Headlines

Greece’s mountain of debt will decline more slowly than previously expected, the European Commission said in a Friday report, the International New York Times reported. As the country’s recovery from a debilitating recession creeps only slowly ahead, the report said, Greece’s effort to lower its nearly 319 billion euro debt by selling off state assets continues to miss targets.

Eurozone banks are set to be notified immediately if major problems emerge in their accounts as a result of current regulatory investigations as officials seek to avoid the threat of market-moving leaks over the summer, the Financial Times reported. The European Central Bank has been holding intensive discussions about the best way of handling the delicate issue of communicating results emerging from its Asset Quality Review which is being coupled with a stress test.

A network of loan guarantees set up to improve companies' access to credit in one of China's richest districts is creating new risks of default as some debts sour, another sign of how private firms are bearing the brunt of an economic slowdown, Reuters reported. Chinese media have reported on a credit crunch developing among steel and textile manufacturers in Hangzhou city, 175 km (110 miles) south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province, as the failure of some to repay loans pushes their burden onto healthier firms.

Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA, the bankrupt oil company controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, received a $44 million offer for five oil exploration and production blocks in Colombia, the company said on Friday. The offer involves $30 million in cash and the assumption of $14 million in future exploration obligations in Colombia, Oleo e Gas said in a statement. It did not give the name of the investor or company making the offer. Oleo e Gas was formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA.

With tensions over Ukraine continuing to mount, Russia is scrambling to stem the economic fallout, as its central bank unexpectedly raised a crucial interest rate on Friday, the International New York Times reported. The move is intended to help halt the slide in the country’s currency and stem the exodus of capital, both of which are intensifying the country’s economic problems. Hours earlier, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Russia’s debt to the brink of junk status, citing the destabilizing effects of capital flight from Russia.

If Telus Corp hopes to press its advantage in an upcoming auction of wireless airwaves, the Canadian telecom may need to abandon its plan to snatch a floundering rival out of creditor protection and back away from a nasty fight with the government. Canada's Conservative government has aggressively opposed the carrier's expansion plans, which Ottawa sees as a challenge to its policy of encouraging more competition in an industry dominated for years by Telus and its two main rivals, BCE Inc and Rogers Communications Inc.

Britain has blocked plans by state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland to pay bonuses worth double an employee's fixed salary, adding to the pressure on banks to rein in pay. Banks across Europe have come under fire from the public, shareholders and politicians for extravagantly rewarding staff at a time of austerity that was brought on in part by the reckless lending of some financial groups. British Business Secretary Vince Cable this week wrote to banks and other big companies warning them to cut out excessive rewards or face tighter rules.

European banks have been urged to take advantage of favourable market conditions to raise capital before tougher rules on tapping public backstops come into force, the Financial Times reported. Vítor Constâncio, the European Central Bank ’s vice-president, said the current strong appetite among investors to plough money into euro area banks was “reassuring”, amid a series of fundraisings by euro area lenders. However, he urged banks and investors to carefully study new legislation governing the resolution and bail-in powers that will kick in when banks get into serious trouble.

Lenders to the Gherkin, the conical skyscraper that’s one of London’s best-known landmarks, appointed a receiver to take control of the building after years of defaults, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of debt backed by the 30 St. Mary Axe tower in the City of London financial district hired Deloitte LLP after “adverse interest rate and currency movements have caused the total senior liabilities secured by the property to increase materially,” the company said in a statement today. Receivership is similar to U.S. bankruptcy protection.

Tokyo District Court ordered liquidation to begin at failed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, the company said on Thursday, after the bankruptcy administrator said on April 16 that it would be difficult to rehabilitate the firm, Reuters reported. Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange in the world, filed for bankruptcy protection on February 28, saying that 750,000 of its customers' bitcoins had been taken from the exchange due to a security flaw in its code, as well as 100,000 belonging to the exchange. It also said that $27 million was missing from its bank accounts.