Headlines

AIB has dramatically stepped up its pursuit of defaulting borrowers and is now by far the most litigious Irish lender when it comes to chasing unpaid debts through the High Court, according to an Irish Times analysis of court records, the Irish Times reported. In 2016, the State-owned bank issued almost four times as many High Court debt actions against borrowers as its nearest rival, Bank of Ireland. AIB took 40 per cent more cases against its borrowers last year compared with 2015.

When António Costa was sworn in as prime minister of Portugal in November 2015, opponents cast the Socialist leader as a reckless adventurer who had won power by means of a diabolical pact with communists and the radical left. “I hope not to be summoned back to a house in flames,” said Pedro Passos Coelho, the outgoing centre-right prime minister who had steered Portugal through a gruelling bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund. As yet, there has been no fire. A year later, Mr Costa enjoys opinion poll ratings of which Europe’s other centre-left leaders can only dream.

Small groups of protesters blockaded some roads and gasoline stations in Mexico on Monday to protest a government price deregulation that sent the price of fuel up by as much as 20 percent over the weekend, the International New York Times reported. One group blockaded a privately owned gasoline station on Mexico City's main boulevard, shouting: "The people, united, will never be defeated!" "This will increase the cost of living for all Mexicans.

We already knew 2016 had been a difficult year for North Sea oil, and the revelation that 16 firms in the sector became insolvent last year only confirms it, The Herald reported. What is alarming is the pace of these insolvencies – there were just two the year before – and the likelihood that many more firms may be teetering on the brink. A 25 per cent increase in oil prices in the last quarter of 2016 may herald better times ahead, and if the price stabilises at above US$50 a barrel, that would be a significant improvement since world oil prices collapsed dramatically in 2014.

The Italian government is likely to put in about €6.5 billion to rescue the country’s third-biggest lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, more than initially expected, sources close to the matter said, the Irish Times reported. The Italian lender needs about €8.8 billion of capital to bolster its balance sheet, the European Central Bank (ECB) said, up from previous estimates of €5 billion. The calculation is based on the results of a 2016 stress test, the bank said in a statement late Monday, citing two letters from the ECB that it received via Italy’s finance ministry.

King Salman serves as chairman of the family business unofficially known as “Al Saud Inc.” Sustained low oil prices have strained the economy and forced questions about whether the family — with thousands of members and still growing — can simultaneously maintain its lavish lifestyle and its unchallenged grip on the country, the International New York Times reported. “The people have less money than before, but the royal family have the same,” said Prince Khalid bin Farhan al-Saud, a dissident member of the extended family living in Germany.

Households are being left with less cash to spend on treats or to stash away as savings as the rising cost of essentials like food and fuel take a bigger chunk out of family budgets, The Guardian reported. A new report on household finances from Lloyds bank echoed other signs that the pound’s steep fall since the Brexit vote is raising import costs for the UK and trickling through to higher prices for consumers.

A judge indicted ex-President Cristina Kirchner on corruption charges involving public works and ordered millions of dollars of her assets to be frozen, escalating the legal troubles facing the former Argentine leader, The Wall Street Journal reported. Investigative Judge Julián Ercolini approved trying Mrs. Kirchner, along with several former aides and a businessman, for alleged racketeering and administrative fraud in connection with road projects in her home Santa Cruz province.

Mexico’s government has announced the biggest increases in petrol prices in almost two decades in a move that risks a backlash against its efforts to liberalise the country’s energy market, the Financial Times reported. The average prices across Mexico in January will be 15.99 pesos for a litre of regular petrol, 17.79 pesos for premium and 17.05 pesos for diesel, representing increases of 14.2 per cent, 20.1 per cent and 16.5 per cent, respectively, compared to December 2016.

Pumpkin Patch owes its bank nearly $60 million and its unsecured creditors another $13.2m. A receivers' report by Brendon Gibson and Neale Jackson of KordaMentha shows the children's clothing company, which was put into receivership in October, owed $59.5m, chiefly to the ANZ. Preferred creditors, largely the 1600 staff it employed in the lead-up to its receivership, were still owed $1.5m. Inland Revenue had not submitted a claim yet. It was too early to say whether the $13.2m owed to unsecured creditors could be retrieved, the report said.