Since the failure of merger talks with Commerzbank, there has been speculation that Deutsche Bank would embark on a major restructuring in the hopes of restoring its fortunes. Now, details are beginning to emerge, Forbes reported. According to the Financial Times, the bank’s chief executive, Christian Sewing, plans to create a “bad bank” into which will be placed up to €50bn ($56.18bn) of poorly performing assets, mostly from the troubled U.S. investment bank.

As markets seem prepared to call the European Central Bank’s bluff, we are left with fear and hope — that Mario Draghi and his successor will rise to the challenge, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Story of his life, as they say. Ever since the ECB president took office eight years ago, he has dealt with the consequences of other policymakers’ mistakes, incompetence or inertia. As he nears the end of his term in October, we have lost count of the number of times Mr Draghi has been under pressure to act, having already done the right thing.

Kier is to cut 1,200 jobs and sell large chunks of its business as a crisis of confidence in the UK government contractor’s financial position forces it to begin paying suppliers in advance, the Financial Times reported. Andrew Davies, chief executive, said the company had briefed the government’s Cabinet Office, which accounts for 60 per cent of revenues, ahead of an announcement on Monday in which it said it would divest its mainly private sector-focused businesses in housing, property development, environmental consultancy and facilities management. “We are in regular di

Spanish retailer DIA said on Monday its main shareholder will seek a deal on how to restructure the discount supermarket chain’s towering debt after missing a Saturday deadline, Reuters reported. The company’s biggest shareholder, investment fund LetterOne, is negotiating with a group of 17 lenders, including seven investment funds, the details of a 380-million-euro ($426.63 million) refinancing agreement, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

EU finance ministers agreed small steps towards creating a eurozone budget after marathon talks failed to settle a longstanding Franco-Dutch dispute over how it should be funded, the Financial Times reported. After almost 12 hours of sometimes fraught negotiations in Luxembourg that ran into the early hours of Friday, ministers were only able to agree the broad purpose of the budget, while putting to one side questions over its financing and eventual size.

Shares in Britain’s Kier fell more than 35% on Friday to a record low after the Times newspaper reported the construction and services group was rushing to sell its housebuilding business at a discount to cut mounting debt, Reuters reported. The report was the latest setback for the group, which has contracts for major projects including London’s Crossrail link, following a profit warning last week. The shares fell as much as 36.3% to 129 pence by 1415 GMT, the lowest since it listed in 1996, erasing all of the 24% gains made since Kier’s profit warning on June 3.

A leading contender to head the European Central Bank has warned of “bleak” indications about the health of the global economy and said a breakdown in co-operation was paralysing officials’ ability to fight the next crisis, the Financial Times reported. Benoît Cœuré, a member of the executive board of the ECB, said in an interview that markets were sending a “quite alarming” message that was at odds with benign economic data. “The constellation of prices in the bond market paints a picture of the global economy which is very bleak,” Mr Cœuré told the Financial Times.

Thousands of customers of two failed pension providers can now claim for losses after the Financial Services Compensation Scheme declared the firms in default, the Financial Times reported. GPC Sipp and Lifetime Sipp are the latest in a string of private pension operators to collapse, prompting a wave of compensation claims at the FSCS. The FSCS, which provides a safety net for customers of failed investment businesses, said it was accepting claims against GPC Sipp, which was placed into administration on Tuesday.

Banca Popolare di Bari SCpA, an ailing Italian lender, is in advanced negotiations with an international credit fund over insuring its loans against default, seeking an easier way to reduce risk on its balance sheet, Bloomberg News reported. The potential transaction, known as a synthetic securitization, involves buying insurance from Christofferson Robb & Co, thereby transferring the risk of the loans going sour to the fund in return for a fee, according to people familiar with the talks.

A Danish high court has increased the prison sentence for a former manager of OW Bunker’s Singapore arm to five years, after prosecutors appealed against the original 18-month sentence for actions that contributed to the marine fuel supplier’s collapse, Reuters reported. OW Bunker filed for bankruptcy in 2014 just eight months after listing in Copenhagen, partly due to losses on an estimated $120-$130 million credit line given by its Singapore-based arm to small local company, Tankoil Marine Services.