Regulators probing Banco Espírito Santo SA, the large Portuguese bank whose collapse rattled global markets this summer, have focused in public on relatively recent problems that doomed the lender and its affiliated companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. But the bank’s reliance on off-balance-sheet funding vehicles stretches much further back than previously reported. Back in 2002, for example, when the bank was looking to boost its capital, it turned to two British Virgin Islands entities that had been set up on the bank’s behalf.

Borrowers are not ready for higher interest rates and could struggle to pay the bills even with a small rise in repayments, RBS chief Ross McEwan warned yesterday. Most RBS and NatWest mortgage borrowers had never experienced an interest rate rise, he said, and nationally more than 1.5m borr­owers bought their house after 2007 when rates last went up. He is setting up a task force headed by RBS senior economist Sebastian Burnside to study the impact of a rate rise, and come up with a plan to prepare borrowers.

Just a few months ago, Greece appeared to be on the road to recovery. But in recent days it has helped stir up a storm in European bond markets as investors realized that Athens might not be on such a firm path after all, the International New York Times reported. Signs of instability in the Greek government and concern that it may attempt an early exit from its internationally supervised bailout program have intensified worries in global financial markets about the state of the eurozone.

Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance (CC) and Hogan Lovells have won advisory roles on pubs giant Punch Taverns’ £2.3bn debt refinancing, LegalWeek reported. Punch, which began talks on its restructuring nearly two years ago, received the approval needed for its restructuring proposals from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Bank last week. The deal, which has reduced net debt by £600m to £1.5bn, included a debt-for-equity swap that has given bondholders 85% of the company’s equity.

Some top banks are making special payments to top executives, circumventing European Union rules capping bonuses, and the practice should stop, the bloc’s banking watchdog said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The payments aren’t in line with new EU regulations, intended to remove the temptation for financial executives to boost profits—and their bonuses—by taking risks that could damage the banks over the long term, the European Banking Authority said. National supervisors should address the practice by year end, it said.

The trickle of toxic debt being sold by Italian banks is turning into a torrent as UniCredit prepares to announce the disposal of more than €5 billion in bad loans to private equity investors, the Irish Times reported. UK group AnaCap Financial Partners has bought a €1.9 billion portfolio of non-performing loans to Italian small- and medium-sized companies for a significant discount to their face value.

Ireland’s government on Tuesday responded to the clamorous criticism of its business-friendly tax arrangements by closing a loophole used by multinational giants like Google, the International New York Times reported. The European Union and the Obama administration have been increasingly vocal about the tax-avoidance strategies of multinational companies and the countries that enable them. The European Commission is conducting a broad investigation into the relationships between multinationals and perceived tax havens like Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

European Union finance ministers committed on Tuesday to lifting the veil on personal banking and financial information by 2017 — but they were forced to offer Austria an extra year in order to reach a deal, the International New York Times reported. The political accord is expected to be completed at another meeting before the end of the year. It would oblige a tax authority in any European Union country to share with another state’s authorities a much larger amount of bank account and personal financial information.

Troubled steelmaker Lucchini said on Tuesday it planned to ask India's JSW Steel to raise its offer of less than $100 million for the Italian company's core assets in Piombino on the Tuscan coast, Reuters reported. Lucchini, Italy's second-largest steel plant by capacity, was previously owned by Russia's Severstal, but it was declared insolvent in 2012 and placed under special administration. JSW so far has made the only binding offer.

A liquidator has alleged members of a family perpetrated a fraud against their own development firm before it went bust by transferring a €4 million company property to themselves for no charge. A tax bill of €4.4 million remains unpaid, the liquidator said, the Irish Times reported.