Headlines

Two top Nigerian stock-exchange officials were removed and a fugitive former bank executive surrendered, as efforts to clean up the financial sector accelerate, The Wall Street Journal reported. On Thursday, Nigeria's Securities Exchange Commission named Emmanuel Ikazoboh, a former chief executive of accounting firm Deloitte in West and Central Africa, as interim stock-exchange head. The appointment comes a day after a shakeout at Nigeria's Stock Exchange, Africa's second largest.

The trial of a lawsuit by Lyondell Chemical Co. creditors against billionaire Len Blavatnik that claims a 2007 merger drove the company into bankruptcy is set to begin in New York next month, Bloomberg reported. Summonses were filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan listing Blavatnik and 41 other people and companies that allegedly played a role in Lyondell’s takeover by Luxembourg-based Basell AF SCA. A pretrial conference is set for Sept. 13.

Greece met all its targets under an austerity plan mapped out by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, according to the external agencies monitoring the program, but they warned that overspending by local governments, hospitals and social-security funds were offsetting a better-than-planned fiscal performance by central government, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Companies that leased planes and equipment to Compania Mexicana de Aviacion are asking a U.S. bankruptcy judge to lift a restraining order barring them from taking their property back from Mexico's largest airline, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Lawyers for Wells Fargo & Co. and two other Mexicana creditors said in a court filing that they have the contractual right under New York law to immediately take the planes and equipment back. Once the airline terminated the leases, the creditors say, Mexicana forfeited its rights under the lease terms. Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S.

Shares in AIB fell sharply on the Dublin market today as the bank reported increased losses in the first half of the year, with bad debts increasing over the period, The Irish Times reported. The bank's stock fell as much as 13 per cent in early trade before regaining some ground to trade 5.6 per cent down at 93 cent by 5pm. The bank recorded a pre-tax loss of just over €2 billion for first half of the year, with its Irish operations posting a €2.3 billion loss before provisions.

Nigeria’s Security and Exchange Commission has instructed the nation’s bourse to remove Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke as director general and chief executive officer, Bloomberg reported. The move is among measures to address “inadequate oversight of the exchange, ongoing litigation, allegations of financial mismanagement, governance challenges, and the inordinate delays in the implementation of the succession plan,” the SEC said in an e-mailed statement.

Ireland’s Financial Regulator has appointed independent consultants to review Ireland's credit unions in a bid to curtail rising bad debts and mounting losses in the sector, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. The move comes amid fears about the scale of bad debt in the sector after it was revealed earlier this year that a number of credit unions around the State face serious solvency issues. Last week, the Central Bank and the regulator announced the appointment of Grant Thornton to carry out the large-scale review, which was requested by Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan.

Mexican bank Banorte said it has only limited exposure to the financial woes of Mexicana de Aviacion, the Mexican airline that filed for credit protection in Mexico and the United States this week, Reuters reported. The bank said in a statement on Wednesday that it was not a direct creditor of the struggling airline but was owed money by Mexicana's holding company. The bank said the group's credit commitments to Banorte totaled 1.576 billion pesos ($125 million) and would expire in 2014.

Debt-ridden Mexicana de Aviacion, which filed for creditor protection in Mexico and the United States this week, suspended ticket sales on Wednesday as its operating troubles deepened. Company spokesman Adolfo Crespo told Radio Formula that the airline will continue operating flights that have been already sold. A spokesman for the pilots' union told Reuters that they were expected to meet with Mexico's labor minister on Thursday in a bid to strike a deal with the company's management. The flight attendants union was not immediately available for comment.

Borletti Group's new offer to acquire insolvent German retailer Karstadt includes a €100 million investment and wouldn't separate the department chain into several units, as proposed by investor Nicholas Berggruen in June, the Italian group's head, Maurizio Borletti, said Wednesday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Berggruen won a bid to acquire Karstadt in June, but the deal is contingent on reaching agreements on rental and other conditions with Karstadt's creditors. The final agreement has been held up as Berggruen and creditors discuss formal details ahead of an Aug.