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As Argentina prepares for a new president, a glimmer of hope has emerged that a ferocious standoff with American hedge funds may be resolved within months, the New York Times reported today. On Sunday, Argentines will vote on who will succeed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The front-runner, Daniel Scioli, has at times shared her taste for fiery populist oratory. Nonetheless, if elected president, he is expected to quietly seek a compromise with the hedge funds over nearly $100 billion of bonds that Argentina defaulted on in 2001. The standoff has kept the country locked out of global lending markets. Ms. Kirchner has maneuvered to reach the end of her presidency without the need to return to those markets, but a new leader would need access to help rectify Argentina’s economy, analysts said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to overhaul Indian bankruptcy laws that date back a century in a bid to get his reform agenda back on track after a series of setbacks, Bloomberg News reported today. This week, a government-backed committee plans to submit recommendations to the Finance Ministry for a bill that may be tabled during the parliament session starting next month. Unifying more than four overlapping sets of rules, the code aims to slash the time it takes to wind up a dying company or recover dues from a defaulter. “People who thrive on delays will suffer," T.K. Vishwanathan, head of the drafting panel, said in an interview in New Delhi. “The current law is creditor-unfriendly. We will balance it."