outgoing administration pledged new spending cuts and revenue-boosting measures in April to get back on course with derailed plans to bring the budget deficit within 3% of economic output in 2027.

Argentina's economy ministry said on Sunday it will purchase just over $1.5 billion from the central bank to pay the total interest on the country's "Globales" and "Bonares" bonds due in January 2025, Reuters reported. The operation will use part of the financial surplus achieved in the first half of the year, which had accumulated to 2.3 trillion Argentine pesos ($2.5 billion) by May, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry added that $1.528 billion will be deposited in an account at trustee Bank of New York and will be available only to be used for paying the interest on the bonds.

A major Cambodian payments firm received crypto worth over $150,000 from a digital wallet used by North Korean hacking outfit Lazarus, blockchain data shows, a glimpse of how the criminal collective has laundered funds in Southeast Asia, Reuters reported. Huione Pay, which is based in Phnom Penh and offers currency exchange, payments and remittance services, received the crypto between June 2023 and February this year, according to the previously unreported blockchain data reviewed by Reuters.