Headlines

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi this month unveiled plans to sell down government holdings in public sector banks, potentially injecting Rs1.6tn ($26bn) of capital into the banking system. But many analysts remain doubtful over the viability of the recapitalisation and how much it could raise, the Financial Times reported. Few disagree that banks in Asia’s second-largest economy need funds. Earlier this year, India admitted it needed to find an extra Rs2.4tn, with a particular focus on struggling state-backed lenders, which control around three-quarters of assets.

Austria has agreed to sell nationalised bank Hypo Alpe Adria's Balkans network to private equity firm Advent and Europe's development bank for up to 200 million euros ($245 million), as it pushes ahead with winding down the defunct lender, Reuters reported. The sale, announced by the finance ministry and Advent after weeks of complex negotiations, is expected to close by the second quarter of 2015, pending regulatory approval. Under the deal Advent gets an 80 percent stake, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will get 20 percent.

Bosnian lender Bobar Banka has been shut after its shareholders failed to come up with a recovery plan, the regional banking agency said, leaving its clients, including major state firms, at risk of losing some of their 250 million Bosnian marka ($156 million) in deposits, Reuters reported. Savo Sevaljevic, who was appointed as the bank's interim administrator in late November, was quoted by local media on Wednesday as saying the bank was over-borrowed, illiquid and insolvent and liquidation was the fastest way to paying out to depositors.

Foreign banks have fled Russia in dramatic fashion in 2014, cutting back their exposure to the country well ahead of the latest escalation of the rouble crisis, the Financial Times reported. Overall syndicated loan volumes this year collapsed to just 14 per cent of the 2013 total, as western lenders retrenched from a market that looked increasingly risky as the year progressed. Foreign banks are expected to continue retreating next year, putting further pressure on Russia’s already fragile economy.

Creditors of Mriya Agro Holding Plc said they presented the Ukrainian agricultural group with their own plan to restructure about $1 billion debt, Bloomberg News reported. Bondholders and lenders want the company to hire a chief restructuring officer and have submitted a “detailed proposal” to help rescue the company and avoid insolvency, according to an e-mailed statement from Rothschild, their financial adviser. Tension between management and creditors has been growing since Mriya said in August it missed payments on some of its obligations.

Dutch sportscar maker Spyker, one-time owner of Sweden's Saab, declared bankruptcy on Thursday, after failing to secure a critical bridging loan it had hoped would help it refinance and restructure, Reuters reported. The company, formed in 2000 to resurrect an early 20th century Dutch auto marque, had filed for protection from creditors earlier this month, hoping to stave off collapse.

Every urban real estate market is different in mainland China, driven by myriad municipal and provincial regulations and the varying strength of local economies. But the outcome is the same: The property market is under serious pressure, the International New York Times reported. Prices for newly constructed housing fell 1 percent to 9 percent in recent months in all 70 mainland cities tracked by the national government, according to data released Thursday. Prices kept falling in November compared with October in all but three cities, where they were unchanged.

Killorglin Credit Union (KCU) in Kerry has been subsumed into Tralee Credit Union (TCU) following a High Court application on Thursday by the Central Bank, the Irish Times reported. The move follows a secret four-year engagement with regulators to repair its balance failed. It had needed a €3.1 million injection just to meet regulatory reserves.

Latvian Saeima passed amendments to the Insolvency Law in the final reading today, stipulating that the amendments will come into force on March 1, 2015, reports LETA. The government originally approved amendments to the Insolvency Law on September 25, according to which bank mortgages issued to borrowers who buy a home/apartment, and have no other domicile, will be considered non-recourse loans.

Seeking to calm growing fears of an economic meltdown, the Russian government on Wednesday introduced a package of measures to reduce pressures on banks and urged the public to stay calm, the International New York Times reported. It seemed to work, at least temporarily. By Wednesday evening, amid indications of a government intervention in the currency markets, the ruble had recovered more than 11 percent of the previous day’s losses. Prime Minister Dmitri A.