Headlines

Germany’s pared down vision for Europe’s banking union has suffered a blow after the legal adviser to EU finance ministers largely rejected Berlin’s claim that creating a powerful central executioner to shut failing eurozone banks goes beyond the law. A confidential paper from the Council legal service, obtained by the Financial Times, upholds the foundations of the European Commission’s resolution authority proposal, in spite of Angela Merkel of Germany saying such radical reforms require EU treaty change.

Slovenia, a small euro-zone state that has recently caused major headaches for the European Union, has settled on a series of measures aimed at boosting tax revenue and stabilizing its public finances, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. Its government said Thursday it would generate 200 million euros ($266 million) a year from fresh taxes by fighting the grey economy. The cabinet approved a plan to clamp down on tax evasion, curb undeclared employment, limit large, undeclared cash payments and other similar steps.

Shareholders in Spain's Pescanova chose Juan Manuel Urgoiti as chairman of the insolvent fishing firm on Thursday, after the company's former head stepped down earlier this year amid charges of insider trading and falsifying information, Reuters reported. Manuel Fernandez de Sousa was removed in April from the helm of the company he had run for more than three decades. He has denied any wrongdoing. Urgoiti sits on the board of directors of retailer Inditex and is a former chairman of Banco Gallego.

Japan is considering a reduction in corporate income taxes as part of a stimulus package to cushion the economy from the planned increase in the sales levy, according to three people briefed on the matter, Bloomberg reported. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed officials to discuss a cut in the tax on company profits as he weighs whether to proceed with an increase in the consumption levy in April, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions aren’t public.

Ernst & Young are aiming to dig the Tucker’s Point Club out from underneath a mountain of debt, the Bermuda Sun reported. At 2pm on Thursday Roy Bailey and Keiran Hutchison of Ernst & Young Ltd., Bermuda were appointed joint receivers of Bermuda Properties Ltd and certain subsidiaries which own the Tucker’s Point resort. The receivership only affects the companies that own the property and do not affect Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, who will continue to operate the resort and golf club on a business as usual basis.

Madrid is set to offer a crucial helping hand to Spain’s troubled financial sector by allowing banks such as Santander, BBVA and Banco Sabadell to reclassify billions of euros in deferred tax assets as tax credits, in a move that will make their balance sheets look much stronger. The country’s banks have been lobbying the government for months on the issue of DTAs, arguing that other eurozone countries such as Italy have already made similar changes.

Greece's official lenders could need to step in twice more to help the country as it very slowly recovers from its economic crisis, Luc Coene, the president of Belgium's National Bank, said in a radio interview Wednesday morning, The Wall Street Journal reported. Asked whether Greece's euro zone partners will need to prepare a third aid package for Greece, Mr. Coene, who is also a European Central Bank Governing Council member, said there will need to be at least one more package of support. "It's clear that we are not…at the end of the Greek problem for the moment.

Shareholders in Bank of Cyprus elected a new board of directors amid noisy protests by uninsured depositors who lost a significant portion of their savings through an unprecedented bail-in agreed with the EU and International Monetary Fund in March, the Financial Times reported. Angry Cypriots attending an extraordinary general meeting of BoC shareholders complained over a reduction in the nominal value of the bank’s shares from one euro to one cent in a mandatory recapitalisation overseen by an interim board of directors. Dozens of shareholders walked out of the meeting in protest.

Two of the most significant impacts of the global financial crisis on Irish society have been the sharp rise in unemployment and the corresponding increase in the number of people leaving Ireland for better opportunities abroad, the Irish Times reported. At the beginning of 2008, just 4.9 per cent of the population was unemployed. In the 12 months to April that year, just 13,100 Irish people emigrated, and you would have been hard pressed to find many among them who felt they had no choice but to go.

Australian employers unexpectedly cut payrolls in August as weaker demand discouraged hiring, underscoring the challenge for Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott to boost the nation’s economy. The local currency declined. The number of people employed fell by 10,800 from the previous month, when it declined by a revised 11,400, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today. That compares with the median estimate for a 10,000 increase in a Bloomberg News survey of 28 economists. The jobless rate rose to 5.8 percent from 5.7 percent.