Headlines

France’s biggest banks are preparing to pull out of Greece in the coming weeks, the latest large international business to abandon the country as it grapples with a debilitating recession and nagging questions about its future in the euro zone, the International Herald Tribune reported. Société Générale said Wednesday that it was in advanced discussions to sell its 99.1 percent stake in Geniki Bank, one of Greece’s biggest financial institutions, to Piraeus Bank of Greece.

Greece's political leaders Wednesday appeared close to agreeing on a package of austerity measures, with a final deal expected by early next week just before a team of inspectors from its international creditors arrives in Athens, The Wall Street Journal reported. After a two-hour meeting at the prime minister's office, officials at the meeting gave conflicting accounts, but all agreed that a deal was imminent.

Companies in Southern Europe are going hat in hand around the world in search of funding as local bank lending dwindles, with many of them raising money by tapping assets in healthier regions such as Latin America and the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported. Many European companies rely more than their U.S. counterparts on bank loans, usually from institutions in their home countries. Lately, they are finding local banks want to lend less and charge more.

Barclays Plc (BARC) faces a criminal probe into fees it paid in 2008 to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund as the bank sought to raise money to avoid a government bailout, Bloomberg reported. The Serious Fraud Office, which prosecutes bribery and white-collar crime, told the London-based bank it has “commenced an investigation into payments under certain commercial agreements between Barclays and Qatar Holding LLC,” the lender said in a statement today. The investigation is another legal pitfall for Britain’s second-biggest lender by assets after it paid U.S. and U.K.

German shipbuilder P+S Werften has filed for insolvency, a court in Stralsund, northern Germany said on Wednesday, after P+S came away without a deal with some of its customers for advance payments to bridge a liquidity shortfall, Reuters reported. The company, which operates two of Germany's biggest shipyards, had last week approached Danish shipper DFDS , passenger ferry operator Scandlines and Greenland's Royal Arctic Line, to ask for advance payments as it worked on a rescue plan. P+S employs around 2,000 people.

Catalonia became the third Spanish region to ask the central government for a bailout, heightening concerns about Madrid's ability to raise cash as new signs emerged of economic problems confronting the country, The Wall Street Journal reported. Catalonia, Spain's most-indebted region, said it would ask for €5 billion ($6.27 billion) in financial assistance from the government in Madrid, as the country's economic recession deepened in the second quarter and outflows from bank deposits hit a record.

Crédit Agricole SA said Tuesday that it could seal a deal to sell its troubled Greek bank within weeks, a move that would draw a line under its disastrous foray into Greece, but left open questions about the cost of such an exit for France's third-largest publicly listed bank, The Wall Street Journal reported. Crédit Agricole, which once had grand ambitions in southern Europe, has been badly bruised by the sovereign-debt crisis.

Britain's wealthiest people should face an emergency tax to avoid a breakdown in social cohesion as the country fights an "economic war" caused by a longer than expected recession, Nick Clegg has said. In the first interview by a senior member of the cabinet to mark the new political season, the deputy prime minister told the Guardian he is embarking on a battle to persuade his Tory coalition partners of the need to ensure the rich shoulder a greater burden of the economic pain.

Banco BVA, a Brazilian bank specializing in credit for mid-sized companies, will replenish its capital base in coming weeks after incurring a net loss in the first half, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Tuesday. The bank, which is controlled by founder José Augusto dos Santos and financier Ivo Lodo, will soon receive over 300 million reais ($146 million) in fresh money, said the source, who declined to be quoted since the plans remain private. The move should increase the bank's capital base to about 1 billion reais, the source added.

A Dubai court sanctioned the $2.2 billion debt restructuring of Drydocks World LLC, the Middle East’s biggest shipyard, after creditors approved the plan, Bloomberg reported. The ruling by the special tribunal said 97.8 percent of Drydocks’s creditors agreed to the terms. A government decree allows the tribunal to enforce a restructuring proposal if at least two-thirds of the creditors agree to it. Drydocks World, part of the state-controlled Dubai World group, filed an application to the Dubai tribunal in April to block lawsuits after failing to win support from all lenders.