Shares in Monte dei Paschi di Siena fell 6 per cent in early trading on Wednesday, triggering an automatic trading suspension, after the withdrawal of an alternative rescue plan for Italy’s third largest lender, the Irish Times reported on a Reuters story. Veteran Italian banker and former industry minister Corrado Passera withdrew his plan for Monte dei Paschi on Tuesday, accusing the bank of obstruction and ignoring the interests of its own shareholders.

The Pensions Regulator has begun formal legal proceedings against Sir Philip Green and Dominic Chappell that could force them to fill the £571m deficit in the BHS pension scheme, marking a dramatic escalation of the scandal surrounding the demise of the high street chain, The Guardian reported. The regulator said that after a “complex investigation” and months of talks with Green about a rescue deal for the pension scheme it was sending warning notices to the billionaire tycoon, Chappell and their companies.

Embarrassed members of Ukraine’s parliament have given up a pay rise to try to defuse public anger after an exercise in transparency revealed they held hundreds of millions of dollars of assets from expensive cars to prized works of art. Tens of thousands of civil servants were required to file public “e-declarations” of their wealth as part of a far-reaching anti-corruption initiative backed by western donors to the war-scarred country.

Eurozone firms are socking away increasing amounts of money despite the European Central Bank’s effort to encourage business spending and investment by slashing interest rates below zero, The Wall Street Journal reported. ECB data published Friday show the net savings rate of nonfinancial corporations surged to 6.7% of their net income in the second quarter, a multiyear high and up sharply from 6.1% in the previous three months. Nonfinancial investment by such firms remained steady at 3.5%, where it has hovered for two years.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena unveiled an ambitious turnaround plan last week, but its recast recapitalisation still hinges on a 28bn bad loan securitisation that remains marred by deep uncertainty, Reuters reported. Italy's third largest lender confirmed that its financial overhaul now includes a potential liability management exercise that will look to assign both retail and institutional subordinated bondholders new equity following scant investor interest for the 5bn cash call proposed in July.

The U.K.’s biggest banks and financial firms could gain an additional 12 billion pounds ($14.6 billion) a year in revenue from Britain leaving the European Union, according to a report from a pro-Brexit lobby group, Bloomberg News reported. Leaving the 28-nation trading bloc and ending membership in the EU single market for trade and services would help Britain cut “stifling Brussels red tape” to help U.K.-based financial firms grow sales, the Leave Means Leave campaign said in the report published on Sunday.

The chief executive of Ulster Bank’s owner, Royal Bank of Scotland, has said the group may look at “safe” Irish acquisitions again in the coming years after it offloads a UK business at the behest of the European Union, the Irish Times reported. Ross McEwan, head of RBS for the past three years, told analysts on Friday that while the group had got “lots to do to clean up” Ulster Bank, he would be “open to” carrying out an acquisition in Ireland at some point.

Eurozone firms are socking away increasing amounts of money despite the European Central Bank’s effort to encourage business spending and investment by slashing interest rates below zero, The Wall Street Journal reported. ECB data published Friday show the net savings rate of nonfinancial corporations surged to 6.7% of their net income in the second quarter, a multiyear high and up sharply from 6.1% in the previous three months. Nonfinancial investment by such firms remained steady at 3.5%, where it has hovered for two years.

Growth in loans to euro zone companies and households is leveling off, European Central bank data showed on Thursday, keeping the pressure on the ECB to maintain its aggressive stimulus policy for months to come. Lending to companies grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year in September while household loans rose by 1.8 percent, keeping the steady but slow pace seen since the start of the summer.

Spain’s unemployment rate has fallen below 20 per cent for the first time in six years, as the country’s economic recovery continues to power ahead despite 10 months of political deadlock and government drift, the Financial Times reported. According to the latest data from Spain’s quarterly labour market survey, the economy created close to 480,000 jobs over the past 12 months. The number of unemployed fell by 530,000 over the same period, or 11 per cent, to 4.32m.