Headlines

British financial-services companies will get no special favors in Brexit negotiations from Prime Minister Theresa May, who wants to change the relationship between the government and the City of London, Bloomberg News reported. According to three senior figures in May’s administration, the government will refuse to prioritize the protection of the sector after the U.K. has left the European Union. Her team has also dismissed the key business demand for an interim deal with the EU to help ease the transition out of the bloc, one of the people said.

The Aughinish Alumina plant in Co Limerick staged a remarkable turnaround last year, recording a $14.4 million pretax profit after reporting a $12.1 million loss in 2014, the Irish Times reported. The main activity of the Shannon estuary-based refinery is the production and sale of alumina, which is extracted at the plant from bauxite and then exported outside the EU for further processing to aluminium metal.

Hanjin isn’t the only player in the ocean shipping world that has become insolvent, Global Trade reported. Rickmers Maritime Trust (RMT), a Singapore-listed owner of containerships has become the latest casualty in a growing list of containership owners with toxic vessel assets that are unable to generate sufficient funds to pay their outstanding debt obligations.

Danish conglomerate A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S isn’t likely to move to buy either Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. or Hanjin Shipping Co. contrary to industry speculation that it would take over either one or both of the troubled Korean cargo ship operators, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. Instead, the company is likely to wait for other distressed operators to seek buyout deals as they try to avoid bankruptcy, the people said.

The Greek government is at war with itself, and that is threatening to derail a key plank of Greece’s bailout, which consists of selling state assets to pay down debt and bring in foreign investment. Leaders in the ruling left-wing Syriza party are touring the world, from New York to Shanghai, lobbying investors to come to Greece and help kick-start its depressed economy. But Syriza’s roots in the Marxist, anti-globalization left make privatization a bitter pill, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Germany’s largest bank appears in danger, sending stock markets worldwide on a wild ride. Yet the biggest source of worry is less about its finances than a vast tangle of unknowns — not least, whether Europe can muster the will to mount a rescue in the event of an emergency, the International New York Times reported. In short, fears that Europe lacks the cohesion to avoid a financial crisis may be enhancing the threat of one.

A tax amnesty program launched by Indonesia to bring home money stashed overseas by wealthy individuals has attracted 135.4 trillion rupiah (US$10.5 billion) in asset repatriation since July, the government said Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The announcement came at the end of the final day of the most generous terms, as low as 2% penalties, offered to those participating in the tax program, which will continue for six months.

Fushun Special Steel said on Friday a court is reviewing an application from creditors for a bankruptcy restructuring of parent Dongbei Special Steel Group Co Ltd., Reuters reported. Fushun Special Steel said in a statement on the Shanghai stock exchange website that its own operations and capital flows were normal. State-owned steelmaker Dongbei Special Steel, an unlisted company, owns 35.22 percent of Fushun.

Overseas graduates declaring themselves penniless are among the 483 debtors whose $18 million in students loans have been wiped by bankruptcies, Stuff.co.nz reported. Inland Revenue has revealed the latest figures as the amount owed by student loan defaulters tips over the $1 billion mark. The 10 biggest overseas debtors owe more than $300,000 each. Some are dying in debt. Ministry of Education figures show that, in the year to June 2015, $19m of student loan debt was written off because of the death of the borrower. That compared with $16m written off because of bankruptcy.

Mongolia has requested a rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund as it battles to plug the gap in its public finances while keeping its giant neighbour, China, at arm’s length, the Financial Times reported. The central Asian nation submitted a formal request for financial assistance from the fund to support its economy and address balance of payments pressures, the IMF said on Friday. A team from the IMF will visit Ulan Bator, Mongolia’s capital, for discussions with the government.