Europe

Ireland’s Ulster Bank has today launched what it terms "a new initiative designed to help potential home buyers onto the property ladder”, Finfacts.com reported. The Ulster Bank Secure Step Mortgage gives customers access to the local housing market with a five-year protection against falling house prices. The Secure Step Mortgage is being launched in conjunction with residential property developers from across Ireland and is available to first-time buyers and customers trading up.

As the worldwide economic crisis continues, DLA Piper has launched a formal layoff consultation that will likely eliminate 140 jobs in its United Kingdom offices, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. "This is a difficult but necessary decision based on our reassessment of resource levels following the continuing deterioration of the market. This prudent action will align our capacity levels with existing client demands," DLA Piper managing partner and joint-CEO Nigel Knowles said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund is likely to suspend loan payments to Ukraine, a move that would further push the government toward Moscow for aid and exacerbate a feud between top leaders in Kiev, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ukraine is failing to meet the terms of its loan deal with the IMF, and likely won't get the next installment this month, according to a person close to talks between the fund and the government in Kiev. Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government's 2009 budget is forecast to show a deficit of 3% of gross domestic product.

Ukraine's central bank has placed Bank Kiev, the country's 39th bank in terms of assets, into receivership, offering it protection from creditors, Reuters reported. "Bank Kiev has been placed in receivership, a moratorium (on withdrawals) has been introduced, as is the practice," a central bank official said on Monday. According to central bank data, Bank Kiev's assets stood at 4.9 billion hryvnias ($633 million) as of Jan. 1, its capital totalled 590 million. Individual deposits stood at 2.2 billion hryvnias and corporate deposits at 650 million.

UBS, the Swiss banking giant that sought help from the nation's central bank last year, said Tuesday that it lost 8.1 billion Swiss francs, or $6.9 billion, in the fourth quarter as it continued to write down the value of some debt assets and wealth management clients withdrew funds, the International Herald Tribune reported. The loss, which was bigger than some analysts expected, compares with a loss of 13 billion francs in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a profit in the third quarter of last year.

Italian dairy company Parmalat SpA Friday said it has clinched four new deals with banks to settle legal claims related to its 2003 bankruptcy, worth a total of €105 million, Dow Jones reported. Under the terms of a legal settlement reached with Deutsche Bank, the bank will pay Parmalat a total of €76.5 million in return for it abandoning any existing or future claim. In another deal with Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, Parmalat will get €12.5 million to settle all pending disputes.

Belgium is scrambling to secure the planned sale of troubled banking group Fortis NV to BNP Paribas SA just days ahead of a shareholder vote after the largest shareholder, a Chinese insurer, said Sunday that it will vote to block the deal. The decision by China's Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. is a blow to the Belgian government's plans and the latest sign of growing activism by Chinese investors who took stakes in Western banks last year that have since turned sour, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Toyota, the world's top carmaker, said its losses were ballooning as world car sales slid while truckmaker Volvo swung to a fourth quarter loss and Italy readied aid for the ailing industry, Reuters reported. A sudden collapse in consumer demand last year battered automakers who were forced to cut production and shed jobs leaving the sector and its related industries reeling. Governments have swung into action, preparing aid packages to help out their struggling car sectors.

Spanish industrial production fell by almost a fifth during December, the largest decline on record, and data showed debt defaults soaring as the global crisis tipped Spain into deep recession. The 19.6 percent slump in output at Spain's credit-starved factories and businesses dwarfed slowdowns in other major European economies. A separate data release on Thursday from the National Statistics Institute showed 1,082 Spanish firms filed for bankruptcy protection between October and December, almost four times as many as in the same period of 2007.

Allen & Overy (A&O) and SJ Berwin have taken lead roles as Icelandic retailer Baugur files for bankruptcy protection, LegalWeek reported. A&O, a longstanding adviser of the company, is fielding a team led by London finance partner Andrew Bamber. SJ Berwin is advising Icelandic bank Landsbanki--which was in talks with Baugur about the potential restructuring of £1 billion of debt--with a team led by London restructuring partner Mike Woollard, corporate partner David Parkes and finance partner Jen Yee Chan.