Brussels on Tuesday defied strong opposition from Germany and unveiled plans for a €45bn eurozone-wide deposit guarantee scheme that would pool money from across the currency union to ensure all bank accounts up to €100,000 within the decade, the Financial Times reported.

German prosecutors have opened another investigation into Volkswagen, this one focusing on whether the company broke local tax laws by making false claims about its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions, the International New York Times reported. In addition, there were signs on Tuesday that allegations of emissions cheating could spread to other carmakers, after an environmental organization in Berlin said tests by a Swiss university showed suspicious pollution readings from a Renault passenger van.

Italy has used a controversial state guarantee to rush through the rescue of four banks before EU “bail-in” rules come into force next year in an effort to deal with tens of billions of bad loans hampering the country’s economic recovery, the Financial Times reported. The newly created Italian bank resolution fund will raise €3.6bn to restructure four small lenders — Banca Marche, CariFerrari, CariChieti and Banca Etruria.

A meeting of creditors of Sir Anthony O’Reilly to see if a formal deal can be reached on the sale of his assets and the division of the proceeds is likely to follow Friday’s decision of the court in the Bahamas to declare him bankrupt. The judge in the case specifically mentioned that parties in the case could subsequently apply to the court to ratify such an agreement, the Irish Times reported.

AIB shareholders are to vote on the bank’s new capital re-organisation, which will see the value of their shareholding in the bank almost wiped out, at an egm on December 16th, the Irish Times reported. The bank announced its plans for an egm on Monday morning, as the first step in its plan to return to the markets next year and allow the Government to divest some of its 99.8 per cent stake in the bank.

A rare public rift emerged at the core of the European Central Bank on Monday as a major policy setter, Sabine Lautenschläger of Germany, said she opposed an extension of its economic stimulus campaign days after the bank’s leader paved the way for more, the International New York Times reported. The 25 members of the bank’s Governing Council have long held differing views, but the blunt public opposition is unusual because Ms. Lautenschläger sits on the six-person executive board, which tends to present a united front.

Euro-area member states agreed to disburse the funds necessary for the recapitalization of Greece’s battered banks, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sought consensus from opposition parties, following defections that whittled down his slim parliamentary majority, Bloomberg News reported. Finance ministry officials from the currency bloc agreed “that the Greek authorities have now completed the first set of milestones and the financial sector measures that are essential for a successful recapitalization process,” Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said in a statement Saturday.

The Marseille commercial court on Friday selected Corsican transport entrepreneur Patrick Rocca as preferred bidder for France-Corsica ferry operator SNCM, Reuters reported. The ruling clears the way for SNCM majority shareholder Transdev, jointly owned by water and waste group Veolia and French state bank CDC, to sell SNCM. The company has been under court protection since late 2014, when it failed to repay a loan to Transdev, which owns 66 percent of SNCM. An SNCM sale would allow Veolia and CDC to unwind their Transdev 50-50 joint venture.

It is close to ten years since America’s housing bubble burst. It is six since Greece’s insolvency sparked the euro crisis. Linking these episodes was a rapid build-up of debt, followed by a bust. A third instalment in the chronicles of debt is now unfolding. This time the setting is emerging markets. Investors have already dumped assets in the developing world, but the full agony of the slowdown still lies ahead, The Economist reported. Debt crises in poorer countries are nothing new.

Greece’s parliament has backed additional reforms needed to unlock €12bn from the latest, €86bn, bailout to recapitalise struggling banks and pay off overdue debts to government suppliers, the Financial Times reported. The reform bill was approved by 153 to 137 votes following a stormy debate that brought the sacking of two deputies from the governing Syriza-led coalition. They had refused to support a measure limiting protection for mortgage holders in default.