Headlines

MPs on Monday wrapped up discussion of the fifth bill comprising the insolvency framework – a set of laws governing personal and corporate bankruptcy – hoping to put the whole package to a vote this Thursday. The fifth bill deals with the protection of primary homes, business premises and guarantors’ obligations to the principal debtor. The House aims to table the insolvency framework to the plenary for a vote by April 2, the last plenum before the Easter break. April 2 is also the date on which the foreclosures law – which the opposition has repeatedly blocked – comes into force.

Britain’s seven biggest lenders will be assessed on whether they could withstand a severe external shock including a Chinese property crash, a deep eurozone recession and the worst deflation since the 1930s, the Financial Times reported. The Bank of England on Monday presented the scenario for its second annual stress tests, which it said expanded on last year’s exercise to include more of a focus on global risks.

Greek proposals for a revised bailout program don’t have enough detail to satisfy the government’s international creditors, eurozone officials said, making it more likely that Athens will need to go several more weeks without a new infusion of desperately-needed cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. Officials from Greece’s leftist government were in Brussels over the weekend to present the proposals to officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund—the trio of institutions representing the government’s creditors.

Zhou Xiaochuan, China’s central bank governor, warned on Sunday that the country needed to be vigilant about signs of deflation and said policy makers were closely watching the slowing of global economic growth and declines in commodity prices, the International New York Times reported. Mr. Zhou’s comments are likely to add to concerns that China is in danger of slipping into deflation and to underline increasing nervousness among policy makers as the economy continues to lose momentum despite a series of stimulus measures. “Inflation in China is also declining.

Australia plans to join an Asian infrastructure bank led by China, the government announced on Sunday, reversing an earlier decision taken at the urging of the United States not to become a member. The move made Australia the latest of a list of major American allies to sign up, the International New York Times reported. The office of Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement that Australia still had concerns about the management of the bank but recognized the pressing needs for infrastructure in Asia.

Comments by a Supreme Court judge on a matter of law could have implications for many hundreds of distressed mortgages loaned by the former Bank of Scotland (Ireland), the Irish Times reported. At the end of 2010 a cross-border merger took place between Bank of Scotland Ireland (BOSI) and Bank of Scotland. As a result, BOSI ceased to exist. Since then, some of the mortgage business of the former BOSI has been sold on to other international finance companies, while the rest of the loans remain on the books of Bank of Scotland.

Air Zimbabwe Ltd., the state-owned carrier that declared itself insolvent this month, is considering long-haul routes and seeking partners in an effort to repair its finances, Bloomberg News reported. The airline will decide by the year end whether to start flights to China and Brazil, acting chief executive officer Edmund Makona said in an interview on March 25. Another potential destination is New York, he said. The company’s only current international destination is Johannesburg.

Best Buy Canada, a unit of Best Buy Co., said it will close 66 of its Future Shop electronics stores, or roughly half, while firing 1,500 full- and part-time workers and taking a restructuring charge of as much as $280 million, Bloomberg News reported. Best Buy said in a statement released Saturday that the cost of the consolidation will reduce earnings in its 2016 fiscal year by as much as 20 cents a share. The company, which has pushed to cut costs in its U.S. operations, said it doesn’t expect the move to affect earnings in later years.

Greece is hurrying to compile a list of economic overhauls that satisfies its creditors and secures desperately need bailout aid, as it runs increasingly low on cash and debt payments loom, The Wall Street Journal reported. Key officials in Greece’s new government, led by the leftist Syriza party, were hunkered down in meetings Thursday to flesh out new economic policies with the aim of submitting a list of overhauls by Monday at the latest, senior officials said.

Greek bank deposits plunged to an almost 10-year low in February as some €8 billion ($8.7 billion) were withdrawn from lenders, amid rising political uncertainty and worries over the country’s possible exit from the eurozone, The Wall Street Journal reported. Total deposits fell to €152.4 billion euros in February, down from €160.3 billion in January, data from the country’s central bank showed Thursday. This is the lowest level since June 2005. During the last three month, Greeks have pulled some €25 billion from the banking system, fearing currency changes or capital controls.