Headlines

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins is on Tuesday set to accept his first bonus since taking charge three years ago, in a sign that bankers are showing less restraint even though pay remains a political flashpoint, the Financial Times reported. Of the UK’s biggest banks only one chief executive — Ross McEwan of Royal Bank of Scotland — has declined to take an award for 2014. HSBC rejected calls for bonuses to be cut in response to the tax evasion scandal at its Swiss private bank, arguing this dated back to 2005-2007, before the current management team took over.

Financial institutions are at the epicentre of the financial storm in the Caribbean. Take the case of Sagicor Financial Corp., a leading regional life insurer, based in Barbados. Because the country’s sovereign debt has been downgraded several times, Sagicor’s corporate debt rating has also suffered. In January, the company abruptly announced it was relocating its head office outside of Barbados, shocking the island’s 290,000 citizens. Canadian lenders have it even worse. Our banks are often praised for sidestepping the U.S.

Ten Airways (X5, Bucharest Baneasa) has filed for insolvency protection with a Bucharest court which, if granted on March 5, will allow the airline to restructure and resume operations. The carrier recently had its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) reinstated by the Romanian civil aviation authority (Autoritatea Aeronautică Civilă Română - AACR) roughly a month after it was initially revoked, the carrier's managing director Dumitru Pupescu has confirmed to ch-aviation. The Mediafax news agency reports the airline's largest creditors are its employees who are still owed outstanding wages.

Hours after China's central bank cut interest rates to battle slowing growth and rising deflationary risk, an official survey showed on Sunday that activity in China's factory sector contracted for a second straight month in February, the International New York Times reported. The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) inched up to 49.9 in February from January's 49.8, a whisker below the 50-point level separating growth from contraction on a monthly basis, but nevertheless above more pessimistic analyst forecasts for a 49.7 reading.

Greece’s cash-strapped government suggested in the past week that it might default on some of the debt it owes the International Monetary Fund in March, which would make it the first advanced economy in the institution’s seven-decade history to fall into protracted arrears with the fund, The Wall Street Journal reported. It would also put the new Athens government on a par with a small group of mostly conflict-ravaged debtors that have stiffed the IMF—a list that includes Afghanistan’s Taliban, Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe and coup-stricken Haiti.

Russia sharply raised the amount it plans to draw from its reserve fund to support this year’s budget, as revenues fall along with oil prices and Western sanctions cut the country off from international financing, The Wall Street Journal reported. In addition to tapping the fund—money the government put aside in the years when oil prices were high—spending by ministries and departments will be cut 10% to keep the deficit from growing too much, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Friday.

A company that obtained a €2.8 million judgment against Joseph Sheehan and John Flynn, two of the main shareholders in Dublin’s Blackrock Clinic, has secured interim charging orders over Mr Sheehan’s shares in a firm that owns a half share of the private Galway Clinic. Mr Justice Brian McGovern granted the interim orders on the ex parte application (one side only represented) by Bernard Dunleavy SC, for Talos Capital Ltd, at the Commercial Court. The matter will return before the court next week when Mr Sheehan will have an opportunity to challenge the orders.

President Dilma Rousseff ’s administration, fearful of a potential loss of Brazil’s investment-grade debt rating, is stepping up austerity measures, angering supporters and exacerbating an already painful economic slowdown, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government on Thursday announced a cap on government spending and investment, as well as additional tax increases for businesses, moves aimed at shoring up Brasília’s deteriorating finances. The new measures will limit federal spending to 75 billion Brazilian reais ($26.3 billion) from Jan.

African Minerals said on Friday its Chinese partner in its sole asset, the Tonkolili iron ore project in Sierra Leone, has taken on some of its multi-million dollar debt and is demanding repayment, Reuters reported. The loan is secured against certain assets of the borrower and by taking ownership of the debt, Shandong is in a position that could allow it to take control of the project. "The borrowers and guarantors do not have sufficient funds available to make the payment demanded," African Minerals said in a statement on Friday.

For years, Greece has been trying to attack corruption and tax evasion, from the smallest taverna owner to the nation’s most powerful oligarchs. Now, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is vowing to take far more action than previous administrations in cracking down, the International New York Times reported. He says his government, led by his leftist party, Syriza, will succeed because having never held power, it is not beholden to the entrenched interests that have long fought to maintain the status quo. But even Mr. Nikoloudis acknowledges that fixing Greece’s finances will not be easy.