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Anglo bank deal up in the air again

Wednesday, September 26 08:10:41

Have we the makings of a bank deal with our European neighbours or not? This question is not nearly as clear as it was last week as Germany, Finland and the Netherlands appear to rule out such a transaction despite a previous agreement enshrined in the June Summit statement. This backtracked on an agreement enshrined in June's summit of EU leaders which the Government said would lead to a long-awaited deal. A statement by the three ministers said the new permanent EU bailout fund, the ESM, would only be able to deal with future banking problems, and not those which occurred in the past. The joint statement was released after a meeting in Helsinki.

The Department of Finance has said that the statement was only part of ongoing talks which will continue over the coming weeks between euro zone finance ministers and heads of government. Germany's Wolfgang Schauble and his Dutch and Finnish colleagues Jan Kees de Jager and Jutta Urpilainen set out the terms by which the ESM would be able to directly recapitalise banks.