Investment

BELGRADE - Members of the Serbian parliament adopted the Bills amending and modifying the Labor Law and the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO) Friday.

A total of 190 MPs voted in favor of the amendments to the Labor Law, 21 were against, and four did not vote.

The amendments to the PIO law received 190 votes in favor and 22 against, with three MPs not voting.

By Christopher Whittall

The divergence between European equity and bank debt is expected to broaden further in the coming months as fundamental changes in banking regulations continue to impact the industry, giving credit investors a lucrative relative value play.

Lawmakers have decided to postpone discussions on budget act amendments proposed by the government, MPs say.

The changes to the 2014 fiscal plan were due to be debated Thursday, but are not included into the agenda as the main ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has announced it opposes them.

No session was held in Parliament on that day as MPs failed to reach quorum.

Lawmakers are due to have a first-reading say on changes to the Penal Code envisaging up to 10 years of imprisonment for spreading misleading information on banks. 

Under amendment proposals submitted by Bulgaria's central bank BNB, those disseminating information potentially leading to a surge of panic among citizens could face between two and five years behind bars.

Eczacıbaşı, one of Turkey’s largest companies, has announced it will apply to withdraw its construction materials subsidiary from the stock exchange amid an exodus stirred by a new regulation.

A 70-year-old man in Athens is facing charges for claiming the pension of his wife’s dead cousin for over a year after the woman’s death.

According to the case file, the 70-year-old used a cash card to withdraw the retirement pay deposited by social security fund IKA from ATM machines.

BELGRADE - The government put forward new amendments to the law on pension and disability insurance (PIO) because of the need for the further overhaul of the pension system which began in 2002.

By Angeliki Koutantou

Greek renewable energy firm ELTEH Anemos sold all the shares it hoped to in an initial public offering, albeit at the bottom of its price range - pointing to a mixed reception for the country's first IPO since its debt crisis began in 2009.

A 70-year-old Athenian woman is to face charges for claiming her dead cousin’s pension for more than a year after she died.

The woman is alleged to have wrongfully claimed the retirement pay between November 2012 and March 2014 as her cousin’s death had not been reported to authorities.

Police in Thessaloniki have detained a 50-year-old woman on charges of posing as a bank employee and scamming senior citizens.

According to police reports, the suspect extracted cash from unsuspecting citizens by claiming she could help them execute various transactions.