Finablr Plc, the embattled owner of two foreign-exchange businesses, uncovered about $1 billion of debt hidden from its board that may have been used for purposes outside of the company, compounding a scandal that pushed its sister firm NMC Health Plc into administration, Bloomberg News reported. The London-listed company and its creditors found that Finablr Group’s overall debt was about $1.3 billion, excluding the debt of its Travelex Holdings Ltd. unit and “materially above” its last reported figure, according to a statement.

Barclays has announced a sharp increase in provisions for bad loans, becoming the latest bank to prepare for a wave of defaults from retail and corporate customers as the coronavirus crisis upends the global economy, the Financial Times reported. First-quarter credit impairment charges surged almost fivefold to £2.1bn from £448m in the same period last year, more than double the £923m analysts had forecast, the London-based bank said on Wednesday.

HSBC Holdings Plc and Banco Santander SA took the biggest hits so far among European banks struggling to contain the impact of the coronavirus on their loan books, with the U.K.-based lender expecting as much as $11 billion of damage this year because of the outbreak, Bloomberg News reported.

Bondholders to U.K. discount retailer Matalan have hired advisers as the company draws up plans to raise additional funding to cope with the impact of the coronavirus lockdown, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors will work with financial adviser Perella Weinberg Partners Group LP and law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP in the coming weeks, Matalan said in a statement Monday. The retailer said it’s too early to specify the amount of funding required but guided that 60 million pounds ($74 million) could be sufficient to help the business get back on its feet.

Problem loans at some of Standard Chartered Plc’s large clients may top $600 million as a string of corporate scandals coincides with woes at firms hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. NMC Health Plc, the hospital operator that’s uncovered evidence of fraud, and Hin Leong Trading (Pte.), the Singaporean trading house being investigated by police, represent nearly $500 million of lending for Standard Chartered, according to public filings. Separately, a South African farm bank that the London-based company lends to has defaulted on some of its debt.

Virgin Atlantic is still talking with the British government about a bailout package to cope with the devastating effects of the coronavirus outbreak on travel as well as focusing on private sector funding, a company spokeswoman told Reuters. The comments came after the Sunday Telegraph reported here that founder Richard Branson was seeking a buyer for the airline and had set a May-end deadline for a sale, and that talks with the government for a 500 million pound ($618.35 million) bailout package had been "effectively shelved,” Reuters reported.

The co-owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. said it’s unable to invest more in Richard Branson’s struggling U.K. airline, and raised the possibility it could face going through insolvency proceedings, Bloomberg News reported. Delta Air Lines Inc., which owns a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, can’t help out because it’s consumed with its own problems and has already bumped up against U.K. limits on foreign airline ownership, Ed Bastian, the U.S. company’s chief executive officer, said Thursday. “With our crisis in cash, we need to protect our own business.

The number of soured U.K. commercial property loans started rising in 2019 for the first time in eight years. Now, it’s set to skyrocket. The coronavirus outbreak will trigger as much as 10 billion pounds ($12.3 billion) of losses and write-offs on loans tied to U.K. stores and malls, according to a survey of lenders by Cass Business School. That’s after a slump in retail property saw the value of bad loans spike by more than a third last year, though to a still relatively low 2.9 billion pounds.

The collapse of Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. after the briefest of fights indicates the world’s weakest airlines have little time to secure funds before they succumb to the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. The debt-laden carrier became the outbreak’s biggest airline scalp when it handed control to administrators on Tuesday. A near-halt in passenger revenue overwhelmed the Brisbane-based company in less than two months. “We should get used to news of this kind,” said Volodymyr Bilotkach, a lecturer in air-transport management at the Singapore Institute of Technology.

Offshore oil driller Valaris PLC is preparing to start talks with creditors to see if they can agree on terms for a possible bankruptcy filing, as it grapples with a $6.5 billion debt burden and an unprecedented plunge in U.S. crude prices, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Reuters reported last month that the London-based company was working with debt restructuring advisers as it struggled to cope with a rig accident and falling energy prices, Reuters reported. Since then, U.S.