Spanish media conglomerate Vertice 360 has declared insolvency and filed for a suspension of payments, which paves the way for a court-appointed administrator to prioritize debt and mediate payments with creditors, The Hollywood Reporter reported. The move comes after the Vertice failed to reach an agreement on its own with its creditors. The film and television group has been seeking to increase capital through various methods since December 2013, after posting a financial debt of $19.9 million (€14.4 million), with $93.7 million (€67.8 million) in losses.

Europe’s biggest financial rulemaking spree since the creation of its single market more than 20 years ago reached its finale on Tuesday with the adoption of a slew of landmark reforms designed to make banks safer and financial markets more transparent, the Financial Times reported. It marks the climax of a fraught four-year drive to end the era of taxpayer bailouts and fuse together control of eurozone banks under a banking union.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has pledged to do “something” for struggling middle-income earners in the budget despite indications yesterday from his own department that a further €2 billion adjustment would be required to hit deficit targets next year, the Irish Times reported. Speaking at the Oireachtas Finance Committee after the publication of the Department of Finance’s latest Stability Pact Update (SPU), Mr Noonan said he intended to widen income tax bands to take more people out of the higher tax bracket as soon as the State could afford it.

Portugal plans to implement budget measures worth 1.4 billion euros ($1.94 billion) to narrow its budget deficit and meet a target set for 2015, Bloomberg News reported. The measures represent about 0.8 percent of gross domestic product and include cutting costs at government ministries and reducing the number of public sector workers through retirement and agreements to end employment contracts, Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque said in Lisbon today. The government will continue to charge an extraordinary contribution on energy companies in 2015.

British pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond will be bought out of administration by investment fund Promethean Investments in a deal which will save the majority of its stores and 628 jobs, administrators said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The acquisition comes a day after Britain's biggest pawnbroker H&T said it was ending talks regarding the possible acquisition of some of A&B's assets. Administrator PwC said in a statement that the deal with Promethean involved it taking on 128 A&B stores out of 187, and 628 staff out of a workforce of 809.

The management of troubled Italian lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA is considering raising up to €5 billion in a share sale, instead of the €3 billion previously planned, people familiar with the matter said Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The decision will need to be first approved by a board of directors in a vote that is likely to take place next week, and then it will need to be submitted for approval to the bank's shareholders. A spokesman for Monte dei Paschi declined to comment.

Insolvent Spanish fishing company Pescanova, which is racing to avoid liquidation, said on Monday it had been granted an extra two weeks by a court to win the support of creditors for its debt restructuring plan, Reuters reported. Lenders have balked at the extent of losses the company, now being managed by the administrator Deloitte, wants them to take. Pescanova, a household name in Spain for its fish fingers, became one of Spain's biggest bankruptcies last year.

For a bunch of people who just agreed the global economy is doing better, top officials from the world's rich and poor nations sound rather worried. For poor nations, the easy monetary policies in advanced economies are leading to big swings in capital flows that could destabilize emerging markets. For rich countries, the hoarding of currency by developing nations is blocking progress toward a more stable global economy.

The Co-operative Group will highlight the urgency of sweeping governance reforms this week as it reveals the extent of its financial woes with a record £2bn-£2.5bn pre-tax loss, the Financial Times reported. The loss, set to be announced on Thursday, will cap a torrid 12 months for the mutual, saddled with high debt and facing a weakened management team after two senior directors quit. It includes a £1.3bn shortfall at the Co-op Bank, which the group owned in its entirety until a recapitalisation in December reduced its stake to 30 per cent.

Properties formerly owned by building and engineering group Siac are to be sold after one of its banks took control of three companies split from the group earlier this year, the Irish Times reported. Bank of Scotland has appointed receivers Paul McCann and Stephen Tennant of Grant Thornton to three property-holding firms that formed part of Siac before its rescue from examinership in February by long-standing shareholders, the Feighery family, its directors and two other businesses.