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Indian banks taking 12 of the country's largest defaulters to bankruptcy court under a central bank directive, will need to make additional provisioning of at least 180 billion rupees ($2.8 billion), India Ratings and Research said on Tuesday. India Ratings, an affiliate of Fitch Ratings, estimated the current average provisioning towards those 12 accounts at 42 percent, adding the extra provisioning needed would reduce the profits of creditor banks by about a quarter in the financial year to March 2018, Reuters reported.

More than 7 million Venezuelans went to the polls to vote against President Nicolas Maduro last weekend. But the more consequential opinion on Maduro's future may belong to China, Venezuela's biggest creditor and one of the few likely sources of funds needed to avert a possible default later this year, a Bloomberg View reported. The unofficial referendum, which was organized by the opposition, showed the depth of popular discontent with Maduro's plans to rewrite the constitution and enshrine himself in office. Turnout, at more than a third of registered voters, far exceeded expectations.

Azerbaijan’s biggest bank has begun preparations to be sold to private investors next year after completing a $3.3bn debt restructuring, according to its chairman.

The Irish economy is about a third smaller than expected. The country’s current account surplus is actually a deficit, the Financial Times reported. And its debt level is at least a quarter higher than taxpayers have been led to believe. These are some of the startling results thrown up by a new measure of Irish economic activity adopted by Ireland’s official statisticians. The measure, known as “modified gross national income” and presented as GNI*, is an attempt to de-globalise one of the world’s most open economies.

When EU authorities wiped out some of Banco Popular’s bonds last month, it looked as if credit default swaps might finally compensate bank debt investors for their losses with little controversy, the Financial Times reported. Credit derivatives written against the failed Spanish lender’s junior debt were triggered in a matter of days and, given that these bonds were now worthless, it seemed self-evident to many that owners of the CDS would get paid in full.

India's Gujarat High Court on Monday dismissed Essar Steel India Ltd's appeal against a central bank order that asked creditor banks to start insolvency proceedings against the steelmaker, lawyers on the case said. The ruling is a boost to the government, which in May tweaked Indian banking laws to empower the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tackle the country's bad debt issue, allowing the RBI for the first time to direct lenders to force defaulters into insolvency courts, Reuters reported.

With political and social tension in Venezuela on the rise, investors should prepare for the “end game” by seeking out the country’s lowest-priced debt, according to Deutsche Bank AG. The cheapest bonds -- which generally carry longer maturities -- will provide the best return in a scenario under which Venezuela defaults and is forced to restructure, Hongtao Jiang, a strategist at the bank, wrote in a report. Jiang said while he doesn’t expect Venezuela to stop payments this year, it’s a possibility that bond buyers need to be prepared for, Bloomberg News reported.

China’s economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, putting the nation on track to meet its growth target this year and giving backing to officials in their campaign to corral oncoming financial risk, Bloomberg News reported. Data showing that the world’s second-largest economy expanded 6.9 percent in the second quarter, matching the pace from the first three months, was released hours after the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper warned of potential "gray rhinos" -- highly probable, high-impact threats that people should see coming, but often don’t.

Europe’s booming junk bond market is provoking alarm among analysts who say investors are letting down their guard and risking future losses. Dutch department store operator Hema BV, home improvement retailer Maxeda DIY Holding BV and supercar maker McLaren Group are the latest in a string of companies that have sold bonds with weaker investor protections, known as covenants, and with more loopholes written into the documents that govern the debt, Bloomberg News reported.

Russian conglomerate Sistema has announced it has suffered a technical default on Rbs 3.9bn worth of debt, after a court froze more than $3bn worth of its assets as part of a legal battle with state-controlled oil giant Rosneft. Sistema on Monday announced the technical default, saying that it was “driven exclusively” by the asset freeze, the Financial Times reported.