Greece's central bank said the country's four biggest banks needed 27.5 bln euros ($36.3 bln) of fresh capital to restore their solvency ratios, confirming disclosures by the lenders last week. Battered by the country's debt crisis and a protracted recession, banks suffered heavy losses from a sovereign debt swap in March while their loan portfolios
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Investors in Spain's embattled Bankia can take some comfort from the prior experience of shareholders at Ireland's largest retail bank, Allied Irish Banks. Bankia now has a negative equity value of 4.2 bln euros ($5.6 bln), according to Spain's bank rescue vehicle, which means the shares are essentially worthless. But the previous treatment of AIB's
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Greek prosecutors sent a list of possible tax cheats to parliament, court sources said, in a case that has highlighted Athens' failure to crack down on the tax evasion that has contributed to the country's financial crisis. Given to Greece for a second time by French authorities on Dec. 21, the list contains hundreds of
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The Bank of Cyprus issued a profit warning Thursday saying that Group after-tax results for 2012 and before the impairment of Greek government bonds (GGBs) wll be worse than the full results for 2011, while the Core Tier 1 ratios may even be below 5% announced last month. The bank posted a nine-month loss after
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Shareholders of Greece's Alpha Bank approved a convertible bond issue to be placed with Credit Agricole as part of a deal to take over the French lender's ailing Greek unit. They also empowered management on Thursday to make other bond and share issues to help raise the bank's capital in line with the terms of
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U.S. stocks declined on Thursday after the leader of Senate Democrats warned the United States appeared headed over the "fiscal cliff" and data showed consumer confidence fell to a four-month low. With only a few days left before devastating tax hikes and spending cuts go into effect, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said about the
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Shoppers in euro zone nations battered by years of recession and crisis are on the hunt for bargains, delaying their purchases until the last minute, or simply not buying at all as post-Christmas sales get underway. Britain and Sweden appeared to buck the trend, however, with the number of people visiting shops on Wednesday, the
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Russia has turned down a request to grant a 5 bln euro bailout loan to the Cyprus government, the fourth eurozone member to seek financial rescue, because the risks are too great to be assumed by a single creditor, according to a senior Kremlin official. “We have no specific plans or instructions to do so,”
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Archbishop Chrysostomos II said that Cypriots are hardworking people and due to their diligence and right planning will be able to come out of the current economic crisis. Speaking at the inauguration service for a new church at the Paphos village of Tala, on the southwest coast of the island, the Archbishop expressed his optimism
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Efforts to prevent the U.S. economy from going over a "fiscal cliff" stirred back to life on Wednesday with less than a week to go before potentially disastrous tax hikes and spending cuts kick in at the New Year. In a sign that there may be a way through deadlock in Congress, Republican House of
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