Headlines

Nine years after the beginning of a 45-billion-pound ($56 billion) bailout by the British government, Royal Bank of Scotland is emerging from its restructuring process a shadow of what was once the biggest lender in the world, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. RBS had a balance sheet of 2.4 trillion pounds in 2008 - almost double Britain's annual economic output at the time - having staged a meteoric rise from being a small Scottish lender in the early 1990s.

The European Central Bank sees no evidence that its aggressive stimulus policy is hampering financial markets, ECB director Benoit Coeure said on Monday, despite deeply negative yields on some bonds and fresh signs of scarcity. His comments are likely to cool industry hopes for fresh ECB action to alleviate pressure on bond markets by lending out more of the 1.4 trillion euros ($1.49 trillion) worth of government debt it has bought or changing the country composition of its purchases, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

The Brazilian government is taking longer to finalize a decree that would allow it to intervene in debt-ridden Oi SA because it could impact other sectors beyond domestic phone carriers, an official familiar with the matter said on Monday, Reuters reported. Although the decree is aimed at phone and broadband service providers, the official said the legal change could also allow for intervention in other infrastructure sectors such as railways, highways and energy. "A legal change cannot be done only for the telecommunications sector.

Unions representing staff at Bus Éireann have said the current strike at the company will continue even if new talks aimed at finding a resolution to the dispute are convened. About 2,600 workers at the State-owned transport company will strike for a 12th consecutive day on Tuesday over plans by management at Bus Éireann to introduce new cost-saving measures and work practice reforms without the agreement of staff. The company argues the moves are essential if it is to stave off insolvency, the Irish Times reported.

Traders boosted their bets on a Venezuela default as state oil company known as PDVSA faces a $2 billion bond payment next week, Bloomberg News reported. The implied probability of nonpayment in the next 12 months surged to 56 percent in March from 40 percent in February, according to credit-default swaps data compiled by Bloomberg.

Oi SA and one of its largest shareholders are pushing back against calls for a government takeover to usher the Brazilian phone company out of bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. Groups unhappy with the company’s restructuring plan are pressuring the government to intervene, even though the bankruptcy process is following its course and operations have been unaffected, said Nelson Tanure, the company’s second-largest shareholder.

Spanish engineering company Isolux said on Friday it had activated the formal process aimed at avoiding insolvency, as it battles to secure enough money to remain in business, Reuters reported. Under Spanish law, companies can enter into debt restructuring proceedings that give them up to four months to reach an agreement with creditors to avoid a full-blown insolvency process and a potential bankruptcy. Isolux has over 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in restructured debt, according to an update on its restructuring process published in December.

Worried about layoffs and soured loans, governments and banks across Asia continue to dole out cheap financing and other support to keep failing firms -- corporate zombies -- alive, a Bloomberg View reported. The hope is that they'll become sustainable businesses again if growth revives. But in fact, these same companies are undermining the global economy, wasting resources, stifling productivity gains -- and thus forestalling the very recovery they're hoping will save them.

Principal Financial Group Inc. accused the managers of Liongate Capital Management LLP of hiding investments with Bernie Madoff while negotiating to sell half of their London hedge fund to Principal, Bloomberg News reported. Founders Randall Dillard and Jeff Holland, and Head of Research Benjamin Funk sold the stake in March 2013 without disclosing secret investments in the largest of several Madoff "feeder funds,” according to legal filings produced by Principal. It may be seeking as much as $66 million in damages in its London lawsuit.

China’s deleveraging push has racked up the most defaults on corporate bonds ever for a first quarter, and the identity of the debtors is pretty revealing. Seven companies have defaulted on a total of nine bonds onshore so far in 2017, versus 29 for all of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In a sign of the struggles facing China’s old economic model, most of them depend on heavy industry and construction.