Italy is preparing a decree to renew and possibly modify a state guarantee scheme designed to help its banks shed a mountain of bad loans, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday. The scheme, known by the acronym GACS, was introduced in 2016 and is set to expire on March 6, Reuters reported. The government now aims to launch a new programme and is in talks with European authorities, which must approve it. “The agreement has not yet been reached but we are quite close,” one of the sources said, asking not to be named.

Britain’s banks would be resilient to a chaotic Brexit, even if this leads to a spike in bad loans that hits their profits, credit rating agency Moody’s said, Reuters reported. Lenders’ efforts to boost their capital buffers since the financial crisis has put them in a good position to weather any disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit, Moody’s said in a report on Wednesday.

Temporary administrators of Banca Carige said they had to find a buyer by April for the Italian bank, after unveiling a 630 million euro (£540 million) capital shortfall, Reuters reported. The European Central Bank on Jan. 2 placed Italy’s 10th largest bank under special administration - its first ever such move - after the top investor in the Genoa-based lender blocked a 400 million euro cash call.

Denis O’Brien’s saw its debt burden increase in the three months to the end of December as earnings dipped, increasing pressure on the telecoms group as it seeks to lower its borrowings ratios, The Irish Times reported. The Jamaica-based group, which completed a massive debt restructuring earlier this year, told its bondholders on Wednesday that its net debt amounted to 6.8 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation (ebitda) at the end 2018, its fiscal third quarter, according to sources.

Half of European Union countries are experiencing economic imbalances that differ widely, the EU Commission said on Wednesday, as the bloc discusses how to improve convergence among its 27 members after Britain leaves. In a regular check-up of EU governments’ economic policies and achievements, the Commission renewed its warning that gaps that are harmful to the whole bloc not being addressed in several states, while a growing number of them face shortfalls, Reuters reported.

Troubled UK outsourcing company Interserve has agreed new terms for a debt-for-equity swap with its lenders as it tries to appease shareholders and avoid collapsing under its £631m debt mountain, Global Construction Review reported. The original plan would have cut existing investors’ holding to 2.5%, but it was rejected by New York hedge fund Coltrane and Dutch hedge fund Farringdon Capital Management, who together hold approximately one-third of Interserve’s shares. Coltrane had also called for the entire Interserve board to be removed apart from chief executive Debbie White.

In the first half of this decade Greece almost crashed out of the eurozone, or faced having its membership suspended, in a process known as Grexit, the Financial Times reported. With the UK one month from its scheduled withdrawal from the EU, and no one sure what will actually happen, what lessons does Grexit hold for Brexit? George Papaconstantinou published an article on this subject last week on ING bank’s website. As Greece’s finance minister from October 2009 to June 2011, he was at the centre of events during the early phase of his nation’s sovereign debt crisis.

While the eurozone has made progress in reform, it so far lacks the ambition necessary to promote growth and jobs, increase economic stability and strengthen the international role of the euro, the Financial Times reported. Results have been achieved on banking union, capital market unions and reform of the European stability mechanism. However, key elements are still missing, including the existence of a shared safe financial asset. The quest to create a genuine safe financial asset in the eurozone may have been going on a long time, but the need is real.

Seadrill’s core earnings for the fourth quarter exceeded the company’s own guidance, boosted by lower costs and one-off items, while the market outlook for drilling rigs was improving, the Oslo and New York-listed firm said on Tuesday. The company, controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, reported $73 million in quarterly adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), more than double the $35 million forecast it made in November, Reuters reported.

Greece’s foot-dragging on some key economic reforms is raising creditor concern, putting at risk a planned debt relief measure next month and a rebound in its stock and bond markets, Bloomberg News reported. A report by the country’s creditors due on Wednesday will likely show that Greece has yet to fully comply with a list of 16 pending reforms, European Union officials said. Unless it rushes to complete them before a meeting of euro-area finance ministers on March 11, the cash disbursement will probably be delayed, according to the officials.