Headlines

Britain faces a fresh fight with Brussels over who has control over the City of London, as it confronts a key element of the plans for eurozone banking union that makes it easier for London to be overruled on contentious matters of supervision, the Financial Times reported. In a proposal that will cause alarm among eurosceptic MPs, the European Commission will on Wednesday unveil reforms that strengthen the European Banking Authority, which co-ordinates rulemaking between the EU’s national supervisors.

China's bank lending rose strongly in August to a new record level for the month, a clear sign the government is trying to reverse an economic slowdown that threatens to cost jobs and undermine support for the Communist Party, the Irish Times reported. New local currency lending was 703.9 billion yuan (€87 billion) last month, the People’s Bank of China said in Beijing. That was more than the 600 billion yuan (€73.8 billion) analysts had expected, and outstripped July’s 540 billion yuan (€66.4 billion) lent in July.

Latvia is undeterred by the euro zone's sovereign-debt crisis and intends to adopt the common currency in a little over a year, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The currency's future was thrown into question after Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to take international bailouts to keep their economies afloat. That sparked the crisis and the 17-nation euro zone economy is expected to contract 0.3% this year according to the European Commission.

Burberry Group PLC issued a surprise profit warning on Tuesday and reported its worst same-store sales figures since the financial crisis, raising concerns about a slowdown in the luxury sector, where companies are feeling the pangs of a decelerating China and macroeconomic uncertainty world-wide, The Wall Street Journal reported. The British fashion house, known for its classic trench coats and Haymarket check, is scheduled to report full quarterly sales figures in October.

Shares of Banco Cruzeiro do Sul, the Brazilian consumer lender seized by the central bank in June, rose nearly 20 percent on Tuesday, one day before deposit guarantee fund FGC is scheduled to decide whether to liquidate the bank or sell it to a rival, Reuters reported. The bank failed to receive firm takeover bids last week as concern over a potential liquidation is scaring clients and potential buyers alike, according to local media reports on Monday. Read more.

Canada's second-biggest hog producer, Big Sky Farms, has entered receivership as the North American hog industry struggles under the bruising costs of animal feed, Reuters reported. Big Sky Farms, based in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, produces roughly 1 million pigs annually and accounts for 40 percent of Saskatchewan's total hog production. Under receivership, an outside party controls a company until it can restructure its debt or be sold, said Neil Ketilson, general manager of Sask Pork, an industry group run by hog farmers.

The temporary transfer of ownership of Ireland’s banks to the European Stability Mechanism could reduce funding costs, boost profitability and support economic recovery, the IMF said Monday, the Irish Times reported. In a staff report on Ireland, it called on Europe to help the State to lower the cost of rescuing the banking system, which has to date cost some €64 billion, by making good on a June 29th commitment by euro area leaders to break the link between sovereign and banking debt.

Until a few years ago, Vietnam was one of the world's hottest emerging markets. Now it faces an urgent task: fix a beleaguered banking system or watch its economy continue to slip behind faster-growing neighbors, The Wall Street Journal reported. Piles of bad loans following the financial crisis have dragged down growth in Vietnam and left banks weakened and reluctant to lend.

Safeguards proposed by Brussels to stop a newly beefed-up European Central Bank from calling the shots on banks beyond the euro zone are unlikely to satisfy Britain and other EU countries that do not use the common currency, Reuters reported. The EU faces weeks of hard bargaining before a banking union puts the banks of the 17 countries that use the euro under the authority of the ECB next year, giving the Frankfurt-based ECB unprecedented new powers.

South Korea's government announced a $5.9 trillion won (about $5.23 billion) stimulus package for the economy Monday to combat stagnant growth. The program, formulated to inject 4.6 trillion won during the remaining months of this year and 1.3 trillion won next year, is designed around tax breaks on personal income and purchases of homes, automobiles and large electronics products such as televisions and refrigerators, The Korea Times reported.