Headlines

Greece’s planned August exit from its third European Stability Mechanism bailout has triggered investor optimism. Its July 2017 bond issuance, the first in three years, was oversubscribed, as were subsequent issuances in February of this year. And yet financial investors should curb their optimism, a Bloomberg View reported. Greece’s return to the markets, and its economic recovery, are likely to be a bumpy and slow -- especially if it continues to delay key reforms. Greece’s growth appears to have stabilized at a low rate; some take that as a sign of normalization.

Nigeria is reducing its domestic borrowing after government debt reached 22 trillion naira ($61 billion) in 2017, with most of it made up of high-interest, locally-acquired credit, the country’s debt office said. The government is working on a strategy to reduce domestic debt to 60 percent of the total, from 73 percent, Patience Oniha, director general of the Abuja-based Debt Management Office, told reporters on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported.

Noble Group Ltd., the embattled commodity trader seeking to secure investor support for a major debt restructuring, paid $20 million in retention payments to senior staff at its U.S. oil and gas business last June, Bloomberg News reported. The company revealed the payments Wednesday in response to questions from the Singapore Exchange on the remuneration of its former co-Chief Executive Officer Jeff Frase, who led the oil business.

European Union banks will have to set aside more capital against new loans that could turn sour as of Wednesday, when the European Commission will publish a proposal on larger backstops for bad debt, a draft document showed. The European Commission document, seen by Reuters, said the new rules would apply to loans originated from the date of the adoption of the proposal, which is Wednesday, opening them up to potential challenges as banks could face obligations before the new rules take effect, Reuters reported.

HNA Group Co., the poster child for runaway corporate debt in China, is increasingly drawing attention to another of the nation’s financial ills: trading halts that leave stock investors trapped for weeks on end. Seven listed units of HNA have halted their shares for seven weeks or more, creating the largest swathe of frozen stock tied to a single business group in China, Bloomberg News reported. The suspensions, which affect $31 billion of equity, have prevented minority shareholders from selling at a time of mounting financial stress for the aviation-to-hotels conglomerate.

The election results in Italy are a lesson to Europe. Italians were once among the most enthusiastic supporters of the European project. This is true no longer, the Financial Times reported. The combination of economic malaise with political impotence has discredited not only Italy’s political and policymaking elite, but even the country’s engagement with the EU. This does not mean Italy will leave; the costs would be too great.

As property prices in Germany’s big cities continue to climb, the country’s central bank last month added its voice to a chorus of concern about the prospect of a bubble. While it avoided using that word, the Bundesbank’s February report noted that housing in German towns and cities — Europe’s biggest residential market by value — was overpriced by 15-30 per cent, the Financial Times reported. The German property research group Empirica suggested last month that prices could fall by between a third and a quarter in Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart over the next five years.

China’s overhaul of its financial and business regulators will give the country’s leadership more punch in its top-priority battle to fend off deep-seated risks in the banking system and overall economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Revenue Commissioners settled more than 60 cases of tax defaulting totalling more than €10 million during the final quarter of last year, the Irish Times reported. Settlements in 26 of the cases, involving sums of €4,923,453 remains outstanding, at least in part, at year end. The biggest settlement concerned Dunbar IT Consulting, a company in liquidation with an address on Upper Mount St in Dublin 2. The total of €1,042,236 involved €482,285 under various tax headings, plus penalties and interest.

The Italian state entity that took on soured debt from two failed Venetian banks is seeking partners to help restructure companies struggling to repay 9 billion euros ($11 billion) of loans, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The collapse of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca left tens of thousands of small businesses in the northern Veneto region without access to financing, Bloomberg News reported. They owe billions of euros in loans classed as unlikely to pay that were taken on by state-owned SGA SpA after the lenders imploded last year.