Headlines

Some analysts expect the Bank of Japan to fire another blast of monetary stimulus at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Sept. 21. Others see a central bank with little if any ammunition left -- or one turned gun-shy, Bloomberg News reported. For some economists, the BOJ’s decision to undertake a comprehensive review of its easing program to be concluded at the meeting underscored its struggle to hit the 2 percent inflation target, and bolstered arguments that it had reached the limits of its powers.

Tervita Corp., the Canadian oilfield services company focused on waste management, is planning a debt-for-equity swap to reduce its total leverage by about C$2 billion ($1.5 billion), Bloomberg News reported. Holders of 63 percent of its senior unsecured notes and 90 percent of its subordinated unsecured notes have agreed to the proposal, according to a statement on Wednesday from the closely-held company. Tervita also has secured agreement from 69 percent of its shareholders, the Calgary-based company said.

Since China was the first country to use paper money it shouldn’t be a surprise that it was also guilty, earlier than most, of monetary recklessness, The Wall Street Journal reported.

China's economic growth accelerated in August, a batch of data showed on Tuesday, relieving pressure on policymakers to boost stimulus and assuaging fears of a sharp slowdown that would drag down global growth, the Financial Times reported. Industrial production, a gauge of the crucial manufacturing sector, grew 6.3 per cent annually in August, the fastest pace since March. Retail sales growth accelerated to 10.6 per cent in August, up from 10.2 per cent in July, led by auto sales, which rose 13.1 per cent.

Investors are reluctant to back Monte dei Paschi di Siena's bid to raise billions of euros, leading fund managers and a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, posing a huge challenge for a new CEO seeking to save the Italian bank. The lender, which is expected to name a new chief executive on Wednesday, must raise up to 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) as part of an emergency rescue plan to stave off the risk of being wound down and a wider banking crisis that would send shockwaves across Europe.

Lightstream Resources increased 2015 cash bonuses for three executives months before the Canadian oil producer proposed a debt-for-equity swap to stay afloat as its stock was down to pennies, the Chicago Tribune reported. Chief Financial Officer Peter Scott and Chief Operating Officer Rene LaPrade saw their non-equity compensation for last year, paid in December, increase about 11 percent from 2014 to C$200,000 ($153,000) each, according to a filing from the Calgary-based company on Friday. The bonus for Peter Hawkes, vice-president for geosciences, surged 32 percent to C$119,763.

At the end of May 2016 a total of £2.2 billion was owed to banks – a rise of £177 million on the previous year, and the seventh year in a row that debt levels have increased, The Courier reported. In addition to this, farms have an estimated £1.4 billion of liabilities from hire purchases, lease arrangements and money borrowed from family members and other sources, according to Scotland’s Chief Statistician. The figures, which show bank farm debt is the highest since records began in 1972, come after problems with a new IT system caused delays getting European subsidies to farmers.

South African Airways, the national carrier, probably incurred a loss for a fifth consecutive year in the past financial period, and would be insolvent without a government-backed guarantee, Bloomberg News reported. The state airline’s loss for the year ending March is estimated at 1.8 billion rand ($124 million), and follows a 4.7 billion loss a year earlier, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in parliament on Tuesday. Gordhan approved a further 4.7 billion rand going-concern guarantee last week that will allow the company to release delayed financial statements on Sept. 15.

More than €50 billion worth of non-performing bank loans (NPLs) remained in place in Ireland at the end of 2015, according to a stocktake published on Monday by the European Central Bank. This was in spite of €74 billion worth of face-value loans being transferred from Irish banks to the National Asset Management Agency for work-out after the crash, and a further €40 billion reduction in NPLs in the two years from the end of 2013.

The man who masterminded Chile’s world-famous privatised pension system still calls it the “Mercedes-Benz” of retirement systems, but that has proved an enraging comparison when the average pensioner is eking out an income that turned out to be less than the minimum wage, the Financial Times reported. José Piñera created the scheme as social security minister 35 years ago when Chile, under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, was the world’s free-market laboratory.