The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) conducted more than 300 investigations last year into cases where it suspected people going through bankruptcy had not declared assets or had illegally transferred property to the detriment of creditors, according to its latest annual report, the Irish Times reported. The report, due to be presented imminently to the Cabinet, discloses that three of these investigations resulted in the recovery of about €6.5 million. Last year saw 521 people exit bankruptcy, while 118 family homes were transferred back into the ownership of former bankrupts.

The property boom in Germany’s capital is breaking record after record, but the city’s elders are looking to pump the brakes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Berlin’s left-leaning local government, an alliance of Social Democrats, Greens and Socialists, is moving to rein in the residential real-estate market with a barrage of measures that critics say would have put East Germany’s Communist former rulers to shame.

Fresh Italian debt sales in coming weeks will test investors’ view of the interest rates available on the country’s substantial financing needs, as market participants warn that conditions are still far from settled, the Financial Times reported. Italian government bond yields remain elevated after a price plunge in May drove the 10-year benchmark briefly above 3.3 per cent, as populist parties sought to form a government.

In times of summer, the thoughts of young (and oldish) financiers often turn to liquidity; and not just because they are dreaming about sangria or beer on a sunny beach. Instead the big issue in summer is that the ability to buy and sell assets — or the level of “liquidity” — typically declines during the holiday lull. That can cause asset prices to go haywire if a nasty surprise hits, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Just think of what happened in August 2007 or August 1997.

The creditors of Agrokor, Croatia’s indebted food producer and retailer, on Wednesday voted to approve a debt settlement deal that will help to resolve the company’s troubles, Reuters reported. Agrokor, the largest private company in the Balkans with 60,000 staff, was put under state-run administration in April 2017, crippled by debts built up during an ambitious expansion drive. Its creditors include local and foreign banks, bondholders and suppliers.

Britain’s accounting watchdog is investigating KPMG’s audit of drinks firm Conviviality’s financial statements, weeks after highlighting an “unacceptable deterioration” in the auditor’s work with top British firms, Reuters reported. KPMG denied any shortcomings in its audit of Conviviality, which entered administration in April. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is probing Conviviality’s financial statements for the year ended April 2017. The FRC also said it was looking into the preparation and approval of Conviviality’s financial statements and other financial information.

Britain’s biggest labour union said on Tuesday it launched legal action against Carillion on behalf of former workers of the company, whose jobs were made redundant following the collapse of the British outsourcer in January, Reuters reported. The members were employed by Carillion’s group company Planned Maintenance Engineering Ltd on a contract at Britain’s GCHQ spy agency headquarters in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Thousands of struggling buy-to-let investors are facing a dramatic increase in mortgage payments over the next four years, the Irish Times reported. A study by Central Bank staff says that many borrowers currently on interest-only payments are set to switch to a traditional amortising mortgage between now and 2022. That means they will have to start paying down the principal of the loan, a move that will significantly increase their monthly repayments. Close to half of buy-to-let mortgages examined in the study were interest-only.

Eurozone manufacturers battled a sharp increase in costs in June as global trade tensions pushed up prices of steel and other metals, the Financial Times reported. Business confidence sagged among Germany factory executives, who fretted over a “cooling market, tariffs and supply constraints”, according to IHS Markit, which compiles the closely-watched purchasing managers’ surveys for the major European economies. Growth in the powerhouse sector had “consistently slowed” in Germany through the first half of 2018, IHS Markit said.

Greece exits its third international bailout in August, but without further debt relief it may not be able to sustain market access in the long run, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday. Greece and its European partners agreed last week on a set of debt measures to help the country emerge smoothly from the program, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The deal significantly improved medium-term debt sustainability but "longer prospects remain uncertain," the IMF said.