Headlines

Less than one-tenth of those who commute into and around Dublin travel by rail, according to a major report on Ireland’s railways which warns that Iarnród Éireann could face insolvency unless it gets more State money, the Irish Times reported. The National Transport Authority’s review was considered by Cabinet on Tuesday and later published – it declares the semi-State needs an extra €103 million a year over the next five years to ensure its survival.

EU antitrust regulators are set to fine Europe's biggest bank HSBC, JPMorgan and Credit Agricole by the end of the year for rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Charges were levied in May 2014 against the three banks, which denied wrongdoing. The European Commission could penalise HSBC, JPMorgan and Credit Agricole next month, the people said. The decision has been delayed several times and another hold-up could still occur. European Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso declined to comment.

German economic growth slowed more than expected in the third quarter of 2016 as weaker exports put the brakes on overall activity in Europe’s largest economy, preliminary data showed on Tuesday. The German economy grew by 0.2 per cent on the quarter between July and September after it expanded by 0.4 per cent in the three months to June, the Federal Statistics Office said. That was lower than the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for 0.3 per cent growth.

Fishing firm Fripur’s former workers presented a note at a Creditors’ Meeting Court in which they claim the nullity of the insolvency process allocating the company assets to the multinational firm Cooke Aquaculture, FIS reported. Cooke Aquaculture was expected to pay USD 15 million, but so far it has only deposited USD 3.8 million. The workers that are members of the cooperative that was formed after the bankruptcy of the fishing firm, Eco-Fripur, argue that the multinational firm has not met the payment terms and that, therefore, the process is null.

Shipping operator Korea Line Corp. won a contest for some assets of bankrupt Hanjin Shipping Co., whose collapse in late August stranded billions of dollars in cargo at sea, disrupting supply chains world-wide, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a surprise decision, a Seoul court on Monday awarded Korea Line, a midsize bulk-shipping operator, the first right to purchase the assets of Hanjin’s Asia-U.S. route, as well as its stake in a California terminal.

Ailing Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Sienaon Monday announced the terms of a planned debt-to-equity conversion, a key plank of a rescue scheme aimed at averting the bank being wound down, Reuters reported. The bank said the voluntary debt swap offer would target 4.289 billion euros (3.68 billion pounds) of subordinated bonds. It was also considering converting a hybrid financial instrument known as Fresh 2008 worth 1 billion euros.

Spanish energy firm Abengoa reported a nine-month net loss of 5.4 billion euros ($5.80 billion) on Monday, the week after a court signed off on its debt restructuring plan which should allow it to avoid bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Seville-based company said the profit loss was due principally to huge provisions on deteriorating assets and the slowdown of its business over the past year as it has sold of assets and slashed its workforce to keep afloat. Abengoa's nine-month core profit - or earnings before interest, tax, debt and amortization (EBITDA) - was a loss of 90 million euros.

The large stock of problem loans that remain to be worked through by Irish banks remains the “most critical issue” for the sector here and will continue to slow their recovery, ratings agency Moody’s has said. It also expects the Government to dispose of its stakes in Irish banks later in 2017 or in 2018. The State owns 99.9 per cent of AIB, 75 per cent of Permanent TSB and 14 per cent of Bank of Ireland. In a report on Irish banks published on Monday, Moody’s noted that problem loans for rated Irish banks totalled €41.5 billion as the end of 2015, down from €67 billion a year earlier.

In one of the most audacious experiments in India’s modern history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the two largest bills — of 500 rupees, or about $7.50, and 1,000 rupees — which account for about 86 percent of the currency in a country where 78 percent of financial transactions are done in cash. Under the plan, people are allowed to exchange the old bills for new ones of 500 and 2,000 rupees, but only at banks or post offices, where their exchanges will be monitored and anyone with a large amount of cash will have to explain its source.

New York-based Aurelius Capital Management is behind the formation of a dissident bondholders group at Brazil's Oi SA that emerged last week, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The new group will also soon announce a financial adviser to handle negotiations with the debt-laden Brazilian carrier, which filed in June for the country's largest-ever bankruptcy to restructure about $19 billion of liabilities, the same source said.