Taxpayers may end up footing the bill for third-party claims related to the collapse of Setanta Insurance, the Irish Times reported. The Maltese-registered insurer went into liquidation in April leaving 75,000 motor policyholders in Ireland with no cover. It had been selling mainly commercial motor insurance through brokers and was known as a low-cost operator. Initially Minister for Finance Michael Noonan signalled the industry-funded Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) would cover all outstanding third-party claims emanating from the collapse.

Banks, insurers and other finan­cial services firms operating across Europe face extra hundreds of mil­lions of pounds of extra tax costs, following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling yesterday, City A.M. reported. The ruling means services supplied between a group’s headquarters and its branches may now be subject to VAT. Until now, services such as IT and call centre operations provided to a bank from foreign office were not charged the 20 per cent tax, as they were deemed to be within the same “VAT group”.

Some euro zone banks have insufficient liquidity and several will continue to require support from the European Central Bank after long-term funding help runs out at the start of next year, credit ratings agency S&P said, the Irish Times reported. S&P said refinancing risks were lessening for Europe’s banks as they improve their liquidity in the wake of the financial crisis, but they remains a considerable risk for some.

Dozens of countries with the most advanced economies have agreed on principles for concrete action to prevent corporations from gaming the international tax system, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report on Tuesday, the International New York Times reported.

PV group Solon has announced that two Germany-based units will file for insolvency, as its centre of gravity continues to shift away from Europe under parent company Microsol. Solon announced the start of insolvency proceedings in Berlin for its Solon Modules GmbH and Solon Energy GmbH subsidiaries, Recharge reported. The move came as the company appointed Rolando Gennari as its new European head, with a remit to reposition Solon “as a leading player on the continent”. UAE-based Microsol bought Solon – one of the pioneers of the German solar industry – in 2012 after the latter went bankrupt.

German property group IVG Immobilien has emerged from insolvency following a sweeping restructuring and a debt-for-equity swap and is now considering options for a merger or stock market listing, the company said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. A local German court declared the insolvency proceeding completed, the company said in a statement, after the co-owner of London's landmark "Gherkin" tower began proceedings in 2013. IVG later delisted its shares. "Following the complete financial and operating restructuring, the company is solid again and ready for the capital markets ...

The prospect that Irish banks could offload some of their problematic mortgage debts as part of the European Central Bank’s asset-backed security-purchase programme receded this weekend as ECB vice- president Vitor Constancio said the bank would need state guarantees in order to buy lower-ranking debt, the Irish Times reported. At the end of two days of finance ministers meeting, the ECB’s second-in-command said the bank would need some kind of guarantee if it was to buy the riskier debt held by European banks. “We will buy the senior tranches of ABS [asset-backed securities].

The European Central Bank should begin large-scale bond buying to ensure that weak price pressures do not further undermine demand in the eurozone, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Monday, as it cut its forecast for growth in the developed world, the International New York Times reported. “A moderate expansion is underway in most major advanced and emerging economies, but growth remains weak in the euro area, which runs the risk of prolonged stagnation if further steps are not taken to boost demand,” the O.E.C.D. said in a report.

John Caudwell, the outspoken founder of Phones 4U, has called for the markets regulator to investigate whether the “bully boy” mobile phone industry acted in collusion to cause the demise of the high street retailer on Monday, the Financial Times reported. Phones 4U’s collapse into administration has put the jobs of almost 6,000 people and the future of 550 UK stores at risk – making it the largest retail failure on Britain’s high streets since the demise of Comet in 2012.

The Bank of Portugal has appointed a new leader to run the ‘‘good’’ bank created after the bailout of the Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo, after the unexpected resignation on Saturday of its top management, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. Portugal’s central bank chose Eduardo Stock da Cunha on Sunday to take over as chief executive of Novo Banco from Vítor Bento, who stepped down on Saturday along with his two main lieutenants. Mr.