Headlines

The rationale for merging some of Europe’s biggest lenders is compelling. That’s the view of many financial executives who met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, Bloomberg News reported. A decade after the financial crisis, some of the region’s biggest lenders are facing declining revenue as interest rates linger near record lows, while legal bills and capital demands have eroded profit. Combinations of consumer-banking operations could help pare costs and fend off competition from fintech startups.

The U.K. Financial Reporting Council opened a probe into KPMG LLP’s audits of Carillion Plc, after the builder collapsed under a mountain of debt earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported. The FRC will examine KPMG’s work from 2014 and whether the auditor breached any "ethical and technical standards," the accounting regulator said in a statement Monday. The FRC will also look at how KPMG recognized revenue on significant contracts and its accounting for pensions. Carillion, a U.K.

Mozambique’s state prosecutor on Monday launched legal proceedings against the managers of the state-owned companies at the heart of a multibillion dollar debt scandal, almost two years after the crisis rocked the southern African nation. The office of Mozambique’s attorney-general said in a statement on Monday that it had opened a case at the administrative tribunal to establish “financial responsibility” for the scandal, in which three companies controlled by the country’s intelligence service hid $2bn of state-backed loans, the Financial Times reported.

British construction outsourcing company Carillion Plc attempted to “wriggle out of its obligations” to pensioners for the last decade, according to Parliament’s Work and Pensions Select Committee. The committee chair, Frank Field, condemned Carillion’s inability to perform its pension obligations while “shelling out dividends and handsome pay packets for those at the top,” Reuters reported.

The Strasbourg court in charge of selling troubled French steelmaker Ascometal has raised questions over public funds as part of the bid by UK-based metals and industrials firm Liberty House, a union representative at the hearing told Reuters. Asked about the court’s questioning of the bid’s funding, a spokesman for Liberty House said: “We are requesting no support from the State. We have been offered carbon refunds that are available to all businesses. Regional funding supports our growth plan ...

Former motor racing champion Niki Lauda’s winning bid for insolvent Austrian airline Niki beat that of British Airways owner IAG by 4 million euros ($5 million), a German newspaper reported on Sunday. Lauda offered 30.3 million euros for the carrier, plus a 16.5 million euros liquidity injection, German weekly Bild am Sonntag said, citing sources close to the negotiations, Reuters reported. The sale to Lauda, announced on Monday, undid an agreed deal with IAG after two courts ruled that the insolvency proceedings had to move to Austria from Germany.

Cypriots will return to the ballot box on Feb. 4 to choose a leader who can oversee the Mediterranean island’s economic recovery nearly six years after the country came close to financial collapse, Bloomberg News reported. Incumbent President Nicos Anastasiades, 71, will face Stavros Malas in the runoff after taking 35.5 percent of the vote compared with 30.3 percent for Malas, an independent candidate backed by the leftist Akel party, according to Cypriot Interior Ministry figures.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV said it has secured enough money to keep its businesses running in the immediate term and can now start talks with a broader group of creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The troubled South African retail group has arranged new credit lines for units in the U.K., U.S. and France as well as agreeing a restructuring of its Austrian division, it said in a presentation published on its website. The announcement came after a meeting with creditors in London on Friday to discuss progress stabilizing the business since it uncovered accounting irregularities on Dec.

Nigeria’s finance minister plans to drag tax defaulters who don’t make use of an amnesty to court as she seeks funds to plug the nation’s $25 billion infrastructure gap, Bloomberg News reported. In the nine months of reprieve ending March, some penitent taxpayers have said “you got me” and cleared arrears without paying interest and or penalties, Kemi Adeosun said in an interview on Tuesday in her office in the capital, Abuja. But some have said “we wish you luck with this, catch us if you can,” she said. Nigeria wants to double its tax to gross domestic product ratio by 2020.

Drilling rig company Seadrill said in a court filing it postponed an initial hearing on its restructuring plan to Feb. 7, which sources told Reuters will give the company more time to consider alternative restructuring plans. Once the largest drilling rig operator by market value, Seadrill filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas on Sept. 12 after being hit hard by cutbacks in oil company investment following a steep drop in crude prices, Reuters reported. Wednesday’s court filing also said the deadline for objecting to Seadrill’s plan had been extended to Feb.