Iceland is returning to global bond markets for the first time in more than 18 months, marking another step in its recovery after the 2008 crisis that bankrupted its biggest banks and depressed the economy, the Financial TImes reported. The Nordic island is aiming to raise €500m in a five-year euro-denominated bond, according to people familiar with its plans, similar to a bond sale of December 2017. Proceeds will be used to buy back €352m of outstanding bonds. Running a budget surplus, Iceland has no immediate need for the remaining money raised.

The last time Labour politicians governed Britain, they took a swathe of the banking industry into public ownership to avoid its collapse. More than a decade later, banks are growing worried about the party’s latest promise to nationalize utility firms -- a policy that could trigger a fresh set of multibillion pound losses, Bloomberg News reported. Lloyds Banking Group Plc, one of the country’s largest business lenders, has multiple exposures to the utility sector through swaps, derivatives and revolving credit facilities, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Leisure Cargo (LC) is to enter insolvency following the loss of contracts with TUI and another carrier. A spokesperson for the GSSA confirmed to The Loadstar it had begun insolvency proceedings at a court in Dusseldorf, with White & Case appointed trustees, The Loadstar reported. Reorganisation manager Tillmann Peeters, of Falkensteg Restrukturierung, said: “We want to stabilise business operations quickly and continue as smoothly as possible.

Intu Properties Plc, Philip Green-owned Arcadia’s second biggest landlord, is set to oppose the fashion group’s latest sweetened rescue plan, Sky News reported on Tuesday. Reuters reported. Arcadia last week offered better terms for landlords in a restructuring plan for the struggling British fashion retailer, seeking the support of creditors to prevent the group from collapsing into administration.

British retailer Debenhams has received a challenge from shareholder Sports Direct over a restructuring plan that wiped out investors but kept the company operating, Reuters reported. Debenhams is restructuring the chain using so-called company voluntary arrangements (CVAs), which allow retailers to avoid insolvency by offloading unwanted stores and secure lower rents on others and reach a compromise with creditors. The plan gave creditors control of the company in May, at the expense of investors.

British construction firms report having almost a third less work in the pipeline than a year ago, with Brexit and the collapse of larger contractors a major worry, an annual survey of subcontractors showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Subcontractors reported having 19 weeks of work to fall back on, down from 27 weeks a year earlier, according to the survey by trade finance provider Bibby Financial Services, an advance copy of which was provided to Reuters.

Deutsche Bank on Monday acknowledged a lapse in its money laundering controls, underlining the bank’s continuing struggle to move beyond a series of scandals that have helped push its stock price to a record low, the International New York Times reported. An internal audit uncovered deficiencies in the way that the bank processed checks on behalf of clients, Deutsche Bank said in a statement. The audit, which examined the bank’s operations in Britain, did not find any cases of money laundering or breaches of international sanctions that occurred because of the lapses, the bank said.

The Government’s medium-term projections for the public finances are “not credible”, the State’s fiscal watchdog has said in its latest assessment of the economy, The Irish Times reported. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) said the projections – laid out in the Stability Programme Update 2019 – show exchequer surpluses increasing each year based on expenditure forecasts that were not probable.

On Wednesday, Brussels issued a formal warning that sets Rome on the path towards its naughty corner for fiscal delinquents — the so-called excessive deficit procedure (EDP) — which, in extremis, could lead to fines or suspended transfers from the EU budget, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. This step is formally the same as the one Brussels took last autumn, that led to a compromise avoiding sanction. But there is much less chance of such an outcome now, economists say. Last time, Brussels objected to Rome’s declared budget plans, which were accordingly tweaked.

Britain's withholding of 39 billion pounds it promised the EU as part of its original Brexit plan would not constitute a default in the eyes of credit ratings agencies, but lawyers said it could lead to international court battles, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Boris Johnson, the leading candidate to be Britain's next prime minister, said at the weekend that he would retain the Brexit payment until the EU gave the UK better exit terms. The 39 billion pounds represents outstanding British liabilities to the EU and is to be paid over a number of years.