Headlines

Hungary's gross public debt jumped to a four-year high of 85.1% of gross domestic product at the end of June, central bank data published Monday showed, The Wall Street Journal reported. Gross public debt calculated under the European Union's Maastricht criteria was 81.7% of GDP a year earlier and 85.6% of GDP in June 2010 when the current government first gained power and the forint, the Hungarian currency, weakened significantly against core currencies amid Europe's continuing economic crisis.

Romanian businessman Nelu Iordache accuses Casa de Insolventa Transilvania (CITR), the former judicial administrator of construction company Romstrade, that it looted his company, causing losses by ending contracts, maintaining others and signing new ones, but also by selling assets of Blue Air airline, Romania-Insider.com reported. Iordache, the owner of both companies, who is serving jail time for misuse of EU funds, made a series of accusations in a report addressed to creditors, reports local Adevarul.

Government investigators in China have found the Mercedes-Benz unit of Daimler, the German automaker, in violation of antitrust price rules, the Chinese state news media reported on Monday. The announcement was the latest in a spate of inquiries over pricing and sales policies that have raised pressure on foreign corporations across China, the International New York Times reported.

Credit Suisse helped put together billions of dollars in securities that were issued by offshore investment vehicles of Banco Espirito Santo SA and then sold to the Portuguese bank's retail customers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. In the article in its online edition, the newspaper cited corporate filings and people familiar with the situation, saying customers didn't know the investment vehicles were loaded with debt issued by various Espirito Santo companies and served as a mechanism to finance the Portuguese conglomerate.

China’s state-owned airlines have had a turbulent year and are warning of first-half earnings to match when they report later this month, the Financial Times reported. With the bulk of their earnings in renminbi and fuel and aircraft costs denominated in US dollars, China’s big three airlines benefited from the Chinese currency’s steady appreciation against the greenback over the past decade. But over recent weeks, Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have all issued profit warnings, citing foreign exchange losses from the renminbi’s unexpected weakening earlier this year.

Eurozone banks are set to take advantage of a new flood of central bank liquidity in a bid to boost lending to the region’s credit-starved businesses, the Financial Times reported. Faced with a stagnating economy eurozone banks are expected to borrow about €250bn in cheap four-year money from the European Central Bank in September and December, according to projections by Morgan Stanley, under the ECB’s ‘targeted long-term financing operations’. Periphery banks are expected to account for the heaviest borrowing.

Germany's Strauss Innovation, a chain of small department stores, on Friday said it had found a new owner after having sought court protection from creditors earlier this year to rescue its business, Reuters reported. A creditor committee approved a sale of the company to German investor Muehleck Family Office (MFO), which will provide capital for investment and further growth, Strauss said in a statement. Muehleck will own 100 percent of Strauss and plans considerable investments to modernise the stores, said Jens Bender, an adviser and spokesman for MFO told Reuters.

Bulgaria's central bank has allowed some banking activities to resume at Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) so borrowers can repay loans to the country's fourth-largest lender, officials said on Friday. The bank was hit by a run on deposits in June that led to Bulgaria's biggest banking crisis since the 1990s. Corpbank was placed under the control of the central bank and has since remained shut pending an audit into its books, due to be completed by October, leaving angry customers without access to their deposits.

Iceland's government Friday reappointed its central bank governor, Mar Gudmundsson, for a second five-year term, backing him to continue steering the tiny island nation's recovery from a devastating financial crisis six years ago, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Gudmundsson first took the reins at the central bank, Sedlabanki, in 2009 after the collapse of Iceland's financial sector when the country's three biggest banks buckled under the weight of their debts as their access to credit became restricted.

China is trying to regain control of the cash flowing across its leaky borders and the effects will be felt around the world, The Wall Street Journal reported. Beijing technically bans its citizens from buying overseas properties and stocks, and limits the money they can transfer abroad to $50,000 a year. Despite these rules, wealthy Chinese have found ways to move their money across the border, making them the biggest international buyers of properties in places like the U.S. and fueling a boom in Macau's casinos.