Headlines

Lloyds Banking Group PLC posted a net loss for 2010 because of its exposure to bad Irish loans, and warned that a slower U.K. economy and higher funding costs will put a lid on growth in net interest margins this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The British bank said Friday its net loss was £320 million ($516.4 million), compared with a £2.83 billion profit a year earlier when Lloyds benefited from an £11.2 billion "negative goodwill" gain from its takeover of mortgage lender HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. Pretax, precharge profit—a figure closely watched by U.K.

Korea Line Corp., the second-largest shipping company in South Korea, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York on Friday, seeking to temporarily stay several pending U.S. legal disputes as it moves forward with a rehabilitation proceeding in South Korea, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. The Seoul-based company lodged the petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, indicating that it had nearly $61 million in liquid assets.

Last week, the Government of Singapore's investment arm filed a plan in court to pay $1.48 billion for control of five luxury resorts that went into bankruptcy at the start of the month, an aggressive move that would wipe out the owners, an investor group led by Paulson & Co. and Winthrop Realty Trust, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. It seems those owners don't think much of Singapore's offer. In a phone interview Wednesday, Michael Ashner, chairman of Winthrop, ridiculed the action, suggested the bid was not a serious one.

Portugal is under increasing pressure to take a bail-out as its borrowing costs have stayed above a level widely considered unsustainable for longer than Greece and Ireland before their rescues last year, the Financial Times reported. Portugal’s benchmark market interest rates were above 7 per cent for the 16th consecutive trading day on Friday, closing at 7.55 per cent. Greece and Ireland, the two eurozone countries to seek bail-outs so far, lasted 13 and 15 trading days respectively with bond yields of more than 7 per cent.

Ireland's main opposition party, Fine Gael, won a clear victory in Friday's election, setting Dublin on course for a showdown with the European Union over the terms of its €67.5 billion ($92.83 billion) international bailout, The Wall Street Journal reported. Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader widely expected to become prime minister, said Saturday that the bailout was "a bad deal for Ireland and a bad deal for Europe" and added: "We are not going to cry the poor mouth, other than to say the reality of this challenge is too much." Mr.

Australian toll road operator RiverCity Motorway said it will consider appointing an administrator later Friday after lenders refused to give it a reprieve on $1.3 billion it owes, Reuters reported. RiverCity, which operates the Clem Jones Tunnel in Australia's third-largest city, Brisbane, said in a statement lenders did not approve its request for a standstill agreement by a Feb. 24 deadline.

Vietnam's leaders unveiled measures aimed at curbing soaring inflation rates Thursday, even as residents worried over electricity- and fuel-price increases that are sending energy costs as much as 24% higher, The Wall Street Journal reported. It's a time of spreading unease about the stability of this fast-growing economy. Communist-run Vietnam has one of Asia's worst inflation problems, with a consumer price index that hit a two-year high of 12.31% this month.

Anglo Irish Bank has said for the first time that it is likely to object formally to David Drumm’s debt to the bank being written off by a Boston court, the Irish Times reported. The disclosure is made in the bank’s latest filing to the US court in the bankruptcy proceedings being taken by its former chief executive. To succeed in preventing Mr Drumm’s debt to Anglo being written off, it will have to demonstrate to the court that he has acted in bad faith.

German prosecutors expanded a probe of Porsche SE's former top managers to new allegations tied to the sports-car maker's failed attempt to take over Volkswagen AG, likely delaying the two companies' planned merger, The Wall Street Journal reported. Shares in Porsche closed down 11% on Thursday after the German car maker said there is now only a 50% chance that the merger agreement—struck after Porsche's effort to swallow VW nearly drove Porsche into bankruptcy—would be completed before 2012.

Europe's debt crisis is set to claim its first political scalp on Friday in an Irish election dominated by the trauma of economic collapse and the harsh path back to financial stability, the International Herald Tribune reported. Irish voters are in a vicious mood over the bursting of a property bubble that has left them steeped in debt and facing years of austerity to repay the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for an 85 billion euros bailout.