Headlines

As a critical shortage of truck drivers has caused gas pumps to run dry across the country and disrupted the lives of thousands, Britons and their leaders in Parliament are delivering a plaintive message to the drivers: We need you, the New York Times reported. The government is sending out a letter to nearly 1 million people who hold a license to drive a heavy goods vehicle, urging them back onto the road. And it is relaxing visa restrictions for thousands of foreign workers, in the hope of luring them into temporary work in Britain.

Switzerland proposed updated rules to ensure major banks hold enough liquidity to absorb shocks, but the draft changes will cost banks little or nothing in additional capital and liquidity holdings, government documents showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. The proposed revisions, which were sent into consultation on Thursday, aim to ensure that systemically important banks (SIBs) -- which include Credit Suisse and UBS -- remain resilient under various stress scenarios, including in some cases not adequately covered by current rules, the government said.

A U.S. judge said Germany's Allianz SE must face investor claims it wrongly "abandoned" the investment strategies it promised to use on hedge funds that suffered massive losses as the COVID-19 pandemic shook markets early last year, Reuters reported. In an 81-page decision, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan said that investors could try to show Allianz was negligent and lacked good faith in managing its Structured Alpha funds. She also dismissed some state law-based claims.

Mizuho Financial Group's main banking arm said on Thursday a system glitch has been delaying some foreign exchange transactions, just a week after it was slapped with a regulatory punishment over system troubles earlier in the year, Reuters reported. Japan's third-largest lender has experienced a series of technical problems despite a $3.6 billion overhaul of its systems in 2019, prompting the Financial Services Agency (FSA) to become more involved in inspections of its computer system, an unusual move for the banking regulator.

Hong Kong's retail sales climbed for the seventh straight month in August, helped by a stabilising COVID-19 situation, an improved labour market and economic recovery and thanks to a boost from a consumption voucher scheme (CVS), Reuters reported. Retail sales in August rose 11.9% from a year earlier to HK$28.6 billion ($3.67 billion), government data showed on Thursday. August's increase compared with a revised 2.8% growth in July.

China’s Liaoning Fangda Group and Hainan Development Holdings will offer cash and equity to settle debt owed to retail investors in HNA Group, four sources told Reuters, in the latest step to restructure the bankrupt company, Reuters reported. The details were disclosed by a Chinese government team that is carrying out HNA’s restructuring at a meeting on Wednesday organised for creditors.

A Chinese state-owned enterprise struck a deal to buy most of China Evergrande Group’s stake in a commercial bank for $1.5 billion, the latest sign that the country’s authorities are trying to help the property giant resolve some of its financial troubles, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Supply constraints thwarting global economic growth could still get worse, keeping inflation elevated longer, even if the current spike in prices is still likely to remain temporary, the world's top central bankers warned on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The disruptions to the global economy during the pandemic have upset supply chains across continents, leaving the world short of a plethora of goods and services from car parts and microchips to container vessels that transport goods across the seas. "It's ...

After a bruising 18 months of the pandemic, this fall represented a fresh start for the apparel company Everlane. It was preparing to release a slew of new products, with September marking the beginning of an ambitious marketing campaign around its denim. Instead, Everlane has spent this month scrambling just to get jeans — along with other products like bags and shoes — out of Vietnam, where a surge in coronavirus cases has forced factories to either close or operate at severely reduced capacity with staff living in on-site bubbles, the New York Times reported.