The Bank of England has cut the amount that it expects the UK economy to grow this year to 2.4 per cent, down from a previous forecast of 2.9 per cent, The Independent reported. In its quarterly inflation report, the central bank trimmed its forecast for UK economic growth over the next three years and reinforced expectations for an first interest rate rise in around a year's time. The fresh projections follow official data showing that growth slowed sharply to just 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, though many expect the reading to be revised once more data is available.

Assets at the Dublin banking arm of Bank of America Merrill Lynch plunged in 2014, as the bank’s retrenchment in Ireland continued and headcount shrunk by a third. The bank, which was once Ireland’s largest bank by asset size, according to The Irish Times’ business database, Top1000.ie, has now slipped back to 14th in a ranking of Ireland’s largest financial institutions.

EnBW has been named preferred bidder for insolvent wind farm operator Prokon, Germany's third-biggest power utility said on Tuesday. EnBW has made a binding offer to acquire all assets of Prokon for a "mid-level three-digit million-euro" amount, the company said. The all-cash offer would value Prokon, which filed for insolvency in January last year, at more than 500 million euros ($561.6 million), one person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. A creditor panel at Prokon will probably take a final decision on EnBW's bid in early July, the utility said.

Ukraine’s $23bn debt restructuring negotiations appeared to reach boiling point late on Tuesday after the government issued a sharply worded statement that questioned the transparency, responsiveness and good faith of a creditors’ committee, the Financial Times reported.

European banks are as vulnerable to failing today as they were in the run-up to the 2008 global economic crash and subsequent recession, according to new research, the Irish Times reported. In the first study to compare sources of systemic risk in European banks, economists found banks in southern countries, including France, Spain and Italy, are highly vulnerable to failure. Banks in northern countries appear to be more resilient.

By now it has become familiar: Greece warns that it is about to run out of cash, then manages to scrape together enough to avoid defaulting on its debts. A larger catastrophe is averted in the eurozone, and Greece and its creditors return to haggling over whether the country can get more financial aid, the International New York Times reported. That sequence played out again this week, when Greece managed on Tuesday to make a loan payment of about 750 million euros, or about $837 million, to the International Monetary Fund.

Most of the €7.4m proceeds of sale of businessman Sir Anthony O’Reilly’s home in Co Kildare have gone towards paying off his €22.6m debt to AIB, the Commercial Court has heard, the Irish Times reported. The bank now wants to ask him in court about other means he has of paying off the remainder. The bulk of the proceeds of the sale of Castlemartin has gone towards reducing the businessman’s personal debt to AIB to around €14.3 million, the court heard.

Bulgarian prosecutors have launched an investigation into two central bank officials suspected of deliberate mismanagement as they took over the running of insolvent lender Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) in November, Reuters reported. The investigation is the latest in a string that opened in the aftermath of Corpbank's collapse last June, which also include probes into the activities of top central bank officials, the bank's main shareholder and its auditors. Corpbank was felled by a run on deposits in circumstances that have never been fully explained.

Greece’s finance ministry ordered a €750m payment to the International Monetary Fund, ending days of uncertainty over whether Athens would use the instalment as a bargaining chip in ongoing talks with its creditors, the Financial Times reported. Ministry officials said they had sent a payment order to the government’s national accounts office to ensure it would arrive in the IMF’s coffers by Tuesday, when the loan repayment falls due. “The order to pay has been made,” said one finance ministry official.

A referendum on its international bailout program may be a good idea for Greece, Germany’s finance minister said Monday, underlining doubts among Greece’s creditors about the government’s ability to agree on divisive overhauls without endorsement by voters, The Wall Street Journal reported. Calling a referendum on the bailout—something that eurozone politicians have until now been loath to discuss—would be a risky move for both the government in Athens and the rest of the eurozone, adding further unpredictability to a tense situation.