Headlines

KCB is set to receive a Sh8.8 billion ($105 million) loan from the World Bank to support its regional mortgage business, Business Daily Africa reported. World Bank’s private lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has indicated it is considering advancing the cash to finance KCB’s mortgage and small and medium enterprises business in Kenya, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. According to IFC, KCB Rwanda will get $5 million. The final details of the proposed credit line will be discussed at a board meeting slated for June 7.

The Swedish National Debt Office said Monday that Saab Automobile has reached an agreement in principle with financiers regarding a solution to the company's acute liquidity crisis, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. "The information that Saab has presented to us looks good and they will now have to present us a contract that is signed," said Unni Jerndal, a spokeswoman for Sweden's NDO. She said all conditions set by the Swedish government to reach an agreement have been met, and Saab is now working on the last details to secure the deal.

A Milan court on Monday acquitted four international banks and six managers on criminal charges related to the 2003 collapse of the Parmalat dairy empire, the Associated Press reported. The banks all immediately issued statements expressing satisfaction with the ruling, which brings to an end the 2-year-old trial, one of a series seeking to assign blame in the stunning corporate failure that still ranks as Europe's largest. Parmalat collapsed under the weight of its euro14 billion mountain of debt.

Portuguese banks will likely have to step up efforts to cut reliance on borrowed money in exchange for having some of the estimated €80 billion (about $114 billion) bailout earmarked for the country, senior bank officials say, The Wall Street Journal reported. Official negotiations between Portugal and officials from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund started Monday, after the country became the third in the euro zone to turn to its peers for help to tackle its persistently large deficit and low growth prospects.

Seán Quinn has blamed over-reliance on the banks and their economic predictions for the group’s problems, the Irish Times reported. Mr Quinn yesterday issued his first statement since he lost control of his manufacturing and insurance business, Quinn Group, to a receiver last week. Anglo Irish Bank has since appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as share receiver to Quinn Group ROI Ltd last Thursday. The group owes €2.88 billion to the bank.

The financial fate of struggling Auckland developer David Henderson hangs in the balance, after creditors voted for his repayment scheme yesterday, The New Zealand Herald reported. Bankruptcy proceedings before Associate Judge Doogue could go to the High Court at Auckland around 10am Tuesday but Daniel Grove, Henderson's barrister, said nothing was certain. Creditors agreed narrowly yesterday to Henderson's $1.5 million repayment of $127 million claims and now Grove will seek court approval of that scheme. "The creditors voting is only the first step.

Three European asset management firms accused banks including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings Plc, Barclays Bank Plc, Citibank NA and Credit Suisse Group AG of conspiring to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, Bloomberg reported. The banks sold Libor-based futures, options, swaps and derivative instruments “at artificial prices that defendants caused,” harming investors, FTC Capital GmbH of Vienna, FTC Futures Fund SICAV of Luxembourg and FTC Futures Fund PCC Ltd. of Gibraltar said in an April 15 complaint in New York federal court.

A euroskeptic party was in the thick of a tight four-way race after voting concluded in Finland's national election Sunday, raising the chance that it could enter government and disrupt the euro zone's program of bailouts for the bloc's deeply indebted countries, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to exit polls Sunday evening, the nationalist True Finns party, led by Timo Soini, was in third place with 18.7% of the vote. The conservative party of current Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen was in the lead, with 20.2%, according to public broadcaster YLE. Mr.

In another blow to creditors, Dongyang Engineering and Construction Corp. filed for court receivership at Seoul Central District Court yesterday, underscoring the debt problems created by construction-related financing loans, the JoongAng Daily reported. The midsize builder cooperated with Sambu Construction, which also recently filed for court receivership, in building luxury villas in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul. “I can’t believe how entangled the situation is,” said a Financial Supervisory Service official.

As the United States and Europe struggle to get their economies rolling again, China is having the opposite problem: figuring out how to keep its revved-up growth engine from generating runaway inflation, the International Herald Tribune reported. The latest sign that things were moving too fast came on Sunday, when China’s central bank ordered the biggest banks to set aside more cash reserves. The move essentially reduces the amount of money available for loans, and is an attempt to cool down the economy.