Headlines

China will introduce on May 1 a program to insure bank deposits, the government said on Tuesday, ushering in an overhaul seen as vital for freeing up the highly protected banking sector, the International New York Times reported. Deposits of up to 500,000 renminbi, or about $81,000, will be insured under the program, which is expected to help reduce financial risks and protect the rights and interests of savers, the State Council, or cabinet, said on the government’s website.

Brazilian engineering conglomerate Grupo OAS requested court protection from creditors for nine of its units on Tuesday as it grapples with the fallout from a scandal at state-controlled Petróleo Brasileiro SA, a major customer, Reuters reported. The filing comes after Grupo OAS struggled for months with the effects of a corruption investigation at Petrobras, as the state oil company is known, which undercut the builder's access to financing and contract payments. An economic downturn, government austerity and a slumping currency have also taken a toll on the company in recent months.

Difficulties faced by credit unions are grossly exaggerated and confused with toxicity in the banking sector, the president of the Irish League of Credit Unions has said. Speaking to the Irish Times, Martin Sisk said issues faced by a small number of credit unions were broadly misconstrued as affecting the whole sector. “There were things said that suggested that credit unions had a much bigger problem than they actually had and a lot of issues got exaggerated at the time, but I’m glad to say that in more recent times there is more clear [media] coverage of the issue,” he said.

Exall Energy, a tiny Calgary-based oil and gas company, went into receivership last week, sunk under the weight of its $34 million in bank debt, CBC.ca reported. But, the company failed to inform shareholders, or the Alberta Securities Commission, which issued a cease trade order only on March 30. "The cease trade order was issued after ASC staff determined that Exall Energy failed to disclose, in accordance with Alberta securities laws, that it had entered into receivership and that its board of directors had resigned," the ASC said in a release.

A second Calgary junior oilsands producer has been granted court protection from creditors as low oil prices and investor disinterest prevent recharging capital resources, The Calgary Herald reported. In a news release on its website, private Laricina Energy Ltd. reported that it has been granted Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act protection by the Court of Queen’s Bench. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed monitor.

Household loan repayments exceeded drawdowns by €608 million during February, according to new figures released by the Central Bank. This follows revised net repayments by housesholds of some €548 million in January. The Central Bank said the outstanding amount of loans to Irish households decreased by an annual 3.5 per cent last month, following a decrease of 3.2 per cent in January. The outstanding amount of loans for house purchase, which account for 82 per cent of total household loans, declined at an annual rate of 2.6 per cent.

With the prospect of a default looming in Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is preparing to meet next week with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as a European deal to give more aid to Athens falters, the International New York Times reported. The timing has raised questions of whether the visit is an ordinary component of the new Greek government’s multipronged foreign policy, or a pivot toward Russia for financial aid in the event that Greece’s talks with European officials collapse.

Australia is considering changes to the way it taxes pension funds and targeting the tax practices of multinationals, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservatives struggle to shore up the country’s finances amid deep hostility to proposed austerity measures, The Wall Street Journal reported. On Monday, Mr. Abbott called for discussion on how an aging population was progressively shrinking income-tax receipts and urged the opposition Labor party to cooperate with reforms needed to steer Australia through the end of a mining boom that once powered the economy.

China on Monday courted home buyers with a bigger tax break as it cut down-payment requirements for the second time in six months, stepping up a fight against sliding house prices that is imperiling the Chinese economy, the International New York Times reported. The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, said on its website that commercial banks could now lower their minimum down-payment requirement for buyers of second homes, and with outstanding mortgages, to 40 percent from 60 percent.

The legal feud between Argentina and a group of “holdout” creditors is inflicting collateral damage on a growing number of victims caught in the crossfire. One of the few winners from the fight might turn out to be Cristina Fernández, the country’s president, the Financial Times reported. As Argentina continues to defy US court orders to pay the holdouts after its 2001 debt default, its citizens are suffering the broader fallout of a struggling economy. Bondholders remain unpaid since the government defaulted again last year.