Headlines

Personal insolvency figures are likely to show a slight fall, although many people are still living on the brink with "unmanageable" debts, analysts have warned, The Press Association reported. The Insolvency Service is set to publish its report for the second quarter of this year, after the one for the first quarter showed the number of people declared bankrupt had risen for the first time in a year.

Greece’s three-party coalition has reached agreement on €11.5bn of spending cuts over the next two years after the socialist party leader dropped objections to further planned reductions in pensions and public sector wages, the Financial Times reported. Evangelos Venizelos, a former finance minister facing dissent in his PanHellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), had distanced himself from both coalition partners and Greece’s international lenders by demanding the cuts be postponed until 2015-16.

The euro zone's ESM rescue fund will eventually be granted a banking licence to help head off the bloc's debt crisis, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Wednesday. German officials have strongly played down the idea that the permanent ESM fund might be given such authority, which would allow it to tap unlimited resources through the European Central Bank's liquidity operations. Asked if the ESM should be granted a banking licence, Monti told a news conference in Finland: "I think this will help. I think this will in due course occur.

Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP’s U.K. administrators proposed liquidating the defunct law firm’s British assets last week a day after the German operations were put in insolvency proceedings by a Frankfurt court, Bloomberg reported. The U.K. partnership, which includes the London and Paris offices, should be moved into liquidation, administrators at BDO LLP said in a July 27 regulatory filing. White & Case LLP attorney Andreas Kleinschmidt was appointed preliminary administrator July 26 in Germany, according to the country’s online insolvency registry. Dewey’s U.S.

The creation of a new Nama controlled company to fast-track the acquisition of social housing has been welcomed by the Irish Council for Social Housing, the Irish Times reported. Nama Asset Residential Property Services Ltd, was incorporated last month to acquire vacant properties from Nama debtors for use by local authorities and housing associations. Fewer than 60 social houses have been made available through Nama since the agency was established to acquire development and land loans three years ago.

Mouchel Group Plc said it agreed to a restructuring that will give its lenders a majority interest in the British infrastructure firm and delist the company to avert an impending debt default, Reuters reported. The restructuring -- supported by Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays -- will result in the lenders releasing 87 million pounds of Mouchel's existing debt for a majority stake in the company. After the debt-for-equity swap, Mouchel will be left with 60 million pounds of outstanding debt.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it would extend the government’s receivership of cash-strapped Kuo Hua Life Insurance Co for another year, allowing the receiver more time to secure a buyer, the Taipei Times reported. The move marked the fourth time the receivership has been extended, as the current one is due to expire tomorrow and the receiver — the semi-official Insurance Stabilization Fund — is in the process of arranging an auction in late October. The financial regulator has taken control of the insolvent company since Aug. 4, 2009.

Joblessness in the euro zone hit on Tuesday its highest level since the single currency was born, a further sign of economic desperation as hopes erode that the bloc will be saved by its central bank this week, Reuters reported. An additional 123,000 people were out of work in the euro zone in June, figures from Eurostat showed, bringing the unemployment rate to a record high 11.2 percent across the 17 countries that use the single currency.

Deutsche Bank AG co-Chief Executive Officer Anshu Jain is cutting compensation to placate shareholders as Europe’s debt crisis slashes financial-industry jobs, leaving workers fewer opportunities to defect, Bloomberg reported. “We need to further address both the absolute level of compensation and the relative balance between rewards for shareholders and those for employees,” Jain said yesterday on a conference call.

The president of the High Court has described as “truly shocking” the revelation that €1.65 billion may be required from the Insurance Compensation Fund to meet claims and costs arising from the administration of Quinn Insurance, the Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns has sought the “clearest of explanations” for this information and has directed he be given it next week. It would be helpful if somebody from the Central Bank, which is responsible for regulating the insurance industry, also attended court then, he added.