A disorderly Brexit or a permanent loss of corporation tax revenue could leave the Republic as one of the most indebted countries in the world well into the next decade, a new report from the Central Bank warns, The Irish Times reported. In the economic letter – Debt and Uncertainty: Managing Risks to the Public Finances – the authors argue that a hit to corporation tax revenues or a troubled UK exit from the European Union could result in the State’s level of debt remaining above 90 per cent of national income “well into the middle of the next decade”.

Commodities trader Trafigura has joined a group of lenders to provide a $1 billion loan backed by future oil sales to Chinese independent refiner, Shandong Qingyuan, in a deal which underscores the opening up of China to trading houses, Reuters reported. Chinese banks have scaled down lending due to an economic slowdown, creating an opportunity for trading houses to step in, just as they had after the 2008-2009 financial crisis when risk appetite fell as bank regulation increased.

Lending standards in the rapidly growing loan market are deteriorating and complex financial products that mask risks to banks have parallels with the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, the Bank for International Settlements warned on Sunday, Reuters reported. The number of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), a form of securitization which pools bank loans to companies, has ballooned in recent years as investors hunt for higher returns by buying into loans to lower-rated and riskier companies. Like the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that bundled U.S.

The High Court has confirmed the appointment of an examiner to water firm Celtic Pure, which was at the centre of recent product recalls, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Michael Quinn also heard that there have been 20 expressions of interest from potential investors in the firm. Last month, the Co Monaghan-based provider of bottled drinking water sought the protection of the court from its creditors due to the fall out from two investigations launched after naturally occurring arsenic in some of the firm’s batches exceeded regulatory limits.

Mario Draghi said the eurozone economy faced a much more “prolonged sag” than was expected even a few months ago, as the European Central Bank president justified the monetary stimulus he announced this month, the Financial Times reported. Mr Draghi’s comments came after a key survey of business executives showed that the eurozone’s economy was close to stalling, dragged down by a steep drop in German manufacturing activity. The new data hit markets and prompted predictions of imminent recession on Monday.

Britain’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF) said on Monday it would assess the funding levels of Thomas Cook’s retirement schemes, following the collapse of the world’s oldest travel firm, Reuters reported. PPF is an industry-funded scheme set up to protect the pensions of employees in failing companies. “We await notification that the associated schemes have entered PPF assessment,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement, adding PPF would protect the pensions of people on Thomas Cook’s defined benefit, or final salary, schemes.

Commerzbank said on Friday it wanted to shed thousands of staff and close a fifth of its branches in a strategy overhaul, after the German lender’s attempt to merge with Deutsche Bank failed, Reuters reported. The bank, partly owned by the German government after a bailout and struggling to generate profits, also aims to sell a stake in its Polish subsidiary mBank and absorb its Comdirect online brokerage unit.

RTÉ has appointed the corporate finance arm of KPMG to review its strategic options for 2RN, its transmission network business, the Sunday Times reports. An outright sale of the business could raise up to €200 million for the cash-strapped national broadcaster, The Irish Times reported. The Central Bank of Ireland is at an advanced stage of an investigation into mortgage lenders who add legal fees to the bills of customers in arrears, driving them deeper into debt. Some banks stopped the practice after the regulator intervened.

Companies in Europe are about to take a leaf out of the U.S. playbook on credit default swaps by making it harder for hedge funds to profit from a company’s collapse, Bloomberg News reported. Junk bonds financing the buyout of Merlin Entertainments Plc include terms in their documentation that prevent investors holding ‘net short positions’ with CDS contracts from voting on amendments, waivers or default notices. The provision follows similar efforts by high-yield borrowers in the U.S. sidelining speculators with an interest in seeing a company going bust.

Thomas Cook has gone into administration after knife-edge talks over the weekend with lenders, shareholders and the UK government failed to piece together a rescue package for the 178-year-old travel company, the Financial Times reported. Following a drawn-out day of negotiations at Latham & Watkins, the law firm, on Sunday, Thomas Cook’s board said early on Monday morning that despite “considerable efforts” the failure of the talks meant “it had no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect”.