Banking

Banks are giving bad debtors one last chance to settle their dues - with write-offs that could reach as high as 95 percent - ahead of the sale of more nonperforming loan portfolios to foreign funds.

B2Kapital Greece announced it has entered into an agreement with Alpha Bank to purchase a nonperforming portfolio of retail unsecured loans in Greece.

The portfolio has a purchase price of 90 million euros.

The portfolio contains loans with a nominal value of 3.7 billion euros, which will be sold at 4.5 percent of their original price.

China is merging its banking and insurance regulators, giving new powers to policymaking bodies such as the central bank and creating new ministries in the biggest government shake-up in years.

Turkey plans to set up a “national credit rating agency” this year, the head of the country’s banking watchdog has stated.

The number of strategic defaulters may actually be twice the figure originally estimated by banks, as they may account for 40 percent of the borrowers who have stopped servicing their debts, mainly from mortgage loans, according to senior banking sources.

Sudan's central bank has said it agreed a $2 billion loan from a Turkish company to provide banking facilities and to import petroleum products and wheat.

The European Central Bank lowered the ceiling on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) Greek banks draw from the domestic central bank by 3.2 billion euros to 16.6 billion euros, the Bank of Greece said on Thursday.

The move reflected improved liquidity conditions, taking into account private sector deposit flows and banks' access to markets, it said.

Central banker Yannis Stournaras last week formally launched the debate on the creation of a so-called "bad bank" - a corporation to which all banks' nonperforming loans would be transferred - as he addressed the annual general meeting of the Bank of Greece.

The government appears determined to push its confrontation with Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras to the limit. On Monday it continued putting pressure on him at a central bank general meeting, in reaction to the former finance minister's new warning on market risks and his reiterating the proposal for a precautionary line of credit after August.

The Senate adopted on Wednesday, as the first notified Chamber, the legislative proposal initiated by PSD and ALDE MPs on the establishment, organization and functioning of Romania's Development Bank - SA.