Headlines

Confronting the looming prospect of a second bailout for Greece, European finance ministers insisted Tuesday on further deficit-cutting efforts from the government in Athens and acknowledged for the first time that the private sector could be included in a restructuring of Greek loans, the International Herald Tribune reported. Two days of talks in Brussels ended with public concessions that the idea of “reprofiling” Greek debt, or voluntarily extending maturities without changing interest rates or the amount of the loan, was being contemplated, at least as a last resort.

The IMF stuck to business on Monday despite the sexual assault arrest of managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, approving €1.58 billion ($NZ 2.8 billion) in new assistance to debt-laden Ireland, The New Zealand Herald reported. The International Monetary Fund said it had completed its latest review of the country's progress under the €85-billion European Union bailout package for the country, and was ready to release the newest tranche of its rescue loan.

One of Australia's biggest fertiliser importers and sellers has become the latest company to go into administration after Switzerland's Western Gulf Advisory failed to deliver on financing, The Australian reported. WGA, which has been accused of taking millions of dollars from Australian companies in upfront fees for loans, is understood to have committed late last year to provide loans to the Interfert and Megafert fertiliser companies owned by South Australian businessmen Peter Evans and John Simper.

Credit checking agency Veda Advantage is applauding proposed changes to the Credit Reporting Privacy Code, under which a person's repayment history on credit cards, mortgage payments, and other types of credit could be included in credit reports, The National Business Review reported. Only externally regulated credit providers including banks, telcos, utilities and registered insurers would have access to the data.

The president of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. hit out at remarks by the government's top spokesman calling for lenders to forgive some of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s debt, saying the government has no place directly intervening in private-sector business decisions, The Wall Street Journal reported. The comments Monday by Katsunori Nagayasu, president and chief executive of MUFG, Japan's biggest bank by assets, were the strongest yet by the head of a big lender in response to remarks Friday by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

The Ernst & Young ITEM Club says in a report to be published later Monday that UK retailers face a decade of austerity with consumer spending remaining below its pre-recession peaks until at least 2013, and growth in spending constrained for another seven years, Finfacts reported. The economists using the Treasury's own economic model for the UK economy, say that consumer spending will expand by just 0.6% this year and 1.3% in 2012 as depressed wage growth and rising inflation stretch incomes.

Saab Automobile owner Spyker Cars NV Monday said it has found a new partner in China that will provide fresh funds for the troubled Swedish car maker, giving investors hope the company can survive after a previous deal collapsed last week, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal, with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., will give Saab enough money to restart production and survive for about a year, according to Spyker Chief Executive Victor Muller, but Spyker still needs to find other investors to give it a long-term future.

Jean Jones' receiver says a sale of the national women's clothing chain could be finalised within days, BusinessDay reported. The company, which has 10 stores throughout the country, down from a peak of 20, was placed in receivership last October owing creditors about $2.9 million. Receiver Murray Frost said a conditional deal for the sale of the company had been reached and an unconditional agreement was expected within days. Mr Frost said he had been negotiating with the party for about three months. Initially about eight prospective buyers had expressed interest in the chain.

Shareholders in Irish Life & Permanent meet on Wednesday for what is more than likely the last ever annual general meeting of the company in its current form, the Irish Times reported. Under the Government’s plans for the banking sector, IL&P will have disposed of or floated its life assurance business by this time next year. The remaining banking business, Permanent TSB, will have received a dollop of taxpayers’ money – about €4 billion – and will in effect be nationalised if it has not been merged or sold.

Eastern Europe’s economic recovery may be scuttled by any Greek debt restructuring, which would curb lending by western banks and undermine investor bets that have propelled the region’s stocks, bonds and currencies, Bloomberg reported. While the region has three of this year’s 10 best- performing currencies and five of the 10 equity indexes that rose the most, 76 percent of its banking market is controlled by western European lenders still threatened by the euro’s debt crisis.