Headlines

Funeral home director Carlos Bianchi's dilemma over how much to charge for his coffins goes a long way in illustrating the economic woes plaguing both Argentina and Venezuela, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Argentine government's currency devaluation last month, which helped spur a global selloff in emerging-market currencies, also sent prices soaring here. What confounds Mr. Bianchi's calculation is that he must use an unsteady and weakening currency, the peso, to buy imported parts for his wares.

The European Commission’s proposals to extend cross-border insolvencies to rescue proceedings has received backing from the European Parliament today, with 580 votes in support, Insolvency News reported. The proposed changes received only 69 votes in opposition and 19 abstentions. As the proposal has been approved by one of the European Union’s two co-legislators, the focus will shift to the member states in the Council to reach an agreement on the draft law along with the European Parliament for it to enter the EU’s statute book.

An interim examiner has been appointed by the High Court to Elverys Sports which employs 654 people in 56 stores nationwide, the Irish Times reported. The move on foot of a petition by Nama comes as a pre-pack recevership of the company ahead of a management buy-out unravelled in the last few days. Mr Justice Brian McGovern was told that the board of the company which owns Elverys Sports , Staunton Sports, supported the petition for an interim examiner to be appointed.

Switzerland’s property market is at greater risk of overheating, raising the question as to whether authorities have done enough to curtail the boom, Bloomberg News reported. The UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index rose to 1.23 points in the fourth quarter from 1.2 points in the third, according to a statement from UBS AG today. A reading above 2 indicates a bubble. “The potential for correction has increased further,” Matthias Holzhey and Claudio Saputelli at UBS in Zurich said.

Three former Anglo Irish Bank directors were aware of a “choreographed” and “absolutely illegal” scheme to fund the buying of shares in the bank, the jury was told on the opening day of the bankers’ trial yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Seán FitzPatrick (65), William McAteer (63) and Pat Whelan (51) are accused of providing unlawful financial assistance to members of businessman Seán Quinn’s family and the so-called Maple 10, a trusted group of Anglo borrowers, to buy shares in Anglo in July 2008.

AIB is set to write off debt immediately for homeowners in arrears who are deemed eligible for a new split mortgage product, the Irish Times reported. Under the plan disclosed last night, a customer deemed eligible for a split mortgage will have the loan broken into two tranches. The first part, which the customer will be expected to repay, will be based on the current market value of their home, while the other will be warehoused, interest free, for settlement at a later date.

Chinese households’ concentration of wealth in real estate is magnifying the danger to the world’s second-largest economy of any property bust, as the nation grapples with the consequences of its record credit surge, Bloomberg News reported. Some 66.1 percent of family assets were in housing in 2013, a national survey of about 28,000 households shows. Mortgage debt as a share of disposable income rose to 30 percent from 18 percent in 2008, according to estimates by Nicholas Lardy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

Christie's has withdrawn 85 artworks by Spanish surrealist Joan Miró from its auctions in London this week, after an uproar in Portugal over the government's move to sell the works in an attempt to cut its debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The decision, announced on Tuesday just hours before the Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist evening sale, represents a blow to Portugal's coffers—as well as an embarrassment for one of the world's largest auction houses during the most important time of year for the London art market.

Greek state-owned armoured vehicle maker Hellenic Vehicles Industry S.A. (ELVO) has gone into receivership, after years of losses, following a ruling by the Thessaloniki Court of Appeals on 30 January, IHS Jane’s 360 reported. The decision follows a petition by the Greek State to apply article 14A of Law 3249/2005 and place the company in special receivership. ELVO has recorded aggregate losses of EUR100 million in 2006-13 and owes EUR48 million to suppliers and banks.

Jorge Contrera checked a pair of soiled shoes from top to bottom, tried to buff them with his shirt sleeve, then paid 40 pesos ($5) for his 8-year-old daughter’s present. Before Argentina’s devaluation last month, he planned to surprise her with a new pair. “Do you know how I feel buying my daughter used shoes?” said 29-year-old Contrera, a welder who’s currently working as a delivery man.