Headlines

Any day now NAMA will appoint a formidable line-up of what it calls enforcement professionals, or liquidators and receivers to you and me. This panel, to be recruited in Ireland and the UK, will be on the front line in the expected confrontation between NAMA and Ireland's heavily indebted and usually insolvent developer class, The Independent reported in a commentary. The planned appointment of these insolvency firms is already inducing mild panic in the companies and individuals they will be grappling with.

Leading UK and continental European companies are increasingly shunning banks from Spain, Italy and even Germany because they do not believe the Europe-wide stress testing of banks gave a true picture of their financial health. Corporate treasurers from groups with revenues of more than $240bn told the Financial Times they were conducting their own tests to gauge for themselves banks’ robustness. “What we are increasingly concerned about is credit risk,” said the treasurer of one of Germany’s largest industrial companies.

Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen said on Thursday that final hurdles have been cleared for him to buy German department store chain Karstadt, ending months of haggling by the retailer's main landlord with lenders. "All those who had to say 'yes' have said 'yes.'" Berggruen told Reuters Television. "Now the real work starts so that this is a success." He added that only administrative details needed to be dealt with before all involved parties could sign the contract.

One of the principal owners of the Afghan bank at the center of an accelerating financial crisis here said depositors had withdrawn $180 million in the past two days. He predicted a “revolution” in the country’s financial system unless the Afghan government and the United States moved quickly to help stabilize the bank, The New York Times reported. Khalil Frozi, one of the two largest shareholders of Kabul Bank, said reports indicating that the institution had lost as much as $300 million were overstated.

The number of unemployment benefit claimants rose by 2,500 in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, The Irish Times reported. Some 455,000 people are now in receipt of benefits according to the Central Statistics Office. This the largest number ever recorded since the Live Register of claimants was first compiled in 1967. The standardised unemployment rate, which is calculated separately, rose to 13.8 per cent last month, up from 13.7 per cent in July. It was 13.1 per cent at the start of the year. The rate of joblessness in August was the highest since mid-1994.

Spain's deficit is down sharply thanks to an unpopular cocktail of tax hikes and austerity cuts - good news for a government fighting to ward off fears it might need a bailout like the one that saved Greece from bankruptcy, The Associated Press reported. Still, with a fifth of the work force out of a job and businesses struggling to survive, the spending cuts that are helping the budget are likely to keep any economic recovery subdued. The stock market's IBEX 35 index closed 3.51 percent up at the close of trading Wednesday.

Swedish investment bank HQ, which was closed by authorities at the weekend for breaking risk rules, said it would unveil a deal on Thursday amid frantic efforts to find a buyer for the niche bank. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) stripped HQ of its licence after the watchdog found it broke banking and risk regulations at its trading operation, which was shut down by HQ in June. "HQ Bank is planning a news conference on Thursday to present the details of an agreement," the bank said in a short statement.

Lehman Brothers Holdings' Japanese subsidiary is one of the first major units to get going with its liquidation process, after it got court approval for its debt repayment plans, the Nikkei business daily reported. Lehman Brothers Japan Inc got approval for liquidation from the Tokyo district court and secured support for the plans from a majority of its creditors on Wednesday, and is expected to start repaying its debt by late November, the paper reported.

Just over half of Auckland's five-star Westin will be off-limits to guests after a fight between receivers and suite owners, The New Zealand Herald reported. Out-of-pocket investors fear receivers might disconnect electricity, phone, television and access to their rooms. Westin, the international hotel operator, will lose control of 110 of the 170 rooms at the Lighter Quay hotel. Graham Wilkinson, a hospitality expert representing owner/investors of 110 units, said his group was extremely disappointed.

The Afghan government intervened to shore up a deeply troubled bank on Tuesday, sending shock waves through the capital and prompting fears that Afghanistan’s pervasive corruption had now put the country’s entire financial system at risk, The New York Times reported. Sherkhan Farnood and Khalilullah Frozi, the top executives of Kabul Bank, abruptly left their jobs this week at the demand of officials at the Central Bank of Afghanistan, after the discovery that Kabul Bank’s losses might exceed $300 million. That number far exceeds the bank’s assets.