Headlines

Banco Santander plans to close 450 branches in its Spanish home market in an attempt to bolster profitability and address the rapid shift towards internet and digital banking, the Irish Times reported. The euro zone’s largest bank by market value operates 3,467 branches in Spain, meaning it will cull about 13 per cent of its network. The closures will predominantly affect smaller outlets staffed by three or fewer employees. It remains unclear how many job losses will be involved in the overhaul, but Spanish media reports have suggested up to 1,000 workers could lose their jobs.

As British Prime Minister David Cameron scrambles to try to save the U.K.’s largest steel plant, an uncomfortable spotlight has focused on his government’s opposition to a move that the steel industry says would strengthen the European Union’s defenses against the cheap Chinese steel flooding European markets, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government already faces accusations by opposition politicians and unions that it has been slow to react to a crisis engulfing British steelmaking.

Spain has veered sharply off course in its long-running effort to reduce the budget deficit, unveiling a 5.2 per cent shortfall in 2015 that is likely to raise alarm inside the European Commission and impose significant political constraints on the next Spanish government, the Financial Times reported. Cristóbal Montoro, the budget minister, said the funding gap stood at €55.8bn last year — significantly worse than predicted by either the Spanish government or the Commission.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain emerged from an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday to say that the government would do all it could to preserve the British steel industry but that nationalization was not an option, the International New York Times reported. Emphasizing the severity of the situation, Mr.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's directors and key officers have received a cease-trade order by the securities regulator in the Canadian province of Quebec, on the company's request, Valeant said on Thursday, Reuters reported. In a separate statement, the Autorité Des Marches Financiers (AMF) said the order against trading shares takes effect Thursday and is in place for 15 days. Included in the order are Chief Executive Mike Pearson, Chief Financial Officer Robert Rosiello and board member Bill Ackman.

Kenya's central bank said on Thursday it would require another three months of investigation to determine the fate of Imperial Bank, which was put into receivership in October, delaying a resolution that had been scheduled for the end of this month, Reuters reported. The Imperial Bank receivership, which came two months after the liquidation of a smaller bank, rattled confidence in a financial sector where more than 40 foreign and local banks operate.

Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, has cut its outlook on China’s government credit to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ as it believes rebalancing of the world’s second largest economy would take place more slowly than expected, the Irish Times reported. China’s credit rating is AA- with a negative outlook, S&P said on its website. The agency also affirmed the long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings for China.

Argentina’s Senate gave the green light to a landmark deal to repay creditors holding defaulted debt in the early hours of Thursday, marking the end of a 14-year legal battle that had made the country a global financial pariah, the Irish Times reported. The deal, which had already been approved by the lower house of Congress, is the cornerstone of new President Mauricio Macri’s plan for revitalising an economy hobbled by low investment, high inflation and precarious central bank reserves.

Fears that a cap on bankers’ bonuses would greatly inflate their fixed pay and damage financial stability have proved unfounded, according to a report from the European Banking Authority, the Financial Times reported. Critics of the EU bonus cap — including the Bank of England — have argued that it could erode the stability of the financial system by increasing banks’ fixed costs and reducing their ability to claw back bonuses if something goes wrong.

Prime Minister David Cameron faced a new economic and political challenge on Wednesday after the Indian owner of much of Britain’s steel industry said it could no longer swallow the large losses being generated by its plants and would try to sell them, the International New York Times reported. The owner of the plants, Tata Steel, has been squeezed by cheap imports of Chinese steel into Europe, and its announcement suggested that if no buyer could be found it would consider closing them, endangering at least 15,000 jobs.