The European Union should consider a competition probe into the "Big Three" credit rating agencies rather than fund a rival, lawmakers said in a report on Thursday. The House of Lords' EU economic and financial affairs committee also said any ban by the bloc on rating debt of bailed out euro zone countries by the agencies would simply be a case of shooting the messenger, as well as unworkable, Reuters reported.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said he will apply to the courts to recapitalise Irish Life & Permanent, despite shareholders voting down proposals to approve the recapitalisation at an extraordinary general meeting, the Irish Times reported. Mr Noonan said he had expected shareholders to vote against the proposals but that he had been instructed to recapitalise the company by the end of this month under the terms of the bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The Director of Ireland's Small Firms Association (SFA), Patricia Callan, has condemned the Superquinn receivership as being "sharp practice," Finfacts reported. Following the appointment of joint receivers on Monday, the receivers agreed an overnight deal to sell Superquinn to the Cork-headquartered Musgrave Group. Callan commented: “We have been inundated with calls from small food and drink suppliers throughout the country, who are concerned for their future business viability, and the jobs of the staff they employ, as a result of the appointment of receivers to Superquinn.

The court administrator for ECM Real Estate Investments has recommended bankruptcy for the insolvent Czech developer, a document on the Prague Municipal Court's website showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. ECM and several creditors have pushed for a reorganisation that would allow the company to continue operations, and will decide on the bankruptcy at the next creditor meeting this week. ECM shares fell 8.3 percent on Tuesday to 28.71 crowns, its lowest since the Prague Municipal Court declared ECM insolvent in May.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's reluctant paymaster, doused expectations of any comprehensive solution to Greece's debt crisis at an emergency euro zone summit on Thursday, Reuters reported. "Further steps will be necessary and not just one spectacular event which solves everything," Merkel told reporters on Tuesday. Widespread hopes for a single solution to make the Greek crisis disappear were unrealistic, she said, as officials wrestled with complex options for involving private bondholders in a second rescue of the debt-stricken euro zone state.

Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Ltd, a part of the Tokio Marine Group, said it filed a petition for protection from creditors under Chapter 15 in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, London South East reported on a Reuters story. The company, which underwrites commercial property, casualty and marine insurance, in a court filing on Monday listed assets of more than $100 million and liabilities of more than $100 million.

Finnish group Elcoteq , a key supplier to cellphone maker Nokia , said it was applying for insolvency proceedings after lenders blocked its bank accounts and refused a debt standstill, Reuters reported. Elcoteq said on Monday Danske Bank decided to accelerate its outstanding revolving credit facility, forcing it to apply for controlled management in Luxembourg to continue operations. The company, which assembles cellphones and set-top boxes, said in June it would not be able to repay the remaining amount of a revolving credit facility.

Germany has long sat at the center of the European economy, but Europe is no longer as central to Germany as it used to be, the International Herald Tribune reported. With large parts of Europe still in an economic rut and struggling to cope with a debt crisis, Germany is increasingly deploying its money and energy outside the euro zone to fuel its robust growth.

Spanish banks' bad loans, a major source of concern to the financial markets, surged to the highest level for 16 years in May, the Bank of Spain said Monday. RTÉ News reported. Bank loans considered to carry a risk of non-recovery amounted to €117.59 billion, or almost 6.5% of total assets, in May - the highest ratio since June 1995, the central bank said in a report. That compared to a bad loan ratio of 6.36% in April.

European banks may have to raise as much as €80 billion of additional capital as the stress tests failed to allay investor concern about a Greek default and governments’ ability to bail out their lenders, the Irish Times reported. The eight banks that failed out of the 90 tested last week had only a combined capital shortfall of €2.5 billion, the European Banking Authority said. As many as 20 banks need to bolster capital, JPMorgan Cazenove analysts led by Kian Abouhossein wrote in a report after the results were published.