Headlines

Former Banco Espírito Santo SA Chief Executive Ricardo Salgado on Thursday dismissed findings from an audit conducted into the bank’s collapse that pointed the finger at his administration and accused the country’s central bank of leading a smear campaign against him, The Wall Street Journal reported. In his second public appearance since the bank failed in August, Mr.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is poised to intervene directly in a deepening rift between Greece and its international creditors, a sign of Berlin’s growing concern that the acrimony threatens the unity of the eurozone, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ms. Merkel and other key leaders are due to talk with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the sidelines of a European Union summit on Thursday night. The chancellor has also invited Mr. Tsipras for face-to-face talks in Berlin on Monday.

Stricken Italian Serie A side Parma were officially declared bankrupt on Thursday, a day after their chairman Giampietro Manenti was arrested in a money-laundering probe, Reuters reported. Parma's players have not been paid all season and it took just 10 minutes for a court to declare the club, rooted to the bottom of the league after finishing sixth last season, bankrupt. They have twice been docked points this season and are more than 100 million euros ($106.65 million) in debt. The court in Parma appointed accountants Angelo Anedda and Alberto Guiotto as receivers.

Stricken Italian Serie A side Parma were officially declared bankrupt on Thursday, a day after their chairman Giampietro Manenti was arrested in a money-laundering probe, Reuters reported. Parma's players have not been paid all season and it took just 10 minutes for a court to declare the club, rooted to the bottom of the league after finishing sixth last season, bankrupt. They have twice been docked points this season and are more than 100 million euros ($106.65 million) in debt. The court in Parma appointed accountants Angelo Anedda and Alberto Guiotto as receivers.

Technical talks between Greece and its creditors aren't going well, officials said Wednesday, with each blaming the other for the snags in crucial negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Teams from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are getting very little information on the government’s finances and other key topics in Athens, two European officials said.

Bulgaria’s Parliament passed at second reading on March 18 the bill of amendments to the Bank Insolvency Act, which envision the appointment of a temporary bankruptcy receiver if a lender has had its licence stripped but no insolvency proceedings are ongoing, The Sofia Globe reported. The bill was prompted by the ongoing saga concerning the Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), which was Bulgaria’s fourth-largest lender when it asked to be put under the supervision of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in June 2014.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has expressed concern about ultra-low interest rates in the global economy, saying the decline presents an increasing danger of financial instability, the Irish Times reported. Citing lower oil prices and the European Central Bank’s €1.16 trillion bond-buying scheme, the OECD says in a new forecast that the growth prospects for major world economies look “slightly better” than in its previous forecast in November.

Former billionaire Eike Batista was fined 1.4 million Brazilian reais ($429,000) Wednesday by Brazil’s market regulator for failing to provide shareholders with timely information while his industrial empire was collapsing in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Batista plans to appeal the fines, one of his attorneys said. Once Brazil’s richest person, Mr. Batista over the last two years has sold assets and dismantled his group of companies to pay debt. He also is on trial on market-manipulation and insider-trading charges related to his oil company, charges he has denied.

Protesters set cars on fire and clashed with police officers on Wednesday as they marched toward the European Central Bank’s new headquarters in a demonstration against austerity and capitalism that took on a markedly more heated tone than past protests, the International New York Times reported. The rally, organized by a group called Blockupy and German workers’ unions, drew thousands of people as the central bank inaugurated its new tower.

European Union officials on Wednesday proposed new rules to try to discourage tax-avoidance deals with multinational corporations, which critics say give some countries unfair business advantages, the International New York Times reported. Some of the bloc’s smaller countries, like Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, have offered the deals to attract the likes of Apple, Starbucks and Amazon. The companies, in turn, have saved huge sums on their corporate tax bills. But European Union authorities have been trying to curb that practice.