The special European Council of 11 February 2010 was intended originally to provide the heads of state and government with an opportunity to reflect on the longer term problems of the European economy and begin to define a strategy to cope with them. In fact it was totally overshadowed by the Greek crisis.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on further possible changes to the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) aimed at strengthening the resilience of the banking sector and the financial system as a whole.





Consumers are to be offered the services of three new high-street banks over the next few years under Government attempts to increase competition by breaking up the taxpayer-backed banks.



