Peer Steinbrueck has had a bad year so far. His popularity rates are less than a third of those of Chancellor Angela Merkel and his Social Democratic party is also trailing behind Merkel's Christian Democrats just 100 ...

Banks should publicly detail how and why they set financial sector benchmarks, according to new rules on rate-setting published by EU regulators Thursday (6 June). The regime, prepared by the European Securities and ...

British chancellor George Osborne has attacked EU plans to create a financial transactions tax (FTT), describing it as "poorly designed, badly timed and unlawfully extraterritorial." He said it would "hinder EU growth ...

Latvia is set to become the 18th member of the eurozone after the European Commission gave its application the green light on Wednesday (5 June). "Latvia douze points is my message to Riga," Olli Rehn, the bloc's ...

Last week an internal document was made public which revealed that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is seeking an exemption on the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). After speaking out against US legislation regulating ...

Large depositors in the EU will from 2016 be in line to suffer losses if a bank gets into serious trouble, but deposits under €100,000 should be fully protected, MEPs in the economic affairs committee voted late on ...

Austria and Luxembourg have blocked an EU deal to increase tax transparency. Their finance ministers dug in their heels at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (14 May) despite pressure from major EU states. Speaking to ...

British tax havens in the Caribbean have agreed to provide information on offshore bank accounts (2 May), in a step which increases the prospect of an EU-wide agreement on information exchange on overseas accounts used ...

Plans to launch an independent European credit agency have fallen apart after it failed to generate enough interest in the business world. After three years of efforts, its co-founder renounced the plans in an interview ...

The EU should move ahead with rules to wind up failing banks and set up a bank-funded resolution fund, European Central Bank (ECB) vice-president Vitor Constancio has said. In a hearing with MEPs in the Parliament's ...

The German government Wednesday (17 April) denied it is stalling on the eurozone's "banking union," but says the plans would require an EU treaty change which could take years. "We are not suddenly asking for a change ...

Bank bonuses in the EU will be capped from 2015, as part of banking sector reforms backed by MEPs on Tuesday (16 April). Deputies in Strasbourg backed a regulation capping the majority of bonuses at the same level as ...

The EU commission is "aware" that a bailout agreed with the Spanish government means thousands of people will never get their savings back, but says it is up to courts to help the conned depositors. For almost a year ...

Tax evasion has risen to prominence on the EU agenda following the money laundering discussions surrounding Cyprus' bailout and the recent revelations concerning Europeans hiding their wealth in complex offshore schemes ...

Luxembourg may consider opening up its massive banking sector to greater scrutiny following concerns people are stashing away wealth from foreign tax inspectors. Luxembourg’s finance minister Luc Frieden told Germany's ...

Cypriot finance minister Michalis Sarris has quit after concluding the country's €10 billion bailout package with the EU and IMF. Sarris, who was swiftly replaced on Tuesday (2 April) by Labour minister Haris Georgiadis ...

Cyprus' banks opened without panic on Thursday (March 28) after a 10 day lockout as the government struggled to agree a €10 billion rescue package. With no reports of disruption and with small, orderly queues reported ...

Cyprus will become the first ever eurozone country to impose capital controls when its stricken banks open for business at noon local time Thursday (28 March). Payments out of the country and cheque cashing will be ...

EU lawmakers are divided on whether large holders of large bank deposits should face compulsory levies if their bank hits difficulties. With the dust yet to settle on a last-minute bailout for Cyprus agreed on Monday ( ...

Cyprus' banks will remain shut until Thursday (28 March) as lawmakers scramble to avoid a bank run when they reopen. Under the deal reached between the Cypriot government and the EU on Monday, Cyprus' two largest banks, ...

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Monday (25 March) spooked markets when he said that Cyprus' bailout is a template for future eurozone bank re-structurings - comments he later modified. In an interview with ...

Cyprus edged back from the brink of bankruptcy on Friday (22 March) after MPs agreed to a series of emergency reforms in a bid to avoid financial meltdown and a traumatic exit from the euro. Facing a Monday deadline (25 ...

Cyprus is on the brink of bankruptcy and of becoming the first-ever country to leave the euro after the European Central Bank (ECB) issued an ultimatum on Thursday (21 March). In its statement, the ECB warned that it ...

Eurogroup boss Jeroen Dijsselbloem told MEPs on Thursday (21 March) that Cypriot savers will have to lose money no matter what the final shape of the bailout deal. "It is inevitable that there will be some kind of levy ...

Cypriot finance minister Michalis Sarris headed for Moscow early on Wednesday (20 March) for talks with his Russian counterpart, finance minister Anton Siluanov, in the latest twist of the island's bailout drama. ...

The eurozone plunged into uncertainty on Tuesday (19 March) after the Cypriot parliament voted to reject the €10 billion EU bailout plan by an overwhelming majority. Thirty-six deputies in the 56 member House of ...

MEPs and governments have reached a deal on legislation giving the European Central Bank (ECB) new powers to directly supervise the European banking sector. Under an agreement struck on Tuesday (19 March) the ECB will ...

EU officials remained defiant on controversial plans for a Cypriot bailout on Monday (18 March), the most tumultuous day for the euro so far in 2013. Following an emergency conference call of eurozone finance ministers ...

Cyprus has been forced to apply a levy on ordinary bank deposits of the type that fall under the €100,000 deposit guarantee that is required by a European Directive. This is an upper limit for guarantees, taking away ...

Depositors will lose up to 10 percent of their savings as part of a €10 billion bailout for Cyprus agreed on Friday (15 March) The Mediterranean island will become the fifth eurozone country to receive a rescue package ...

London has been left isolated in its opposition to bank bonus rules, with EU lawmakers set to agree to cap payments, ignoring last minute opposition from UK finance minister George Osborne. The new rules, set to be ...

The EU has moved closer to a €17.5 billion bailout for Cyprus after the Mediterranean island on Monday (4 March) agreed to audit its banks to assess implementation of anti-money-laundering rules. Following the meeting ...

Britain is to oppose new EU bank bonus rules when finance ministers meet in Brussels next week. The measures, which would cap the majority of bonuses at the same level as salaries, form part of EU legislation increasing ...

The EU has agreed landmark rules capping bank bonuses after an agreement between MEPs and governments struck in the small hours of Thursday (28 February). The deal, which also increases the amount of capital banks must ...

The European Central Bank (ECB) recorded a profit of almost €1 billion in 2012, according to the Frankfurt-based institution's annual accounts, released on Thursday (21 February). Its year-on-year profits soared by 37 ...

A eurozone banking union will need a common resolution fund, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi said on Monday (18 February) in the European Parliament. EU lawmakers are currently finalising rules for a ...

EU lawmakers are hoping to resolve their differences on legislation toughening bank capital rules to prevent a repeat of the 2007-9 financial crisis. MEPs will hold their next trialogue negotiations with the Irish ...

Cheap loans from the European Central Bank (ECB) might have calmed the euro crisis, but the fundamental problems are still there: governments have too much debt and no strategy to get out of it, Raimund Roeseler, ...

The European Commission was under fire Thursday (14 February) over claims that its planned tax on financial transactions (FTT) would lead to double taxation. Unveiling the plans for an FTT backed by 11 EU countries, ...

The terms of a €17 billion bailout for Cyprus and direct recapitalisation of European banks top the agenda of finance ministers in Brussels on Monday (11 February). The meeting of the 17-member Eurogroup will be the ...

The Irish government has secured the tacit blessing of the European Central Bank (ECB) on a long-awaited deal extending the debt repayment on its bailed out banks. "Today's outcome is an historic step on the road to ...

Since the great global recession, all major advanced economies have resorted to series of liquidity injections to alleviate fiscal challenges. The unintended consequence is that the resulting massive monetary expansion ...

Individual staff should be fined up to €5 million and firms, such as banks, should be fined 10 percent of turnover if they flout anti-money-laundering rules, the European Commission has proposed. It put out its latest ...

Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, posted €2.2 billion losses in the last three months, largely due to a series of investigations into alleged fraud, tax evasion and rigging of the inter-bank Libor rate. "We ...

EU officials are expecting to sketch out a deal within the coming weeks on two regulations that will govern the single supervisory mechanism (SSM) to be co-ordinated by the European Central Bank (ECB). A parliament ...

Icelandic taxpayers are not liable to finance compensation of an estimated 350,000 British and Dutch citizens who lost their savings in the wake of the collapse of the country's banking sector in 2008, following a ...

A European tax on financial transactions has moved a step closer to reality after EU finance ministers gave the go-ahead for 11 countries to put it into law. Ministers at the Ecofin meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (22 ...

National governments should pay their own contribution to recapitalize ailing banks alongside funding from the eurozone's bail-out fund, according to a paper by EU officials. Eurozone finance ministers are expected to ...

Jean Claude Juncker is to bow out as President of the Eurogroup this week when the 17 eurozone finance ministers gather in Brussels for their first meeting of 2013. Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem who already ...