Headlines

Demand for U.K. mortgages fell the most since 2008 in the fourth quarter, according to the Bank of England, as more stringent lending criteria made it harder for homebuyers to get loans, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders had expected an increase in demand, the central bank said in a report today. The “significant” decline follows measures introduced in July by BOE Governor Mark Carney to limit riskier mortgages and prevent an unsustainable buildup of consumer debt.

British regulators have fined the former investment banking business of the troubled Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo for failing to disclose the departure of central staff members from one of its capital markets teams in 2013, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The move is the first time that the Financial Conduct Authority of Britain has used its relatively new powers to fine so-called financial sponsors that act as advisers on initial public offerings and other stock listings.

Ukrainian bonds have sunk to a record low on concerns that the strife-torn country will default this year, as a tool developed by the Financial Times in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund shows the country’s debts have spiralled far higher than expected. Kiev was bailed out by the IMF last spring after the ousting of Viktor Yanukovich from the presidency, but Russia’s annexation of its Crimean region and support for separatist rebels in the eastern industrial heartlands have wrecked its economy and state finances.

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking an exemption to one of the key measures of the UK’s new ringfencing regime, as the country’s big banks take radically different approaches to rules aimed at protecting taxpayers from future financial crises, the Irish Times reported. The Bank of England has given the banks until today to submit initial proposals for how they will restructure to comply with rules forcing the separation of high-street branch operations from investment banking by 2019.

Troubled regional carrier Skytrans has been put in voluntary administration as company executives seek to find work for laid off staff, The Courier Mail reported. illiam Fletcher and Tracy Lee Knight of Brisbane-based Bentleys Chartered Accountants have been appointed administrators of the Cairns-based carrier with a formal notice to be issued to creditors later this week. The administrators were unavailable for comment yesterday.

As a caustic election campaign in Greece revives fears that the country could leave the euro, European officials are taking an increasingly hard line toward Athens, saying they want to keep Greece in the single currency, though not at any cost, the International New York Times reported. The admonishments have stacked up in recent days — from Berlin, Paris and Brussels — intensifying what is shaping up to be another high-stakes standoff between Europe’s leaders and the eurozone’s most-troubled country.

The hopes of easing a debt dispute between Argentina and a group of New York hedge funds seemed to be dashed on Monday after the country’s economy minister made an offer that appeared to fall well short of what the investors were seeking, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. Argentina made the informal offer after a potentially onerous legal clause in its bonds ceased to apply on Dec. 31. The hedge funds, known as holdouts, had sued Argentina in the United States to get full payments on bonds that the country defaulted on in 2001.

Europe has returned to the signature brinkmanship of the debt crisis that brought its currency union close to collapse five years ago: France and Germany are again warning Greece it is putting its eurozone membership at risk, The Wall Street Journal reported. With a Greek election looming this month, and a party hostile to European-imposed austerity apparently poised to win, French President François Hollande on Monday raised the possibility of Greece exiting the 19-member bloc—departing from the traditional stance that euro membership is irrevocable.

More South Korean households are piling on debt at the fastest rate in a decade as the government is using credit to stimulate sluggish consumption, the Financial Times reported. Choi Kyung-hwan, who took office as finance minister in July, has launched a $40bn stimulus package, warning of Japan-style stagnation taking hold in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Irish people are still going to the UK in large numbers to work out their debt difficulties despite the introduction of a similar service in Ireland, new research shows, the Irish Times reported. According to AJ Debt Solutions, an Irish insolvency firm which specialises in UK insolvency processes, it processed close to 100 individual voluntary agreements (IVAs) in the UK for Irish citizens in the last 18 months. This compares with just 59 debt settlement arrangements (DSAs) in the Irish system agreed since September 2013, although 220 applications have been made.