The rescue of embattled Chinese property company Evergrande appears to have stalled, leaving the developer on the brink of default and threatening to unleash contagion through the country’s giant real estate sector, home prices and the economy. The problems enveloping Evergrande, which has eyewatering total debts of $305bn, have hung over global financial markets in recent weeks and helped curb China’s post-pandemic recovery. – Guardian
Credit Suisse has been fined nearly £350m by global regulators, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and agreed to forgive hundreds of millions of dollars worth of debt owed by Mozambique in an attempt to draw a line under the long-running “tuna bonds” loan scandal. The Swiss banking company had been accused of “serious” failings in its financial crime controls by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice that will put the bank under heavy monitoring for three years after having “defrauded US and international investors”. – Guardian
Halifax has relaxed mortgage borrowing rules for millions of wealthy homebuyers in a bet that the property market will remain resilient despite the threat of rising interest rates. Britain’s biggest housing lender will now hand borrowers who earn more than £75,000 a loan of up to five-and-a-half times their annual income, up from a previous limit of five times. – Telegraph
More than 140m have watched the South Korean drama Squid Game since its release last month, making it the most-watched show in Netflix’s history. Netflix said the success of the show in recent weeks helped buoy its results for the third quarter. It reported its strongest subscriber growth of the year in the three months to September 30, adding 4.4m more customers in the period and beating Wall Street estimates. – Telegraph
The two most senior Vectura executives offloaded shares worth more than £6 million as part of the contentious sale of the respiratory drugs firm to one of the world’s largest tobacco groups. Will Downie, Vectura’s chief executive since 2019 and a former executive at Catalent, the US drugs company, sold shares in Vectura worth £2.3 million, and Paul Fry, its chief financial officer, sold shares worth £3.8 million, stock market disclosures show. – The Times
