Headlines

Leaders of Croatia's ruling coalition met on Friday to discuss opposition demands that Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalic resign over conflict of interest allegations linked to the restructuring of the country's largest private firm, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Dalic, who is also economy minister, led efforts to save food producer and retailer Agrokor after it was put under state-run administration in April 2017, weighed down by debt accrued during an ambitious expansion drive.

China's stock exchanges have stepped up their scrutiny of the booming asset-backed securities (ABS) market, publishing new rules that require prompt information disclosure and risk management updates from issuers, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. China's ABS market has exploded over the past few years as the government's crackdown on shadow banking pushed borrowers to alternative sources of finance. Issuance of ABS jumped to 1.5 trillion yuan ($236.84 billion) last year, from almost zero in 2013, according to consultancy China Securities Analytics.

The head of the European Central Bank is urging political leaders to repair gaps in the way the euro is set up to prevent another crisis — including by finding money to help governments hit by deep recessions. Mario Draghi said Friday in a speech in Florence, Italy, that sharing some government funds could provide "an extra layer of stabilization" for countries facing economic and market turmoil that can't be calmed through national budget and economic policies, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story.

Dana Gas PJSC has reached an agreement with key holders of $700 million of its Islamic bonds to restructure the securities, two people with knowledge of the matter said, possibly ending a legal battle that has unnerved the Islamic finance industry, Bloomberg News reported. A committee representing sukukholders, which include BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., agreed to accept an immediate cash payout of 20 cents to the dollar and to roll the rest into a three-year security, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

With corporate-debt defaults on the rise, China’s securities regulator will probe bond funds to ensure that they have proper risk controls in place, according to people familiar with the matter. The China Securities Regulatory Commission’s investigation will include whether individual firms’ funds are shuffling high-risk bonds between them, said the people who asked not to be named as the discussions aren’t public, Bloomberg News reported. One suspicion is mutual-fund companies may be motivated to beautify their holdings to avoid a mass withdrawal by investors, the people said.

UniCredit SpA Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier is ramping up cost cuts and improving asset quality to keep his promise of building a leading pan-European bank, Bloomberg News reported. A 5.2 percent decline in operating expense in the first quarter helped the bank increase net income to 1.11 billion euros ($1.3 billion) from 907 million euros a year earlier. That beat the 796 million-euro profit expected by the average of 8 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

General Motors will stay in South Korea for at least 10 years and set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters in the country, government officials said on Thursday, revealing terms of a deal aimed at rescuing the U.S. automaker’s struggling GM Korea unit, Reuters reported. The U.S. car maker’s Korean unit averted a bankruptcy filing with a wage deal clinched last month, but analysts and customers, as well as the South Korean government, have had doubts about GM’s commitment and about how long the loss-making company will remain in business.

Indonesia’s household consumption, a major contributor to GDP, has been growing at a lacklustre rate in recent years because of weak commodity prices and currency devaluations, the Financial Times reported. The latest economic indicators and FT Confidential Research data show signs of recovery, although the overall outlook remains precarious. This situation is likely to drive pro-growth President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to support households with subsidies, a populist policy that is incompatible with his fiscal reform agenda as he seeks re-election in April next year.

Shares in Ulster Bank parent Royal Bank of Scotland rose as much as 6 per cent on Thursday after the bank reached a $4.9 billion settlement with US authorities, opening the way for its privatisation and return of cash to taxpayers who bailed it out in the financial crisis, the Irish Times reported. The fine, much lower than expected, resolves a US Department of Justice investigation into the British bank’s sale of mispriced mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the crisis and clears one of its most debilitating hangovers from that era.

Michael Fingleton, the former managing director of Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), sought to establish at a Central Bank inquiry on Thursday that certain communications from the regulator made “recommendations” rather than statutory orders in the run-up to the financial crisis, the Irish Times reported. Mr Fingleton, who is representing himself at the inquiry, noted that some letters from the regulator to the now-defunct building society about its handling of credit reviews in 2006 and 2007 contained no legal provision.