Greek officials held a fresh round of talks with international inspectors in Paris Tuesday in a bid to jump-start deadlocked talks over Greece’s reform and austerity program as the country fast approached a year-end deadline to hammer out a new financing deal with creditors, The Wall Street Journal reported. The talks with the troika—made up of representatives from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund—have been stuttering since October, hamstringing Greece’s hopes of negotiating an early exit to its current bailout program.

Bonuses handed out to senior bosses at Royal Bank of Scotland are facing renewed scrutiny after the chairman of the bailed-out bank apologised for inaccuracies in evidence given to MPs about its restructuring division, The Guardian reported. Sir Philip Hampton admitted evidence given by two of the most senior bankers to the Treasury select committee was incorrect. The division is facing accusations about its treatment of small businesses.

Greek government officials will meet in Paris tomorrow with representatives of the so-called troika of international creditors in a bid to break a deadlock over freeing up the last tranche of the country’s bailout, Bloomberg News reported. Bonds gained today after the Greek Finance Ministry said in a statement that Greece and its creditors will discuss how to move forward with the current review and the framework for a post-bailout agreement.

Members of the family of bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn want court orders permitting them cross-examine Irish Bank Resolution Corporation special liquidator Kieran Wallace regarding claims they may be hiding up to €500 million in undisclosed assets from the bank, the Irish Times reported. The Quinns say those claims, made on foot of information from unidentified informants, are “scurrilous lies”. Despite orders obtained by IBRC from the London and US courts for disclosure of documents, nothing has been obtained to support the allegations, they also say.

Bromak, the major shareholder at Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB), is to request an international report on whether the bank's capital is a negative equity, the company's lawyers said on Monday, novinite.com reported. Comments from Menko Menkov and Tervel Georgiev followed a decision of the Sofia City Court to halt the insolvency proceedings started by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). The court cited last week's appeal lodged by Bromak, owned by Tsvetan Vasilev, against the proceedings.

The Greek authorities presented a budget Friday that forecasts healthy growth after a deep recession and includes substantial tax cuts for the first time in four years. But the upbeat assessment lacked the approval of the country’s international creditors, who remain skeptical that Greece can meet economic targets amid political uncertainty, the International New York Times reported. The budget, introduced in Parliament by Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis, predicts that the economy will grow by 2.9 percent in 2015. The Greek economy has shrunk by one-quarter since 2008.

The liquidator of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation has secured a preferred bidder to acquire the assurance arm of the former Anglo Irish Bank, the Irish Times reported. The new owner of the unit is understood to be a large European investor, though the deal remains the subject of final due diligence and regulatory approval. The Department of Finance has to approve any major sale of the bank, whose liquidation is being handled by accountancy firm KPMG. IBRC Assurance has a range of property investments made on behalf of the self-administered pension funds of hundreds of clients.

The government has won an argument over insolvency creditor meetings, despite opposition from influential business groups, economia reported. Business groups, including ICAEW and insolvency trade body R3, had told the government to back down on its insolvency reforms – as part of the small business bill – which will see insolvency meetings with creditors banned unless requested by at least 10% of creditors.

Cracks are beginning to appear in the vaunted Nordic model. The four main Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – still grace the top of most global rankings for happiness, competitiveness, the best place to be a woman and even the best place to be born. That has won them a legion of admirers, from Bill Gates to Scottish nationalists and The Economist, the news magazine, who marvel at the Nordic region’s ability to sustain big welfare systems and competitive economies.

Sofia City Court has said it will have to suspend insolvency proceedings against Corporate Commercial Bank, or KTB, following an appeal by majority owner Bromak, Novinite.com reported. The court said it was informed on Wednesday that Bromak had filed an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) over the central bank's decision to withdraw KTB's banking licence, BGNES reported on Thursday.