Headlines

Senior Bundestag figures in Berlin have said the ESM bailout fund’s new power to recapitalise banks – in the future and retroactively – is a political “fig leaf” that will never benefit Ireland, the Irish Times reported. Their resistance comes a day after the cabinet signed off on legislation that would allow the ESM to take direct stakes in ailing banks in the future and established a principle of agreeing to do doing so for bank recapitalisations in the past.

Greece's jobless rate in April was still just over 27%, unchanged from an upwardly revised figure a month earlier, showing that a recovery in the country's jobs market continues to languish despite signs the economy is inching its way out of recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. Figures from the Greek statistics agency, Elstat, showed Thursday that unemployment in April was 27.3%, the same as in March, after taking into account seasonally adjusted revisions. Previously, the non-adjusted figures for March showed an unemployment rate of 26.8%.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has been pushing strongly for more flexibility in how the European Union interprets its rules limiting government debt and deficits. His campaign for the right to borrow more will provide an early test for Jean-Claude Juncker and his new European Commission, which polices those rules, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to Mr. Renzi, he has already won an important victory.

Plaza Centers N.V. Thursday said that the Dutch Court has confirmed its debt restructuring plan, following a hearing, held on July 8. Prior to this, the company had already received approval from 92 percent of creditors, who had voted in favor of the plan, RTT News reported.

Visitors arriving at Edinburgh airport are greeted with a large Royal Bank of Scotland Group advert stating "This Is Home." The bank's management isn't sure for how long, The Wall Street Journal reported. In September, Scotland will vote whether to become independent from the rest of the U.K. after more than three centuries of union.

The liquidation of Setanta Insurance, which collapsed in April of this year, may “take some time”, director of consumer protection at the Central Bank Bernard Sheridan said today, the Irish Times reported. Speaking before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Sheridan said that the liquidator is currently in the process of assessing the level of potential claims and the assets and liabilities of Setanta in order to estimate the actual shortfall.

The Vatican said on Wednesday it will separate its bank's investment business from its Church payments work to try to clean up after years of scandal including allegations of money laundering and tax evasion, Reuters reported. French businessman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu was named as the new head of the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), succeeding German lawyer Ernst Von Freyberg, who has run the bank since February 2013.

Bank of China Ltd. denied a report by the state broadcaster alleging it broke the nation’s foreign-exchange rules by providing services that help clients move “dirty money” abroad, Bloomberg News reported. Reports by China Central Television and other media “contain discrepancies with and misunderstanding of the facts,” the Beijing-based lender said in a statement on its website late yesterday. “References to an ‘underground bank’ and ‘money laundering’ are inconsistent with the facts.” CCTV said Bank of China Ltd. was among lenders that circumvented the foreign-exchange regulations.

Shares in Banco Espírito Santo led declines after media reports that Espírito Santo International, which owns part of Espírito Santo Financial Group, which in turn owns a large stake in BES, had delayed coupon payments on some of its short-term debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Last week some clients were asked to swap the commercial paper into equity," RBS credit strategist Alberto Gallo wrote in a note.

Royal Bank of Scotland hired real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured LLC to advise on the sale of Irish property loans, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, the Irish Times reported. Ulster Bank, a unit of Edinburgh-based RBS, is preparing to sell €800 million of commercial real estate loans, known as Project Achill, said the people, who asked not to be named as the sale isn’t yet public. RBS spokesman Erfan Hussain declined to comment, while officials at Eastdil in London didn’t return a call seeking comment.