Iceland's former prime minister Geir Haarde went on trial on Monday for failing to prevent the island nation's 2008 financial crash, the only global political leader to face prosecution over the wider crisis which engulfed the world economy, Reuters reported. Iceland's top three banks all collapsed in late 2008 after years of debt-fuelled expansion. The country of just 320,000 people was forced to borrow around $10 billion (6.3 billion pounds) from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders.

UK regulators and global banks are discussing a potentially far-reaching overhaul of the calculation and regulation of interbank lending rates, amid claims that the benchmark for $350tn contracts worldwide may have been subject to manipulation, the Financial Times reported. The review comes as regulators in North America, Europe and Japan have expanded their year-long probes into alleged manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rates, and other benchmark lending rates, which help set the price of financial products, including mortgages and credit cards.

Ireland is likely to need a second bailout when its current aid program ends, rating agency Moody’s warned today, the Irish Times reported. In its weekly credit outlook report, Moody’s also warned a No vote in the upcoming fiscal treaty referendum would bar Ireland from receiving further funds under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The agency predicted the Government would have to rely on the ESM for additional funding after the existing bailout program expires in 2014.

Italian yellow pages company Seat Pagine Gialle said on Friday it had won the support of more than 75 percent of its senior creditors and Lighthouse bondholders, paving the way for a debt restructuring deal, Reuters reported. Shares in the Turin-based company had leapt 19.5 percent on Friday, as investors took the view that a deal to avoid bankruptcy protection was in sight. Seat has defaulted twice on its debt obligations in the last few months and postponed several times the deadline to reach a final agreement. The latest deadline is March 7.

The EU reaches a watershed moment this week with the deadline for private creditors to write down Greek debt, one leaders hope will prove momentum has swung in the battle to beat the debt crisis, Agence France-Presse reported. Despite Spain warning that its budget deficit will miss an EU-agreed target by tens of billions of euros this year and with recession also forcing the Netherlands and Belgium to re-do their sums, the view remains that a corner is being turned.

Talks on restructuring the €31 billion in promissory notes are well advanced, according to Craig Beaumont of the International Monetary Fund. The head of the IMF’s Ireland team said much consensus existed among his organisation, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Irish Government on restructuring the notes. An agreement on the €31 billion of promissory notes, which accounts for just under one-fifth of total public debt of €164 billion as of the end of last year, could significantly reduce the risk of the Irish State defaulting on its sovereign obligations.

As automakers prepare to roll out new models this week at the Geneva Auto Show - one of the major events in the automotive calendar - they are being forced to fight for a slice of an ever-shrinking European market stricken with austerity and recession, the Associated Press reported. On top of this, carmakers are also having to confront the uncomfortable fact that a large number of their production lines are lying idle and eating up valuable funds.

Eurozone members delayed approval of more than half of the €130bn bail-out for Greece after demanding that Athens show more proof that it would implement hastily agreed spending cuts and reforms, the Financial Times reported. Finance ministers from the 17-country currency bloc meeting in Brussels signed off on funds to underpin a €206bn restructuring of privately held Greek debt.

Owners of insurance-like contracts designed to protect against potential losses on Greek sovereign debt won't receive payouts, at least for now, even though the country took steps in its restructuring in recent days that could force private creditors to accept losses on the face value of their bonds, a committee of dealers and investors decided. Thursday's decision marks the first time the panel of experts has held a vote on whether compensation is owed to holders of the credit-default swap protection on Greece, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The euro's tough new German-penned economic rulebook will be immediately tested by spiralling budget deficits in the Netherlands and Spain, raising the prospect of swingeing fines on the two countries, it emerged at an EU summit, The Guardian reported. As eurozone leaders finally launched a second, €130bn (£108bn) bailout of Greece, EU chiefs, with the exception of David Cameron and the Czech prime minister, prepared to sign the new rulebook – the fiscal pact – on Friday morning. The rules are the main part of an attempt to get the eurozone's soaring debt levels under control.