Canada will pledge funds to the International Monetary Fund in the event countries outside the euro zone require a bailout, but it is of the view Europe has adequate resources to deal with its debt crisis, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday, Dow Jones reported. He said Europe should "step up to the plate" and "overwhelm" the issue with its own resources. Canada and the U.S. have declined to commit resources to the IMF "at this time," as the Fund has adequate resources to deal with any imminent requirements.

Three Sino-Forest Corp. executives were fired by the insolvent Chinese timber firm and the company’s co-founder and chief financial officer both resigned, in a prelude to formal allegations expected to be laid by the Ontario Securities Commission, The Globe and Mail reported. Allen Chan, the Hong Kong national who co-founded Sino-Forest two decades ago and helped build what was once the largest forestry company on the TSX, resigned as “founding chairman emeritus” and an employee, the company said in a statement. Mr.

The world’s 20 biggest economies are likely to agree to increase the resources of the International Monetary Fund by between $400 billion and $500 billion (€306 billion and €382 billion), rather than the $600 billion initially sought by the fund, Group of 20 officials have said, the Irish Times reported. The extra money is to give the fund, a lender of last resort to governments, more fire-power to fight the sovereign debt crisis, triggered by unsustainable policies in euro zone countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

Insolvent Nortel Networks Corp. has been granted a stay of proceedings until July under court surpervised creditor protection to allow the company to continue with its restructuring activities. The now defunct company said Friday that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted Nortel and its subsidiaries an extension under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act until July 31, CanadianBusiness.com reported on a Canadian Press story. Nortel's court protection has been extended several times.

Sino-Forest Corp has asked a Canadian court to extend creditor protection granted to the Chinese forestry company last month until July 9, saying it would create certainty for potential buyers considering a bid for its assets, Reuters reported. The Ontario Superior Court's current order of protection under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act expires April 29. The company, accused of fraudulently exaggerating its assets, said the allegations had paralyzed its business. Sino-Forest's Toronto-listed shares tanked last June after a short-seller made allegations against it.

A growing shortage of safe assets poses a new threat to global financial stability, the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday. Sovereign debt crises are reducing the number of governments that investors trust to issue “risk-free” bonds just as new financial regulations are increasing demand for safe securities from banks, the Financial Times reported. The report shows how reforms in the wake of the 2007-09 crisis may create new pinch points in the global financial system that could cause trouble in the future.

Lawyers handling a $9 billion class-action lawsuit against Sino-Forest Corp. will ask an Ontario judge on Friday to terminate bankruptcy proceedings involving the troubled timber company, the Toronto Star reported. When Sino-Forest, which is based in Mississauga but operates in China, sought protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act last month, any pending legal actions were essentially put on hold.

The global banks group that recently negotiated Greece's historic debt restructuring Monday outlined principles it believes should inform possible future privately-held government debt write-downs, Dow Jones reported. "The experience with the protracted negotiations and the scope of the Greek debt exchange have given rise to a number of issues that could usefully be discussed in the period ahead," the Institute of International Finance said in a policy letter written ahead of International Monetary Fund ministerial meetings.

Sino-Forest, the Chinese forestry company whose stock collapsed after a short-seller's fraud accusations, said on Monday that Canada's top securities regulator found that its conduct ran afoul of sections of securities law pertaining to fraud, Reuters reported. The Ontario Securities Commission made its findings known to Sino-Forest by serving the Toronto-listed company and some of its current and former executives with enforcement notices, the company said in a statement on Monday.

A group of Catalyst Paper Corp.'s first-lien noteholders will serve as stalking-horse bidder with a $275 million bid for the British Columbia specialty paper and newsprint producer if the company's reorganization efforts fail, The Deal reported. According to an April 1 monitor's report, CP Acquisition LLC, an entity controlled by the company's first-lien noteholders, is the debtor's stalking-horse bidder. Invesco Canada Ltd. owns the majority of the secured notes.