Headlines

New laws on bankruptcy enacted last week have done little to deter bankruptcy tourism, the Independent reported. Under the old law, bankrupts in Ireland were subjected to at least 12 years of punitive restrictions, and possibly for life and even in death. A bankrupt remained a bankrupt unless discharged by the court. That could only happen if at least a portion of the debt was repaid, along with any costs that may have arisen.

Italy called Friday for emergency G7 talks and the EU worked "night and day" to ready new rescue funding as eurozone lending costs soared and stocks plunged amid fears of a renewed global recession, Agence France-Presse reported. As Europe scrambled to head off pressure on the single currency zone, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said after telephone talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy that G7 finance ministers would meet "in a few days". "The situation is very difficult and requires coordinated action.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria on Saturday said it would inject N678.5bn into the three nationalised banks, whose licences were revoked on Friday by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Punch reported. AMCON said at a press conference in Lagos that by Monday, it would take over Spring Bank Plc, Afribank Plc and Bank PHB Plc and recapitalise them to the tune of N110.5bn, N285bn and N283bn respectively through the issuance of bonds in order to raise their capital adequacy ratio to 15 per cent.

The U.S. credit-rating downgrade is piling more pressure on China to move away from an export-reliant economy that has produced mountains of currency reserves in declining dollars, though Chinese politicians, like those in Washington, often struggle to confront tough policy decisions needed to drive change, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some analysts say that harsh Chinese rhetoric aimed at the U.S. following the downgrade of U.S.

Shadow broker Kinetic Securities is to appoint administrators Monday in a collapse its directors blame on the global financial crisis, sluggish post-GFC low-volume market conditions and increasing regulatory requirements, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The appointment of voluntary administrators, expected to be Ferrier Hodgson, comes just weeks after the corporate regulator suspended its Australian Financial Services Licence then reinstated it and follows a move by a creditor to wind it up.

eircom’s new business plan projections leaves little doubt as to what the Irish telecom group’s subordinated debt holders would face in a planned debt restructuring, the Financial Times reported on a Debtwire story. The plan, presented last Friday (29 July) to senior lenders, put the writing on the wall -- over EUR 1bn of debt could be written off, with severe losses for investors in the company’s junior debt tranches.

The European Central Bank resumed a crisis-management role on Thursday, stepping in after a four-month pause to buy government bonds in response to a debt crisis that started nearly two years ago in Greece and now threatens to engulf Spain and Italy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Officials also said they would extend generous bank lending programs into next year and warned that economic uncertainties are "particularly high," suggesting a lengthy pause in the ECB's monetary tightening cycle after just two interest-rate increases.

The number of people signing on the Live Register rose slightly last month, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Irish Times reported. The standardised unemployment rate rose by 0.1 per cent to 14.3 per cent in July as an additional 1,500 people signed on to the Live Register. Overall, there were 470,284 people on the Live Register last month, up by 0.7 per cent or 34,600 individuals over the year. This increase is 1.1 per cent less than that recorded in June and 8 per cent lower than in July 2010.

Just a few months ago, European policymakers were scrambling to erect barricades protecting Spain from the marauding sovereign-debt crisis. But now, suddenly, it is Italy in the crosshairs—deeply transforming Europe's problem and putting policymakers in full retreat, The Wall Street Journal reported. What was a battle to avoid a costly bailout has now become a push to avoid a doomsday scenario. "The line has shifted from Spain to after Spain," said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING in Brussels.

Yet another fashion retailer has collapsed in the midst of the worst trading conditions in 50 years, with Brown Sugar placed in voluntary administration putting the future of 50 full-time staff and 170 part-time crew in doubt, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Deloitte Corporate Reorganisation Group, Sal Algeri and Tim Norman, have been named as joint voluntary administrators to the clothing group which has 40 stores in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.