BRUSSELS, July 9 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance chiefs will
try to flesh out plans to reinforce the single currency on
Monday but their talks in Brussels may do little more than
highlight the limitations of last month’s deal to help indebted
states and banks.

Decisions on banking supervision, how to use euro zone
bailout money, aid to Spain and Cyprus and whether to grant
concessions to Greece are likely to take months to finalise,
while pressure for action is growing.

BRUSSELS/LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – Global regulators
launched a consultation with the financial services industry on
Friday to shape new rules on how much banks should set aside to
cover the risk of default on uncleared derivatives deals in the
$648 trillion market.

It is one of the final pieces of a sweeping reform of
derivatives markets that world leaders called for by the end of
2012, after derivatives played a central role in the 2007-09
crisis, which led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

BRUSSELS, July 6 (Reuters) – Euro zone officials are
cautioning against expecting any quick action from the currency
bloc’s finance ministers when they meet on Monday to sort out
the tangle of loose ends and disagreements left by last month’s
EU debt-crisis summit.

Banking supervision, the use of European Union bailout
money, aid to Spain and Cyprus and how to deal with Greece –
together it could take months to finalise, despite pressure from
financial markets for clarity on the details.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone officials are cautioning against expecting any quick action from the currency bloc’s finance ministers when they meet on Monday to sort out the tangle of loose ends and disagreements left by last month’s EU debt-crisis summit.

Banking supervision, the use of European Union bailout money, aid to Spain and Cyprus and how to deal with Greece — together it could take months to finalize, despite pressure from financial markets for clarity on the details.

BRUSSELS, June 29 (Reuters) – EU leaders agreed on Friday to
introduce a single European patent, ending decades of dispute
with a deal that will cut costs for inventors and industry.

The scheme will end the fragmented system where it typically
costs an inventor up to 35,000 euros ($43,500) to protect an
idea throughout the European Union, and is an important part of
a growth drive for Europe’s stagnating economy.

LUXEMBOURG, June 22 (Reuters) – Germany will work with a
core group of European Union countries on introducing a
financial transactions tax, its finance minister said on Friday,
after efforts to get an agreement among all 27 EU countries fell
short.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said 10 countries were
prepared to use an EU process known as ‘enhanced cooperation’ to
push ahead with developing the tax, which Britain and other
states, including some in the euro zone, oppose.

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Germany ditched efforts to win agreement across the European Union on a tax on financial transactions on Friday and will instead push for a core group of countries to introduce a levy that many states have criticized and few are ready to support.

By embarking on this path, the German government hopes to placate demands by the main opposition in its parliament to move towards such a tax in return for their support in approving the euro zone’s rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

LUXEMBOURG, June 22 (Reuters) – European finance ministers
examined ways to strengthen their banking sectors and break the
link between troubled banks and indebted countries on Friday,
with concerns about Spain’s stricken banking system top of their
minds.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has urged the euro
zone to channel aid directly to struggling banks rather than via
governments, but Germany and others are opposed to such direct
lending, which is not possible under current rules.

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund urged the euro zone on Thursday to channel aid directly to struggling banks rather than via governments and called for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates, saying the future of the euro was at stake.

The stark message from IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, delivered to euro zone finance ministers who met in Luxembourg, will increase pressure to forge a unified approach to tackling problems at struggling banks such as those in Spain.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The fate of the European Union’s banks, struggling to ride out the debt crisis, will take centre stage on Friday when ministers turn to the question of forging a banking union, a crucial step to stand behind their troubled lenders and the euro.

Although the 17 countries in the euro zone share a single currency, their governments set their own economic course and have been left to resolve their national banking problems.