A bill is in the making in Latvia over insolvency for small debtors who can't repay what they owe, LSM reported. There are about 40,000 such debtors in Latvia, according to the Finance Latvia Association, which says that debts shouldn't be pardoned fully under the proposed law, instead requiring even the small debtors to cover 10 to 15% of the sum. The bill in question is currently being reviewed at the Justice Ministry.

Insolvent German wind turbine manufacturer Senvion on Monday agreed on exclusive talks with Siemens Gamesa over the sale of a substantial part of its business, Reuters reported. Senvion, which is in self-administration after becoming insolvent in April, said it planned to hammer out a final deal on certain services and onshore assets in Europe in negotiations with the German-Spanish wind energy company by the end of the month. The agreement on exclusive talks is consistent with insolvency plans adopted by the creditors’ assembly on Sept.

Thomas Cook is set to seek to push back a crucial meeting of bondholders as it races to secure support for a proposed £900m rescue deal that would leave its majority shareholder Fosun and lenders in control of the 178-year-old holiday business, the Financial Times reported. The company is locked in a series of last-minute negotiations as it looks to finalise the terms of the restructuring agreement with Fosun, its lenders and bondholders. Any deal would need support from three-quarters of its bondholders.

A Co Antrim property developer who claims he lost more than £1 million (€1.13 million) during the recession has begun a High Court action against the Ulster Bank, The Irish Times reported. Chris Gordon alleges fraudulent misrepresentation and negligence around the provision of financial services and banking arrangements over a number of years. Mr Gordon, who also operates as an estate agent, is seeking damages over the handling of his business dealings.

Almost two-thirds of voters have said they would be willing to forgo budget tax cuts at a time of rising fears over the economic cost of a no-deal Brexit, The Irish Times reported. According to the latest Sunday Business Post/Red C opinion poll, just 39 per cent said they wanted tax cuts and/or social welfare increases that benefit them personally. Instead, 61 per cent said they would prefer the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to invest more in public services in next month’s budget, at a time of public housing shortages and long health service waiting lists.

Mario Draghi can be assured that he’ll end his term as European Central Bank (ECB) president in November with political platitudes from across the continent ringing in his hear for having saved the euro, The Irish Times reported. Since his “whatever it takes” speech seven years ago, the Italian has unfurled a series of once-inconceivable measures to help solve the euro’s existential crisis.

The Bank of Japan is growing more open to the idea of cutting short-term interest rates deeper into negative territory, responding to global risks that are forcing other central banks to cut rates, said people familiar with the bank’s thinking, The Wall Street Journal reported. If the bank were to do so, however, it would look for ways to avoid sharp declines at the longer end of the yield curve, the people said.

For years the German economy prospered as its companies benefited from growing global trade and freedom to export. France, with a much more domestically focused economy, was a laggard. But now the tables have been turned, the Financial Times reported. In an environment of increasing trade hostility, France’s strength in services and domestic consumption is proving a boon while German exports are suffering as a result of the country’s dependence on the Chinese market for cars and industrial equipment.

Brussels is backing away from plans to rewrite the eurozone fiscal rule book, after finance ministers differed over how to make the framework simpler and the urgency of reforms, the Financial Times reported.

Denmark cut its key interest rate back to its historical low, mirroring an earlier move by the European Central Bank as it seeks to defend the currency peg, Bloomberg News reported. The 10 basis-point cut brings the nation’s deposit rate to minus 0.75% and increases the likelihood that Denmark’s experiment with negative rates will last for more than a decade. It also ends the longest period of unchanged rates in Denmark -- 3 1/2 years -- since the krone was anchored to the euro, in 1999.