Headlines

Toshiba’s chances of remaining a listed company are bleak as the crisis-hit industrial group scrambles to meet a third accounting deadline, analysts warn. The warnings come as executives among Toshiba’s creditors — an 80-strong group of big banks and regional lenders — have been told to prepare for the possibility that the company will fail to produce audited earnings numbers for the October-to-December quarter of 2016 when they are due on April 11, according to two people close to the company.

Top Greek and European officials indicated Wednesday that it's possible to reach a breakthrough in the country's difficult bailout talks over the next two days, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. Greece's prime minister said that if a deal on paying Athens the next bailout installment fails to materialize, the eurozone should hold a special summit.

Jens Weidmann isn’t convinced by the recent pullback in the eurozone’s inflation rate, the Financial Times reported. The Bundesbank president has become the latest senior German figure to call on the European Central Bank to bring an early end to its quantitative easing programme, arguing that the central bank should “take its foot off the gas” soon. In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Mr Weidmann said: In my opinion, the point when the foot is not allowed to be left on the accelerator pedal, but is lifted slightly, is approaching.

The Greek government is on course to significantly exceed its creditor budget targets, the EU’s economics chief has said, as he warned Athens’ stuttering economic recovery was a risk of derailing from a long-running delay over its bailout. Addressing MEPs in Brussels on Tuesday, Pierre Moscovici said the Syriza-led government would exceed a 3 per cent primary budget surplus for 2016 when official figures are released later this month, the Financial Times reported.

Greek ministers and the country’s bailout monitors were on Tuesday trying to strike a deal on the pension and labour market reforms needed to unlock further financial aid, the Financial Times reported. With the clock ticking down to more than €6bn in debt repayments that Athens must make in July, negotiators say an accord on the main elements of the policy package must be reached soon to stave off the risk of a crisis this summer.

Banking regulators should treat the euro area as a single jurisdiction to bring down major lenders’ capital surcharges and loss-absorbing debt requirements, according to senior bankers at BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole SA. Jean Lemierre, chairman of BNP Paribas, said regulators currently view lenders’ activities conducted between euro-area countries as cross-border, driving up the capital buffer requirement for systemic risk that Europe’s biggest banks must meet, Bloomberg News reported.

The sell-off in dollar bonds issued by Venezuela and state-owned oil company PDVSA picked up steam on Tuesday as the spiraling crisis in the South American country triggered fresh fears of a default ahead of a multi-billion bond payment due next week, the Financial Times reported. The country’s benchmark 2027 bond fell 3 per cent to a 10-month low of 44.6 cents on the dollar. Bonds issued by PDVSA also took a leg lower, with the note due in 2035 down 2.7 per cent at 43.1 cents on the dollar.

Thousands of elderly Greeks protested peacefully on Tuesday against more pension cuts, as cash-strapped Greece remained locked in talks with lenders on further austerity and unpopular labor reforms, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Pension cuts have been a regular feature of austerity drives to ensure that financial aid continues to the indebted country. Greece has needed three multi-billion bailouts since 2010 to stave off bankruptcy. Greece is now negotiating new cuts to keep its latest 86 billion-euro ($91.54 billion) bailout.

High-grade corporate bonds surged when the European Central Bank added them to its €2.3 trillion purchase program last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, with a slowdown in ECB buying on the horizon—alongside potentially risky European elections—some investors are bracing for a selloff. The ECB started paring its monthly purchases of European debt from €80 billion to €60 billion in April, meaning it will buy around €1.9 billion fewer corporate bonds every month, assuming it keeps the allocation of its purchases steady.

China’s so-called bad banks are thriving as alternative lenders, evolving from bad-debt managers into some of the country’s largest financial conglomerates just as margins at the big state-owned banks come under pressure, the Financial Times reported. China’s four centrally controlled asset management companies (AMCs) were set up in 1999 to swallow toxic assets from banks, and have had their assets grow expansively over the past five years.