Ukraine’s decision last week to grant its government the power to stop foreign debt payments marks a distinct shift in tone for the wartorn and recession-battered country. As negotiations between Kiev and its creditors stall and full-blown bankruptcy nears, the rhetoric of government communiques is shifting from conciliation to accusation. Spot the difference in sentiment. In March a presentation to investors noted that “a collaborative process is paramount . . . Ukraine is committed to undertake consultations with its creditors”. By May the government declared it “has the right . . .

The liquidators of a pair of failed Cayman Islands-based hedge funds run by a former Harvard quarterback are suing Barclays PLC to claw back some $80 million they say was illegally funneled to the bank to cover margin calls, The Wall Street Journal reported. The offshore funds--ICP Strategic Credit Income Fund Ltd. and ICP Strategic Credit Income Master Fund Ltd. -- were so-called feeder funds managed by ICP Asset Management LLC, a money-management firm founded by Thomas C. Priore. Lawyers for the liquidators said in a suit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York that Mr.

People struggling with debts they cannot repay should feel no stigma and should not be afraid of making contact with the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI), an Oireachtas committee has been told, the Irish Times reported. Addressing the Justice, Defence and Equality Committee, the head of the ISI Lorcan O’Connor said that there were still 37,000 mortgages in arrears of longer than 720 days and a “lack of engagement” was hampering the resolution of a large number of cases.

Greek banks have seen deposit outflows accelerate over the past week as fears rise that the euro zone country will default on debt, two banking sources said on Wednesday. The spike follows a steady outflow of money from Greek lenders this year as Athens and its creditors struggle to agree an aid-for-reforms deal before Greece runs out of money. “The past week in May was more challenging compared to the previous ones in the month, with daily outflows of €200 to €300 million in the last few days,” a senior Greek banker said.

French corporate insolvencies continued to fall in April, data showed on Tuesday in the latest sign of an upturn in the euro zone's second largest economy. Figures published by French trade insurance company Coface showed there were a total of 62,473 corporate failures in the 12 months till end-April, 2.7 percent down on the previous year. That came after the 2.9 percent fall seen for the calendar 2014 year as a whole, the biggest such fall since 2010.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced yesterday that it has agreed to sell a portfolio of Ulster Bank loans in Northern Ireland to an entity affiliated with Cerberus Capital Management, the Irish Times reported. It said the disposal of this portfolio represented the “final material transaction for RBS Capital Resolution in Northern Ireland”. RCR is the UK bank’s workout vehicle for problem loans. This would appear to be RBS drawing a line under the deleveraging of non-core assets at Ulster Bank’s Northern Ireland operation relating to the global financial crash.

Romanian state-owned electricity producer Hidroelectrica will not exit the insolvency process this year, as initially expected, due to lengthy court actions, the company’s legal administrator said in an interview with Reuters. Hidroelectrica has managed to reorganize its activity in the last three years and posted record profits in 2014 and the first quarter of 2015, but still has to solve its problems in court. “The court challenges are advancing very slowly,” said manager Remus Borza. He added the company still had 19 ongoing trials out of an initial 75.

When the world’s top finance ministers and central-bank chiefs meet in Dresden this week, they may struggle to stick to an agenda set by their German hosts that doesn’t mention Greece, Bloomberg News reported. The Group of Seven meeting starting on Wednesday will officially focus on big-picture themes of economic growth, tax evasion and strengthening the global financial architecture. Yet the most pressing matter for many of the policy makers attending is whether Greece can stay in the euro, and whether the world can handle the consequences if it can’t.

Ukraine on Tuesday expressed confidence it would complete a debt restructuring to clear the way for fresh IMF aid next month after state-run Ukreximbank tied up a deal with a bondholders' committee to extend maturities on $1.5 billion of Eurobonds, Reuters reported. Near-bankrupt Ukraine is holding talks to restructure sovereign and state-guaranteed debt to plug a $15.3 billion funding gap required under an International Monetary Fund-backed $40 billion bailout programme.

Banks have paid billions. Regulators and prosecutors have extracted guilty pleas from financial institutions. Dozens of employees have been fired, and at least one chief executive has lost his job. Now, on Tuesday, the first trader in the sprawling, half-decade-old investigation into the rigging of global benchmark interest rates will go on trial in Southwark Crown Court, the International New York Times reported. The British authorities have charged Tom Hayes, a 35-year-old former trader from Citigroup and UBS with eight counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. Mr.