Headlines

The head of the European Union’s new banking authority has warned that he plans to use the “true power” of a single set of rules to impose more uniform oversight on banks, the Financial Times reported. The move potentially emasculates national regulators in EU member states, such as the UK’s Financial Services Authority. Some bankers fear it may harm innovation and competitiveness. Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Banking Authority, said the financial crisis had highlighted the weakness of consensual efforts to co-ordinate banking regulation in Europe.

Owners of troubled state lender WestLB AG failed to agree on the terms of a European Commission-demanded restructuring plan over the weekend and could keep haggling right up to the plan's submission deadline at midnight Tuesday, several people close to the matter told Dow Jones Monday. WestLB owners have to present a restructuring plan to the commission that outlines how the bank will shrink its balance sheet, while detailing its search for new owners by the end of 2011 and outlining a long-term business model.

An indignant Greece slammed EU and International Monetary Fund inspectors overseeing its efforts to reform its debt-crippled economy, accusing them Saturday of overstepping their role and interfering in Greece's internal affairs, the Associated Press reported. In an unusually harshly worded, pre-dawn statement, government spokesman Giorgos Petalotis called the behavior of the inspectors at a Friday news conference unacceptable. "We have needs, but we also have limits. And we do not negotiate the limits of our dignity with anyone," Petalotis said.

Ailing German lender WestLB has received several bids, its official sales agent said, as the bank enters the final stretch to present a restructuring plan to the European Commission, Reuters reported. But sources close to the bank said that although four non-binding bids from strategic players and private equity investors have been tendered, none of the bidders will end up buying the whole lender. Instead, they will only try to pick up parts of it at later stages of the process.

Growing uncertainty over State banking policy and a greater chance that burden-sharing will be forced on bondholders have led Moody’s to downgrade the senior unsecured debt of the six domestic banks, the Irish Times reported. The rating agency said the move had stemmed from “statements from both the leading Opposition party and the incumbent finance minister”. The existing “supportive” policy in relation to Irish banks has been called into question, Moody’s said.

Struggling British sportswear retailer JJB Sports said it plans to close another 45 stores as it proposed a second company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to creditors in as many years to keep the business afloat, Reuters reported. The firm, in which Bill Gates holds 5.5 percent, said approval from shareholders and creditors of its new CVA would let it continue trading while striking a deal with landlords to close stores and pay only part of the rent.

Barely two months old, Ireland's €67.5 billion ($91.76 billion) deal for an international bailout is showing signs of strain, and the party expected to take power in this month's elections is maneuvering to renegotiate its terms, The Wall Street Journal reported. European finance ministers meeting in Brussels this coming week are expected to discuss how the plan could be modified amid Irish concern that it is too burdensome. Ireland has griped about the interest rate and the fact that taxpayers are bearing the brunt of the losses of the Irish banks.

International rig and drilling contractor KCA Deutag's restructuring neared the finish line Friday as creditors approved a proposal that includes what is believed to be Europe's biggest cash injection into a company since the financial crisis began, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. KCA Deutag's wider senior lender group Friday agreed to be locked into a restructuring deal which includes a $550 million check underwritten by the company's private equity owners, Pamplona Capital Management, and the company's junior creditors. Full approval from creditors follows the Jan.

A third rate of income tax, a wealth tax on assets worth over €1 million, restructuring bank debts and capping the salaries of TDs and ministers are among the proposals in the Sinn Féin election manifesto launched in Dublin yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Launching the 40-page bilingual document, There is a Better Way – Tá Bealach Níos Fearr Ann, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams told a news conference that it aimed to create “an Ireland of equals”.

The European Central Bank has intervened in eurozone bond markets for the first time in weeks, buying Portuguese debt amid fears that the country could yet seek an international rescue, the Financial Times reported. The ECB returned to the market on Thursday as Portugal’s cost of borrowing on 10-year debt jumped to a euro-era high of 7.63 per cent, traders said. The ECB temporarily suspended its bond-buying programme in mid-January.