The International Monetary Fund did not bring up Deutsche Bank’s name when it warned in its financial stability report that cash-poor banks in Europe with outdated business models posed a threat to the financial system, the International New York Times reported. But at a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the study’s findings, fund officials charged with gauging financial stability risks worldwide showed no such reluctance.

An external early warning system for companies at risk of insolvency is central to a European Commission's draft proposal to cut the region's bankruptcy problem and help banks recoup bad loans. Non-performing loans (NPLs) on the euro zone's main lenders' balance sheets neared 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) last year, about 9 percent of the bloc's gross domestic product, hitting banks' ability to make money on corporate lending.

The International Monetary Fund has urged governments to take action to tackle a record $152tn debt mountain before it triggers a fresh global financial and economic crisis, The Guardian reported. Warning that debt levels were not just high but rising, the IMF said it was vital to intervene early in order to mitigate the risks of a repeat of the damaging events that began with the collapse of the US sub-prime housing bubble almost a decade ago.

Euro zone bond yields soared on Wednesday, as concerns the European Central Bank might reduce the scale of its asset purchases before the programme finally ends unnerved investors. A Bloomberg article on Tuesday cited sources as saying the ECB would probably wind down the monthly 80 billion euro ($90 billion) quantitative easing (QE) scheme gradually. The ECB has not discussed reducing the pace of monthly purchases, a central bank media officer later tweeted. The scheme is due to run until March next year and many analysts expect it to be extended given that inflation remains low.

The World Bank on Wednesday urged Croatia's new cabinet, likely to be formed this month, to act quickly to tackle fiscal imbalances and restructure public spending so as to draw more investment and boost persistent low growth. The international lender said growth over the next two years was unlikely to surpass this year's forecast 2.4 percent. Next year the bank expects it to fall to 2.0 percent before recovering to 2.4 percent in 2018. "Next year we expect a major effort in fiscal consolidation to affect growth ...

The European Central Bank is cooling on a signature policy: negative interest rates. Two senior ECB officials warned early this week that subzero rates could, over time, cause banks to reduce lending to the economy—the opposite of what the central bank hopes to achieve, The Wall Street Journal reported. The shift in tone from the ECB, which has been among the strongest proponents of negative rates, could mark the beginning of the end for a controversial policy experiment that has turned conventional economic thinking upside down.

Ericsson AB plans to cut 3,000 jobs in Sweden, a fifth of the workforce in its home country, as it curbs production to cope with shifting technology and stagnant demand for wireless-network equipment. The company will reduce manufacturing in the towns of Boraas and Kumla - a move it signalled last month - as it turns its focus to software development, the Irish Times reported.

Britain crashing out of the European single market could cost banks and associated businesses in the U.K. almost 40 billion pounds ($51 billion) in lost revenue, undermining a key sector of the economy, an industry report warned on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. Finance firms are making a fresh bid for special status in upcoming Brexit negotiations with the EU after U.K. government officials this week indicated banks will get no favors.

The Aughinish Alumina plant in Co Limerick staged a remarkable turnaround last year, recording a $14.4 million pretax profit after reporting a $12.1 million loss in 2014, the Irish Times reported. The main activity of the Shannon estuary-based refinery is the production and sale of alumina, which is extracted at the plant from bauxite and then exported outside the EU for further processing to aluminium metal.

Glencore, the miner and commodity trader, has announced plans to repurchase up to $1.25bn of bonds as part of an ongoing plan to reduce debt and leverage, the Financial Times reported. The buy back is targeting bonds that mature in 2018 and 2019 with investors being given until the end of the month to tender their notes, writes Neil Hume in London. The world’s biggest miners are slashing costs and cutting their debt burdens after being shaken to the core by the worst price rout in a generation.