Headlines

European Union lawmakers are considering changing the rules on bank rescues to ensure bondholders’ investments are used to prop up a failing lender ahead of savers’ deposits, EU officials said. The discussions follow a decision by EU regulators to shut down Spanish bank Banco Popular in June after a run on its deposits fueled by fears that depositors’ money could be used to rescue the lender, Reuters reported.

Lufthansa is restarting long-haul flights from Berlin and growing the long-haul fleet of budget unit Eurowings, moving into the gap left by insolvent rival Air Berlin, Reuters reported. Lufthansa will fly from Berlin to New York from November, basing a long-haul jet in the German capital for the first time since 2001, it said on Wednesday. It will also increase the long-haul fleet of Eurowings to 10 A330 aircraft for summer 2018, against a planned seven by the end of this year. Air Berlin, which filed for insolvency in August, will end its remaining long-haul routes from Oct.

Japan’s credit rating could be in the cross hairs after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated the nation may abandon its goal of covering key expenditures through taxes, Bloomberg News reported. The cost of insuring Japan’s government debt against default rose to a 15-month high on Tuesday, with policy uncertainty adding to concerns about tensions with North Korea. On Monday, Abe said he would dissolve parliament later this week and he’d pay for economic measures with funds from a consumption-tax increase originally intended to rein in the nation’s swollen debt.

Major Novo Banco bondholder Pimco plans to support a restructuring deal at the state-rescued Portuguese lender in a vote this Friday, though the bank could still struggle to get the necessary backing, a source familiar with the matter said. The agreed sale of Novo Banco to U.S. fund Lone Star hinges on investors agreeing to sell back bonds at a discount in the so-called liability management exercise (LME) that runs until Monday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Business in Catalonia has warned that political instability, violence and legal uncertainty could deter investment and hurt the economy, as tensions escalate ahead of the region’s planned independence referendum on Sunday, the Financial Times reported. The region, one of Spain’s richest, has an economy the size of Portugal and its government has promised to declare independence within 48 hours of a Yes vote — despite Spanish courts ruling the referendum illegal and Madrid’s plans to prevent the vote.

Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil, the Brazilian sugar and ethanol arm of struggling Spanish conglomerate Abengoa SA, said on Tuesday it had filed for bankruptcy protection. The company, which operates two mills, said in an emailed statement that it had tried unsuccessfully for the last 19 months to find investors with fresh capital to keep its operations running, Reuters reported. “Brazil’s current economic and political crisis, along with the 40 percent drop in sugar prices, led investors showing initial interest in the company to flee,” the company said in the statement.

Lufthansa’s supervisory board approved plans to invest 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in up to 61 additional planes to expand its Eurowings budget business after German rival Air Berlin was declared insolvent, Reuters reported. Air Berlin’s creditors have selected Lufthansa and British budget carrier easyJet to negotiate over a carve-up of its assets. The Lufthansa investment is set to be used for the purchase and lease of 41 A320 single aisle jets and 20 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 planes, Lufthansa said.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office will charge two former executives of collapsed oil company Afren on Wednesday with alleged fraud over payments they received via secret companies relating to business deals in Nigeria, Reuters reported. The SFO said in a statement former Afren Chief Executive Osman Shahenshah and former Chief Operating Officer Shahid Ullah would appear at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with two counts of fraud and two counts of money laundering.

Ukraine will favor cheaper borrowing from official lenders as it seeks to shore up next year’s budget, and plans to enlist the World Bank to help raise as much as $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The eastern European nation is examining the possibility of using World Bank guarantees to attract financing, Deputy Finance Minister Yuriy Butsa said last week in an interview that was cleared for publication Tuesday. The government sold $3 billion of Eurobonds this month for the first time since a 2015 debt restructuring.

Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil SA became the latest Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer to file for bankruptcy protection following the country’s economic crisis and a slump in commodity prices, Bloomberg News reported. The company, a unit of Spain’s Abengoa SA, requested judicial protection in a court in Santa Cruz das Palmeiras municipality, Sao Paulo state, it said in an emailed statement Tuesday. Its bank debt was 837 million reais ($265 million) as of December. The move followed unsuccessful attempts over the last 19 months to attract outside investors and restructure its debt.