Cash-strapped carmaker Saab said on Monday it had reached deals with many suppliers to settle debts as it struggles to secure parts and resume production, Reuters reported. Saab, owned by Netherlands-based Swedish Automobile , has scraped together 61 million euros ($88.5 million) in short-term funding in recent days. But it needs to get supplies moving again so car assembly can resume, and investors are worried about its prospects after it said last week production will not restart until Aug. 9.

Bank of Ireland secured temporary approval from the European Commission for recapitalisation of up to €5.35 billion by the State ahead of yesterday’s extraordinary general meeting. The commission’s final approval of the State recapitalisation depends on the submission of an updated restructuring plan by the end of this month, the Irish Times reported. Approval is conditional on ensuring a return to long-term viability, an adequate participation by shareholders and subordinated bondholders and proper measures to limit the distortion of competition by the State support.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano Monday appealed for “national cohesion” as the Italian economy came under pressure amid fears the state could become the next victim of the euro zone’s debt crisis, the Irish Times reported. For the second consecutive trading day, the Italian stock exchange registered a loss, closing down 3.96 per cent, while the much-quoted spread between Italian government bonds and German bonds reached its highest figure since the introduction of the euro, at over three percentage points.

Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, Friday approved government plans to impose an annual levy on banks that would generate funds for the rescue of any stricken institutions deemed too big to fail, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The government must now rubber stamp the regulation, which will come into effect in coming weeks, once official approval by the German president has been given.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s May 14 arrest on charges of sexual assault left a void atop the International Monetary Fund, busting the one thing that had gone consistently right in the handling of the euro-area debt crisis: cooperation between European leaders and the Washington-based IMF. The fund’s contribution to Greece’s next loan was no longer a sure thing, said two European officials with direct knowledge of the talks who declined to be identified because the deliberations were private, Bloomberg reported.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency meeting of top officials dealing with the euro zone debt crisis for Monday morning, reflecting concern that the crisis could spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will attend the meeting along with Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the region's finance ministers, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Olli Rehn, the economic and monetary affairs commissioner, three official sources told Reuters.

Discussions between bankers and government officials about Greece have undergone a fundamental shift in recent days, turning toward reducing the country's mountainous debt burden instead of just staving off a near-term financial crisis, people close to the talks say, The Wall Street Journal reported. Talks began two weeks ago with French bank proposals to encourage investors to contribute to a new bailout by reinvesting the proceeds of Greek government bonds maturing over the next three years.

Building group McInerney Holdings has written to its shareholders saying that it is time to liquidate the company, RTÉ News reported. The board has set the date for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for July 29. It says McInerney Holdings now has 'no meaningful assets of worth and no bank facilities' and as a result there is no realistic alternative to a liquidation. Eight months ago, the group de-listed from the stock exchange, having already gone into examinership.

After Iceland's vicious recession, the central bank has managed to stabilise the currency with capital controls, cap inflation and has gotten interest rates down to 4.25% from a peak of 18%, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, after dipping its toes once again into international capital markets, Mar Gudmundsson, the head of Sedlabanki, the nation's central bank, said in an interview that recent events demonstrate the island nation can function under its own power again.

Europe’s banks are growing increasingly angry over the stress tests being run by European regulators, complaining that the process has been excessively rigid, with damaging changes to the exercise rushed through at the last minute, the Financial Times reported. The tests, the results of which are due to be announced next week, have been in preparation since March, but banks are furious that less than a month ago they were forced to rerun the stress scenarios along far tougher lines than had been originally suggested.