^{Thursday 3rd June 2010}

With the current state of European banks set to dominate talks between the world’s finance ministers this weekend, the US and UK are calling for greater disclosure of their financial conditions.

A British Think-Tank last night told Brussels that the eurozone governments needed to conduct more rigorous and transparent “stress tests” on their banks to ensure they would be able to survive big shocks to the economy or financial markets.

In addition, US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner said at a G20 meeting in South Korea that there is a ‘very good case for trying to bring more transparency and disclosure to the markets and major institutions.’

The €110bn ($135bn) eurozone-International Monetary Fund rescue package for Greece has largely failed to calm nerves in financial markets, putting pressure on banks particularly those in Spain.

The US also faces a difficult task in persuading European nations to sign up to its proposals for increasing capital requirements for banks under the so-called Basel III set of capital accords.

If you wish to make sure your investments are making the most from your money, please contact us.

_{Article source: 'UK and US call for bank transparency', FT.com, 03/06/2010}