Government investigators in China have found the Mercedes-Benz unit of Daimler, the German automaker, in violation of antitrust price rules, the Chinese state news media reported on Monday. The announcement was the latest in a spate of inquiries over pricing and sales policies that have raised pressure on foreign corporations across China, the International New York Times reported.

Germany's Strauss Innovation, a chain of small department stores, on Friday said it had found a new owner after having sought court protection from creditors earlier this year to rescue its business, Reuters reported. A creditor committee approved a sale of the company to German investor Muehleck Family Office (MFO), which will provide capital for investment and further growth, Strauss said in a statement. Muehleck will own 100 percent of Strauss and plans considerable investments to modernise the stores, said Jens Bender, an adviser and spokesman for MFO told Reuters.

Bulgaria's central bank has allowed some banking activities to resume at Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) so borrowers can repay loans to the country's fourth-largest lender, officials said on Friday. The bank was hit by a run on deposits in June that led to Bulgaria's biggest banking crisis since the 1990s. Corpbank was placed under the control of the central bank and has since remained shut pending an audit into its books, due to be completed by October, leaving angry customers without access to their deposits.

Iceland's government Friday reappointed its central bank governor, Mar Gudmundsson, for a second five-year term, backing him to continue steering the tiny island nation's recovery from a devastating financial crisis six years ago, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Gudmundsson first took the reins at the central bank, Sedlabanki, in 2009 after the collapse of Iceland's financial sector when the country's three biggest banks buckled under the weight of their debts as their access to credit became restricted.

Credit Suisse helped put together billions of dollars in securities that were issued by offshore investment vehicles of Banco Espirito Santo SA and then sold to the Portuguese bank's retail customers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. In the article in its online edition, the newspaper cited corporate filings and people familiar with the situation, saying customers didn't know the investment vehicles were loaded with debt issued by various Espirito Santo companies and served as a mechanism to finance the Portuguese conglomerate.

Eurozone banks are set to take advantage of a new flood of central bank liquidity in a bid to boost lending to the region’s credit-starved businesses, the Financial Times reported. Faced with a stagnating economy eurozone banks are expected to borrow about €250bn in cheap four-year money from the European Central Bank in September and December, according to projections by Morgan Stanley, under the ECB’s ‘targeted long-term financing operations’. Periphery banks are expected to account for the heaviest borrowing.

Rosneft has asked the Russian government for as much as Rb1.5tn ($42bn) in support, in a clear sign of the growing cost of western sanctions against Moscow, the Financial Times reported. The Russian government will consider a request from Igor Sechin, the powerful head of Rosneft, to offset the impact of western restrictions against the state-owned company within the next two weeks, Arkady Dvorkovich, deputy prime minister, told journalists on Thursday.

Greece’s government will draft a new legal framework by early September for restructuring non-performing loans, Development Minister Nikolaos Dendias said. The issue is a “top priority” for the ministry and the government, Dendias told reporters in Athens today, ekathimerini.com reported. He said the draft law will move forward if it receives no objection from the so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Strategic defaulters shouldn’t assume they’ll be allowed to avoid paying back their loans, Dendias said.

The European Central Bank (ECB) faces fresh calls to adopt growth-boosting measures after data out yesterday showed growth in the euro zone has stalled, the Irish Times reported. Economic growth in the second quarter was flat compared to the first quarter, Eurostat figures showed yesterday, combined with a drop in euro zone inflation. Slowdowns in Germany, France and Italy – the euro area big three, comprising two-thirds of euro zone GDP – dragged down the overall growth figure from 0.9 per cent in the first quarter to 0.7 per cent in the quarter to the end of June.

The revival of subprime lending has gathered pace after Provident Financial bought a car finance group that provides loans to customers who would be shunned from traditional lenders, the Financial Times reported. It follows a period of rapid growth for Provident, a doorstep lender that has benefited from rising profitability by offering loans and credit cards to riskier and credit-impaired borrowers. Provident said it had bought Moneybarn, the subprime car finance company, for £120m. It is its first acquisition since the financial crisis.