EU finance chiefs bid to end bank funding deadlock

EUROPE’S finance chiefs will try again next week to end a deadlock over bank funding, after the industry regulator warned time is running out to revive confidence across the eurozone.

On Wednesday, EU finance ministers will seek agreement over state-backed guarantees in a bid to unblock wholesale funding markets. With €700 billion of bank debt needing to roll over next year, the need is pressing.

One solution touted, a pooling of state-backed guarantees, has effectively been abandoned, while another — individual national guarantees, is seen as unlikely to help banks in eurozone countries whose government bonds are being given a wide berth.