Twenty-four European banks fail financial stress tests

One in five European banks have failed crucial tests of their financial strength, leaving a €25bn (£19.6bn) capital hole in the continent’s banking system at a time of renewed fears that the five-year long eurozone crisis may be flaring up again.

Russia sanctions threaten to blow euro zone off course

(Reuters) - The knock to confidence from harsher European sanctions on Russia could spoil the euro zone's budding economic recovery even if it shrugs off the fallout on trade.

European Banks Face $1 Trillion Gap Before Review, Study Shows

European banks have a capital shortfall of as much as 767 billion euros ($1 trillion) before the European Central Bank’s probe into the financial health of the region’s lenders, according to a study.

France on edge of return to recession, increasing pressure on Hollande

François Hollande's beleaguered socialist government was under increased pressure to boost the eurozone's second largest economy after a collapse in manufacturing orders tonight left it on the cusp of another recession.

European banks pay heavy price for scandals

(Reuters) - Four European banks paid a heavy price on Tuesday in a clean-up of the financial industry, with Rabobank fined $1 billion and three other major lenders preparing for possibly huge legal costs after a string of scandals.

European banks to quit London if UK left EU: Goldman executive

LONDON: European banks would leave London "in very short order" if Britain voted to exit the European Union, a senior Goldman Sachs executive said in a newspaper interview published on Monday.

Europe Warns of Harder Economic Times to Come

BRUSSELS — A deteriorating economy in the European Union is expected to drive unemployment to new highs this year in countries including Spain and Portugal that already are feeling acute pain, the Union’s top economics official warned on Friday.

Is this the year that the eurocrisis ends?

The European Central Bank has moved to shore up the euro, investors are more confident, and European leaders are surprisingly upbeat.But critics warn that Europe is not out of the woods.

In Euro Crisis, Fingers Can Point in All Directions

FRANKFURT — The debate about how to distribute the cost of preserving the euro often centers on a fundamental question that is unspoken but implicit: Who caused this crisis anyway?

Euro Crisis Is Still US Regional Banks Best M&A Target

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The euro zone crisis may be the best opportunity for U.S. regional banks to grow the top and bottom line that's come around in a while.

Greek bailout gives Europe time to build defenses

WASHINGTON: Greece got the rescue. But it's the rest of Europe that's breathing easier. A $172 billion ((euro) 130 billion) bailout isn't likely to keep Greece from eventually defaulting on its debts and abandoning the euro, many economists say.

Euro Declines After Italian Debt Auction; Dollar, Brazilian Real Advance

The euro touched a seven-week low against the dollar, falling for a fourth week, as Italian borrowing costs jumped to the highest level since 1997, adding to speculation Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis is spreading.

European banks may need to raise 200bn euros

European banks may have to raise a collective 200bn euros ($276bn; £175bn) to boost their capital reserves.

The proposal is being made by the European Banking Authority (EBA), which wants the banks to have more funds in reserve to help protect them from any future shocks in the financial markets.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said banks may struggle to raise the money.

US Money-Market Funds Exposed To Euro Crisis Via Bank Paper

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. money-market funds' significant exposure to European banks underscores the threat that the risk of a Greek sovereign default poses to global financial markets.

As of February, U.S. money-market funds' holdings of short-term securities sold by European banks--including commercial paper, asset-backed securities and certificates of deposit--stood at 44.3% of their total assets, according to a recent research report from Fitch. The ratings agency said it will release updated data in several weeks.

East Europe Faces Risks From Euro Crisis, Inflation, EBRD Says

Eastern Europe and central Asia are at risk from a deepening debt crisis in the euro area and a pickup in inflation stoked by a recovery in consumer demand, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said.

The EBRD raised its 2011 economic growth forecast for the 29 countries in which it invests to 4.6 percent from 4.2 percent predicted in January, the London-based bank said today in a report distributed at its annual meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan. It expects growth to slow to 4.4 percent next year.

Politics will bedevil resolving the euro crisis

Last week’s widening in sovereign bond spreads and the results of stress tests on Irish banks have reminded us that the eurozone has made hardly any progress in actual crisis resolution – in spite of its pretentious grand bargain. Over the next few weeks, I will try to map out various scenarios of how the crisis might evolve. It is probably the toughest challenge the European Union has confronted in its history. The eventual outcome will depend on a complex interaction of politics, finance and economics.