Headlines

China's banks have been building up their bulwarks against bad loans, underscoring the potential risk to the financial system in the world's No. 2 economy even amid other signs that growth is picking up again, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's biggest state-run banks since last week have reported double-digit profit growth for the third quarter—with some beating estimates—and flat or declining nonperforming loans, typically of 1% or less of their portfolios.

Manganese Bronze Holdings Plc, maker of London's black taxi, said it appointed accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator as it looks to secure funding after a safety issue led to a product recall and a halt in sales, Reuters reported. "The administrators are reviewing the group's current financial position to develop a range of options to rescue the business or alternatively dispose of its assets to an investor that can secure the future of the London taxi," the company said.

Leading German politicians are rejecting calls for a restructuring of Greek debt that would lead to a direct loss for German taxpayers, but they are keeping the door open to other manners of reducing Greece's unsustainable debt load, including a debt-buyback program, The Wall Street Journal reported. Greece's private-sector lenders, who agreed to take losses on their investments in a massive restructuring of Greek debt, have refused to accept another so-called haircut on their holdings.

Spain's so-called bad bank will buy billions of euros worth of distressed loans and foreclosed property from commercial lenders for around half the book value, a discount that could weigh on the finances of its weakest banks as the government decides whether to seek assistance from the euro zone's bailout fund, The Wall Street Journal reported. New details of the government-run asset-management firm's plans were released Monday as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted again that Spain, the frailest of Europe's large economies, doesn't need a new bailout at the moment.

Serbia's state-run Postanska Stedionica (PS) bank took over the assets and 260,000 clients of troubled Nova Agrobanka on Monday, seeking to end a scandal that has rocked the country's financial system, Reuters reported. The move expands PS's assets to around 1 billion euros ($1.29 billion). Nova Agrobanka was formed as a bridge bank in May after the collapse of Agrobanka, which lost its licence over an unaudited 2011 loss of 29.7 billion dinars ($113.4 million). The state held a 20 percent stake in Agrobanka.

A group of senior creditors in debt-laden Hibu are threatening to push the publisher of the Yellow Pages into liquidation, after the company failed to repay a £65m tranche of debt, the Financial Times reported. Last week, the telephone directory publisher, formerly known as Yell, said that it would suspend all further payments of principal and interest until it could restructure its £2.2bn net debt pile.

Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble is confident that Ireland can exit its current troika-funded bailout programme at the end of 2013, the Irish Times reported. “I am totally confident that Ireland is on track ,” Mr Schäuble said in Dublin yesterday. “No problem at all. I am confident 100 per cent.” He cited the International Monetary Fund’s latest quarterly report earlier this month, which showed that Ireland continues to meet the terms of the bailout programme.

An average of almost seven Irish companies went bust every day from October 1-25, according to the latest figures from the credit risk analysis firm Vision-net, the Irish Examiner reported. Vision-net’s figures, covering the period between October 1 and 25, show that 168 companies were declared insolvent - up 39% on the same month last year. Of those, 110 were liquidated, 54 entered receivership, and an examiner was appointed to four companies.

European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi backed a proposal by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to radically expand the powers of the European Union's monetary affairs commissioner giving Brussels greater control over member states budgets, Reuters reported. In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel published four days after defending his bond-purchase program in the country's lower house of parliament, Draghi also said he did not expect his Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) plan to cost the taxpayer money.

Spain's official jobless rate continued to climb in the third quarter, hitting a record of more than 25% and signaling the country's struggle to emerge from a deep contraction, The Wall Street Journal reported. The euro zone's fourth-largest economy is suffering from the collapse of a decadelong housing bubble and from deep spending cuts as the government tries to narrow its budget deficit. Spain's unemployment rate is the highest in the euro zone.