Headlines

In an effort to reassure financial markets about the health of the European Union's banking system, the bloc's countries will stress-test a large number of their banks and publish the results, Reuters reported. Originally, EU regulators planned to test just 25 large, cross-border banks, including Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, France's BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, and Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds. The EU executive and the European Central Bank are pressing countries for a major increase in the number of banks tested, to over 100.

Britain's mountain of debt could leave the country powerless to launch another rescue bid in the wake of a fresh financial crisis, the world's central bankers warned Monday. Their "club" – the Bank of International Settlements – presented in its annual report a frightening picture of the impact of a second banking emergency on heavily indebted nations such as Britain, BusinessWeek reported on a story from The Independent.

Existing and former Halliwells partners may find themselves jointly liable for around £10m owed to the national firm's banks as it moves to thrash out a deal to transfer the business, Legal Week reported. Halliwells' banks collectively lent partners around £10m to fund capital contributions, which the law firm confirmed it is unable to pay back. Usually a law firm undertakes to pay the loan - which is taken out by partners and put into the firm on entering the equity - back to the bank on the partner's departure.

Secured lenders owed $357 million and an assortment of creditors say AbitibiBowater Inc. owes them a better explanation of its bankruptcy-exit proposal, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Term lenders said the newsprint producer is unfairly capping what they can recover, while depriving them of the right to vote on its Chapter 11 plan. The plan promises payment in full to secured lenders, including the term lenders, and lists them as "unimpaired," meaning AbitibiBowater doesn't need to poll them.

British accounting firm Vantis called in administrators FTI Consulting on Tuesday after attempts to reduce its debt levels failed, Reuters reported. Earlier in June, the company raised doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern due to lack of funds and its shares were temporarily suspended. It had previously said it was in talks with banks regarding a potential restructuring of its balance sheet to reduce debt. Vantis has been hit by the impact of the recession on its business advisory and tax division and a weaker-than-expected performance of its business recovery unit.

Spain's central bank Tuesday said the country's savings banks have completed a "historic" consolidation effort, with the help of EUR11 billion in public funds, a key step forward in its plans to clean up a sector reeling from the collapse of a decade-long housing boom, Dow Jones reported.

Wind Hellas Telecommunications SA, the Greek mobile phone operator that restructured its debt last year, will miss 40.5 million euros ($50 million) of debt payments due in the next two weeks, according to Naguib Sawiris, its Egyptian billionaire owner. Greece’s third-largest mobile-phone operator has asked creditors not to push it into default as it seeks to restructure its debt for the second time in seven months, Sawiris said in an interview.

U.K law may prevent the Financial Services Authority from releasing detailed information on banks’ stress-tests without the lenders’ consent, Bloomberg reported. The U.K. banking supervisor can’t disclose confidential information “without the consent of the person from whom” the regulator obtained the information, according to the Financial Services and Markets Act, which was enacted 10 years ago. EU leaders agreed this month to disclose how banks perform in European stress tests, seeking to show investors that the financial system can withstand shocks.

The heavily indebted Greek government has adopted the International Monetary Fund's recommendation to raise some of the €320 billion ($390 billion) it owes foreign lenders through privatization. And that has transformed central Athens into a stage for daily demonstrations, even in the heat of summer when many here typically take long vacations, The Christian Science Monitor reported. While Tuesday's demonstration was smaller than past protests this year, strikes are expected to pick up again when vacationers return from the beach. Privatization continues at a rapid pace.

The euro and European stock markets strengthened slightly on relief that banks borrowed less than expected from the European Central Bank in its latest liquidity operation, Telegraph.co.uk reported. The ECB lent banks €131.9bn (£107.7bn) in three-month funds on Wednesday in an auction that was seen by economists as a test of the sector's health. With the amount below the €150bn-€250bn expected, concerns about bank finances which have rocked stock markets and weighed on euro this week were temporarily eased. The ECB said 171 banks borrowed funds at a flat rate of 1pc in the operation.