Headlines

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska's Central European Aluminum Company (CEAC) is suing Montenegro for 100 million euros ($140 million) over the failure of its aluminum plant there, Reuters reported. A statement issued in Cyprus, where the Russian company has its headquarters, CEAC said the case will heard in Vienna. The statement said Montenegro violated a 2010 settlement agreement, leading to the plant going bankrupt. In a separate statement, Montenegro's government denied any wrongdoing.

Ukrainian bond yields soared and the price of insuring against a default on government debt surged yesterday as tens of thousands of demonstrators continued to protest in the country’s biggest political crisis in nearly a decade, the Financial Times reported. Extended political uncertainty, with disruption to government work and the threat of strikes, could damage Ukraine’s already fragile economy and public finances, analysts warned, increasing the risks of a currency crisis.

Pietro Fattorini, owner of a marble company in the eastern Italian region of Marche, recently filed for bankruptcy protection. But it isn't for lack of demand. The 23-year-old company he founded has plenty of orders from overseas clients, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Fattorini's problem is much closer to home. His longtime bank, Banca Marche, lost more than €750 million ($1.01 billion) in 2012 and the first half of this year. As a result, the bank cut his credit lines last year, choking off the funds he needs to survive.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and two other banks rejected a European Union deal to end an antitrust probe into the rigging of Euribor lending rates, risking higher fines and challenging the future of the EU’s settlement process, Bloomberg reported. The EU is seeking to announce two sets of settlements as soon as today with banks accused of colluding to rig the London interbank offered rate and Euribor, according to a person familiar with the EU’s probe who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

The legal action by the liquidators of stockbroking firm Bloxham over alleged underinsuring of the firm has resumed at the High Court after efforts to mediate failed, the Irish Times reported. The sides had last week taken up a suggestion by president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, to consider mediation but they told the judge yesterday that it had not worked and the case was proceeding. The liquidators have sued the firm’s former insurance broker, Robertson Low, for more than €15 million damages arising from Bloxham allegedly being “chronically underinsured”.

Savers have been withdrawing money from their accounts at the fastest rate for nearly 40 years, Bank of England figures show. They took £23 billion out of long-term savings in the past 12 months, equivalent to £900 for every household in the country, The Telegraph reported. They either spent the cash – which in many cases was earning little more than 1 per cent interest – or moved it to easy-access current accounts. The Bank’s figures suggest that record low interest rates have convinced many to give up on the prospect of meaningful returns on their nest eggs.

The European Union's markets watchdog said it found flaws in the way the big three credit ratings firms rank government bonds and warned that it may take "enforcement action" against them that could include fines or withdrawal of licenses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Bank of Ireland’s capital adequacy ratios have suffered a sharper than expected drop after the Central Bank of Ireland said following an industrywide review that the Bank of Ireland needed to make extra loan loss provisions, the Irish Times reported. The health checks, carried out just before Ireland exits its EU/IMF bailout, are seen as a preview for the European Central Bank’s (ECB) own tests of euro zone banks next year, when capital holes running to 10s of billions of euros are expected to be uncovered.

European banks hold increasingly large shares of government bonds as a result of the debt crisis. If those states default and can no longer service their debt, it could lead to massive losses. Germany's Bundesbank is pushing for new rules at the ECB, Spiegel Online reported. German consulting firm Roland Berger did its bit for German-Italian relations last week when it named the head of Italy's UniCredit, Federico Ghizzoni, as "Italo-German Manager of the Year." The ego massage is expected to boost strained ties between Germany and Italy.

Last time we heard of Wiesmann, the German manufacturer of retro-styled sports cars, things were not good at all. In August this year, the carmaker filed for insolvency at a local court in Münster and went under the protection of an administrator, CarScoops.com reported. Fortunately, it seems that the management has found ways to escape death, as Wiesmann has posted a short statement on its website saying it has requested the court to end the bankruptcy procedure.