Headlines

Sweden’s central bank on Wednesday promised to expand its quantitative easing programme and hinted it could cut what is already the world’s lowest lending rate even further to support the country’s economic recovery and revive inflation, the Financial Times reported. The Riksbank pledged to buy between SKr40bn and SKr50bn ($4.8bn-$6bn) of government bonds, taking the total stock of Swedish sovereign debt the central bank holds to between SKr80bn and SKr90bn. Once the central bank completes the purchases, it will own up to 15 per cent of all Swedish government debt.

Bromak EOOD, the majority owner of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB or Corpbank) and its executive officers are appealing last week's court ruling which declared the bank insolvent, Novinite.com reported. This was revealed by Menko Menkov, a lawyer for Bromak which is owned by Bulgarian businessman Tsvetan Vasilev. On April 22 the Sofia City Court announced KTB, which had been under conservatorship by the central bank BNB since a run on its deposits in June of last year, was deemed insolvent as of November 6, 2014. This date is when the license of Corpbank was revoked.

Businessman Seán Quinn and members of his family have lost an appeal concerning disclosure of thousands of documents for a case brought against them by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) over an alleged assets stripping conspiracy, the Irish Times reported. A three-judge Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld High Court orders requiring the Quinns to disclose and provide inspection of documents to lawyers representing receivers appointed over assets of the Quinns.

The Monetary Board placed the Surigaonon Rural Banking Corporation under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) by virtue of an MB resolution dated April 23, Minda News reported. As receiver, PDIC took over the bank the following day. Surigaonon Rural Banking Corporation is a 10-unit rural bank with head offices located at the junction of Rizal and Gemina Streets in this city. It has another branch in the city, and in the cities of Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Butuan.

Greece and its euro-area partners are stepping up talks in a bid to break an impasse over bailout aid as early as next week, even as the country’s government sent conflicting signals over its willingness to agree on long-stalled reforms, Bloomberg News reported. With Greece facing a cash crunch as early as next week, both sides in a meeting of euro-area officials agreed to pursue intensive negotiations beginning on Thursday with the target of a preliminary deal by May 3, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

China’s central bank is readying its most aggressive easing tool since it launched a massive stimulus plan in 2008 to counter the global financial crisis, in a bid to help one of the government’s most important economic-rescue initiatives get off the ground, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese leaders have singled out the ballooning debts of various levels of government as an economic threat that must be defused.

A fresh chapter in the long-running legal woes of Germany’s Deutsche Bank opened yesterday in Munich when joint chief executive Jürgen Fitschen appeared in court alongside his two predecessors, the Irish Times reported. Together with Josef Ackermann and Rolf Breuer, Mr Fitschen is accused of misleading a multi-billion lawsuit filed against the bank by Germany’s defunct media empire, Kirch Gruppe.

Mexican homebuilder Geo said on Monday its main creditors have approved its debt restructuring plan, which the firm hopes will allow it to exit bankruptcy proceedings. Shares in the company, formerly Mexico's no. 1 homebuilder, have been suspended since 2013 for not reporting financial statements. Geo went into bankruptcy protection last April. Under the restructuring plan, 88 percent of Geo's share capital will be distributed among its creditors, 8 percent to its current shareholders, and 4 percent to the administration.

The head of Germany's Bundesbank criticised Greece's government on Tuesday for failing to implement reforms and said it was possible for a country within the currency union to become insolvent. "Member states must take responsibility for the consequences of their political decisions," Jens Weidmann, also a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, told an audience in Essen. "There must be a match between control and liability." "Ultimately, this requires the possibility of a state insolvency, without the financial system collapsing," he said in the text of his speech.

Ireland’s government Tuesday set out its program for life after austerity in the form of a five-year plan that will see some tax cuts, as well as increases in spending that may include pay raises for public-sector workers, The Wall Street Journal reported. In October, the government declared an end to seven years of austerity, outlining small cuts to income taxes and some increases in spending in its budget for 2015. Delivering his spring statement to lawmakers, Minister of Finance Michael Noonan promised more of the same in succeeding years.