Canadian banks and insurers can resume dividend increases, share buybacks and increase executive compensation, the country's financial regulator said on Thursday, lifting a moratorium it has imposed on them since March 2020, Reuters reported. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said in a statement these measures were effective over the past year and a half, but they are no longer necessary or fit-for-purpose and are being unwound. Canadian banks index has risen 83% during the 20 months the moratorium has been in place. The U.S.

The owner of Canada’s most valuable shopping mall is planning to add apartment buildings to that property and two others around Toronto, creating mixed-use neighborhoods that invite renters to live where they shop, Bloomberg News reported. Oxford Properties Group’s plans for rental apartment towers at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Canada’s most productive mall by sales per square foot, are still in an early stage, Chief Executive Officer Michael Turner said.

Airline Avianca Holdings will move its domicile to the United Kingdom and its stock will no longer be traded on the Colombian stock exchange, the company said on Wednesday, a day after a U.S. court's approval of the company's restructuring plan, Reuters reported. Colombia's flag carrier had filed for chapter 11 protection at a U.S. court in New York in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. It now expects to exit the measure by the end 2021, after receiving around $2 billion in new financing under a debt-for-equity deal.

Mexico's first economic contraction since a recovery began from the coronavirus pandemic poses a challenge to the central bank's monetary policy tightening cycle, but stubbornly high inflation appears likely to take precedence, analysts said on Friday, Reuters reported. The Mexican economy shrank 0.2% in the July-September period compared with the previous quarter after a resurgence in the coronavirus pandemic dragged down service sector activity and disrupted global supply chains, preliminary data showed.

Canadian defense firm Telemus Systems Inc. has filed for bankruptcy months after Ottawa canceled export permits for military goods and technologies to Turkey over Ankara’s role in the Nagorno Karabakh war, the Defense Post reported. The decision prevented the Ontario-based electronic warfare systems manufacturer from fulfilling pre-existing deals with Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. According to Middle East Eye, Telemus had been selling a range of electronic warfare systems to the Ankara-based company for its Anka drone.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador may be poised to foot a titanic bill for the world’s most-indebted oil producer. Petroleos Mexicanos Chief Executive Officer Octavio Romero told lawmakers on Wednesday that the federal government will take over its bond payments, fueling a rally in notes from the beleaguered company, Bloomberg News reported. Payments could total $36 billion if the government takes on all the debt coming due by the time Lopez Obrador’s term expires in September 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Offshore driller Seadrill Ltd on Tuesday obtained court approval for its reorganization plan, clearing the way for it to emerge from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Offshore driller Seadrill Ltd yesterday obtained court approval for its reorganization plan, clearing the way for it to emerge from bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones in Houston signed off on the plan during a virtual hearing. Under the plan, creditors will exchange $4.9 billion in debt for equity in the company. Seadrill will also raise $350 million in new financing.

The Bank of Canada ended its bond-buying stimulus program and accelerated the potential timing of future interest rate increases amid worries that supply disruptions are driving up inflation, Bloomberg News reported. In a statement Wednesday, policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem announced they would stop growing holdings of Canadian government bonds, ending a quantitative easing program that has poured hundreds of billions into the financial system since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Luckin Coffee Inc. reached a $175 million settlement of shareholder class-action claims that the Chinese rival to Starbucks fraudulently inflated its share price by falsifying revenue, Reuters reported. Lawyers for the shareholders called the all-cash settlement, filed on Monday night, an “excellent result,” citing Luckin’s liquidation proceeding in the Cayman Islands and its related filing for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The Bank of Canada will continue pulling back its support for the economy at a policy decision this week, paving the way for the start of interest rate increases next year amid inflation worries, Bloomberg News reported. Governor Tiff Macklem is expected to reduce weekly government bond purchases by one half on Wednesday to C$1 billion ($809 million). That will mark the fourth time over the past 12 months the central bank has rolled back a program that has poured hundreds of billions into the financial system since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.