EU passes new law to shutter problem banks
European legislators finally signed off yesterday on new laws to make it easier to shut problem banks. The vote in the European Parliament gives the final stamp of approval for an agency to shut weak lenders in the euro zone, the last in a line of reforms to create a banking union for the 18 countries sharing the euro. Almost seven years since German lender IKB became Europe’s first victim of the global financial crisis, the region is still struggling to lift its economy out of the slump and banks are taking much of the blame for not lending. The European Central Bank will start policing the sector this year. Michel Barnier, the EU official in charge of regulation, said: “The banking union completes the economic and monetary union, puts an end to the era of massive bailouts and ensures taxpayers will no longer foot the bill when banks face difficulties.” – Reuters
SA imports yellow maize from Russia
South Africa imported yellow maize from Russia for the first time in at least a decade. Russia shipped 29 201 tons last week, the SA Grain Information Service (Sagis) said on its website on Monday. These are the first imports from Russia since at least 2003, according to Sagis’s website. Russia had a record crop last year. “We did not expect that at all as Russia is a very small yellow-maize-producing country,” Senwes analyst Thys Grobbelaar said yesterday. – Bloomberg
Private health-care probe to go public
The Competition Commission would this week make public the terms of reference of the inquiry into the private health-care sector, it said yesterday. Former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, who heads the inquiry, would brief media about the probe and the panel today. “The panel’s mandate is to prove the likely causes of price increases and expenditures that tend to be above inflation in the private health-care sector,” the commission said. – Sapa
Chemical support office for Durban
Durban will receive its branch of the SA Chemical Technology Incubator, which Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies will launch today. According to the department, the incubation centre will assist chemical technology businesses in the region with free support services and market information to small business owners. – Asha Speckman