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European Union states are considering measures which would allow them to temporarily stop people withdrawing money from their accounts to prevent bank runs ... The move is aimed at helping rescue lenders that are deemed failing or likely to fail, but critics say it could hit confidence and might even hasten withdrawals at the first rumors of a bank being in trouble. The proposal, which has been in the works since the beginning of this year, comes less than two months after a run on deposits at Banco Popular contributed to the collapse of the Spanish lender. It also come...

Deutsche Bank can only be saved by the German government, strategist says Matt Clinch | @mattclinch81 Only a substantial intervention by the German government can stop the collapse of the country's largest lender, Deutsche Bank, according to Stefan Müller, the CEO of Frankfurt-based boutique research company DGAW. "Deutsche Bank doesn't realize that something serious needs to happen," he told CNBC via telephone on Thursday morning. "(CEO John) Cryan clearly showed that he has no idea how to survive." The embattled German lender saw a respite on Wednesday from hefty selling seen in previous sessions amid contradictory reports on whether the...

The first half of 2016 has been a roller-coaster for financial markets. A combination of uncertainties surrounding the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union and weaker-than-expected corporate earnings results across the region means a tough second half looms. European banks, in particular, have had a very tough six months as the shock and volatility around Brexit sent banking stocks south. Major European banks like Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse saw their shares in free-fall after the referendum's results were announced. In the U.K., RBS was the worst-hit, with its shares plunging by more than 30 percent since June 24....

Economy minister Sigmar Gabriel warns UK must take responsibility for vote that has left Europe as an ‘unstable continent’ __ German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel has said that Britain must not be allowed to “keep the nice things” that come with EU membership without taking responsibility for the fallout from Brexit. As Theresa May called a cabinet meeting to discuss the UK government’s Brexit strategy on Wednesday, Gabriel warned if the issue was badly handled and other member countries followed Britain’s lead, Europe would go “down the drain”. “Brexit is bad but it won’t hurt us as much economically as...

The question as to WHY is the European Banking System so screwed lies in the problem of the design of the Euro. The failure to create a national debt by consolidating all debts of member states from the outset (explained in detail in the special report), left the European banks vulnerable to the mix of their “reserves” that were bonds of all member states. Now Portugal is moving to rescue to rescue its largest listed bank, testing the Eurozone’s ability to handle another banking crisis just months after Lisbon exited an international bailout. The total amount of this rescue is...

THE American guillotine has fallen. After lengthy negotiations, prosecutors and regulators announced on June 30th the penalties they planned to impose on BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, for evading American sanctions on doing business with Cuba, Iran and the Sudan: an almost $9 billion fine, a guilty plea to criminal charges of conspiracy and falsifying records and a suspension of its right to clear certain dollar transactions. The bank’s dealings with and for Sudan—where Osama bin Laden found refuge and the UN’s attempt to stem the bloodletting in Darfur was resisted—lie at the heart of the charges against it. BNP...

Two of the largest banks in northern Europe have announced they will boycott Israeli banks because they operate in “occupied territories”, the Walla! Hebrew-language news website reported on Saturday. The two banks in question are the Swedish Nordea Bank, which is the largest bank in Scandinavia, and the Norwegian Danske Bank, which is the largest bank in Denmark. Danske Bank, which serves five ​​million customers in Denmark and Northern Europe , publishes on its website a list of companies which are boycotted for legal and ethical reasons. Two weeks ago the list was updated and, according to Walla!, for the...

Two of the largest banks in northern Europe have announced they will boycott Israeli banks because they operate in “occupied territories”, the Walla! Hebrew-language news website reported on Saturday. The two banks in question are the Swedish Nordea Bank, which is the largest bank in Scandinavia, and the Norwegian Danske Bank, which is the largest bank in Denmark. […] The Walla! report comes on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry threatened Israel that a failure in the peace talks would lead to global boycotts and delegitimization of the Jewish state. …

The number of banks in the eurozone fell by almost 4 percent in 2013, according to data published Tuesday (21 January) by the European Central Bank. There were 6,790 monetary financial institutions (MFIs) based in the euro area at the start of 2014, compared with 7,059 one year ago, a 3.8 percent reduction. Crisis countries Cyprus and Greece saw the largest reductions, losing 26 percent and 17 percent of their financial sector firms over the past year. Greece now has just 62 financial institutions, while Cyprus’ sector has fallen from 409 firms when it joined the EU in 2004 to...

Where now for European banks? Sir Howard Davies, former chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority, said on BBC Radio's Today programme on Tuesday morning that he thought the French government was only days away from having to recapitalise the country's banking system for a second time. It's hard to disagree. The panic seems to have been temporarily stemmed by a statement from BNP Paribas to the effect that it wasn't having the problems widely reported of finding dollar funding. There was also an emphatic denial of discussions over state intervention. But no-one is kidding themselves. Italy had to pay the...

US Steps Up Probe of EU Banks The Financial Times Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington The US justice department and other authorities have stepped up investigations into several large European banks for violating US sanctions against Iran, Libya, Cuba and Sudan. One person familiar with the probes said some banks had started to discuss settlements with the authorities and could agree to financial penalties by the end of the year. A number of the banks, whose names have not been disclosed, came under investigation by authorities, including the Treasury, when they alerted the government to potential violations after a landmark money...

Back Door to History Thank J.R. Quinn for the gay celebrations Gay rights supporters hailed the U.S. Supreme Court's June 26 decision in Lawrence v. Texas as a watershed that will forever change gay and lesbian life in America. Many of the players in the drama have gotten their 15 minutes of fame, from the eagerly sound-biting lawyers to the publicity-shy defendants. But what about Harris County Sheriff's Deputy J.R. Quinn? He's the Frank Wills of this new day for gays ('70s trivia time: Wills was the security guard who discovered the Watergate break-in). In 1998 Quinn arrested John Lawrence...

By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Senate majority leader said Sunday he supported a proposed constitutional amendment to ban homosexual marriage in the United States.   Sen. Bill Frist (news, bio, voting record), R-Tenn., said the Supreme Court's decision last week on gay sex threatens to make the American home a place where criminality is condoned. The court on Thursday threw out a Texas law that prohibited acts of sodomy between homosexuals in a private home, saying that such a prohibition violates the defendants' privacy rights under the Constitution. The ruling invalidated the Texas law and...

Men whose sodomy case led to Supreme Court ruling keep low profile BY BRUCE NICHOLS The Dallas Morning News HOUSTON - (KRT) - The two men whose appeal led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Texas' sodomy law have been invisible warriors, making brief appearances at the courthouse but otherwise working with their lawyers to keep their lives secret. Until Thursday's ruling, the public view of Tyron Garner, 35, who was unemployed when arrested in 1998, and John Geddes Lawrence, 59, a longtime medical technologist, consisted of a brief TV news clip in which they decried their arrest. Garner and...