The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund is launching a crackdown on executive pay, targeting high salaries at companies around the globe in an attempt to exert its influence in a debate that has been gathering pace in recent months. Norway’s $870bn oil fund, which has previously refused to interfere in how much chief executives are paid, has decided that its position is untenable and is looking for a first company to target publicly on pay in the coming months, the Financial Times reported.

India said on Thursday it had asked Britain to deport Vijay Mallya, the liquor tycoon who flew to London last month as bankers pressed him to repay about $1.4 billion owed by his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, Reuters reported. The Ministry of External Affairs has written to the British High Commission seeking Mallya's return so that "his presence can be secured for investigations against him" under India's anti-moneylaundering law, spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters.

A group of notable British economists countered claims the U.K. would be poorer if it left the European Union, a move that follows a barrage of gloomy forecasts for the British economy if voters choose to leave the bloc in a coming referendum, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a report published Thursday by the eight “Economists for Brexit,” the group said the U.K. economy would be better off outside the EU and could be as much as 2% larger by 2020 if it left—and as much as 4% larger after 10 to 15 years.

The administrator to BHS, the British department store group that is battling to stay in business, has received "around 50" expressions of interest for all or various parts of the retailer, a source with knowledge of the process said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Although the level of interest sounds encouraging, analysts see little prospect of a buyer emerging for the whole of BHS. They say the most likely scenario is that BHS's assets will be sold off piecemeal.

The Bank of Italy has calculated that a draft law allowing creditors to recover bad debts without involving the court system could drastically reduce the length of time the process requires, a source familiar with the matter said. Italian banks are groaning under 360 billion euros ($407.5 billion) in bad loans, which take years to shift partly due to a slow and inefficient justice system. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's cabinet is due to meet on Friday to discuss a draft law aimed at making credit recovery more efficient, according to a government source.

Mineral company Kenmare Resources has confirmed a large-scale financial restructuring plan that could involve raising hundreds of millions of dollars at the troubled explorer, the Irish Times reported. The company defaulted on its debts earlier this year after failing to reach an agreement with its lenders on a deleveraging plan. Kenmare, which focuses on iron and titanium ore ilmenite, said on Thursday it was ready to raise $100 million by selling stock to a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

Spain’s unemployment rate rose slightly in the first quarter, to 21 per cent, but job losses were less severe than usual in what is traditionally a weak period for the labour market, the Financial Times reported. The number of out-of-work Spaniards rose by 11,900 in the first three months of the year, to 4.79m. The total number of employed workers fell by 64,400 to 18.03m, still more than 2m below the jobs levels achieved before Spain’s protracted recession.

Emerging markets’ private sector debt burden reached new highs in 2015 according to new data that highlight mounting problems for companies in developing countries, the Financial Times reported. In a report to be published on Wednesday, Fitch Ratings, one of the world’s three large credit rating agencies, says total private-sector debt in big EMs rose to the equivalent of about 78 per cent of gross domestic product in 2015, up from 71 per cent at the end of 2014.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece asked on Wednesday for a summit meeting of eurozone leaders that would allow him to make his case for easier terms on sorely needed aid to help his country avoid bankruptcy, the International New York Times reported. Without new rescue money by July, Greece could default on its debts and throw the 19-member eurozone into another period of chaos. There could also be a domestic upheaval in Greece similar to last summer, when the country had a referendum on the terms accompanying its third bailout, followed by snap general elections. Mr.

Some of Europe's smaller peripheral lenders will attempt to sell subordinated debt in the coming days, as they take advantage of investors' demand for yield to bolster their balance sheets. Subordinated bank bonds took a serious hit in the early part of the year as investors flew out of the asset class, leaving banks locked out of that market, with second and third-tier financials in a precarious position. The market has staged a stunning comeback since then, particularly after the European Central Bank announced in March that it would start purchasing corporate bonds in June.