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Japan’s huge glacier of stationary household wealth may finally be melting, a development that could help local markets and the country’s economic recovery, The Wall Street Journal Japan Real Time blog reported. After much fanfare, the activation of Nippon Individual Saving Accounts officially kicked off Monday. Part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic reform plan, the tax-free NISA system is designed to coax Japan’s chronic savers to put money into stocks, bonds, and other assets to spur domestic growth instead of just parking cash in regular bank accounts.

2,380 insolvency cases against individuals and legal entities were launched in Latvia in 2013, 125 cases more than in 2012 and 723 cases more than in 2011, according to the Register of Enterprises' Lursoft data, cites LETA/Nozare.lv. Nevertheless, the number of insolvency cases in 2013 did not reach the record-high figure of 2010, when 2,814 insolvency cases were opened. The number of legal protection processes and extra-judicial legal protection processes also rose in 2013.

The head of the eurozone's bailout fund, Klaus Regling has ruled out the possibility of a restructuring of Greek debt, media outlet EU Observer reported on Tuesday. Speaking to Germany's Spiegel magazine, Regling - who heads the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Greece's largest creditor with 133 billion euros in 30-year loans already disbursed at an interest rate of 1.5 percent - is quoted as saying "there will be no debt restructuring." "The interest on these loans was deferred for the next 10 years.

China will allow a batch of three to five banks funded by private investment this year to operate under a trial as part of the country’s financial reforms, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Bloomberg News reported. China will guide private investment to participate in the restructuring of existing banks and explore lowering the threshold for foreign banks to enter the industry, the banking regulator said in a statement on its website yesterday. The commission will step up its support of the Shanghai free trade zone, according to the statement.

The U.K. government will need to find a further £25 billion ($41 billion) of budget cuts after the 2015 election to reduce its borrowing and support a sustainable economic recovery, Treasury chief George Osborne said Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Osborne had previously indicated his Conservative party would seek further cuts in spending if it is returned to government after the vote, but hadn't given a specific figure. The government's planned spending for the financial year ending in March amounts to £717.8 billion. Mr.

Britain's financial regulators have launched an investigation into problems at the Co-operative Bank, including the role played by former senior managers, they said on Monday, Reuters reported. The probe could lead to fines for the bank and its former directors. Co-op Bank fell under the control of investors including U.S. hedge funds after a 1.5 billion pound capital shortfall was exposed. Its problems were exacerbated when former chairman Paul Flowers was arrested as part of an investigation into the supply of illegal drugs.

Three firms that were involved in a £3.2m scam selling carbon credits to retail investors have been ordered into insolvency by the High Court, Blue 7 Green Tomorrow reported. Global Carbon Brokering supplied carbon credits to Global Neutral, which then marketed them to the public at inflated prices, according to the Insolvency Service. Another carbon credit supplier, Future Carbon, was also wound up on the grounds of public interest. All the companies were linked with World Future, a company that raised £2.5m by selling carbon credits in a misleading way.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) is readying a 10-year syndicated government bond issue, which may be issued as early as tomorrow morning. The issue, which will likely range between €3 and €5 billion, will mark Ireland’s first foray into the bond markets since exiting the IMF/EU bail-outprogramme in December, the Irish Times reported. Ireland is fully funded out to the second quarter of 2015, but the NTMA has indicated that it would borrow €6-10 billion this year.

The receiver of the Slovenian subsidiary of Austria's troubled construction company Alpine Bau has admitted EUR 2.2m in claims and rejected EUR 28m, including EUR 13.5m worth of claims by Slovenian motorway company DARS stemming from the yet unfinished construction of a tunnel between the coastal towns of Koper and Izola, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Bankruptcy, the last resort of the desperately indebted, is now so expensive that costs in England and Wales can easily outweigh the debts that led to insolvency, the Financial Times reported. As the UK’s hangover from years of cheap credit drags on, the government has become concerned that fees charged by the companies that manage bankruptcies are too high and it is expected to make an announcement on the subject this month.