IBT Staff Reporter

Euro zone finance ministers and officials arrived on Monday to discuss a second bailout package for Greece. They were expected to approve a package of aid to draw a line under months of turmoil that has shaken the currency bloc. But technical issues remained outstanding before the meeting.

Feb 20, 2012

Lloyds will slash the bonuses of its former chief executive and 12 other leading members of staff, following an insurance mis-selling debacle at the part-nationalized British bank.

Feb 20, 2012

Hedge funds are cranking up their bets in equities and credit in 2012's buoyant markets in the belief that the euro zone, U.S. and Chinese economies will fare better than many were fearing last year.

Feb 20, 2012

Satellite firm Inmarsat said its partner LightSquared, a venture struggling to build a U.S. mobile broadband service with Inmarsat's spectrum, had failed to pay a $56.25 million instalment to the British company.

Feb 20, 2012

Dow Chemical Co hoped an Olympic sponsorship would boost its global cache, but the company's link to a gas leak tragedy 28 years ago threatens to curb some of the benefits from the $100 million advertising deal.

Feb 20, 2012

Media conglomerate Vivendi, the Paris-based parent of Universal Music Group, officially sought approval from the European Union to purchase London-based EMI Group's recorded-music business, the European Commission announced Monday on its website.

Feb 20, 2012

British chipmaker CSR Plc underscored its financial strength on Monday with a share buyback of up to $50 million, helping send its shares up more than 20 percent to their highest in six months.

Feb 20, 2012

The European Central Bank will lend nearly half a trillion euros to banks at rock-bottom rates next week through its three-year refinancing operation, despite signs institutions already have adequate liquidity, Reuters polls showed on Monday.

Feb 20, 2012

Vladimir Putin will be elected president in the first round of March's election with more than half the vote, avoiding a runoff that would dent his authority on the eve of his planned return to the Kremlin's top job, a state pollster predicted Monday.

Feb 20, 2012

Bank of China International is on track to become the first Chinese member of the London Metals Exchange - giving the bourse a boost while it is considering possible takeover bids - following authorization by the UK financial regulator.

Feb 20, 2012

Four Seasons Health Care is not trying to sell itself, as media reports suggested, but is in talks to renegotiate debt and raise new equity, a spokeswoman for Britain's biggest care home operator told Reuters.

Feb 20, 2012

A second injection of cheap funds from the European Central Bank may give the euro a temporary boost but is likely to trigger a longer-term decline in the common currency.

Feb 20, 2012

A senior U.S. regulator was optimistic on Monday about finding a framework for the world's top economy to use global book keeping rules for investors to compare cross-border companies.

Feb 20, 2012

Any surprise at the timing of China's move this weekend to spur bank lending may be misplaced. Instead, investors should recognize that China is determined to engineer a soft landing for the world's second-biggest economy.

Feb 20, 2012

Travelers in Europe face further delays and flight cancellations this week as ground staff at Frankfurt airport plan to extend their strike until early on Tuesday, with neither side in the dispute showing any sign of giving ground.

Feb 20, 2012

French media group Vivendi's Universal Music is seeking EU regulatory approval to buy British record label EMI's recorded music unit for $1.9 billion to boost its worldwide market share, the European Commission said on its website on Monday.

Feb 20, 2012

Iranians faced a second and more extensive disruption of Internet access Monday, just a week after email and social networking sites were blocked, raising concerns about state censorship ahead of parliamentary elections.

Feb 20, 2012

Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, although work remains to be done to make the numbers add up.

Feb 20, 2012

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group is set to sign on Monday a $3 billion loan it plans to use to take private its Hong Kong-listed unit, Alibaba.com, Thomson Reuters publication Basis Point reported.

Feb 20, 2012

It is getting busy in Cristino Naguiat's spacious 5th-floor office overlooking Manila Bay.

Feb 20, 2012

Chinese authorities keep a tight grip on the country's commodity exchanges as part of efforts to deter speculators from driving up food and resource prices.

Feb 20, 2012

China's ruling Communist Party leadership will implement prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy in 2012, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday, reiterating the basic policy tone Beijing set at the end of last year.

Feb 20, 2012

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Monday it is taking a controlling stake in Chinese e-commerce firm Yihaodian, as the world's largest retailer seeks new revenue sources to fend off rising competition in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Feb 20, 2012

Apple Inc's legal row over its iPad trademark in China creates a window of opportunity for rivals such as Lenovo Group Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as they try to chip away at the U.S. firm's dominance of the potentially vast Chinese tablet market.

Feb 20, 2012

Euro zone officials are discussing an escrow account for Greek bailout funds as part of a package they will address on Monday, Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said.

Feb 20, 2012

Like drunks at a bar door, the euro zone's governments and banks are leaning unsteadily on each other for support.

Feb 20, 2012

Japan logged a record trade deficit with China in January as exports dropped by a fifth, underscoring concerns about how sharply China is slowing and its ability to buffer a frail global economy against European turmoil.

Feb 20, 2012

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, the world's biggest maker of televisions, is shifting its focus towards new generation OLED display technology, and said it will spin off its loss-making LCD flat-screen business into an affiliate.

Feb 20, 2012

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Monday it has reached an agreement to raise its stake in a Chinese e-commerce firm, Yihaodian, to around 51 percent as the world's largest retailer aims to boost its presence in China's fast growing consumer market.

Feb 20, 2012