The European Union is to press ahead with planned banker bonus curbs that were opposed by the U.K. after Britain failed to water down a tentative agreement from last month, Bloomberg reported. European Parliament lawmakers and Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, kept bonus restrictions unchanged, as they sealed a deal yesterday overhauling bank capital and liquidity rules for the 27-nation EU.

The creation of a single supervisor for European banks moved a step closer Tuesday when European lawmakers struck a deal with member states on the structure of the new agency, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal leaves in place most of the main points agreed on by European Union finance ministers in December for how the supervisor should function. The setting up of a supervisor is aimed to tighten oversight of the euro zone's 6,000 banks and to prevent a repeat of the financial crises that have hit the likes of Spain, Greece and Cyprus. Non-euro-zone members can also sign up.

Spanish property firm Renta Corporacion said on Tuesday it would file for insolvency, the latest real estate company to struggle to make debt payments as a prolonged downturn hits business and prices, Reuters reported. Creditors for the company - with debt of 162 million euros ($210 million) - include Banco Popular, ING Real Estate Finance, Deutsche Bank, Caixabank, SAE, Banco Caixa Geral and Sareb, the holding set up by the government to handle soured property assets, the company said in a statement.

Lloyds Banking Group is considering the sale of about €650 million of Irish real estate loans as the lender extracts itself from Western Europe's biggest property crash, according to a person with knowledge of the planned transaction, the Irish Times reported. The UK's second-biggest government-aided bank will have to sell at a discount, the person said without being more specific. He declined to be identified because the sale plans haven't yet been finalised. Lloyds spokesman Ian Kitts, declined to comment.

Central European Distribution Corp , the maker of Russian Standard Vodka, said it has scrapped a bond exchange after a rival company owned by its chairman made its own offer for the same notes, Reuters reported. Roust Trading Ltd, owned by Russian billionaire and CEDC Chairman Roustam Tariko, has offered to buy the CEDC notes that it does not own for $25 million in cash and $30 million in secured notes issued by Roust. Tariko's company owns approximately $102.6 million of the $258 million of the 2013 notes, which matured on March 15 without a payment from CEDC.

Matthew Elderfield has cut himself a big stick with which to beat the banks if they don’t hit their targets under the new proposals for dealing with mortgage arrears. The banks have been given the choice of either coming to sensible arrangements with people in arrears or writing down the value of their mortgages to the current market price of the properties, the Irish Times reported. The incentive to the banks is clear: if they do deals they can value the loans at more than the market price to reflect the additional amount they will recover.

Germany will save at least 15 billion euros over the coming decade thanks to its "safe haven" status among investors fleeing the euro zone debt crisis, which has driven down Berlin's borrowing costs, a leading German institute said on Monday, Reuters reported. Germany's rock-bottom interest rates, which are helping the government to cut its own debt and achieve a balanced budget, stand in sharp contrast to euro zone peers such as Greece and Portugal which remain locked outside global financial markets.

Europe’s fund managers are facing a ban on bonuses that exceed salary as the European parliament pushes for the extension of its severe pay clampdown on bankers to the wider financial sector. In a political development that shows how the bankers’ bonus cap could snowball through the world of finance, the parliament’s main parties support inserting the curbs into a year-old reform proposal for Ucits funds – a popular investment product that can be sold across EU borders – which have net assets of €6.4tn.

A plan to devolve potentially billions of pounds of public spending to local authorities and businesses in Britain to boost a stagnant economy won a green light from the government on Monday, Reuters reported. The Treasury said the coalition government had approved almost all the recommendations in a blueprint drawn up by Michael Heseltine, a former Conservative deputy prime minister. The scheme will see public money for projects such as housing and transport, now controlled by various government departments, pooled into a single pot from 2015.

National Australia Bank Ltd.'s restructuring of its U.K. operations is on track and the unit is now profitable, however it continues to face challenges in a difficult U.K. market, its chief executive said, The Wall Street Journal MarketWatch reported. Consumer and business confidence in Australia also remains "fragile," and both companies and individuals here will likely remain reluctant to commit to major investments until sentiment regarding the economic outlook improves, Cameron Clyne said Sunday in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s Inside Business program. Mr.