U.K. banks are taking stock of troubled companies they took over when private equity owners were unable to meet debt repayments on large loan packages taken out to finance leveraged buyouts during the boom, Dow Jones reported. Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC and Barclays PLC all own of hundreds of companies via debt-for-equity swaps, the preferred option to writing-off their investment when performance turned sour.

The economy of Germany, Europe’s headline performer, slowed to a virtual standstill over the past three months, according to new figures released Tuesday, a further blow to international efforts to contain the financial crisis on the continent, The Washington Post reported. The discouraging news came just hours before German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for closer European coordination in setting economic policy and new steps to impose discipline on governments whose lax budget practices prompted the debt crisis.

Last week, while parts of London and other English cities blazed in the worst riots for 30 years, the world's bond markets ignored the fires and broken glass to give the U.K. what looked like yet another vote of huge confidence, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary. Yields on the 10-year gilt fell to record lows, below even equivalent German Bunds. This is in a country where, for a time, it looked as though the civil authorities had lost control of their capital city.

BDO has secured a six-month extension to its term overseeing the administration of collapsed law firm Halliwells, Legal Week reported. News of the reappointment of BDO joint administrators Dermot Power and Shay Bannon comes as it emerges that unsecured creditors may have to share a maximum of £600,000, despite BDO receiving claims worth £191.5m. The figure is contained within a progress report to the failed firm's creditors issued in July.

French and German leaders meeting today in Paris are expected to present a joint strategy for greater euro zone economic governance, the Irish Times reported. Berlin officials said yesterday it was unrealistic to expect “big bang” proposals despite a promise from French president Nicolas Sarkozy last week to expect “extremely ambitious proposals”. “Such a big bang didn’t take place after the July 21st [summit],” said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Instead important steps emerged, the effects of which will unfold.

Proposals to "tidy up" Scottish bankruptcy laws have been put forward by the Scottish Law Commission, the BBC reported. The independent body has published a consultation paper on consolidating existing bankruptcy legislation. It said the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 had "lost coherence" after being heavily amended in recent years. It added the proposals were intended to "remove anomalies, treat like cases in the same way or to omit provisions that no longer serve any purpose". Most of the law proposed for consolidation is already contained in the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government unveiled measures Friday to balance Italy's budget by 2013, a year earlier than planned, by slashing €45 billion ($64 billion) in public spending in a bid to pull Italy back from the brink of the euro-zone crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. The measures, composed of tax increases and spending cuts, seek to retool a fiscal-tightening package the government passed in July that disappointed investors, driving Italy's borrowing costs up to euro-era highs.

The Danish government is planning a new range of measures to support the country's banking sector, Minister of Economic and Business Affairs Brian Mikkelsen told reporters Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. No decisions have yet been made, but political parties plan to soon meet again and will hopefully reach an agreement on the matter, Mr. Mikkelsen said. The measures will support consolidation and secure funding for troubled banks. A number of small banks face severe problems with funding, and large credit exposure to the ailing agriculture and real estate sectors, he said.

Greece's gross domestic product contracted by an annual rate of 6.9% in the second quarter of the year, compared with a negative rate of 8.1% in the first three months of the year, the country's statistics service said Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. These figures aren't seasonally adjusted, the Hellenic Statistics Authority, or ELSTAT, said in a statement, which means they aren't directly comparable with previous figures released for the first quarter. Quarterly data weren't provided.

George Soros, the US speculator turned billionaire philanthropist, has suggested both Greece and Portugal quit the European Union and the euro-zone because of their massive debts, Agence France-Presse reported. "One has so mishandled the Greek problem that the best way forward at present might be an orderly exit" with Greece leaving both the EU and the euro common currency, he said in an interview published Sunday by the German magazine Spiegel. He suggested the same might go for Portugal. "The EU and the euro would survive it," he added.