Many investors are worried that an election later this month may produce a new radical government in Greece. Alexis Tsipras, the leader of an unruly band of left-of-center political parties, is favored to win on Jan. 25. He has talked of restructuring Greece’s debt and rolling back harsh austerity measures, and has raised questions about the conduct and management of Greece’s sickly banks.

A bank backed by authorities in Europe’s most solvent economy should hardly be considered risky, The Economist reported in an analysis. Yet it came as a surprise to many that HSH Nordbank, a lender majority-owned by two northern German states, even passed stress tests conducted by the European Central Bank in October 2014. The lender’s bosses say they were confident all along—but they prudently limited themselves to a single glass of champagne.

Romania’s largest chemical producer Oltchim, majority owned by the state, will most likely exit insolvency this year. Its judicial administrators, RomInsolv and BDO Business Restructuring, will present the company’s restructuring plan in February, with hopes to have it approved by March, according to Mediafax newswire, Romania-Insider.com reported. Economy Minister Mihai Tudose met the judicial administrators, as well as representatives of the Oltchim employees union, on Tuesday, January 6. “The option to move to bankruptcy is excluded.

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm could face further legal action from creditors pursuing debts and criminal charges for lying to a US court, following a damning judgment against him, the Irish Times reported. Mr Drumm has lost the protection of the US bankruptcy court, exposing him to litigation for recovery of €10.5 million he owes, after Massachusetts Judge Frank Bailey denied him a declaration of bankruptcy that would have allowed him to avoid repaying his debts.

Tighter loan-to-value ratios for house purchasers and better updating of house valuations for property tax purposes are among the measures cited in a new report on how to dampen house-price cycles, the Irish Times reported.

Italian unemployment unexpectedly rose to a record high that’s more than double the German rate, keeping alive concerns about the diverging growth outlook in the euro area, Bloomberg News reported. The jobless rate increased to 13.4 percent from a revised 13.3 percent in October, while separate data showed the euro-region rate at 11.5 percent. The reports contrast with data from Germany showing unemployment there fell to the lowest in more than two decades last month.

Demand for U.K. mortgages fell the most since 2008 in the fourth quarter, according to the Bank of England, as more stringent lending criteria made it harder for homebuyers to get loans, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders had expected an increase in demand, the central bank said in a report today. The “significant” decline follows measures introduced in July by BOE Governor Mark Carney to limit riskier mortgages and prevent an unsustainable buildup of consumer debt.

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking an exemption to one of the key measures of the UK’s new ringfencing regime, as the country’s big banks take radically different approaches to rules aimed at protecting taxpayers from future financial crises, the Irish Times reported. The Bank of England has given the banks until today to submit initial proposals for how they will restructure to comply with rules forcing the separation of high-street branch operations from investment banking by 2019.

British regulators have fined the former investment banking business of the troubled Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo for failing to disclose the departure of central staff members from one of its capital markets teams in 2013, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The move is the first time that the Financial Conduct Authority of Britain has used its relatively new powers to fine so-called financial sponsors that act as advisers on initial public offerings and other stock listings.

As a caustic election campaign in Greece revives fears that the country could leave the euro, European officials are taking an increasingly hard line toward Athens, saying they want to keep Greece in the single currency, though not at any cost, the International New York Times reported. The admonishments have stacked up in recent days — from Berlin, Paris and Brussels — intensifying what is shaping up to be another high-stakes standoff between Europe’s leaders and the eurozone’s most-troubled country.