North America

Canadian businesses operating in critical infrastructure sectors would be required to report cyber attacks to the federal government and would have to fortify their cyber systems under a new law introduced on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The legislation identifies finance, telecommunications, energy and transportation sectors as being vital to national security and public safety, but stops short of naming any companies.

LATAM Airlines Group SA, the largest air transport group in Latin America, yesterday asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $2.75 billion in new loans to fund the company's exit from chapter 11, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Garrity in Manhattan will review the request during a court hearing on June 23.

Crédito Real built a booming business lending at high interest rates to Mexican teachers and other government workers. The loans were paid back through payroll deduction, reducing the risk of nonpayment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Now it is planning to file for bankruptcy in Mexico after it has faced growing skepticism over how it has been reporting its earnings and measuring the size of its loan portfolio.

Surging disposable income in Canada outpaced debt growth in the first quarter, bringing the nation’s household debt-to-income ratio down from record highs, Bloomberg News reported. Household credit market debt as a proportion of disposable income dropped to 182.5%, from a record 185% in the final quarter of 2021, Statistics Canada reported Monday. Household debt grew 2%, compared with a 3.3% gain in disposable income in the first three months of the year. Net worth rose 2.6% to C$17.6 trillion ($13.7 trillion).

The Treasury Department said on Friday that it was concerned that some of America’s trading partners were taking actions to weaken their currencies and gain unfair trade advantages against the United States — but declined to label any country a currency manipulator, the New York Times reported. In its semiannual foreign exchange report, the department singled out Switzerland, which in 2020 was deemed a manipulator, as a worst offender and said it was closely watching the foreign exchange practices of Taiwan and Vietnam.

The US and European real estate markets are experiencing a downwards shift in prices as buyers fall away, according to the global chief investment officer of Hines, one of the largest closely held real estate investors in the world, Bloomberg News reported. Prices have fallen by about 5% to 10% compared to a year earlier in some areas, according to David L. Steinbach, with Europe following a trajectory set in the US. “I think we’re in for a rough few months,” he said.

Mexico will bail out a flailing telecommunications company tasked with developing a wholesale national mobile network, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday, Reuters reported. Mexico signed an agreement to become the majority stakeholder in Altan Redes, which filed for bankruptcy in 2021, Lopez Obrador said in a regular news conference.

Bank of Mexico Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath said on Friday that the central bank is likely to raise its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points at its next meeting scheduled for June 23, according to local media, Reuters reported. "Obviously we have to vote ... In my personal opinion, there will be a majority and we're going to see an increase of 75 base points," Heath said during a forum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo organized by Mexico's Stock Exchange.

Mexican airline Grupo Aeromexico will propose leaving the country's main stock exchange to shareholders in a meeting scheduled at the end of June, the carrier said in a statement Friday, Reuters reported. Aeromexico came out of chapter 11 bankruptcy in March. Read more.

Credito Real SAB, Mexico’s largest payroll lender, which fell into default earlier this year, is preparing a potential bankruptcy filing in the US as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported. The non-bank lender is looking to line up financing from existing creditors to help fund the bankruptcy process. The company has been working with creditors on a restructuring plan that would allow it to continue operating, after it failed to repay holders of a maturing Swiss franc bond. Authorities said they don’t see a contagion risk on Credito Real’s default to the country’s financial system.