Monday newspaper round-up: London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange round-up of news headlines is a useful source of information should you want a snap shot of what is in focus in Europe this week. The following is a few excerpts from today's leader on their front page, which we hope you find of interest.

The leaders of France and Germany have announced that they are ready to recapitalise Europe's troubled banks and have reached agreement on a "long-lasting, complete package" to counter the bloc's debt crisis. But the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, refused to go into detail about the plans, saying they had to think of the markets and iron out "technical issues" before consulting the other 25 leaders in the European Union, according to the Guardian.

The leaders of France and Germany have announced that they are ready to recapitalise Europe's troubled banks and have reached agreement on a "long-lasting, complete package" to counter the bloc's debt crisis. But the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, refused to go into detail about the plans, saying they had to think of the markets and iron out "technical issues" before consulting the other 25 leaders in the European Union, according to the Guardian. 

Belgium will pay €4bn to take over the domestic retail banking arm of Dexia after it agreed with France on Sunday the terms of a break-up of the stricken financial services group, according to people close to the talks. The board of Dexia was meeting to approve the break-up and nationalisation of its Belgian arm late on Sunday in its second emergency board meeting in a week, writes the Financial Times. 

Levels of unemployment in the UK will this week surge to their highest for 17 years - as experts warn the figure will increase even further in the following 12 months. Economists believe Wednesday's figures from the Office for National Statistics will show the number of people out of work to have risen well beyond 2,518,000 - the peak seen earlier this year, according to the Daily Mail. 

French bank Société Générale was the victim of a Sfr182m (£127m) "fraud" that has never been revealed to shareholders. The multi-million pound loss occurred within weeks of the investment bank uncovering the much larger multi-billion fraud by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel. On top of the €4bn hit Mr Kerviel's actions caused, the bank suffered a dramatic blow to its reputation, the Telegraph reports. 

So there you have it.

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