Headlines

European banks are fanning out across Asia, seeking to borrow money from wealthy individuals and cash-rich companies in a race to replace funding sources that are becoming harder and more expensive to tap, The Wall Street Journal reported. Rather than make loans and do deals, bankers from France, Italy and other countries are under orders to find sources of funding. While they are having some success, people with knowledge of their efforts say, they aren't raising enough to make a difference, leaving the banks still struggling to fund their assets.

Greek workers staged a 24-hour strike today, forcing the transport system to a standstill in protest against the government's intensified austerity drive to secure aid to save the country from bankruptcy, RTÉ News reported. Striking taxi drivers and bus, metro and rail workers meant commuters had to use their own cars, triggering long traffic jams and stranding tourists at hotels in Athens city centre for several hours. Unions said more strikes were planned. In his first public comments on yet more austerity moves, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said they were vital.

Dubai has completed the "major bulk" of its debt restructuring and is comfortable in its ability to tap bond markets when it deems it necessary, a top Dubai official said Thursday, Dow Jones reported.

After months of turmoil, there finally seems to be some respite for debt laden Koutons Retail India Ltd, the Economic Times reported. The debt restructuring plan for the apparel manufacturer has been finalised and the lenders will meet next week for the final approval, according to sources familiar with the development told ET Now. The company's total debt is Rs 660 crore out of which the long term debt of Rs 500 crore that will be payable over a period of 10 years including a 2 year moratorium.

In the continuing drama over whether Greece will get the next slice of rescue funds from its official creditors, another critical financial test has been temporarily forgotten: the country's plan to exchange old government bonds for new, The Wall Street Journal Brussels Beat blog reported. As Greece's disputes with its lenders have intensified, the bond exchange has looked a better and better deal for investors. The exchange, the terms of which could be announced next month, was the price of securing German government support for the second bailout of Greece in July.

On a snowy Friday evening in late March, Andrei Borodin received a call as he flew out of Moscow on a private jet. Then president of Bank of Moscow, Russia’s fifth-biggest, he found himself under mounting pressure as VTB, the state-controlled lender that is Russia’s second biggest, tried to take over his bank, the Financial Times reported in an analysis. Just hours earlier, the government’s budget watchdog had called for his suspension while it audited what it be­lieved were “dubious” loans to entities re­lated to Bank of Moscow.

Greece adopted yet more austerity measures on Wednesday to secure a bailout instalment crucial to avoid running out of money next month, as the IMF warned that Europe's sovereign debt crisis risks tearing a giant hole in banks' capital, Reuters reported. The Greek cabinet agreed to cut high pensions by 20 percent, put 30,000 civil servants in a "labour reserve" on a road to redundancy, lower the income threshold for paying tax and extend a real estate tax, a government spokesman said.

Financial companies saw their number of delinquent customers increase by nearly 200,000 this year as more people struggle to repay debt amid the alarming deterioration of family finances, The Korea Times reported. The default rates for households approved by commercial banks have surpassed the level shown during recent financial crises, and an increasing number of small- and medium-sized companies are sinking under a sea of red, industry figures show.

Saab Automobile staved off bankruptcy after a Swedish court granted the struggling carmaker’s appeal for protection from creditors, giving it a chance to restart production, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The Court of Appeal for Western Sweden Wednesday approved Saab’s request for voluntary reorganization, overturning a lower tribunal’s ruling, according to a decision posted on the Gothenburg-based court’s website. The decision halts pending bankruptcy petitions filed by creditors.

A maker of sweet treats for Scots may face a sour fate. Confectioner New McCowans Ltd., which makes Highland Toffee bars, Wham chew bars and Bonbons chewy candies, has gone into administration, according to the BBC, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. In the U.K., a company that goes into administration must hand over control to an independent administrator who then works to find a way to pay creditors, often through a sale of the company.