Cleaning up Italy’s banks is an opportunity ripe for the wasting, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The failed referendum on Sunday need not cause a crisis if UniCredit completes its rights issue and fellow lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena can be quickly stabilized. Political turmoil and weak growth, though, could push up bad loan levels, and the political will to fix them may be lacking.

Eight years after the financial crisis, we were all getting bored of bank stress tests. Most of the institutions are so much stronger and better capitalised than they were, and the laggards were so obvious that the tests were starting to get dull, the Financial Times reported. But on Wednesday, the Bank of England turned up the heat, hitting Britain’s seven largest banks with tougher stress tests. Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and Barclays all failed to clear some of the hurdles, although only RBS was ordered to find more capital.

Ireland has ranked fifth among European states in terms of the ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) held by its banks, according to a report by the European Banking Authority in London, the Irish Times reported. The analysis shows Ireland with an NPL ratio of just more than 20 per cent, ranking fifth behind Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia. Across the board, the rate was 5.4 per cent with Luxembourg the best in class with a figure of about 1.5 per cent.

A UK distressed debt investor that has been at the centre of a rescue plan for Italy’s third biggest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Sienna, has emerged as the leading bidder for a niche bank being sold in Dublin, the Irish Times reported. Sources said Attestor Capital in London is the preferred bidder for EAA Covered Bond Bank in Dublin, which is being sold under the wind-up of failed German bank WestLB.

Ulster Bank is likely to face more cuts as its parent RBS tries to boost capital after failing Bank of England stress tests, according to analysts. They also expect the Edinburgh-based lender’s investment banking activities to be curbed, the Irish Times reported. RBS may need to dispose of £44 billion (€52 billion) of risk-weighted assets to improve its capital buffers, analysts at Barclays wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. “The current Irish efficiency position looks untenable,” UBS analysts wrote on Wednesday.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy exit plan by Abengoa SA's main U.S. subsidiary, Abeinsa Holding Inc, violates the law by shielding the Spanish renewable energy parent from lawsuits, according to the U.S. government's bankruptcy watchdog, Reuters reported. The objection by the U.S. Trustee, which typically oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases and polices them for conflicts, threatens to derail Abengoa's high-stakes debt restructuring plan to avoid its own bankruptcy in Spain.

A German MEP has accused Ireland of “tax dumping” after it was revealed that Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo has used an Irish company for many of his commercial contracts, instead of a company in higher-tax Spain, the Irish Times reported. The footballer appears to have used a Dublin image rights company, Multisports Image Management (MIM), to conclude many of his contracts, including deals with mobile phone companies and sportswear manufacturers.

Malta has the most inefficient insolvency proceedings of all the EU member states, a damning report by the European Commission has revealed. The report coincides with new EU rules on business insolvency, aimed at increasing the opportunities for companies in financial difficulties to restructure early on so as to prevent bankruptcy and avoid laying off staff, the Times of Malta reported.

The Royal Bank of Scotland said on Wednesday that it would further bolster its capital position after failing regulatory stress tests that measure the ability of large banks to weather a financial crisis, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The annual stress test, by the Bank of England, also identified capital inadequacies at Barclays and Standard Chartered. But the central bank did not require them to issue revised capital plans, given actions they had already taken to strengthen their balance sheets.

Falling commercial real estate prices after the UK’s vote to leave the EU pose a threat to bank stability because of the market’s reliance on foreign capital, Bank of England said. Values have declined 2.6 per cent since the referendum and may drop further from their current high levels, according to the central bank’s twice-yearly assessment, the Irish Times reported. Continuing declines would affect companies’ access to finance because many use commercial real estate as collateral.