The legal action by the liquidators of stockbroking firm Bloxham over alleged underinsuring of the firm has resumed at the High Court after efforts to mediate failed, the Irish Times reported. The sides had last week taken up a suggestion by president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, to consider mediation but they told the judge yesterday that it had not worked and the case was proceeding. The liquidators have sued the firm’s former insurance broker, Robertson Low, for more than €15 million damages arising from Bloxham allegedly being “chronically underinsured”.

Savers have been withdrawing money from their accounts at the fastest rate for nearly 40 years, Bank of England figures show. They took £23 billion out of long-term savings in the past 12 months, equivalent to £900 for every household in the country, The Telegraph reported. They either spent the cash – which in many cases was earning little more than 1 per cent interest – or moved it to easy-access current accounts. The Bank’s figures suggest that record low interest rates have convinced many to give up on the prospect of meaningful returns on their nest eggs.

The European Union's markets watchdog said it found flaws in the way the big three credit ratings firms rank government bonds and warned that it may take "enforcement action" against them that could include fines or withdrawal of licenses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Bank of Ireland’s capital adequacy ratios have suffered a sharper than expected drop after the Central Bank of Ireland said following an industrywide review that the Bank of Ireland needed to make extra loan loss provisions, the Irish Times reported. The health checks, carried out just before Ireland exits its EU/IMF bailout, are seen as a preview for the European Central Bank’s (ECB) own tests of euro zone banks next year, when capital holes running to 10s of billions of euros are expected to be uncovered.

European banks hold increasingly large shares of government bonds as a result of the debt crisis. If those states default and can no longer service their debt, it could lead to massive losses. Germany's Bundesbank is pushing for new rules at the ECB, Spiegel Online reported. German consulting firm Roland Berger did its bit for German-Italian relations last week when it named the head of Italy's UniCredit, Federico Ghizzoni, as "Italo-German Manager of the Year." The ego massage is expected to boost strained ties between Germany and Italy.

Last time we heard of Wiesmann, the German manufacturer of retro-styled sports cars, things were not good at all. In August this year, the carmaker filed for insolvency at a local court in Münster and went under the protection of an administrator, CarScoops.com reported. Fortunately, it seems that the management has found ways to escape death, as Wiesmann has posted a short statement on its website saying it has requested the court to end the bankruptcy procedure.

Irish clothing retail chain A-Wear has fallen into receivership, with some of its stores set to close, Just Style reported. Ken Fennell of Kavanagh Fennell has been appointed receiver to the business, less than two months after Latzur Ltd, which trades as A-Wear, entered examinership. Fennell said the initial examinership process was aimed at putting the business on "a sustainable footing", and protecting "as many jobs as possible". Sales projections for the business in the intervening weeks, however, did not materialise, Fennell said, with "no viable investment proposal forthcoming".

Austria will not let nationalised lender Hypo Alpe Adria go bust, Austrian National Bank Governor Ewald Nowotny said on Friday after a newspaper reported that a top government adviser favoured the idea, Reuters reported. "Austria reached a clear agreement with the European Commission this summer on restructuring Hypo Alpe Adria. We are now proceeding according to this concept. A Hypo bankruptcy is out of the question," Nowotny told the Austria Press Agency.

Iceland's government unveiled a 150 billion Icelandic kronur ($1.25 billion) household-debt relief program Saturday, with the plan calling for increased taxes on the financial-services industry to help fund mortgage write-downs for Icelanders equivalent to several thousand dollars per mortgage holder, The Wall Street Journal reported. The program, unveiled by Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson about six months after taking office, comes after a 2013 election where promises to address high levels of household debt in the small island nation was a central issue.

The threat of emergency intervention by the Bank of England into the Co-operative Bank receded on Friday night after thousands of retail investors gave their backing to a £1.5bn lifeline for the troubled high street bank, The Guardian reported. The support of the bondholders is a major step towards avoiding Threadneedle Street having to step in to wind up the bank but is part of a process that will force the Co-op Group – which owns supermarkets, funeral homes and pharmacies – to cede control of its banking business to bondholders, who have been led by aggressive US hedge funds.