Leaders meet to finalise bank break-up

THE French and Belgian prime ministers met yesterday to finalise the break-up of Dexia, as the bank’s collapse added urgency to renewed talks among European leaders over how to counter the eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

The board of Dexia was to meet in Brussels yesterday lunchtime to seal the dismantling of the Franco-Belgian lender, which has global credit risk exposure of 523.98bn, more than twice the size of Greece’s GDP.

Dexia, the first bank to fall victim to the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, was forced to seek government help last week after a liquidity crunch hobbled the lender and sent its shares into a tailspin.