UK banks face euro zone debt restructure risk-FSA

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Britain's banks are in better health than they
were two years ago at the height of the financial crisis but still face risks like a possible debt restructuring in peripheral euro zone states, the Financial Services Authority said on Thursday.

The UK watchdog said in its prudential risk outlook, which shapes how it will spend its budget to supervise banks over the coming year, that lenders are not in the clear yet.

George Kerevan: Achilles' heel could trigger a fresh eurozone crisis

LAST week in this column I anticipated the summit meeting of the 17 heads of the eurozone, held in Brussels on Friday.
This get- together aimed at nothing less than a root-and-branch reform of how the euro currency area operates - which explains why I was sceptical that very much would be achieved.

On the one hand, the summit desperately needed to agree a permanent successor to the European Financial Stability Facility, the temporary bailout mechanism the eurozone introduced last year to keep Greece and Ireland from defaulting on their sovereign debts.

Growth Worries Get in Euro’s Way

In the aftermath of Japan’s crisis, the euro has not only fallen against the yen but failed to make any headway against the dollar.

Go figure.

If anything, the compromise decision by European Union leaders to extend the European Financial Stability Facility and perhaps bring an end to the sovereign-debt crisis should make an early rise in euro-zone interest rates more likely.

EU officials, euro zone finmins meet on crisis

European Union officials and finance ministers from the 17 countries that share the euro met on Monday to discuss details of an agreement among leaders at the weekend aimed at strengthening the euro zone bailout fund and resolving a year-long debt crisis.

The deal involves increasing the effective capacity of the bailout fund to 440 billion euros, allowing it to buy bonds in the primary market, and softening the terms of a bailout already made to Greece by lowering the interest rate and lengthening the maturity of the loans.

Euro leaders surprise with crisis deal

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER

BRUSSELS

Eurozone leaders say they have agreed on the cornerstones of a comprehensive solution to the currency union's crippling debt crisis.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy says governments will boost the effective lending capacity of the region's bailout fund to euro440 billion.