Headlines

Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, has warned that efforts to curb mortgage lending in an attempt to cool the London housing market could have “unintended consequences” for the rest of the country, The Telegraph reported. Mark Rennison, the lender’s finance director, said that concerns about house prices had been exaggerated and did not warrant changes to the Government’s controversial Help to Buy scheme. It came after Nationwide revealed that profits had more than doubled, with the value of its mortgage loans rising by 31pc in the last year.

Zim has cut its first quarter loss by 45% to $62m as it awaits approval of its substantial restructuring proposal, Seatrade reported. The Israeli box line recorded an EBIT loss of $8m in the period, improving on Q1 2013's $47m operating loss. Zim has finalised the terms of a $3bn restructuring programme which will reduce debts, inject equity and position the line to better compete in the market if the plan is granted approval by creditors and the Israel Corporation.

The Romanian state–owned aviation company Romavia will become insolvent in the third quarter of this year, as it has due debts of some EUR 10 million., according to Mediafax. The Government paid the company’s previous debts, shrunk its activity but also signed off on unjustified expenses. The company, which provides air transport services for passengers and freight, as well as special flights for high level officials, had its air operation certificate suspended as the company lacked money to lease planes. This led Romavia to lose its exclusivity in organizing special flights.

Iceland's defunct banks could be put into bankruptcy if creditors do not agree to a haircut on debts owed by Kaupthing, Glitnir and Landsbanki, which collapsed in 2008 owing more than $75 billion, the finance minister warned on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Iceland slapped on capital controls after the financial meltdown, hampering much needed investment, but these cannot be removed until a deal to wind up the left-overs of the old banks - around 2,500 billion krona ($22 billion) in cash, shares and bonds - is reached with creditors.

China Vanke Co., the nation’s biggest developer, is focused on developing homes for owner occupiers rather than investors because the country’s property industry has passed its “golden era,” said President Yu Liang, Bloomberg News reported. “The period in which everybody makes money out of property is gone,” Yu told reporters May 26 in Dongguan, a southern city in Guangdong province.

Argentina's government stressed on Tuesday that it will continue to service restructured debt regardless of the outcome of its legal fight with bondholders who refused to accept its debt-restructuring offers, Reuters reported. The government laid out its position in a statement ahead of filing its latest court papers in the U.S. Supreme Court in the high-profile litigation. The nine justices are set to consider whether to hear Argentina's appeal on June 12.

The head of Mexico's central bank said Tuesday that he supports the dramatic measures that central bankers in advanced economies have taken to stabilize their economies, but emerging markets must be mindful of the spillover effects these policies may have, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The unconventional monetary policies have…established the ground for a recovery in economic activity," said Agustin Carstens, governor of Mexico's central bank, at a conference in Portugal sponsored by the European Central Bank. "I'd rather have them than not," he said.

STX Dalian Group is now formally under court receivership after China’s Dalian court accepted the company’s application, Seatrade reported. The financially-troubled group will now undergo a restructuring process, and the court and its creditors will proceed to discuss how to resolve the debts of the company. Since May 2013, the operations of STX Dalian have been virtually crippled and the yards are being emptied out due to massive cash flow problems.

A group of 13 companies involved in a carbon credit scheme have been wound up in the High Court on grounds of public interest, Insolvency Today reported. Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, the companies, which raised over £19m through the sale of carbon credits to the public for investment, were put into liquidation. The investigation found Eco-Synergies Ltd, a wholesaler of Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER) carbon credits, was at the heart of the scheme.

India has proposed a framework for the bankruptcy of financial institutions that will align the country with international standards, Reuters reported. Analysts suggested, however, that the regulation will increase the cost of senior funding for Indian banks if it is implemented according to the draft submitted to the market for comments. The proposals from a working group of the Reserve Bank of India call for depositors to have preference over senior creditors.