France to drop extra capital demand for banks exposed to indebted companies
PARIS, June 2 (Reuters) - France will not renew a two-year measure that required its biggest banks including BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), opens new tab and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), opens new tab to hold extra capital against their exposure to highly indebted companies, the financial stability council said on Monday.
The measure, put in place in August 2023, requires the French lenders, which also includes Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), opens new tab and BPCE, to hold more capital when their exposure to a single large company with high debt levels exceeds 5% of their core capital, or CET1.
In such cases, banks must set aside an extra 3% of that exposure in top-tier capital.
The year 2023 was marked by heavy debt restructurings in France, including high-profile cases like retail group Casino. The need to simplify macroprudential rules and lower debt levels today at the affected companies justifies dropping the measure, an official at the finance ministry said.
The council, which is chaired by Finance Minister Eric Lombard and includes the central bank governor, also said it would maintain the so-called countercyclical capital buffer at 1.0%, as it did not see the measure negatively affecting new loan production.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
Dutch car sharing firm adds Renault EVs capable of powering local grid
LONDON/PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) - Dutch car sharing firm MyWheels will plug in the first of 500 grid-connectable Renault EVs to its fleet in the Netherlands this week, expanding the number of vehicles in Europe capable of strengthening the power grid as the technology gains traction. Vehicle-to-grid technology, known as V2G, allows electric vehicles to store power and provide it to the electricity grid at times of peak demand. The technology has been available for several years but only recently became commercially viable after the introduction of smart charging technology and batteries able to sustain intensive usage. The rollout by MyWheels will be the largest V2G car-sharing scheme in Europe and the largest addition of V2G-enabled cars in the region. It follows growing concern about grid stability after a major blackout in Spain and Portugal this year, and sabotage to power supply in southern France during this year's Cannes film festival, which have triggered more interest in a technology that can help balance fluctuating supply and demand, said Kees Koolen, an investor in We Drive Solar, the Dutch producer of the special chargers used in the project. 'It feels like we're at a tipping point,' said Koolen, who estimated that the project in the Dutch city of Utrecht has cost around 100 million euros ($114 million) to develop. The global V2G market was worth $3.4 billion in 2024, according to Global Market Insights, and is expected to grow by 38% annually between 2025 and 2034 to reach $80 billion. The Netherlands is an early adopter of V2G technology due to ambitious plans to electrify its transport and heating systems while also moving to renewables. Japan's Nissan has also recently supplied dozens of V2G-enabled Leaf and Ariya models to France and Spain. MyWheels says 500 of Renault's V2G-compatible cars, including its electric R5, will be on the road by next year. When not driving, the cars will be plugged into We Drive Solar's bidirectional chargers and the scheme's operators will be paid for electricity absorbed and sold to the grid. Grids have become increasingly unstable with growing electrification and as more intermittent renewable energy is fed into the system. 'Our research shows that vehicle-to-grid technology could allow the growing electric vehicle fleet to become a significant asset to the grid, with vast storage potential locked up in electric vehicles,' said Madeleine Brolly, advanced transport analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. A key challenge ahead will be standardisation across manufacturers, which will be needed for it to be adopted at scale, she added.
Top Gear
38 minutes ago
- Top Gear
A mint Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta will now cost you £1m+
A mint Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta will now cost you £1m+ Rare mid-engined super convertible starts to reach unobtanium status. Shock horror Skip 18 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. 1 / 18 The Ferrari 458 Speciale: you see it, you hear it, you want it. The issue these days is that a near-factory-fresh 'Aperta' will set you back over a million quid, as evidenced by this 350-mile example listed at RM Sotheby's. Good lord. It does at least get the traditional 'Rosso Corsa' paint finish, and has just about every option ticked off Ferrari's list, including titanium exhausts, racing seats and heaps of Alcantara and carbon fibre trim. Advertisement - Page continues below Aside from that utterly flawless body, the reason we take a liking to the Speciale is because of its mid-mounted, naturally aspirated 'F136' 4.5-litre V8. It'll kick and scream its way to a redline of 9,000rpm, and thanks to a healthy 597bhp/398lb ft, 0-62mph is sorted in just three seconds en route to a 199mph top speed. Supplementing that sonorous engine are various other highly technical bits, such as a seven-speed DCT transmission and adaptive damping. Plus, the Speciale gets an F1-derived traction control system with a rear-biased e-diff. Add in Ferrari's now familiar and still brilliant Side Slip dynamics control unit, and there's an incredible amount of duality to the Speciale: it'll dance when you want it to and grip when you don't. Given that just 499 Apertas were ever built, it's likely this car will only appreciate with time. So you may as well grab it now while it's 'only' a million-and-a-bit pounds. Advertisement - Page continues below Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
Top Gear
38 minutes ago
- Top Gear
Volkswagen ID.3 Review 2025
This is Volkswagen's mainstream electric family hatch. First deliveries of the ID.3 only started in late 2020, but even so it was given an early facelift at the beginning of 2023. Which... it rather needed. Why? Well, firstly because having arrived among the vanguard of hatches this size, it inevitably found itself surrounded by newer rivals stealing some of its thunder. And second, because the original ID.3 just wasn't quite Volkswagen enough. It didn't have the necessary feeling of interior quality. Plus, it was in many ways quirky or just plain irritating. The facelift was supposedly the fix. Advertisement - Page continues below Those new hatchback rivals? The Renault Megane electric, MG4, Vauxhall Astra Electric and Peugeot e-308. Plus the Cupra Born on the same platform as the ID.3. You might also be cross-shopping with any number of compact-ish electric crossovers such as the Kia EV3, Volvo EX30, Hyundai Kona Electric or anything from the Stellantis stable. Fiat 600e, anyone? WHAT CHANGES DID VW MAKE FOR THE FACELIFT? The 2023 update made the ID.3 slightly less oddball. VW pitched the first generation as the car to pick up the baton from the Golf. But it wasn't that. Whereas a Golf always feels comfortingly conventional, the ID.3 looked a bit radical and its operation took a bit of learning. You could imagine people taking half an hour's headscratching before they managed to drive a rentacar ID out of the airport multi-storey. The bonnet now looks longer, because its old half-black split paint treatment has gone. So the ID.3 looks more like a car and less like a future spacepod. Changes to the front bumper make it look wider as well as helping some air slip past the wheels more easily. The front wings look longer because they're no longer broken up by a badge plaque. The tail lights are wider and more detailed. The original ID.3 was sparse inside, with acres of angular and hard-surfaced plastics. Maybe this was VW telling us we'd arrived in a new world. Maybe it couldn't afford soft mouldings in the aftermath of the dieselgate scandal. Advertisement - Page continues below But whatever, VW's customers rose up with one voice: if this was supposed to replace the Golf, they wanted the same sense of premium quality please. VW has now acquiesced. The dash and doors are now clad in soft-touch and stitched surfaces. And much nicer it is in here too. Like the furniture, the original screens and software felt like they'd been done in a rush. Software updates have improved the screen systems. Although perhaps not enough. AND WHAT'S THE SAME? It's a purpose-built electric platform. Unusually, it's rear-drive, the motor and its inverter being tucked under the boot floor. 'Rear-engined like a Beetle,' as they say in Wolfsburg. This means a long wheelbase, with the slab battery tucked under the passenger cell. Thus the roof is taller than you'd expect. Still, it's a roomy family car, more so than a Megane or electric Astra, thanks to better leg space for the back passengers. RWD means a tightish turning circle, but it also means the regenerative braking is fairly meek, to avoid the danger of rear-wheel skids on slippery surfaces. That's why FWD or AWD e-cars can extract more regeneration and have the potential to be more efficient in variable-speed driving. What are the specs? They've changed a bit over the years too, but at the time of writing in mid-2025 the useable battery sizes are 52kWh (ID.3 Pure), 59kWh (ID.3 Pro) and 79kWh (ID.3 Pro S or the hotter GTX). The entry level Pure cars get a 168bhp motor, while the Pro and Pro S both get 201bhp. The sporty GTX Performance gets a hefty 322bhp, and we've gone into more detail on that particular car here. We'll drop the hot hatch and focus mostly on the standard ID.3 here, so it's the Pro that's the quickest of the bunch. That'll do 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds compared to the 8.2 seconds of the less powerful Pure and the heavier Pro S. Although frankly, compared with the Renault Megane all ID.3s are too heavy. The biggest battery Pro S just sneaks under two tonnes. The WLTP range figures are 241 miles for the Pure, 269 miles for the Pro and an impressive 351 miles for Pro S. For extra info on range, charging and energy consumption, click through to the 'Buying' tab of this review. HOW IS IT TO DRIVE? A Golf is comfy and refined, but also has a gently amusing side. You might expect the ID.3 to be similar, especially as rear-drive has the potential to add a little cheekiness. But no. VW has doubled down on the comfort and refinement. It's stable, smooth-riding and wonderfully quiet – not just in its absence of engine sound of course, but also the limo-like hush of tyres, suspension and wind. It's stable, relaxed and precise in its steering, accelerator and brakes. But there's no feedback or engagement. The Megane, MG4 and Astra are all more fun. For more details click the 'Driving' tab. Want to know what the best electric cars are? Click here for the top 20 Volkswagen 107KW Life Pro 62kWh 5dr Auto £30,880 'More fun than a crossover, roomy, comfortable, efficient and importantly, it's got character and is likeable' Although the Nissan Leaf was a decade ahead of it, the ID.3 was quite a radical car for VW. The shape, software and interior were admirably brave, but in hindsight maybe a bit too much. It was a massive engineering effort, but shoved on sale in a tearing rush as an atonement for dieselgate. The cutting of corners – cheap cabin furniture and rough-edged software – was painfully obvious. The facelifted car's control systems can still be infuriating, but their actual logic and graphics have been steadily improving with OTA software updates. The facelift addresses the too-radical-for-some exterior, and bare cabin. It's a nice place to sit now. The ID.3's best qualities haven't been messed with. It's roomy, quiet, comfortable and soothing. It's efficient and has a good range. It's satisfying to drive, just not much fun for a hatchback. Albeit more fun than the crossovers you might be cross-shopping with. All of which gives it a definite character and likeability among an increasingly busy lineup of rivals.
