The European Central Bank sees scope for further cuts to its deposit rate after the one announced last month, according to minutes of the bank's December meeting that were released on Thursday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The eurozone economy is at risk from weakening emerging market growth, sagging demand for its exports and increased geopolitical risks, the E.C.B. said in its report on the Dec. 2-3 meeting at which it eased its policy less than markets had been expecting.

An appeal by the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) against a High Court ruling that it must pay out on outstanding claims following the collapse of the Setanta Insurance Company in 2014 has opened before the Court of Appeal, the Irish Times reported. The MIBI is appealing against Mr Justice John Hedigan’s finding that it was liable to pay out in respect of claims against persons who were insured with Setanta at the time of its liquidation. The case has important implications for motor insurance premiums as well as parties involved in claims concerning Setanta.

Greece renewed its challenge to its creditors’ austerity demands on Tuesday, with a key minister in the government calling on Europe to let Greece meet its fiscal targets mainly via economic growth, not belt-tightening. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Greek Labor Minister George Katrougalos said the ruling left-wing Syriza party hasn’t given up its fight against austerity, despite a tactical retreat last year, when Greece signed up to deeper fiscal retrenchment under heavy pressure from creditors. “We may have not won a battle, but the war goes on,” said Mr.

The persistent plunge in oil prices has translated into a new round of industry job cuts, the International New York Times reported. The British oil giant BP said on Tuesday it would eliminate 4,000 of the approximately 24,000 positions in its exploration and production units this year. That would be in addition to about 4,000 jobs that the company cut last year, when it trimmed its work force to about 80,000. “We have to make sure we have a competitive and sustainable business,” David Nicholas, a company spokesman, said by telephone.

Small Northern Ireland businesses whose bank loans were acquired by Cerberus are receiving “unreasonable” demands from the US investment firm – in some cases, to make significant payments within a 24 or 48 hour period – Stormont politicians were informed Tuesday, the Irish Times reported. Insolvency advisers Bell & Co said many business owners with non-performing loans whom it represents were “living in fear of the receivers” because of the attitude adopted by Cerberus.

About 35 multinationals, including brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, will be required to pay roughly €700 million ($765 million) in additional taxes in Belgium after European Union regulators ruled they had benefited from an illegal tax break, The Wall Street Journal reported. After an 11-month investigation, the European Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust regulator, concluded Monday that a Belgian tax-discount plan for multinationals amounted to “a very serious distortion of competition within the EU’s single market,” and ordered Belgium to recover the unpaid taxes.

The long-awaited trial of Spain’s Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband on tax-fraud charges opened Monday, presenting a challenge for King Felipe VI as he tries to rebuild the monarchy’s prestige and assert its influence in the country’s unsettled politics, The Wall Street Journal reported. The king’s 50-year-old sister—the first sibling of a Spanish monarch to ever be tried, according to historians—faces up to eight years in jail if convicted on two counts of tax fraud.

PGGM, one of the largest Dutch pension fund managers, will on Monday complete a €2.3bn trade to insure loans of Santander, the Spanish bank, in a deal that highlights the growing appeal of exotic financial instruments in a world of ultra-low interest rates, the Financial Times reported. The two parties are finalising a so-called synthetic securitisation deal, by which PGGM will sell credit insurance against potential losses on a portion of more than 6,000 Santander loans to small and medium enterprises.

A British referendum on whether to remain a member of the European Union is the single biggest “known unknown” hanging over the European economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The vote now seems almost certain to take place this year. Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to achieve a deal at a summit in February on the changes to the relationship that he thinks are necessary to persuade Britons to back continued membership. EU officials say the parameters of the deal are already hammered out.

The Revenue Commissioners secured 27 criminal convictions for serious tax evasion and fraud in 2015, according to figures released Thursday, the Irish Times reported. Those prosecutions were on top of 2,063 summary convictions, or lesser charges, for the non-filling of tax returns and customs offences. Headline figures for the year show the service conducted more than 461,000 individual audits and compliance investigations which yielded €642.5 million.