Greece has reached a deal on economic reforms with the monitors of its €86bn bailout, paving the way for the country to keep getting money from the programme, the Financial Times reported. The agreement centres on tax and pension reforms that Athens must pass into law now, to be implemented in 2019 and 2020. The accord was hailed by euro area finance ministers, meeting in Malta, as a major breakthrough after months of gridlock over the next stages of Greece’s aid programme.

Lloyds Banking Group revealed a £100 million (€116.7 million) compensation scheme on Friday for victims of a fraud, for which six people were jailed this year, as Britain’s financial watchdog reopened an inquiry into the case, the Irish Times reported on a Reuters story. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender has been under pressure to compensate the victims at its HBOS business, who say it reacted too slowly to their complaints, and will hope that this will draw a line under the controversy.

The European Central Bank’s inner circle faced a push from heads of member states’ monetary authorities to drop the doom and gloom from its rhetoric and present a much more optimistic outlook on the eurozone’s economic prospects at its policy vote last month, the Financial Times reported. Accounts of the latest meeting, published Thursday, reveal the scale of the discord between president Mario Draghi and the heads of the German, French and Dutch central banks over the ECB’s assessment of the economy.

Croatia passed an emergency law on Thursday aimed at protecting the economy from big company failures as Agrokor, the country's largest private firm, seeks to resolve its debt crisis, the International New York Times reported. The centre-right majority in parliament approved the law, which will be implemented if Agrokor fails to reach a deal with banks and suppliers on a cash injection and restructuring.

As Greece continues talks with creditors over the next stages of its international bailout programme, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, has warned that it is “no success story” yet. Further discussions will take place at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Malta on Friday. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has called for an emergency summit of EU leaders if a deal is not struck by the end of the week, the Financial Times reported.

The Bank of England’s corporate-bond purchases, one of the stimulus measures announced after the Brexit vote, could conclude as early as this month as the program nears its 10-billion pound ($12.5 billion) target, Bloomberg News reported. After starting purchases in September, BOE officials have found investors more willing to sell company debt than they expected and are on track to meet their target within weeks.

Jens Weidmann isn’t convinced by the recent pullback in the eurozone’s inflation rate, the Financial Times reported. The Bundesbank president has become the latest senior German figure to call on the European Central Bank to bring an early end to its quantitative easing programme, arguing that the central bank should “take its foot off the gas” soon. In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Mr Weidmann said: In my opinion, the point when the foot is not allowed to be left on the accelerator pedal, but is lifted slightly, is approaching.

Top Greek and European officials indicated Wednesday that it's possible to reach a breakthrough in the country's difficult bailout talks over the next two days, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. Greece's prime minister said that if a deal on paying Athens the next bailout installment fails to materialize, the eurozone should hold a special summit.

Iceland’s former three big banks — Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki — became poster boys for the excesses among lenders around the world before the 2008 financial crisis, the Financial Times reported.

High-grade corporate bonds surged when the European Central Bank added them to its €2.3 trillion purchase program last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, with a slowdown in ECB buying on the horizon—alongside potentially risky European elections—some investors are bracing for a selloff. The ECB started paring its monthly purchases of European debt from €80 billion to €60 billion in April, meaning it will buy around €1.9 billion fewer corporate bonds every month, assuming it keeps the allocation of its purchases steady.