Headlines

British mobile technology firm Globo Plc , which last month disclosed financial irregularities at the company, said on Tuesday that a court had placed it under administration, Reuters reported. Globo, under investigation from UK's financial watchdog, said the court had appointed Chad Griffin, Simon Kirkhope and Lisa Rickelton of consulting firm FTI Consulting as joint administrators. The company came under the scanner last month after U.S. hedge fund and short-seller Quintessential Capital Management raised questions about Globo's revenue model and finances in a report.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is struggling to get the country’s Congress to pass legislation meant to curb a widening budget gap, faces more resistance from members of her own party than almost any other grouping, according to a recent survey of lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ms. Rousseff’s left-wing Workers’ Party is reluctant to embrace spending cuts and tax increases and favors stimulus policies instead, according to the poll of members of the lower house of Brazil’s Congress by political consultancy firm Mosaico.

Debt-laden Chinese developer Kaisa Group Holding is close to finalising a deal with its onshore creditors, a senior advisor said, days after the company said its talks with offshore creditors were also progressing, Reuters reported. Kaisa became the first Chinese property developer to default on its offshore debt payments. The company which owes almost $11 billion, of which $2.5 billion is due to overseas creditors, is in the midst of debt restructuring talks which have helped support its bonds.

One stress test is over for Athens, but several more are looming, the International New York Times reported. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras received good news over the weekend when a stress test showed that the top Greek banks needed to raise a lowish 14.4 billion euros, or $15.9 billion, in capital. But Mr. Tsipras has to implement more tough measures before he can get the economy growing. Until then, he faces political risks, which could yet tip Greece back into crisis.

AIB is seeking summary judgment for sums totalling around €25 million against 14 business people over alleged default on loans which they had guaranteed, the Irish Times reported. The 14, along with another man who previously consented to judgment for €1.68m, gave personal guarantees of between €170,000 and €3.8m on loans made to a company in 2008. AIB claims the 15 were liable on a several basis with limited individual liability.

He has been called China’s Carl Icahn. But the billionaire owner of one of the country’s most successful investment firms is now the latest suspect in the broadening crackdown on corruption in the financial industry, the International New York Times reported. The fund manager, Xu Xiang, nicknamed Big Xu, was arrested in dramatic Hollywood fashion, more worthy of a spy movie than a financier. As the police closed in, the highway patrol sealed the 22-mile Hangzhou Bay Bridge for more than 30 minutes and eventually apprehended Mr. Xu near the exit, according to state media.

In Texas or the North Sea, oil companies struggling with falling prices are firing thousands of employees. In Kazakhstan, it is not so simple, the Financial Times reported. The central Asian nation was a poster child of the past decade’s oil boom, building a futuristic capital on the steppe with its hydrocarbon riches, but this year’s tumble in prices has pushed many of Kazakhstan’s Soviet-era oilfields into the red.

Sweden’s decision yet again to take the regulatory high ground is proving awkward for much of the rest of Europe. A director at the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority last week dared to question the status quo of letting banks treat sovereign bonds as though they couldn’t default. For Sweden, the move will probably only result in a modest increase in bank capital needs, but the political statement behind the decision is significant, Bloomberg News reported.

Greece’s top four lenders will need to inject up to €14.4 billion ($15.8 billion) in fresh funds to strengthen their capital base, according to the results of a health check performed by the European Central Bank released on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The amount, which was determined by an examination of lenders National Bank of Greece (NBG) SA, Piraeus Bank SA, Eurobank Ergasias SA and Alpha Bank AS., is in line with market expectations. The banks are now required to say how they plan to raise this capital by November 6.

Activity in China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly shrank for a third straight month in October, an official survey showed on Sunday, fuelling fears that the economy may be cooling further in the fourth quarter despite a raft of stimulus measures, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 49.8 in October, the same pace as in previous month and lagging market expectations of 50.0. A reading over 50 points suggests an expansion in activity while one below that level points to an contraction on a monthly basis.