King Albert II of Belgium named a former premier to begin consultations on forming a new government after Prime Minister Yves Leterme was toppled by the financial crisis, Bloomberg reported. Wilfried Martens, 72, who ran nine Belgian coalitions from 1979 to 1992, was tapped by the monarch to take soundings from political leaders and report back “quickly” with recommendations, according to a statement late yesterday. Leterme quit over his cabinet’s role in the breakup of Fortis, knocked from its perch as Belgium’s biggest financial-services firm by the banking crisis.

Ireland's finance ministry said it will inject €5.5 billion ($7.66 billion) into three banks and take large stakes in them, days after a loan-accounting scandal at Anglo Irish Bank Corp. further weakened the country's already fragile banking sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government said it would make an initial investment of €1.5 billion in Anglo Irish in exchange for preference shares that will give it 75% of the voting rights of the bank.

Troubled memory-chip maker Qimonda AG on Sunday secured a rescue package of €325 million ($452 million) in loans from a German regional government, parent company Infineon and a Portuguese state bank, the Associated Press reported. The Economy Ministry in the German state of Saxony, where Qimonda has a major plant, said in a statement that it achieved a "breakthrough" when Portugal agreed to join the rescue package through its state investment bank. The company has a facility in Porto, Portugal.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it expects to post its first-ever operating loss in the fiscal year through March 2009 and barely eke out a net profit, showing how severely the global economic downturn is hitting even the world's most competitive companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Japan's biggest company by market cap said it expects consolidated operating loss of ¥150 billion, or about $1.68 billion, in the fiscal year through March 31, 2009, hurt by sliding demand in the U.S., Europe and Japan and the rising yen against the dollar.

Ukraine’s hryvnia pared a record two-day plunge after the central bank said a rate above 9 per dollar was “unacceptable,” Bloomberg reported. The currency fell 1.7 percent to 9.1000 per dollar by 6:28 p.m. in Kiev. It pared an earlier 18 percent two-day drop to a record 9.78 after the central bank sold reserves to support the currency. Petro Poroshenko, head of the central bank council, said at a press conference a weak hryvnia is a threat to the economy.

Several former top Alitalia officials have been placed under investigation as part of a probe into the national carrier's bankruptcy earlier this year, the ANSA news agency reported Wednesday. ANSA said Rome prosecutor Nello Rossi had placed eight former top officials, including presidents and CEOs active from about 2000-2007, under investigation. Alitalia, which has been losing some $3 million a day, filed for bankruptcy protection in August, plagued by labor unrest, competition from budget airlines and high fuel prices.

Ukraine’s hryvnia plunged 17 percent in two days to a record low against the dollar as a pledge by President Viktor Yushchenko to support the currency failed to ease concern that most of the country’s loans risk default, Bloomberg reported. The currency fell 7 percent today, reaching 9.65 per dollar at 2:30 p.m. in Kiev, adding to a 44 percent drop this year. It continued to slide after Yushchenko said Ukraine will buy hryvnia and called for licenses to be revoked for lenders found speculating against the currency.

BNP Paribas bowed to the inevitable Thursday and said it was suspending its takeover of the Belgian financial services company Fortis, following a court ruling that effectively froze the deal, the International Herald Tribune reported. BNP Paribas had offered €14.5 billion, or $21 billion, for Fortis after the Belgian company neared collapse in the aftermath of the implosions of AIG and Lehman Brothers. But the Brussels Court of Appeals found on Dec.

A German bank has struck a deal with bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. regarding the exercise and liquidation of currency options contracts nominally worth €139 million, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. According to Judge James M. Peck's order Monday in the the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, if Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank AG exercises a currency option, the transaction will be deemed liquidated at the current market value.

Over 100 companies globally have defaulted on their debt this year, affecting $302 billion worth of securities, but that figure could rise as nearly 900 issuers are poised for credit downgrades, Standard & Poor's said on Monday. Of the 108 defaults this year, 86 are from the United States, seven from Europe, five each from Asia and Canada, three from Latin America, and two from Russia. The figure contrasts with 22 defaults in 2007 and 30 in 2006.