The U.K.’s oil refineries would be at a severe competitive disadvantage if Britain exits the European Union without a deal and tariffs were imposed on its gasoline exports, according to an industry group, Bloomberg News reported. A leaked government document, on the implications of a no-deal Brexit, claimed that two of the U.K.’s oil refineries could be forced to shut down if tariffs were imposed on British gasoline exports because it would make them noncompetitive compared to facilities within the bloc. However, they are unlikely to face permanent closure, according to industry analysts.

Greece’s new finance minister has said that implementing sweeping tax reforms will be his “key priority” as his country seeks to boost growth and rebuild credibility with investors following a decade of international bailouts backed by the EU and IMF, the Financial Times reported. Christos Staikouras told the Financial Times that the centre-right New Democracy government is planning “a comprehensive tax reform that will have a four-year horizon and will accelerate growth”.

The Government has seen almost €6 billion wiped off the value of its stakes in the three surviving bailed-out banks in the past year, leaving a notional shortfall in its aim to recoup their rescue costs during the financial crisis, The Irish Times reported.

A judge in London said on Friday he would grant an Irish-owned company the right to seek to seize some $9 billion (€8.1 billion) in assets from the Nigerian government over an aborted gas project, The Irish Times reported. Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) was awarded $6.6 billion in an arbitration decision over a failed project to build a gas-processing plant in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar. With interest payments, the sum now tops $9 billion – some 20 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.

Russian coal and steel producer Mechel has asked state-controlled lenders Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank for more time to make its debt repayments, the banks and company said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Mechel, which had already postponed debt repayments to 2020-2022 following lengthy restructuring talks with Russian state banks earlier this year, is now asking to push payments back to 2024-2026, an executive at Sberbank, one of its key lenders, said.

South Africa’s Truworths International Ltd is considering closing loss-making stores of its UK-based shoe chain Office, joining the growing ranks of retailers to be hit by Britain’s gloomy trading environment, Reuters reported. Office is battling tough conditions in Britain due to uncertainty over Brexit, plus pressures on store-based retailers as shoppers move online. This resulted in the South African-listed clothing, shoes, jewellery and homeware retailer booking a non-cash impairment charge of 97 million pounds ($117.44 million) against Office’s assets.

President Vladimir Putin has given officials until the end of August to make proposals on how Russia should assess commercial borrowers' risks under new international rules that the domestic banking sector plans to adopt, Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin said, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The central bank is voluntarily signing the sector up to the Basel III reforms, aimed at strengthening the regulation, supervision and risk management of banks and due to be fully implemented within the European Union by 2027.

Investors may see little danger of the euro zone breaking up anytime soon, but a growing pile of poor economic data is souring sentiment to a degree not seen since the painful days of the region’s sovereign debt crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Wednesday’s report showing a contraction in Germany’s economy fueled further downside to European equities. The share of fund managers who believe the region’s economy will weaken over the next 12 months nearly doubled in August from the previous month, reaching 59%, the highest level since December 2011, according to Bank of America Corp.’s survey.

Norway’s central bank has cast doubt on whether it will raise interest rates again this year as growing economic uncertainty around the world fuels a global shift towards looser monetary policy, the Financial Times reported. The bank was dubbed “the sole hawk in town” after raising rates at the end of June, its third increase in the past year.

A decade after the financial crisis, Europe’s banks just can’t seem to put their woes behind them, and that should worry more than a few highly paid executives, Bloomberg News reported. While U.S. lenders saw their shares surge almost seven-fold since markets hit bottom in March 2009, their European rivals are trading barely above levels from a decade ago, and several have recently hit new lows. European banks are at the epicenter of almost 50,000 jobs that are being cut from the global industry as the prospect of lower interest rates for longer weighs on an already fragile industry.