In a related story, The Wall Street Journal Real Time Brussels blog reported that if Greece wants to avoid defaulting on its debts, a deal has to be found within days. But back-of-the-envelope calculations by Real Time Brussels show that the Athens government and its creditors may have until the winter to seal a third bailout deal for the country. Here is how: Greece’s decision last week to bundle this month’s payments to the International Monetary Fund means its first major redemption, €1.6 billion, is on June 30.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has said the Government should consider a speedier sale of State-owned banks such as AIB to boost competition in the mortgage market and ease borrowing costs, the Irish Times reported. In new research published with its quarterly economic commentary, the body found that the relationship between the European Central Bank policy rate and standard variable mortgage rates (SVRs) in the Irish banks weakened further after 2011. This was on top of negative credit growth across all sectors of the Irish economy.

After Iceland imposed capital controls during the global financial crisis, the move helped stabilize the country’s banking system, putting the economy on a path to recovery, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. As Iceland now unwinds those controls nearly seven years later, the government is trying to prevent a mass exodus of money and keep the country from backsliding. It is a pivotal moment for a country that came to symbolize the financial crisis, after its three main banks imploded in 2008.

Proposed new obligations on multinationals to produce country-by-country reports on their financial affairs will have a “massive impact” on them, a leading member of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation has said, the Irish Times reported. Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD, was reacting to what he said were “angry responses” to the organisation’s latest proposals on the topic.

Greece and its creditors are discussing an extension of the country’s bailout program through March 2016, people familiar with the talks said, an offer aimed at breaking a protracted standoff over the terms for fresh aid and averting a Greek default, The Wall Street Journal reported. The proposal, first presented last week, is part of European officials’ efforts to prod the government in Athens to agree to painful concessions in exchange for rescue funds.

In a related story, the International New York Times reported that, as it confronts its creditors over its huge debts and how best to recover from a still-crippling downturn, Greece’s left-wing government faces few problems that are more substantively and politically daunting than how to meet pension promises to retirees. In the latest round of negotiations, Greece’s creditors are demanding that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras make further cuts in pensions as a condition of continued assistance in helping Greece pay its enormous debts. Mr.

Oil company Rompetrol SA registered on May 28, at Bucharest Court, a request for insolvency. The company’s request is to be evaluated by judges from Bucharest Court on June 8, reports Mediafax, Business Review reported. According to the courts, the request for insolvency was submitted on the basis of Article 66, Law 85/2014 on insolvency prevention procedures and insolvency.

Bulgaria's Deposit Insurance Fund has chosen forensic advisory firm AlixPartners to help trace and recover the assets of insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), it said on Friday, Reuters reported. The collapse of Corpbank after a run on deposits last June triggered the biggest banking crisis in the Balkan country since the 1990s. A Bulgarian court declared the bank insolvent and opened bankruptcy proceedings after an international audit showed major failings in the way the country's fourth largest lender was run that prompted a writedown of two-thirds of its assets.

No one can be sure how the Greek drama will end, not least because it is no longer clear who, if anyone, is in control, The Wall Street Journal reported. Both sides have been bombarded for months by well-meaning advice to show flexibility and compromise to avoid an economic calamity in Greece and a geopolitical disaster for the eurozone and the world. Instead, positions have hardened to the point where the scope for compromise now looks vanishingly small.

British bookmaker Betfred is understood to have expressed interest in bidding for Ladbrokes’ troubled Irish business, the Irish Times reported. Ladbrokes Ireland plans to close 60 of its 196 betting shops and cut 250 of its 850 jobs under a rescue plan being prepared by High Court-appointed examiner Ken Fennell of Deloitte. Irish competitor Boylesports has launched a competing bid for the chain that will see it invest an eight-figure sum in the business, and which it says will result in fewer closures and job losses.