Headlines

The Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow, the most valuable of the foreign properties that were once owned by the children of the bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn, is likely go up for sale next year. The office block, which two years ago was considered to have a value of approximately $180 million, is the subject of a bankruptcy process overseen by the Russian courts that involves a requirement to liquidate the asset, the Irish Times reported. The deadline for putting the building up for sale is likely to be early next year.

A Dubai-based venture half-owned by commodities trader Vitol SA has hired more than 10 ex-OW Bunker employees in China, showing how swiftly merchants are filling the vacuum left by the former top marine fuel supplier, China-based traders said on Friday, Reuters reported. The hiring spree by Cockett Marine Oil follows a similar move by Swiss trader, Mercuria, who has scooped up close to 20 ex-OW Bunker employees in South Korea and Japan.

A group campaigning against proposals to introduce 20 per cent deposit requirements on new mortgage applicants will deliver a petition to the Central Bank tomorrow, the Irish Times reported. The Central Bank plan, which were initially announced in October with Monday set as the deadline for submissions under a consultation process, is designed to prevent the emergence of a new property bubble. Under the proposal, borrowers would be required to have a 20 per cent deposit when purchasing a property, although there would be some exceptions.

The Co-operative Bank has torn up this year’s long-term incentive plan for its senior executives amid expectations that it has failed stress tests mandated by the Bank of England, The Independent reported. The beleaguered bank’s chief executive, Niall Booker, this week confirmed widespread rumours that it was likely to fail the tests, which gauge a lender’s ability to survive a 35 per cent crash in house prices, combined with soaring unemployment and interest rates.

Banks were in the firing line when the British Treasury went looking for revenue to someday balance its budget, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, sought to curb the favorable treatment that banks have received when he delivered the Autumn Statement, Britain’s annual spending plan, on Wednesday. Starting in April, banks will be able to apply only 50 percent of their profits against past losses to calculate their tax bill, rather than all of their profits.

Iceland is set to unveil plans for exiting its six-year capital control regime at the start of next week after granting an exemption to LBI hf to repay 400 billion kronur ($3.2 billion) to priority creditors, according to people familiar with government’s plans, Bloomberg News reported. The government presented an accord yesterday that will enable the full settlement of priority claims against the nation’s lenders, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The European Central Bank opened the door to a dramatic escalation in its campaign to stimulate the eurozone’s stagnant economy, but deferred any moves until early 2015 amid signs of continuing divisions over the right course of action, The Wall Street Journal reported. ECB President Mario Draghi said Thursday that officials discussed purchases of government bonds, otherwise known as quantitative easing, a move that would mark a new chapter in the bank’s fight against excessively weak inflation.

“Job-preservation agreements” that were designed to emulate Germany’s Kurzarbeit program—allowing companies to negotiate lower pay and working hours to stay afloat in difficult times—have run into a wall of bureaucracy that is distinctly French, The Wall Street Journal reported. While there have been fewer clashes with unions over layoffs thanks to streamlined procedures, employers say they still don’t have the flexibility they need to actually keep people in work. On the contrary, things are even more complex.

British firms hired permanent employees at the slowest rate in 18 months in November, although starting salaries rose faster due to staff shortages in many sectors, a survey showed on Friday. The monthly survey from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation tallies with official data which has shown Britain's rapid pace of job creation slowing, after a sharp fall in the unemployment rate to just 6 percent in the three months to September. "(There's) not much sign of a happy Christmas in the job market," said Bernard Brown, a partner at accountancy firm KPMG, which sponsors the survey.

A Luxembourg court on Wednesday confirmed that a holding company of Portugal's Espirito Santo family could not receive bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. Rioforte Investments, whose assets include many of the family's holdings in real estate, hotels and plantations, had appealed against an earlier decision by a Luxembourg court to not award it protection from creditors. This appeal was struck down by judges on Wednesday, a spokesman for the court said in an emailed statement, without elaborating.