Ireland is emphatically not a tax haven, according to the head of the tax division of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Irish Times reported. The comments from Pascal Saint-Amans come in the wake of accusations made in parliamentary committees in both the US and UK that large global companies use Ireland as part of their efforts to pay minimal amounts of corporation taxes in any jurisdiction.

Deutsche Bank AG is accelerating plans to reduce the size of its balance sheet amid persistent concerns among regulators and investors on both sides of the Atlantic that the bank is carrying too much risk, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Deutsche Bank plans to increase its so-called leverage ratio, which measures the capital base against total assets, to 3 percent by 2015, by shedding assets and retaining earnings. The bank is required to meet the target by 2018. Most analysts put Deutsche Bank's current leverage ratio at around 2 percent, one of the lowest among major banks.

British antitrust regulators said that large companies should be required to put their auditing contract out to tender every five years in a move that falls short of proposals from the European Union to spur auditor competition, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The requirement to tender auditing contracts every five years should apply to companies in the FTSE 350 Index, the U.K. Competition Commission said yesterday. The regulator stopped short of proposing that companies be forced to switch auditors, a move it was considering in February.

The Nicole Farhi name will stay on Britain's high streets after the fashion chain was purchased by Fenn Wright Manson owner Maxine Hargreaves-Adams, the firm's administrators said yesterday, Reuters reported. Zolfo Cooper, which was appointed as Nicole Farhi's administrator on July 3, said that the disposal comprises six stores, nine concessions and the wholesale and e-commerce parts of the business. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Read more.

Thirty-three U.K. lenders including HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc agreed to allow customers to switch their checking accounts between lenders in seven days, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. From September, lenders will redirect payments and deposits for customers moving their account to another bank, the Payments Council said. Customers will be refunded any charges should the process go wrong, according to the body, which is funded by banks and mutual lenders. Moving accounts can take as long as 30 days at present.

U.S. private-equity firm Kawa Capital Management Inc. agreed to take over Conergy AG, once Germany’s biggest solar company, two weeks after the Hamburg-based company filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The transaction, due to be completed in the second half of August, will focus on Conergy’s main brand and most global sales and service activities, Conergy said. Conergy and its domestic counterparts are under pressure as subsidies for renewable energy fall at home and competition from China depresses margins and panel prices.

The Group of 20 largest economies is set to back a major overhaul of international taxation designed to eliminate loopholes that enable many companies to keep their tax bills low, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The 15-point action plan has been developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and is being discussed by finance ministers from the G-20.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said the U.K. economy is “healing” and that should allow the government to cut taxes, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. With recent data showing strength in the economy, Cameron may find it easier to achieve his deficit-reduction goals as part of the biggest fiscal squeeze since World War II. Due to a weaker-than-expected recovery after the global financial crisis, Cameron’s Conservatives and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners have had to extend budget cuts until 2017-18, beyond the country’s next general election in 2015.

Hedge funds holding bonds in insolvent German DIY retailer Praktiker want to convert a 250 million euro ($327 million) bond into Praktiker shares, Reuters reported yesterday. Praktiker filed for insolvency last week after talks with creditors failed, triggering fears of heavy job losses. The insolvency administrators are continuing to keep the business running while they review options for a restructuring of the German chain. Read more.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble opened the possibility of further Greek debt relief as he urged the country to stand by its commitments to scale back its debt and overhaul the economy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. On his first visit to Greece since it spawned the financial crisis in 2009, Schaeuble said that there are no “shortcuts” to austerity even as he lauded the Greeks’ “determination.” The minister warned against focusing on possible debt relief for the country, though he signaled that Germany would be ready to talk if conditions were met in 2014.