BRUSSELS | Wed May 23, 2012 8:31am EDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone officials have agreed that each euro zone country must prepare an individual contingency plan in the eventuality that Greece decides to leave the single currency area, two eurozone officials said on Wednesday. The agreement was reached during a teleconference of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), which started at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) on Monday and lasted for about one hour.As well as confirmation from two officials, Reuters has seen a memo drawn up by one member state detailing some of the elements that euro zone countries should consider.The EWG consists of officials who prepare meetings of finance ministers and also form the board of the temporary bailout fund, the European Financial ... Continue reading →

Tue May 15, 2012 5:48am EDT * Banks face weak markets and economy, regulatory clampdown * Lag many rivals in cuts. May have been waiting for election* Hollande pledges to fight layoffs but banks a question mark* Retail as well as investment bank jobs seen at riskBy Christian PlumbPARIS, May 15 (Reuters) - France's biggest banks are likely to cut thousands more jobs, catching up with European rivals as they grapple with a slowing economy, weak capital markets and a looming regulatory clampdown by new Socialist president Francois Hollande.Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole announced a first wave of layoffs, mainly in investment bank and consumer credit businesses, late last year.But their cutting has been tentative compared with European peers like UniCredit and ING, ... Continue reading →

By Matt Scuffham and Lionel Laurent LONDON/PARIS | Fri May 11, 2012 2:44pm EDT LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Bruno Iksil was dubbed the 'London Whale' in credit markets due to the size of the trading positions he took, but for years he stayed well below the surface avoiding detection. Now, the French-born JPMorgan trader has been dragged from the anonymity of the trading floor into the eye of a very public storm over a $2 billion trading loss at the U.S. investment bank where Iksil worked in a little-known group called the Chief Investment Office (CIO).Friends, colleagues and fellow traders describe an unassuming man, a far cry from the brash image normally associated with traders staking huge bets in fast-moving financial markets, including derivatives."He's a really ... Continue reading →