Irish SMEs that borrowed money to invest in property are almost twice as likely to default as similar-sized businesses without property debt, according to new research from the Central Bank. In its report, the bank calculates that 20 per cent of SMEs in the Republic have an exposure of some kind or other to property, the Irish Times reported. These borrowings, many of which stem from loans taken out during the height of the property boom, account for one third of the outstanding bank borrowings of the SME sector.

European banks already have enough information to forge ahead with capital-raising exercises, rather than waiting for the formal publication of the health checks later this year, a leading accountancy said. KPMG said the publication of methodologies for the comprehensive assessment, combined with disclosures from regulators, should be enough to “infer” the impact the exercise will have on banks’ capital levels, the Financial Times reported.

The European Banking Authority will for the first time publish details of banks’ losses from fines and litigation when it releases the results of European Union- wide stress tests later this year. As many as 12,000 data points per bank will be disclosed, including on their risk weighting of assets, sovereign debt holdings and the structure of capital holdings, the London-based regulator said in a statement on its website today, the Irish Times reported. The EBA will include misconduct-related costs in its assessment of how much capital banks have raised or lost in 2014.

Europe’s banks have done the heavy-lifting in the toughest ever test of their financial strength, but an intensive quality assurance process and decisions still to be taken by supervisors means they cannot work out how they have fared, the Irish Times reported.

Ukraine has asked Switzerland for help in recovering assets moved to the Alpine country by members of ousted leader Viktor Yanukovych's inner circle, according to a Swiss official, The Wall Street Journal reported. Since the start of the summer, Switzerland's justice department has received three requests for assistance in repatriating the assets, spokesman Folco Galli said. The requests concern funds linked to the 19 members of Mr. Yanukovych's entourage, rather than to the former Ukrainian leader himself, Mr. Galli said.

The Karstadt supervisory board announced Tuesday that it had postponed a meeting scheduled for August 21, where executives would have discussed plans for the floundering department store chain's restructuring, Deutsche Welle reported. Chairman Stephan Fanderl said the meeting had not been rescheduled because the board wanted to wait for a decision by German anti-trust regulators on the recent takeover of the 133-year-old retailer by Austria's Signa Group. "We are still determined to start restructuring Karstadt thoroughly and as soon as possible," Fanderl said.

London home sellers cut asking prices by the most in more than six years this month, adding to signs that the property market in the UK capital is coming off the boil, the Irish Times reported. London values fell 5.9 per cent from the previous month to an average £552,783 (€688,269), the biggest drop since December 2007, property website Rightmove said today. Nationally, prices declined 2.9 per cent, a record for an August. While property demand usually weakens during the summer, Rightmove said the slump this year was steeper than it expected.

In 2012, after years of discussion, Germany introduced new insolvency reforms. Bringing in more control for both debtors and creditors during insolvency proceedings, the reforms helped to improve the legal framework of corporate restructuring in Germany, Economia reported. Two years on, the dust has settled and there are two crucial areas where the benefits have become obvious: Creditors now have the ability to be heard by the courts and can even nominate the insolvency administrator, and debtors are also seeking help more quickly, before serious financial problems arise.

Hungary's gross public debt jumped to a four-year high of 85.1% of gross domestic product at the end of June, central bank data published Monday showed, The Wall Street Journal reported. Gross public debt calculated under the European Union's Maastricht criteria was 81.7% of GDP a year earlier and 85.6% of GDP in June 2010 when the current government first gained power and the forint, the Hungarian currency, weakened significantly against core currencies amid Europe's continuing economic crisis.

Romanian businessman Nelu Iordache accuses Casa de Insolventa Transilvania (CITR), the former judicial administrator of construction company Romstrade, that it looted his company, causing losses by ending contracts, maintaining others and signing new ones, but also by selling assets of Blue Air airline, Romania-Insider.com reported. Iordache, the owner of both companies, who is serving jail time for misuse of EU funds, made a series of accusations in a report addressed to creditors, reports local Adevarul.