Headlines

Finland is stepping up efforts to find a compromise with Europe on its collateral demands amid International Monetary Fund opposition to forcing Greece to give euro members extra security for new loans, Bloomberg reported. “We will seek a solution together everyone can agree on and one that doesn’t hurt anyone,” Finland’s Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen told reporters Monday in Helsinki after meeting with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy.

Italy's industry minister has dismissed widespread calls for Rome to speed up its timetable for passing budget-tightening measures, rebutting criticism that the Italian government's austerity package isn't tough enough to dig the country out of the euro-zone debt crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. In an interview late on Sunday, Paolo Romani said the government was sticking to its plans to push the measures through Parliament by Sept. 15.

The death of Timaru financier Allan Hubbard makes little difference to the ongoing sale of his businesses - but compassion is being exercised, The New Zealand Herald reported. Kerryn Downey, South Canterbury Finance receiver at McGrathNicol with William Black, said SCF staff numbers were gradually being reduced, offices in three main centres were being sold and negotiations were continuing over further asset sales. The process is continuing according to plan despite the death, but Downey indicated he was taking an empathic approach.

Austria's troubled A-TEC Industries has accepted an offer from Contor Industries GmbH that fulfils its deal with creditors to find an outside investor, it said on Monday, Reuters reported. It did not put a value on the deal but said payments resulting from the offers must be made no later than Sept. 30. "The payments shall, together with the funds already deposited with the trustee, enable the fulfillment of the restructuring plan quota," it said in a statement.

A Stirling-based manufacturer of home insulation materials has been forced to restructure its debt after disappointing performance, the BBC reported. Superglass warned it would not be able to service its debt to Clydesdale Bank without a debt-for-equity swap it recently agreed with the lender. According to the trading update for the end of its financial year, debt has increased to £17.7m. Profit expectations are slightly down on the previous trading update in June. The first half of its financial year, to February, saw it break even.

The head of Germany's powerful central bank called Thursday for greater co-ordination of fiscal policies in the eurozone as a response to the debt crisis, which he termed its "most severe ever test." Speaking in Hanover in northern Germany, Jens Weidmann said that any solution to the crisis that has crippled debt-laden states on the periphery of the 17-country zone must tackle the problem at its roots, Agence France-Presse reported.

Greece is likely to miss its budget-deficit targets this year in the face of a deep economic contraction that is turning out to be even more severe than forecast, government officials said Thursday, conceding that the country is likely to face demands for still more budget cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported. Greece's deficit could exceed 8.5% of gross domestic product, compared with an official forecast of 7.6%, as the government struggles to meet revenue goals, two senior Greek government officials said. The deficit is now estimated at "around 8.5%, or a bit higher.

Extensive debt forgiveness for struggling mortgages borrowers was "not a realistic option", Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said, the Irish Times reported. Speaking to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform today, the Minister said resolutions "must be found on a case-by-case basis through open and meaningful engagement between the distressed borrower and the lender". He said there was no "magic bullet" solution to the problem.

Two directors of the failed Nathans Finance company have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment in the High Court at Auckland today, while one of their colleagues will serve a term of home detention, The New Zealand Herald reported. Company chairman Kenneth (Roger) Moses has been sent to jail for two years and two months and ordered to pay $425,000 in reparations. Fellow director Mervyn Doolan has been sentenced to two years and four months jail time, with reparations of $150,000.

The Halliwells partners facing a £21m High Court claim by the firm's administrators are set to enter mediation in an effort to avoid a lengthy court battle. BDO launched the claim in July against a group of 32 ex-partners - including former chairman Ian Austin - in a bid to reclaim more than £21m gained through a controversial 'reverse premium' property payout. The partners have agreed to enter mediation with the intention of settling the claim out of court, although the first meeting is unlikely to happen before the new year.