Headlines

Chinese borrowers are taking on record amounts of debt to repay interest on their existing obligations, raising the risk of defaults and adding pressure on policy makers to keep financing costs low, Bloomberg News reported. The amount of loans, bonds and shadow finance arranged to cover interest payments will probably rise 5 percent this year to a record 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), according to Beijing-based Hua Chuang Securities Co., whose lead fixed-income analyst was top-ranked by China’s New Fortune magazine in 2012 and 2013.

The Bank of Japan kept its monetary stimulus programme unchanged on Thursday, with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda holding fast to his view that the corporate capital expenditure vital to economic growth will pick up - suggesting that no new monetary easing is imminent, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The BOJ offered a slightly more cautious view on inflation expectations - or how the public perceives future price moves - than at last month's meeting, underscoring its concerns over a lack of success in nudging companies into boosting wages and investment.

British regulators will consider barring up to 10 executives linked to the 2008 collapse of the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, some of whom still hold senior business roles, Reuters reported. The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) long-delayed report into HBOS was published on Thursday and blamed the HBOS management for its failure and criticised the previous regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Greece’s parliament has backed additional reforms needed to unlock €12bn from the latest, €86bn, bailout to recapitalise struggling banks and pay off overdue debts to government suppliers, the Financial Times reported. The reform bill was approved by 153 to 137 votes following a stormy debate that brought the sacking of two deputies from the governing Syriza-led coalition. They had refused to support a measure limiting protection for mortgage holders in default.

AIB raised €750 million in a bond issue on Thursday as part of its plan to start repaying the bailout it received from the State, enjoying strong demand that bodes well for a planned stock market flotation next year, the Irish Times reported. The Government has pumped €21 billion into AIB since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the biggest bailout given to any Irish bank still trading, and will recoup an initial €1.6 billion under its capital reorganisation.

The government has been preparing to preemptively restructure insolvent companies ahead of the anticipated interest rate hike by the U.S. central bank, and a new study showed that nearly 6 percent of Korean companies could need it, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. According to a report by private corporate analysis agency Korea CXO Institute, 117 of Korea’s 2,000 companies, excluding financial firms, have debt-to-asset ratios of over 200 percent and are also suffering from operating and net losses as of last year.

Gayle Killilea, the wife of property developer Seán Dunne, has objected to an application in the US courts for relief that would help her husband’s Irish bankruptcy official recover assets from the couple, the Irish Times reported. In the latest development in long-running legal actions bridging bankruptcies in two countries and litigation in a third, Ms Killilea has asked a US court not to terminate the “automatic stay” that protects debtors from actions taken by creditors to recover their debts.

The European Central Bank is willing to break an earlier promise and delve deeper into the world of negative interest rates. The uncertainties of this topsy turvy universe are numerous, but economists believe there is plenty of room for the eurozone’s central bankers to cut rates further, the Financial Times reported. A move deeper into negative territory, which would raise the cost imposed on lenders who leave their accounts at the eurozone’s monetary guardian in the black, could come as soon as December 3.

The Norwegian mining subsidiary of Australia's Northern Iron Ltd will file for bankruptcy on Wednesday as its $100 million debt has become unsustainable, Northern Iron told a new conference on Wednesday. Attempts to find new investors for the Sydvaranger Gruve AS mining firm, which has close to 400 employees, had also failed, it added. The two largest creditors were top Norwegian bank DNB and government investment agency Innovation Norway, Northern iron said.

Global regulators have estimated that contentious new rules will force one bank to set aside nine times as much capital as it currently does to guard against market risk in its trading book, the Financial Times reported. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which sets worldwide standards, is in the middle of overhauling the way banks assess risk in their trading operations. As part of that, it took a look at how the changes, known as the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book, would affect specific unnamed banks.